Emily shrugged. ‘I don’t know. All I do know is he needs our help before someone finds him and takes him away.’
As she spoke Emily started to frown. It seemed that a lot of the deeper cuts and scratches were much smaller than they had been earlier. Further inspection revealed that the lightning burn had also shrunk and was less angry. As for the thorn scratches, they were all gone.
‘You’re healing so fast,’ Emily gasped. She looked at Joel. ‘This morning, these cuts were much deeper. You see all these scratches on me? They were ten times worse on him. But all the thorn marks are gone.’
‘I’m not surprised.’ Joel continued to inspect the stallion’s side. ‘Pegasus is an Olympian. He’s immortal. Of course he would heal quickly.’
‘What’s being Olympian got to do with it?’ Emily asked. ‘He’s still a living being, just like you and me. And we sure don’t heal this quickly!’
‘Yes, he’s a living being,’ Joel explained. ‘But he’s also very different from us. If you’d asked me before, I wouldn’t have thought he could be hurt at all.’
‘If I’d asked you before, you’d have bitten my head off.’
Joel frowned and shot back, ‘I would not!’
Emily dropped the subject before it started another argument. Joel had a very short fuse and was easily provoked. ‘Well, Olympian or not, that spear has got to come out. I’m not even sure how to set his wing.’
Joel stroked the smooth white feathers of the stallion’s good wing. ‘In movies, all they ever do is pull the person’s broken leg or arm to set it. Then they put a splint on it.’
‘But this isn’t an arm or leg. It’s a wing,’ said Emily. ‘And aren’t most wing bones hollow? We could do more damage if we pull it and set it wrong.’
Joel nodded. ‘Maybe, but we can’t leave him like this either.’ Suddenly he had an idea. ‘What if we take a really good look at his unbroken wing? We study it and learn how it works. Then if we look at the broken wing, we should be able to see the difference and know how it should be. After that, we could try to set it.’
‘Good idea,’ Emily agreed. ‘But where do we start? With his wing or with the spear?’
It was Pegasus who answered that question. As though he’d been listening to every word, the stallion lifted his good wing again and then whinnied and pounded the shed floor.
Emily stroked his muzzle. ‘You want us to pull out the spear first?’
In answer Pegasus nuzzled her hand.
Joel joined Emily at the stallion’s head. ‘Then I guess we start with the spear,’ he said.
Emily and Joel went back down to her apartment to collect more supplies.
Joel looked around and whistled. ‘You apartment is a whole lot nicer than the dump I live in. Is it just you and your folks?’
‘My mother died of cancer three months ago. Now it’s just me and my dad.’ Emily felt the familiar lump start to form in the back of her throat. Taking a deep breath, she forced it back down before the tears began. ‘What about your place? I always heard brownstones were great. Lots of room and you’ve actually got backyards.’
Joel shook his head. ‘Not where I live. Our brownstone is small and falling apart. The plumbing doesn’t work and the paint is peeling.’
Emily grabbed the last of the medicated creams and antiseptics from the medicine cabinet.
‘Did your mother ever teach you how to sew?’ Joel asked.
‘Sew?’ Emily repeated. ‘Why?’
‘Because once we pull that spear out of Pegasus, he’s going to bleed. We’ll need to sew the hole closed to stop the bleeding and start the healing.’
‘You want me to sew Pegasus back together?’
‘Do you have a better idea?’ Joel asked.
‘Yeah,’ Emily said. ‘Superglue. They sometimes use that stuff in micro-surgery instead of stitches. They actually used it on my mother for one of her surgeries. After they told my dad, he got a supply of it for emergencies.’
Joel frowned. ‘Really? Glue?’
Emily nodded and walked back into the kitchen to collect the glue. It was tossed in the bag of supplies. Finally she pulled open the freezer and reached for the last tub of ice cream.
‘I offered Pegasus vegetables earlier and all he wanted to eat was my ice cream. So maybe he’ll want some more.’
‘Pegasus likes ice cream?’
When Emily nodded, Joel looked embarrassed. ‘Do you think I could have something to eat? I haven’t had anything today and I’m starving.’
Emily stopped and looked at him as though seeing him for the first time. This Joel was nothing like the angry Joel from earlier. ‘Sure, grab what you like. But let’s take it upstairs.’
Back on the roof, they unpacked the supplies. Emily had been right, the moment Pegasus smelled the ice cream he went straight for the tub. When he finished it all, he stole the box of breakfast cereal from Joel.
‘Hey,’ Joel protested. ‘That was mine! You’ve got your own food.’