Chapter 16 — Angels and Devils

  Alden's wound was starting to concern the group.

  "This would be a great time for us to discover healing magic," Rika said, looking uneasy.

  "Can't be done," Hailey said grimly, while Jessica checked the bandage. "Trust me, I've tried everything I could think of."

  "I'm probably okay though, right? It's just bleeding," Alden asked. He was trying to keep himself from panicking. He'd never been seriously injured before, and the throbbing in his arm was getting worse.

  "Relax, Zack," Rika said, patting him on the shoulder. He winced as a new wave of pain shot down his arm. "It's just a surface-level cut. Looks way worse than it is. Worst case, it gets infected and we lop the arm off. No biggie."

  "What!?"

  He tried to twist away from her, but Jessica held him back firmly, waving a finger in his face and 'hmm'ing loudly. Alden slumped back and let her continue to examine it.

  Hailey took a deep breath. "I think we need to take him to the doctor."

  Rika shook her head. "No way. We can't get that far unnoticed. That's practically across town."

  "You can't get that far," Hailey replied. "I can, and I can take him with me."

  "Flying?" Alden asked excitedly. After he'd seen Hailey's majestic dive out of the clouds, he'd been dreaming of pulling off the same stunt himself. One day, he promised himself, he'd manage to do that on his own.

  "Yeah, but it's not gonna be fun," she sighed.

  "So you take him to the doctor, he turns Zack in to the sheriff, and then what—you just float away?" asked Rika.

  "I don't think the doctor would turn anyone in. He's pretty well known for his discretion. Besides that, I don't think anyone's really looking for Zack. They only ever mentioned you."

  "Rika, I think it's a good idea," Alden said, feeling woozy. The excitement coupled with the blood loss had him lightheaded.

  She shrugged. "Fine. I guess I'll stay here with Squeaky then."

  Hailey's eyes narrowed. "Jess."

  Jessica looked up. Hailey pointed at Rika, then punched her own hand, followed by a thumbs up. Jessica nodded with a small smile.

  "What did you just tell her?" Rika asked, looking uneasy.

  "That beating you up is totally fine. I've gotta grab a few things. We'll go as soon as the sun gets low."

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  For a few intense moments, it was fun—but it took a lot of buildup for Alden to get there.

  Hailey took him to the rear balcony, and Jessica double-checked his bandage to make sure it was tightly strapped to his arm. Hailey was wearing the same tight leather jacket as before, with her hair pinned back in place and pouches across her belt. This time, however, she also had a sort of harness that looked like several thick black car seatbelts set around her chest.

  "This is safe, right?" Alden asked, suddenly apprehensive again.

  "Jess and I have flown together a few times. We only used the harness once," Hailey answered, double-checking the straps. "I don't like using it, but I'm not sure how your extra weight might throw me off, plus I don't want you losing grip because you're injured. Better safe than sorry."

  "Right," Alden said, still eyeing the straps like a dangerous animal.

  "Look on the bright side, you get to go flying," Rika smirked. She was lurking just inside the sliding door. Alden shot her a dark look, but she only cackled.

  Hailey took his shoulders and pulled him against her chest, strapping him in facing outward. Jessica checked the straps again, then stood back to give them room. Alden stood there awkwardly, pressed up against Hailey who was only an inch taller than him, wondering what was supposed to happen next.

  "So do we jump off or something…?" he asked.

  "Nah, just needed to get my mind right," Hailey replied. She put her hand behind Alden's head and grabbed something he couldn't see. "Hang on now."

  Without any more warning, Hailey's legs coiled, and she sprang into the air out over the forest. Her arm wrapped around his chest and the straps made a balanced grip, but he still felt a huge unpleasant pull yanking him skyward. For a moment, it seemed like they'd just jumped ten feet up, but Alden didn't feel anything akin to flying. Hailey didn't seem concerned, even as they started falling back down again. There was a brief, terrifying moment of panic as Alden expect them to crash straight into a tree.

  There was a fwoomp of wind, as if a massive pair of wings had just beat the air around them. Hailey surged forward and rolled herself around the tree, dragging Alden along for the ride. Another fwoomp and they gained altitude. Alden could feel Hailey's heavy breath as she exerted herself with every wingbeat.

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  "How are you doing that?" he shouted over the rush of wind. He could see now why Hailey had worn the aviator cap, as his own ears felt like they were being torn away.

  Hailey didn't reply, but another heavy wingbeat took them up to the height of the trees. Every wingbeat was a mix of painful force crunching into his chest from the straps and terrifying falls as they began to descend again. Adrenaline was beginning to surge through him from the constant push-pull of safety and terror. He began taking deep breaths, trying to force himself to be calm.

  Another heavy wingbeat, coupled with a loud grunt from Hailey, and they broke above the treeline. There was a softer thump of an impact, and suddenly they were gliding. Alden opened his eyes. The orange sunset was shining directly at them, rays of light filtered through the taller evergreens dotting the hills before them.

  "Wow," Alden gasped. It was breathtaking—in more ways than one, as he gulped down oxygen from the bumpy flight up.

  "Yeah," Hailey said, and for the first time since they'd met, Alden heard joy in her voice. It was still tinged with a bittersweet longing, but there was at least some form of happiness lurking inside that haunted face. "It's the first thing I ever wanted to do."

  "Flying?"

  "Yeah. It was everything I hoped it'd be, too. Here—" she said, and she pulled her arms back behind her tight. Alden clenched his fists in anticipation.

