Bird Song (10 page)

Lark looked at me quizzically and nodded her head.
 
Her eyes flicked over to the closet, where the dress was hanging up, and sighed in disappointment.
 
It was a beautiful dress.
 
Robert didn’t tell you, but I helped him pick it out.
 
He wasn’t sure about the color, or the cut, but he knew you’d look good in green.
 
Like I said, he’s such a guy.
 
He’s got impeccable taste in jewelry, but clothes?
 
Uh-uh.
 
He should stick to dressing himself.
 
That’s his forte.

I smiled at that, relieved that he hadn’t chosen the items himself, especially the corset that had sent up warning flags of disapproval in Janice.

Yeah, I told him that would be a mistake.
 
He said I needed to get everything you’d need for a dress like that, and it didn’t matter what, as long as it made you feel beautiful.

The flush that spread across my face, accompanied by the wistful smile that grew on my lips spoke more than mere words could have that I felt beautiful because of Robert, and not because of some expensive piece of clothing, or jewelry.
 
He saw me in a way that no one else ever had.
 
To be thought of as beautiful—by someone who was far more beautiful than was humanly possible—was an incredible and heady feeling.
 
To know that it wasn’t something he was saying because he wanted something from me made it my own little miracle.

Well, let’s go, shall we?
 
I can only leave Graham and Stacy alone for so long before I fear they’ll destroy my house.

I walked over to the window and waited for her to follow me.
 
Didn’t you hear me?
 
Everyone and their grandmother will be looking up at the sky tonight.
 
Even with mist surrounding us, we’d still be highly conspicuous.
 
We’re going on foot tonight.

She grabbed my hand and yanked me onto her back.
 
Hold on very tightly.
 
I will be moving very quickly.
 
Keep your eyes closed, and don’t make a sound.

I nodded my head and wrapped my legs around her waist.
 
She held my arms around her neck and before I had a chance to blink, we were outside of my house.

“Holy-”

I said don’t make a sound.
 
The thought came like a hiss in my head, and I cringed at the slight and unexpected sting that the sound caused in my mind.
 
It was a familiar pain, but that did little to comfort me when I couldn’t even rub my head to make the pain go away.

I’m sorry.
 
I just don’t like this method of traveling.
 
It’s far too primitive, and I’m not very good at it.
 
I’ll try not to get you scratched by anything, but please, no more talking.

I nodded my head once again, wincing as I braced myself for the thought-lashing I feared I’d get just for moving.
 
Instead, I felt her body shake with laughter.
 
She started moving again, and I did everything she told me to do, keeping my eyes closed until she told me it was time to let go.

Only then did I realize how sore my face was, or how my hair didn’t seem to move when I moved my head.
 
I raised my hand to the top of my head and gasped.
 
“What happened to my hair?”

The wind had whipped my hair up into a massive mound of tangles and debris, leaves and dirt were caked between the strands.
 
Now I know what the front end of a car felt like while traveling down the freeway.
 
“Are there bugs in my hair?” I asked frantically, my hands weaving through the tangles, pulling and yanking at the knots, hoping that nothing that fell out had more legs than I did.

Lark’s laughter echoed around me, and she doubled over from the force of it, my obvious discomfort and disheveled appearance being quite amusing to her.
 
“You look so ridiculous right now.”

Using my fingers, I tried desperately to comb my hair in hopes that it’d be somewhat presentable by the time Robert arrived.

“Oh cut it out, Grace.
 
He won’t care if you look like a Princess or a matted sheep dog.
 
He only cares that you’re safe, which you are, thanks to me.
 
And now, I have to get back to my house before Graham starts to wonder where I’m at.”
 
Lark held her hand out to my hair and touched it lightly, dirt and leaves falling down around me.
 
“There, all fixed.
 
Now, Robert said he’d be here as soon as he could.
 
Have a great time, and I’ll see you next year.”

I didn’t have enough time to get a thank-you out before she was gone.

I turned around to look at the empty gazebo, the floor covered in leaves and slush.
 
There was nowhere to sit in the gazebo, so I leaned against the railing and waited in the cold.
 

The jacket I had chosen to wear had no lining and I instantly regretted grabbing it while I watched with growing distress as tiny white specks started to fall from the sky.

“Just great,” I muttered, tucking my hands underneath my armpits, and silently wishing that I had remembered to grab some gloves.
 
The weather was turning bitter, the wind whipping up in angry howls with each passing minute, and I knew that it wouldn’t be long before the sprinkling of snow turned into an all out downpour of white.

“Where are you, Robert?” I asked out loud, knowing that no one was going to answer me, but needing to hear a sound other than the whistling of the wind through the branches, and the pattering of falling twigs and leaves as they landed on the roof of the gazebo.

The chill in the air turned my breath into white puffs of vapor, and my teeth began to click against each other as I fought the chattering that threatened to turn my entire body into a human jackhammer.
 

I knew midnight had come and gone by the colorful spangles and bursts of light in the sky that announced the end of one year, and the beginning of another.
 
I felt my heart sink into my sneakers as the colors began to fade, the loud crackling and popping dwindled, and the smell of gunpowder finally drifted away while only the clean smell of snow and green remained.

“Well, there goes that idea,” I muttered to myself, and slowly eased my frigid bones into motion.
 
The lights that usually kept the gravel parking lot lit had not had their bulbs replaced since that last night I had been here alone nearly a month ago.

