Wings of Boden (3 page)

On the kitchen counter nearest the living
room was the crystal cake-cover Angie’d received as a wedding
present last year, a fresh white cake under it, one piece missing.
I commented, “I see you already baked the cake, huh. Did you
finally figure it out?” She’d been trying to duplicate her wedding
cake, couldn’t quite get it right. I never could figure out how she
keeps her waist so thin, eating all that cake. It must go right to
her boobs, or something, whatever.

“Nope,” she replied with a hint of
frustration, and went about pulling clean dishes from the drying
rack beside the stainless sink and putting them away into cupboards
and drawers.

“Why don’t you just go back to Isis Cakes and
ask Faye how she does it?” I asked.

She snatched up a towel, turned and leaned
her rear to the counter. Standing there in her new silk nighty and
little robe, she wiped her hands on the towel, gave me a sad look.
“I’ve already tried that. Faye won’t budge.”

“Did you give her the famous, Angie charm?
The charm that melts one and all.”

“Yep, didn’t work. She must have some kind of
force field. It’s frustrating.”

“I don’t know about you, but she intimidates
me, even though she’s only like, what, five-four. It’s her eyes,
like a snowstorm or something. It’s like they suck you in and won’t
let you go. You ever notice that?”

“Hmm, I guess. But you know what she did?
Listen to this. I gave her the look, even ramped it up a little and
begged for the secret. She just grinned at me. Then she said in her
tiny sweet voice, ‘that look won’t work on me, little sister. I
invented it.’ Then she said, ‘your cake is a special one,
Angelica.’ Well, duh, that’s why I want it. I even offered to buy
it. Nope, she just smiled and fluttered her little wings. I felt
like slapping her.”

“Maybe you should just give up,” I said. “No,
scratch that. I like your cakes. And my nineteenth birthday’s
coming up, hint, hint.” I offered my sister a grin.

She blew out a breath, grinned back. “Thanks,
Ellie. I’ll bake you a nice birthday cake.” On a pause, she flicked
a hinting glance toward Vyn, back to me. “But I hope I don’t have
to wait till
your
wedding for a wedding cake.”

“Cut it out, Ang,” I objected. Then begged,
“Don’t tease him. Please. For me.”

She considered, softened her look …“Okay,
fine. Sorry. I’m just frustrated, that’s all.” She pushed off the
counter, stepped over and opened the refrigerator, pulled out a
glass pitcher of tea, closed the door and turned with pitcher in
hand. “So, Vyn, looks like you’re all grown up now. It’s about
time.”

“Yeah, so the teasing days are over. I hope
you enjoy the last words.”

After Angie brought over three tall glasses
full of iced tea, she sat with us. Then folded her hands on the
table, looked at Vyn. “How would you like to help me out?”

“Me? Oh, no. What now?” Vyn the test dummy
said.

“I noticed your ankle. I need to practice
wrapping for my nurse exam next month. C’mon, Vyn, we’re family
now, please.”

Vyn’s lip twitched. He blew a heavy sigh,
picked up his glass and tuned eyes on Angie. “When are you gonna be
done with this?”

“This is my final. I just need to get it over
with. Then I can start my wedding cake business. Faye said she’d
teach me when I’m ready to learn.” She paused, a grin tugged at the
corner of her mouth. “I’ll tell you what, you help me and you can
have all the free cake you can eat, ‘cause, you know, you’re
awesome.” She relaxed back on her wings, folded her arms over her
chest, waited for Vyn to finish drinking, then pulled out
the
look
—the twinkling green eyes; the flirty tilt of her head as
her hair shone under the overhead light. Vyn stood no chance.

You’re shameless, sis. I let out a little
snicker, eyes on the master.

Vyn fell for it of course, puffed an exhale.
“Fine.” He scraped his chair back, swung his jeaned leg up onto the
table. His ankle was red, looked like a burn. How did that happen?
With his bare, green-stained foot inches from Angie’s face, a smirk
played on his lips.

“Vyn, get your nasty foot off the table,” I
said. “Sorry about that, Ang.” Narrowing eyes at Vyn, I beamed a
message. He caught the hint, frowned, pulled his leg off the table
and sat still. While Angie and I stared, Vyn looked around,
blinked, shifted his arms over his chest, then to the table. He
finally lifted his glass.

