Landed Wings

chapter 34: FOCUS



ASHLYNN

Mocha talks to Ginger for a few minutes and hangs up the phone.

“She says that we should proceed as planned. She’s going to put people into the field to find Raven.”

“That’s it? This is my friend Mocha.”

“She also told me to tell you that as soon as your

performance is over, you can join the search.”

“That’s not good enough! I know those people. Every

second, every hour, Raven is hurt more! And you know it!”

“Ash, they may not be torturing her. She’s well past the age where she’ll forget what they do, and probably too old to develop any increased mental abilities.”

“My mother would do it just for the fun of it.”

“Well, we had better hope Raven’s not hurt, because if she is, there is no hope for her. Cocoa would never release someone who could potentially expose the VWP. No, she’s probably fine. Cocoa knows that if something happens to Raven, there’s no chance you’ll go home. And if she went missing, the combination of you and her disappearing about the same time is just too much too cover up. Don’t worry about it. Just focus on tonight.”

“I’m still going to worry, Mocha. But I will focus.”

It’s already late. I hadn’t realized how much time had passed.

“I have to start getting ready. Getting ready is going to take a while.”

“Do you want help?”

“Do you know how to curl hair?”

“No, but it couldn’t be that hard.”

I smile, a sad smile because I can’t get Raven out of my mind but I guess it’s a good sign he can get me to smile.

“It’s okay Mocha, I got it. What are you wearing?”

“You’ll see.”

“You need to shave.”

“Are you saying I’m scraggly?”

“No, but you’ve definitely got some growth.”

“How long will it take you to do your hair? Because we only have one bathroom.”

“At least an hour.”

“Ok…”

“Trust me, it will take that long. Now can you get me that

beautiful headband you got me?”

“Yeah sure.”

He leaves and I take the curling iron out of the cabinet below the sink, plug it in, and turn it up to high. Mocha comes back with the headband. Once the headband is in place, and I need to curl my hair back from it. I take a couple of long strands and put them in front of the headband. Those will hang down in front of my shoulders and the rest will hang straight down my back. I take a section of my hair away from the rest and twist it to see how it looks. The rest of the hour passes like this. My hair slowly becomes a spectacular long mass of red, brown, black twists. Finally it is done. I arrange a few of the twists and twist the strands hanging in front. I go out of the bathroom to find Mocha to see what he thinks. He is watching TV, some sky sport.

“Mocha?”

He doesn’t even look up at me. I’m going to have to train him better. Watching Sky Sports can’t be more interesting than paying attention to me.

“Are you done?”

He turns around and I have the satisfaction of seeing his mouth drop open. And I haven’t even put on makeup yet. I twirl girlishly.

“How does it look?”

“I knew that headband would look great on you.”

I smile and twirl again.

“We have to get there early, since you’re going to be

performing.”

“How early are we talking?”

“We have to be there by five.”

“Okay, then time for my dress.”

I wink, go in and hang the dress up on the bathroom door. I get the makeup out. This will be the hard part. I have to somehow make me not look like me. Luckily, I knew a few tricks. I put the dress on and then start on the makeup. The dress feels like butter and I can’t help but spend a few moments reveling in it. I pull the contacts Mocha had given me out and slide them on. My eyes are now a dark green. It is definitely weird. They completely cover my natural brown. I put gold eye shadow on. I don’t need foundation; my skin is clear. I put makeup on my eyes to give them the appearance of being tilted up. It gives me a catlike appearance. Then I put makeup on my cheeks and make them appear fuller than they actually are. I shape my eyebrows so that they tilted up. I put clear gloss on my lips. My lips are naturally a reddish color. For the final touch, I put on the earrings Mocha gave me. I don’t look like me, but more like a distant cousin of me. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.

OBSIDIAN

We got through the day. When Bramble and the others asked about Raven, I stuck with the same story I told my teachers this morning. I don’t think they bought it, even Raven wouldn’t be that rash and careless. Ivory and I leave school as planned. I put on the tux that had been in the package and shave. I fix my hair so that it is slicked back. I go back to the park at about six and wait for Ivory to arrive. While I am waiting for her, I forgive myself for what I may have to do tonight. I hear a rustle behind me. Ivory lands. I can’t help it. My mouth drops open. She is wearing a yellow strapless mini dress with her black combat boots. All I see are legs covered in stockings with rose designs. Her makeup is dark and seductive and she stands with her white wings wide open. She looks like a fallen angel. It’s like I’m seeing her for the first time. She seems happy with my reaction because she grins. Every detail of her appearance is screaming at me, her nude lips, her hair with two curly strands hanging down on either side of her ear.

“Ive, you look…”.

I choke on my words, but she just rolls her eyes.

“Let’s go Ob. It’s time.”

I can always count on Ivory. There’s no one else I would

rather be with now. I’m just sorry it took this to make me see what’s been in front of me all this time. I offer her my arm and she takes it. We open our wings and fly towards who knows what.

ASHLYNN

“It’s twenty minutes to five, we gotta go.”

Mocha is still getting changed. What could possibly be taking so long?

“Quit hassling me Princess.”

He comes out and looks at me like he knows how sexy he is in his tux.

“Whoo-hoo!”

I wolf whistle at him and he grins at me.

“Ready?”

“Not really. But I have to do it anyway so…”

“What songs are you going to sing?”

“Don’t know yet. I’ll wing it when I get there.”

“That’s a well thought out plan.”

“It’s the only one I’ve got.”

“I know.”

“Alright…Let’s go Ash.”

We walk out of the door. Mocha offers me his arm, like a

gentleman, and I take it. We open our wings and fly towards who knows what.