As I walked past them, the crunch of my sneakers against the gravel triggered the sharp memories of slamming into them to flash into my mind.
 
I flinched at each sickening crunch, the sounds reminding me of the pain that had been inflicted on me by a jealous and ambitious angel—everything angels weren’t supposed to be.
 
I quickened my pace, desiring only to plant my feet on solid pavement for the long walk home.

By the time I reached the road, I could feel the sweat forming on my brow.
 
“Some New Year,” I snorted.
 
At least last year, I was in the comfort of my own home, drinking flat soda and eating stale cheese balls from Christmas.
 

The wind was picking up and freezing the moisture that had started to pool on my face.
 
I was going to catch one hell of a cold after tonight if I didn’t freeze to death before I got home.
 
I looked up into the sky to see how long the weather was going to hold up.
 
I couldn’t see the stars anymore.

“Just keep walking,” I told myself, repeating it every ten paces or so, needing the sound, needing the reminder as each minute that dragged on left me feeling more and more exhausted.
 
The cold was draining me of what little energy I had left.

Finally, I succumbed to the numbness in my feet and sank to the ground on the side of the road.
 
My sweat and the cold had plastered my shirt to my skin, freezing it in place; the fact that I could no longer feel my toes moving was a very bad omen, and I silently cursed myself for not being better prepared…and thankful that I had not worn the dress after all.

“I’m going to kill you, Robert,” I breathed before the shivering that started to creep up from my knees finally overtook my mouth, my teeth chattering like a hyperactive typewriter.

“Don’t sleep, don’t sleep, don’t sleep,” I chanted to myself.
 
Robert was on his way—he had to be—and he’d find me.
 
But if I froze to death, there wasn’t going to be anything that he could do about it, and there was no way I’d let him off the hook for standing me up that easily.

I tucked my stiff legs up to my chest, and wrapped my arms around them, rocking to keep my body in motion.
 
I tried to think of a song I could sing to keep my mind from drifting off, pulling my consciousness with it, but the cold was dimming my thoughts to everything.

“H-how l-l-
ou
-
ousy
t-to d-die f-f-from e-exp-p-p-
posure
, a-after s-
su
-
survi
-
ving
b-being h-h-hit b-by a c-c-car a-an-and s-
st
-
stran
-g-g-
gled
b-b-by a-a-an a-angel,” I stuttered, each syllable wracking my body with violent shaking.

I knew I was hallucinating when the numbness turned into fierce pain in my hands and my feet.
 
The cold was supposed to lull you to sleep, the numbness was supposed to be a soft lullaby that rocks you gently towards a frozen death.
 
The pain—that’s a sick joke on the part of your mind, I had deduced, and when it finally started to abate, I relaxed and welcomed whatever came next.

How could you give up on me so easily?

Definitely hallucinating.

You’re not hallucinating, Grace.
 
Open your eyes, please.

I shook my head.
 
I didn’t want to, didn’t think I could.

I am such a terrible boyfriend.
 
All of the powers I have, and you still end up with your life in danger.

I nodded my head this time, “A-a-and you always e-e-end up
sa
-saving me in the end.
 
I-I think you d-d-do it on p-p-
pu
-purpose to keep things exciting—t-t-to m-
muh
-make yourself out to b-b-be the he-hero.”

I felt his body stiffen, even as the warmth spread through me and the ebbing pain turned into intense tingling through my fingers and toes.
 
“Oh dear bananas,” I groaned as the sensation started to creep up my limbs, causing them to jerk around like suffocating fish on land.

I’m sorry, Grace.
 
I didn’t expect to take this long, and you almost…this shouldn’t have happened.

I grunted in agreement.
 
It shouldn’t have happened, but it did.
 
“You came, and I’m okay—I
am
okay, aren’t I?”
 
I waited for his nod before I continued, “Well, I’m okay, and you can now make up for being late.”

It’s a good thing that my legs were no longer numb, because I felt the ground coming a lot sooner than I had expected when Robert set me down with a roughness that I hadn’t thought him capable of…not with me, at least.

“Why aren’t you angry?
 
Do you value yourself so little that you’d simply be okay with nearly freezing to death just because I’m the one who let it happen?”
 

I finally had the courage to look up into his face, and what I saw there was like staring into a block of ice; his eyes were flat and cold, colder than I had ever seen them before, and I felt the shiver run straight through me.
 
He was angry.

“I was angry, but I’m not anymore.
 
It’s not like you did it on purpose.
 
This is a part of who you are.
 
I accept that part of you; I accept the risk and the consequences because loving you is worth it to me.
 
Why are
you
so angry?”

He stalked away from me; I saw then that his wings were out, and I couldn’t help but draw in a breath as I marveled at their delicate and yet powerful beauty.
 
He was putting out a deep, red glow as his wings shook with his frustration at something I could not touch on.
 
I reached my hand out to him, but he flinched away without even turning around to see me approach.

“This wouldn’t happen if you would agree to being changed.”

My hand dropped to my side, my mouth hung open in surprise, and my eyes grew wide with shock.
 
He was angry at me because I had turned down his offer to change me?

“Are you serious?
 
You left me here waiting—nearly freezing to death in the process—and you’re upset because I want to remain human?
 
That’s
what’s bothering you?”
 
My mind raced through all of the different reasons why he’d be so angry, but there was nothing I could come up with.
 
This was all too ridiculous for it to make sense.
 
Unless…