After a long moment, Angie did a little
headshake and said to me, “Males, huh?” She pushed off her chair,
strolled away and returned with her first aid box, set it to the
table and sat. Then rotated her chair around to Vyn and pulled his
leg onto her lap. When she took out a squirt bottle of something
and sprayed, Vyn worked his jaw muscles. I snatched a purple petal
chip out of the bowl and began to nibble on the edge as I watched,
entertained.

“How’d you do this, anyway?” Angie asked,
unrolling a strip of white gauze before snipping it off with a pair
of scissors.

Vyn glanced over at me as I nibbled, and back
down to his ankle as Angie began to wrap. He puffed his chest out.
“I was watching out for your sister. I had to set Mawlkon straight
about a few things. Ellie grabbed my ankle and pulled me down.”
Some kind of expression crossed his face, memories maybe, or pain?
I couldn’t tell which.

Angie paused, gave Vyn some kind of weird
grin, then said, “Oh, I see,” and continued wrapping the ankle.
“Ellie’s hand did this? She must’ve been pretty scared. Anyway, you
defended my sister, you hero. I’d say that deserves a giant piece
of cake.”

I popped another chip into my mouth.
Crunch
. Angie was right, those chips were divine and I could
not stop eating them.
Crunch
. She’d once told me about what
happened when the males finally crossed the maturity line and
defended. I’d simply brushed it off, figured she was exaggerating.
Crunch
. The images of Vyn’s power and light seeped in my
memory now. Angie continued her nurse duties.
Crunch
. My
gaze locked on Vyn in an attempt to remember what he looked like
before. He was no longer my pet. I relished the thought, nibbled
the corner off a petal.

“That’s how it happened with Jaydenn, right?”
I asked Angie while I chewed up the chip.” He defended you, right?”
I knew how it happened, just wanted to see her reply.

Angie kept her eyes on her work, busy with
the final wrap. “Yep, that’s exactly how it happened.” Her cheek
filled with color. I grinned at her blushing, took another
nibble.

“Elle,” Vyn broke my daydream, “I think
you’ve had enough a those.” He just sat there with a crooked
smirk.

Angie swiveled eyes on me, snorted a chuckle.
“You
are
my sister, aren’t you?”

“Yeah? And, what’s so flappin funny?”

“Oh, Ellie. You’re purple, sweetie. You’ve
eaten too many of those.” Her giggle sputtered to life again.

“What?” I instinctively looked at my arm,
then jumped and ran to the washroom down the hall. Blinking into
the mirror, I screamed, laughed, and calmed in fascination. A
goofy-looking purple angel stared at me in the mirror. My wavy hair
was still blond, thank Source, as it hung down to my chest.
However, when I tilted my head, I saw the roots were tinted. I
curled my upper lip to view my stained teeth and gums, then stepped
back and lifted my shirt to see my purple belly. When I unfurled my
wings, the tips of my white feathers held a deep lavender shine,
kinda beautiful actually. But other than that I looked like a
flappin cartoon character. I blinked at my reflection, and again,
trying to recognize myself.

This is not happening.

Back at the kitchen table in a flash, I
snatched up my tall glass of tea and gulped it down as if
attempting to dilute a poison. The tea spilled and dribbled off my
chin. After a gasp, a shaky breath, I tossed Angie the desperate
words, “Is it going to go away soon?”

“Don’t worry, sweetie, you’ll be back from
candy land in a little while.”

Angie gave Vyn a mischievous grin, and said,
“I got Jaydenn on that one too. You should’ve seen that giant
purple monster.”

Vyn replied on a chuckle, “Yeah, I bet.”

“That wasn’t very nice, sis.” I wiped the
back of my hand over my mouth, snickering at the thought of what
Jaydenn must have looked like—a huge, muscled, confused and
dumbfounded purple angel. Wished I’d been there for—

“Vyn!” A voice called from outside.

Our smiles dropped.

Vyn filled his cheeks with air, blew it out.
“Sounds like Mawlkon wants a piece a me.”

“Don’t go out there, Vyn,” I pleaded. “He’s
probably got his friends with him.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Angie said. “He’ll be
fine.” Her grin was a little sly as she pushed the bowl to me.
“Here, have a few more chips and relax.”

My glare burned the sly off her face.

Vyn lifted off his seat. “Thanks for the
wrap, Ang. Don’t put that box away just yet.” He strode to the
door, looked back at me, smiled and went outside. Angie spun her
chair around to the kitchen window, raked the flowered curtains
aside. I went over and crouched down beside her so I could see out
the lower pane. A wave of cool night air washed over my face when
she slid the window open.

