June, 1912:
"What the hell did you think you were doing?" Rose half screamed in Helen's ear.
"I didn't mean to get caught!" Helen yelled back, clinging to both Rose and the tree they were perched in. She was shivering, the rain and wind half freezing her fingertips off and the heat of Rose's body pressed against her side did little to help.
"I don't think you understand how hard it is to keep one of you from harm, let alone two!" Rose yelled, her voice barely audible above the wind. Although they could have always resorted to mental communication, Rose was very, very angry and seemed much happier using her lungs to berate Helen.
If I get pneumonia and die, I blame you.
Helen scoffed and shook her head.
"If pneumonia is what kills you, I'll eat my hat!" Helen called back. Rose muttered something but her words were swallowed up by the storm. In all honesty, Helen was actually overjoyed that Rose was here. If she hadn't simply appeared as she had, Helen knew for sure that she'd have died in minutes. The mudslide that had torn through the village had buried everything in its path. Together they had managed to save all the other residents but Helen, much to Rose's frustration, had run back to try and grab the last of her medical supplies. Which, of course, led to them being stuck in a tree that seemed to be giving way.
"I'll kill you for this," Rose swore darkly, lips almost flush against Helen's ear.
"I said I was sorry, didn't I?" she replied, turning to frown at her friend. "Honestly Rose, I was just trying to help. The village has been wiped out, we'll need medical supplies to rebuild."
"But they'll also need you!"
Helen shook her head once more but didn't reply. The frustrating thing about Rose was that she usually had a point.
Any idea how to get down from here?
Helen quickly surveyed the base of their tree and the surrounding area that had, at one point, been her tiny home, complete with backyard and clothesline. It was one of the few big trees in the village, most of the others were barely peeking above the thick layer of mud.
"Wait it out?" Helen offered. Rose shook her head. Carefully she let go of Helen, pushing herself up to be standing on the branch, one hand loosely wrapped around another much smaller branch. She shot Helen a dirty look before, with her free hand, unbuttoning her now sodden white blouse.
"Turn away," she yelled. "I'm not going to ruin a perfectly good top."
Laughing Helen replied, "Oh Rose, no need to be so modest. It's not as if we've never seen each other naked."
Rose froze and blinked at Helen.
"Really?" she asked, genuinely shocked. "When does that happen?"
Helen bit her lip and cursed herself. These damn timelines were getting harder and harder to keep track of.
"Don't worry," Rose called back. "You don't have to answer that. I'll enjoy finding out the hard way."
With a smirk plastered across her face, Rose quickly stripped off her shirt. She shifted down to sit beside Helen again and grabbed Helen's leg. In a matter of seconds she bandaged the gash Helen hadn't even noticed. The blood seeped through the makeshift bandage surprisingly quickly but Helen ignored it for the meantime, instead returning her attention to the woman who sat half naked beside her.
"You're going to have to hold on tight," Rose shouted above the wind. "I've never tried anything like this before so I don't know how well it will work but I can't think of another way to get us out of here."
She closed her eyes briefly before bitting her bottom lip and, even over the sound of the wind, Helen could hear the telltale rip of flesh as Rose released her wings. She took a deep breath before opening her eyes again, reaching for Helen and, with surprising strength, hauling Helen into her arms.
Helen let loose a little gasp at the action, wrapping her arms firmly around her friend's waist merely moments before they were launched into the air.
It was a rather turbulent flight and several times Helen almost lost her grip on Rose's rain-soaked back but, soon enough they were safe on one of the ridges surrounding the site of the village. Before Helen could blink, Rose was snatching Helen's light jacket with a blush as she fastened it. Helen smirked slightly but kept any comments to herself.
"Let's find shelter," she offered instead, pleased to note that the wind was finally dying down. The rain showed no inclination of stopping but at least it was pleasantly warm again her skin without the wind chilling her to the bone.
Rosie rolled her eyes before lurching forward and punching Helen's shoulder.
"Don't try and get yourself killed by a mudslide again," she half growled. Rubbing her shoulder, Helen sent her friend a dark look. If she had to put up with another stream of complaints about her behaviour...
"I owe you one," Helen finally snapped. "Can we just leave it at that?"
Rose snorted, clapping Helen on the shoulder.
"You should know me better than that," she said, shaking her head as they began to trudge through the sodden ground in the direction of the evacuees. "No Helen, I don't think I'll ever let you forget this one."
Helen sighed but acknowledged the humour in Rosie's tone. One day she'd get her own back, that was for sure.
