Landed Wings

chapter 15: MISSING



OBSIDIAN

I call the number. I have no other option really. When it comes to Ash, my common sense flies out the door with my dignity. The first time I called, it said wrong number. The second, it told me the number was no longer in service. But I’m not giving up. I call again and this time, someone picks up.

“If you have been given this number, then you are eligible for membership. If you are unaware of who we are, please press one. If you know who we are and are ready to continue, please press three. If you were given this number by mistake, please press four and hang up.”

What? Recruitment? That’s not what Pepper told me. I am on the verge of pressing four when Ash’s smile pops into my head. How could I let anything bad happen to that smile? If I have a chance to help, then I have to take it. I press one and listen. Later on, I find Pepper and ask her what’s going on.

“What is this recruitment thing, Pepper? And for the VWP? How will that help us find Ash? Is this a joke?”

“It’s not a joke. Training from them will give you the edge you need to find her. And they have connections. Connections you can use Obsidian. Her mom is part of the organization. In fact, she’s the leader of the VWP. She can get you past Sky Patrol. And.”

Here Pepper pauses.

“I know that you might want to…explain to Mocha why taking Ash was a mistake. If you do explain to him, Ash’s mother has promised to look the other way.”

Is she saying what I think she’s saying? Is she insinuating that I would be allowed to hurt this guy and they would turn a blind eye?

“I thought the VWP was a world peace organization.”

Again, those cold fish eyes looked at me. She repeated the same sentiment she had expressed earlier.

“Things change Obsidian.”

“Is that your new catch phrase?”

I start to laugh but quickly stop. Pepper had never scared me, but those ice cold eyes of hers have something in them that a person with morals and character should never have. She just smiles and flies away. As I see her red wings fade into the distance, I finally figure out what creeps me out about her eyes. Even in broad daylight, her pupils are large and wet.

I have to find Raven and tell her what’s going on. Ash is her friend too. I walk into her room, but she isn’t there. She isn’t in the backyard either. I called her name all around the house.

“Raven? Rave?”

I’m not too worried. She’s probably somewhere with Ivory. She usually tells me when she is going somewhere, but I guess she was too angry. I wish she was here. I want her advice before I do anything. This is a big decision. People don’t just “join” the VWP. It’s a big honor to be invited to be a member. There is a whole process, a secret initiation you go through before you get in. No one knows what the process is but you are sworn to secrecy. No one knows why or how they choose their members but the work is very important. I don’t know if Raven got the call too – I’ve never been away from her for more than a day, what if they want to separate us? It’s just too much to have to think about I really need something to eat. Nothing. Even when our parents were here, they weren’t really big on going to the supermarket. They were pretty cool, but it got tiring once in a while. They both had brown colored wings. When Rave and I came out with black wings, they couldn’t have been more surprised. My mother asked the doctor if we were really her children, and even had a DNA test done. The last person to have black wings in our whole family had been my grandmother’s great-grandfather on my mother’s side. On my father’s side, no one had had them. Because of our wings, Rave and I are treated differently from the other kids in our family. Most everyone else is brown or red with a few white wings thrown in. The other kids don’t really like us because we are treated differently. We are given privileges like going out by ourselves, or cooler presents. I never understood that. Black is the rarest wing color, but just because it’s rare, it doesn’t mean its better. Ahh, finally, in our freezer, there’s hope - ice cream, and my favorite kind, Coffee Heath Bar Crunch. My sister hates it. She likes the crème brûlée. It’s disgusting and girly. That’s one of the only places where we differ. Other than that, we’re completely alike. Raven and I shouldn’t exist. Identical twins with of different sexes shouldn’t exist. Identical twins are formed when an egg splits in two and both are of the same sex. We are an anomaly, and we’re treated differently because of that too. I miss her. When it comes to Raven, I don’t have to be the big tough Obsidian that everyone expects me to be. I hate to say it, but I rely on her more than I ever relied on our parents. It hurts me that she’s so angry that she wouldn’t tell me she was going somewhere. As a twin, I live with the unnatural and probably irrational fear that something will happen to her. That I will one day be alone, look over to talk to her and only see dust motes in the empty air. Rave knows this which is why, even when we’re mad at each other, we always gives the other heads up about where we are going. Now that I think about it, I realize that this is very unlike Raven. I look at the ice cream sitting on the countertop. It seems to loom larger and I have a feeling that it is more than just ice cream. I open the lid and inside is a rolled up note, stained with brown at the edges from the ice cream. I take it out and get my fingers sticky from the ice cream. I open the piece of paper. I three words in my sister’s loopy handwriting. I’m sorry, and Help. A cold chill races up my back and I look to my left, where my sister should be. I feel myself descending into that nightmare, the one where I see dust motes floating in the cold, empty air.