Angie bent forward and placed her palms on
the sill, stretched her head out the window and raised her voice,
“What’s the matter Mawlkon, does the grumpy pecker drek need his
binky!”

“
Angie
,” I snipped, “what the flap are
you doing?”

She pulled back in, grinned at me. “I’m just
playing.”

“Well, stop it. It’s not funny.”

A little eye roll and a big-sister sigh,
before she turned to look out again, as did I.

Skin and bones and long necks, needle-sharp
teeth, hairless gray heads and bulging eyes, the drekavac clan
stood under the moonlight. A backdrop of looming cottonwood trees
lined the far side of the cobbled road, along with the path where
Vyn and I had come from.

Mawlkon spoke in his nasal tone, “You
shouldn’t have done that, Vyn. Now it’s my turn, eh?” He stepped
closer to Vyn. “I see you grew a little. Big Vyncynte now, eh?
Well, let’s test your strength. This time I’d be ready.”

Angie said to herself, “Oh, now you did it,
you stupid drek.”

Vyn pulled his shirt off, tossed it to the
ground, folded his arms over his chest and flicked his feathers as
if he was testing his reflexes, then said to Mawlkon, “Why don’t
you go back to your scavenging before you hurt yourself? Or, maybe
you’d like to go to jail, huh?”

Mawlkon cackled from his torso to the tips of
his wings while his gang snickered behind him. Drek smirks and
high-fives went around with the full force of immaturity. Why do
males always have to do this? I just don’t get the big masculine
show. Flappin little boys, that’s all. Angie didn’t seem to agree,
sitting there in her new silk nighty, grinning on the edge of her
seat with excitement. And me, purple as a passionflower and soaked
with nervous energy.

Due to my crouched position, my feet started
to cramp, and just when I was about stand up for some relief, the
scene outside stopped me. Vyn dropped his hands to his side,
rotated into a position, a strong brace against a hidden force. He
unfurled his wings, tucked his head down.

Oh my Source!
His wingspan had
stretched out so wide, shining with silver tips like radiant
daggers. Even as my skin tingled, I began to understand Angie a
little better.

“See,” Angie said, “I told you. Now just pay
attention and you might learn something. Just look at him, all
glowy and sharp. I bent you just can’t wait to jump on him,
huh?”

“
Angie
.” I smacked her arm with my
hand, but couldn’t hold back a giggle.

“Poor, Ellie, relationships can be so cruel.
But, don’t worry, there’s always chocolate, and cake, of
course.”

“Is there a problem out here,” A deep voice
grumbled from the side. Out of the shadows behind Vyn stepped
Jaydenn.

“Dammit,” Angie said, “Why did he have to get
involved? I didn’t even hear him get up.”

Jaydenn—barefooted, holding a crumpled
T-shirt in his hand, and wearing sweat pants with the word
StarWings
printed down the leg—towered like a statue. He
stood about the same height as Mawlkon, but Jaydenn’s thick frame
held at least three-times the muscle. Matted to one ear and mussed
everywhere else, his sandy hair revealed bedhead. He scrubbed his
hand through it. Then smothered a wide yawn with a fist, spread out
his wings and shook the sleep off them.

Angie said, “Now see, that’s a male. That’s
my
male.
Oh, yummy
.”

Glancing at Angie’s wedding ring, I scrunched
up my nose, then turned my gaze up to see a backlit cloud passing
over the moon like a ghost ship drifting in a sea of stars.

The other dreks had already taken a step back
when Mawlkon said, “Oh, Jaydenn. We don’t want any trouble with
you.”

Jaydenn replied, “That’s not what it looks
like, pecker neck.” He surveyed the group. “So”—yawn—“who’s first?”
He shuttered his wings in a wakeful stretch. “Can we get this over
with? I was napping, you know.”

Angie let out a little girly giggle beside
me.

“No,” Mawlkon said. “Vyn and I were just
having a little talk, that’s all.”

Jaydenn looked down at Vyn—who was in some
sort of battle stance, entranced—and placed a hand on Vyn’s back
between his wings. “Calm down, brother. It’s over. We’ve got more
important things to do.” Jaydenn swung eyes on Mawlkon. “Why don’t
you run along now, drek. And take your chicklets with you. Our
angels are waiting for us.”

“Of course,” Mawlkon said. “Sorry to disturb
you.”