Landed Wings

chapter 5: TRUTH



ASHLYNN

“What’s the matter with you, Ash?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Yeah, you do. I’ve never seen you brood for this long. It

usually only lasts two days.”

I glare at Obsidian, but he just shoots his killer smile at me.

“Shut up, Ob.”

Obsidian just chuckles. He usually gets mad at that

nickname.

“Someone’s grouchy. Could it have to do with you

disappearing below to the banished people?”

“How did you find out?!?!”

“So it is true?”

I turn. Pepper asked the question.

“Of course it’s true.”

Obsidian and Raven say it at the same time. Twins. They look at each other and start laughing. That can be really

annoying sometimes.

“Why were you down there, Ash?”

I shrug.

“I was just curious Ive (Ivory hates her nickname too),

just curious.”

“Who was he?”

“What?!?”

“The guy you met down there.”

Sometimes I think Ivory is psychic. It’s a little scary. I just stare at her.

“Ooh there was a boy?”

Persimmon simpers sickeningly at me. Leave it to her to have nasty thoughts. If it weren’t for Sangria, I really wouldn’t hang out with her. I turn back to Ivory.

“How did you know?”

“Because if it was a girl, you would have laughed in her face if she said anything. But obviously, whoever you met was a guy. What did he say to ruffle your feathers?”

I can’t help but sigh. I love her, but I would appreciate if I didn’t have to answer twenty questions today.

“Well…he just said really stupid stuff. Called me Princess.”

Even now, my feathers ruffled in distaste.

“And made it seem like I was just another silly SkyBound girl who didn’t worry about anything. Like I was full of air.”

Just thinking about it makes me want to spread my wings and fly. My cure for everything. My friends looked at each other. Ivory spoke first, with the rest following, words tumbling out of their mouths like dominoes.

“What did you say?”

“What did he look like?”

“Was he fat?”

“Did you hit him with your wings?”

“Did you get in trouble?”

“Are you going back?”’

“Is he single?”

And Raven and Obsidian together.

“We should go all go back.”

“Slow down! Jeez! Why do you guys even care?!”

They all just sat and looked at me and I knew I would have to answer them.

“As soon as he saw me, he started laying into me asking me what I was doing there. He ordered me to go back where I came from. I wasn’t having that so I made this really insulting and stupid comment about his family not wanting him. I know, I know, it wasn’t right but I was upset. He retaliated with this self-righteous speech about me not ever having to worry about anything besides my hair frizzing. He looked…feral, I thought he would hurt me, he looked so angry. No he’s not fat. No, I did not hit him with my wings. No, I didn’t get in trouble, or would I be sitting here?”

I hesitate.

“Yes, I’m going back. Why would I know if he’s single? And why do you care Persimmon? You’re dating Sangria!”

She gave him a guilty look.

“And Ob, Rave, what’s with the “we”?”

“What?!”

“Of course we’re going with you!”

“This is an adventure!”

“It’s serious guys. They don’t even like us down there. It’s dangerous. If a bunch of us show up down there, together, we would definitely get caught - an adventure? Really? This isn’t a TV show – if Sky Patrol catches us, they would strip our wings.”

“So, why’d you go?”

Finally, the all important question, even if I didn’t want to answer. Guess ignoring it didn’t really work. She had asked before and I gave her the same answer I’d already given her. Of course, it was Ivory who asked it.

“I went because…because I was curious. Because I don’t think that it’s fair that some people have wings and others don’t. I saw people down there who were thin enough to have wings…and yet they didn’t. I saw a young girl without wings. And I mean young, about six years old. I know this will sound unbelievable, but I don’t think she was born with them. I think she was born wingless.”

There is a look of surprise around the table. Most wingless have scars from the places they were removed. It leaves its mark. But as the girl was bending down to grab my feather, I saw a bit of her back…and there were no scars.

“How is that possible,” Persimmon asked, “Everyone is born with wings. Everyone.”

“Obviously not her.”

Sangria spoke up for the first time.

“I’ve heard some kids are born with a disability where they aren’t born with wings.” Cyanne offered. “It’s possible those kids still have the latent gene for wings and if they have children, their children might be born with wings. I heard that if a kid is born without wings they are sent to live with the LandBound. The parents are told the child died at birth but the children are just taken away. The only way to keep us separate is to break all ties, if the parents knew their children lived, they might sneak down to see their kids.”

“How would you know something like that?”

“Because Pepper, I read, I listen and I don’t close my eyes to the truth.”

Pepper is always skeptical of anything anyone says that

challenges our indoctrination.

“I read, I listen and I don’t close my eyes to the truth.”

She repeated with her voice full of contempt while rolling her eyes. She continued on to say…

“Well that so called truth is treason. Are you saying that our leaders are stealing children from their parents? Why would they do something so evil? Ohh, I almost forgot who I’m talking to, there’s a conspiracy right? An evil group sitting around a table hatching evil plots to….what? You never know with you conspiracy nuts. What’s the grand plan? Let’s see - Make our world a better place to live? Check. Make sure we have peace? Check. Make sure we are free. Check. Yeah you read, and you listen to people who just want to poison your mind and you don’t close your eyes to the lies.”

Cyanne is always ready with a comeback.

“What you call conspiracy, I call discovery. I’m surprised you feel so strongly about this, I wouldn’t have imagined you ever doing that much thinking.”

Raven and Obsidian always knew when it was time to step in, Cyanne could slay you with words but Pepper would beat him to a pulp if she got too hot.

“Whoa, okay – let’s call this one a draw okay?”

“Yeah, let’s just agree to disagree.”

“Ash, why do you want to go back down alone? I thought we were your flock – all for one?”

I can tell Ivory, Raven and Obsidian are hurt but I can’t go back with them.

“I don’t know but I need to know what that boy was talking about. Not knowing is making my feathers itch. So I’m going back down. Alone.”

“How can you go back alone, Ash? They know who you are now. You might have been reported.”

Ivory is always the voice of reason.

“I’ll go at night when it will be harder to see me.”

“We’re all half bird Ash. It won’t be hard to see you at all. Even the wingless still have the eyesight.”

“Ive, you forget that my wings are black, as well as my hair. And they’ll all be in anyway. Curfew, remember?”

“Still. I wouldn’t risk it. Sky Patrol will be out.”

Sometimes Ivory can be too cautious. Is she my friend or my mother?

“It’s better than going during the day.”

“I still don’t understand. Why do you want to go back so bad Ash? Curiosity isn’t enough.”

I wish I could explain it to Obsidian but I can’t even explain it to myself. The truth is that I feel a strange compulsion to go back. An irrational compulsion. If I believed in Cyanne’s conspiracy, no I forget, discovery theories, I would think someone put a chip in my brain or brainwashed me to make me want to go back. Since I don’t have an answer for Obsidian, I just ignore the question.

“Be careful Ash.”

I’m surprised. Raven and Obsidian spoke those rare words of caution.

“I know I’m in trouble if you guys are telling me to be careful.”

They don’t laugh. They just look grim.

“This isn’t a game. We’re not that shallow that we don’t

recognize that. We don’t want you to lose your wings.”

I wince inwardly. I didn’t mean to offend them. But a few

seconds ago they said this was an adventure and they wanted to come along. No matter though, I can’t go with them. I can’t tell them that the reason I want to go back is that before I left the LandBound, I saw that boy spread his wings and fly.