Finally! We have some flying today! Who is exited? I am! Please tell me what you think of the fic so far.
15
When the Lightwood-Banes returned from their trip to the Silent City Arthur made a b-line to the training room. What he saw took his breath away:
Ashley stood in the middle of the room with her wings open wide and a blindfold over her eyes. Carlos and Luna were sneaking up on her on two sides and they attacked at the same time.
Before Arthur could warn her, Ashley knocked them both down and pointed her blades to both their necks. Arthur was stunned – he barely saw her move!
"Well done," he said and saw with an amused smirk as Ashley removed her blindfold and his teammates struggling to get up.
In the corner of the training room he saw five broken punching bags surrounded by sand. He snapped his fingers and they were fixed.
"So far the only one that could bring those two down together is Jace but I see you barely broke a sweat," he said to Ashley and the other two lowered their heads.
Ashley closed her wings and her silver eyes turned navy blue and then pink when she smiled shyly.
"Go get dressed. We brought lunch." He told the whole group and turned around to walk to the kitchen. He was definitely not smiling at the sight of Ashley in his mind.
When Ashley stepped out of the shower she quickly got dressed and joined the Shadowhunters in the kitchen.
It was a dream come true: to eat, talk and train with the Shadowhunters that helped her through some dark times in the past.
But what was scary was the fact that she was a warlock with huge angel-like wings and colorful eyes.
Who would her parents be? She didn't really care about that… until now.
"A penny for your thoughts?" asked Arthur. Ash looked up into his bright blue cat eyes and was amused to see that a tiny bit of silver surrounded his pupil like a protective barrier against the blue.
"If you had a penny for every thought that goes through my mind every five minutes, you would be a billionaire at noon," she replied and Arthur chuckled.
"What were you thinking of that made you look so down?" he asked instead.
Ashley sighed. "Who my parents were? Why they left me?" she answered.
"Maybe I could help with that. If my dad allows it – I could come with you to your dimension to search for answers?" he asked and Ashley smiled brightly.
"Thanks, Arty," she said as they walked down the hallway. "But before I go home I would like to learn how to fly first," she said.
"That would be awesome! How about we go try now? On the roof?" suggested Arthur and Ashley nodded.
They practically ran to the stairs that led to the roof. Once outside Ashley opened her wings to their full length and was surprised to see that each wing was almost as long as her own body length.
"How do we begin?" she asked Arthur that was applying some runes on his arms.
"I don't know," he said. "Try flapping them," he said.
Ash tried that but only made wind that messed up the boy's hair. She giggled while he tried to flatten them out.
"How about you imagine yourself lifting up as you flap your wings?" he said and she nodded and closed her eyes.
She did as he asked and felt as her feet left the ground. Slowly she opened her eyes and saw that she wasn't imagining it – she really was off of the ground.
Arthur underneath her cheered as she willed her wings to make her fly forward. She found that it was a lot easier than flying from the ground.
She took it slow at first but soon she was flying circles around the Institute. She flew up in the clouds and enjoyed the slight dampness they brought. The wind in her hair was amazing and she felt free.
She flew back down and landed in a crouch in front of Arthur whose jaw was literally open in shock and amazement.
"That. Was. AMAZING!" she said and jumped up and down. "I can fly! I can fly! I can fly!" she chanted while Arthur only smiled with pride for her.
"Yes, you can!" he said and then something dawned on him. "We have to tell the others."
"We will." She assured him. "But another round first," she said and took off again with more ease this time.
She flew over the city and enjoyed the wind in her hair and watching the people and cars underneath her… until she felt something that made her stop midair.
It was the same feeling she had in that awful dream of her. She looked around and saw a strange red light in the distance. After gathering some courage she flew hard and fast toward the light and that feeling only intensified.
It turned out that the light was actually a fire and demons were crawling out of it – a lot of demons and they were all heading to the city!
Ashley turned around and flew three times as fast back to the Institute when she saw a man walking behind the 'army', and landed with a crash on the roof.
Arthur came running for her but before he could ask about her wellbeing she cut him off.
"I'm fine but there is an army of demons heading to the city as we speak! And there was a man walking behind them as if he was the commander," she said and pointed in the direction in which she came.
Arthur nodded and pulled out his phone. "Report of an army of demons heading to the city from the Northeast side," he said and hung up.
Within a few minutes everyone was gearing up and applying runes to each other. Alec handed Ashley a pair of clothes and she thanked him.
When she came out of her changing corner Arthur asked her what kind of weapon she would like to use and she replied with "a bow and arrow."
He gave her what she requested along with some more Downworlder-friendly weapons.
"Is everyone ready?" asked Alec and everyone said yes.
Arthur and Magnus both opened portals and they all went through.