  They leaned forward, and Alden could have sworn he felt real wings sprouting out of Hailey's back that were folding into a dive. They picked up speed at an alarming rate, and soon the tree trunks were whipping past them at lightspeed. Alden saw the ground rushing up to meet them, and let out a cry of panic. Suddenly, he felt arms wrapped around him. Hailey pulled him into a tight bear hug, despite the harness.

  There was a shift, and Alden could tell the wings were unfurling again as their descent turned. Suddenly they were gliding again at an absurd speed. Hailey was in absolute control. They sped past tree after tree, clearing them by centimeters. Alden swore he felt branches brushing him as they went by, but he also believed that at their speed, even the slightest impact would have been disastrous.

  Whole minutes could have gone by for all he knew before they shot back out of the trees as the hills dropped away below them once more. Hailey had brought him above a sea of green, where the hills rolled out in every direction in a huge bowl. Their altitude increased just enough to bring them back to an easy glide, gently riding the wind once again in the golden sunset and cloudy sky.

  Hailey let out a whoop of exhilaration. Alden laughed in delight. "I've never gone that fast before," Hailey said, laughing.

  "Could have warned me first!" Alden said, but he was grinning in spite of himself.

  "That wouldn't have been as fun," Hailey said.

  "That was the coolest thing I've ever done."

  "I know, right?" Hailey laughed again. "I'll let you know first if I'm going to do it again though, okay?"

  "Yeah." Alden winced, feeling the pain returning to his arm. He'd forgotten about it in the rush of the flight, and tried his best to hide it. He wanted to keep flying. Hailey noticed it though.

  "Oh god, I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?"

  "No, you're fine," Alden said, but winced again with the next light wingbeat to keep them steady.

  He felt a motion above him, like Hailey was shaking her head. "No, this could actually be serious. I'll get you to the doctor now. I shouldn't have taken you out here."

  "Okay."

  They flew much more gently for a few minutes, as Hailey swung them back around to return to the town from another direction. Alden could tell she was making it a much easier glide now, with lighter and fewer wingbeats. He marveled at her control and power. Even with his limited knowledge and experience, he knew that what she was doing was incredibly difficult. He wanted to reach out with his own will and see if he could probe out what she was doing, but he didn't want to risk messing something up, or making her upset.

  Instead, he just enjoyed the view and ignored the pain in his arm as best he could. The air was chilly but not uncomfortable, and the forest air was refreshing. As Alden looked out over the expanse of trees, he spotted a small clearing where there seemed to be signs of life beyond the scattering birds—a faint plume of smoke rising from what looked like a cabin, just barely visible from their distance.

  "Do you see that?" he asked, pointing.

  "The clearing? Yeah, some weirdos in grey robes live out there. Looks kinda like a cult."

  "You mean Cinza and her people?"

  Hailey shrugged, which sent them wobbling a little before she stabilized their glide again. "I never met any of them, so I don't know. Is Cinza the tiny crazy girl with the grey hair?"

  "Yeah. They live out here?"

  "They camp out, grow some of their own food, hunt a little. I'm kind of jealous, actually," Hailey said wistfully. "I think I'd like living like that for a while. Not the cult part though."

  They flew silently for another few minutes. A few birds glided nearby, eyeing them with suspicion. They seemed too afraid to approach the strange figure of Hailey with Alden strapped beneath.

  "Why did you, then?" he asked suddenly.

  "What?"

  "Take me out here."

  "Oh," Hailey said. "I guess… it was just instinct. I was going to go out flying anyway. I only stopped by because I saw Jessica signalling."

  "She signaled?" Alden asked. He hadn't noticed anything.

  "Yeah. We have a system. When she's in trouble or needs something, she makes a certain color flame appear near our place in a certain spot. I check for it whenever I can. She must have placed it right before you guys got into it."

  "Wow. That's really smart." Alden thought for a moment. "Why didn't you ask for help, though?"

  "What?"

  "You were alone for a whole year, right? If you and Jessica needed help, why didn't you just ask?"

  "We… weren't alone. There were five of us. Now there's just two. Asking for help was too dangerous," Hailey said. She drifted them lower, closer to the treeline where they wouldn't be as visible to the swiftly approaching town.

  "But now?"

  "Now? I don't know. I want Jess to be better, of course I do. But there's some scary people out there. I don't know who we can trust."

  "You trust Rika though?" Alden asked.

  "You sound like you don't."

  "I mean, I like her…"

  "No kidding," Hailey said, laughing.

  "Huh?"

  "You've got a massive crush on her, Zack."

  "Oh," Alden said, hesitating. Even to himself, it was pretty obvious. "Yeah, I guess I do. Still—"

  "You've got a crush and you still don't know if she's actually cool, is that it?"

  "...Yeah."

  Hailey hesitated. "She has a pretty bad rep around here, and a lot of it is earned. I don't think she's a bad person though. I think she's just very single-minded. She always has one goal in mind, and she goes after it regardless of anything else. No matter what."

  "So if her one goal is to find her father?"

  "Then anything that helps her find her dad is fair game."

  "That's pretty harsh," Alden said.

  "Yeah. It means she might not do anything, or she might do everything."

  "She told me she's trying to be better at keeping promises."

  Hailey dropped them below the treeline again with the town closing in fast. "Then maybe she's getting better. I hope she is. I don't like what the rest of her friends did to her."

  "What did they do?"

  She hesitated again. "I'm sorry. You seem like a nice guy, Zack, but that's not my story to tell. I'm not sure if I even know it, since apparently magic was involved the whole time and I never knew that part." She swooped down low as they approached the side-street where the doctor's house was located. "Ask her sometime, and hopefully she gives you the truth."