The cliff was
inevitable. I couldn’t stop. Didn’t try to stop. Two feet. The ground fell out
from under me. Just like that; it disappeared. I hung in the air. Nothing was below
me but trees and wind. Then I was falling.
I had always wanted to go skydiving. How amazing would it be to see
the ground beneath you while falling from the sky? Of course, you would have
the parachute for safety. It would be the one item between you and a nasty
death. I didn’t have a parachute.
My stomach dropped, and I flailed my arms. How did I use my wings?!
They were limp behind me. Where were my ‘instincts’ that sent me off this
cliff? My instincts were celebrating the fact that I had a huge lead on the man
behind me while I fell farther and farther. Ten seconds and I would be a splat
on the forest floor. As a final effort, I flung my arms out and put every
thought into slowing my decent. I pulled my shoulders back and willed my wings
to help me.
Instinct took over again, and I felt a strange muscle moved in my
back. So that was how I used them, just like an arm or leg, I moved the
muscles. That sounded stupid after I thought about it. I guess I figured I had
to do a certain movement like the Spiderman hand gesture. Or give some kind of
verbal command. Five seconds away from the ground, I began slowing down. My
back felt like it was being pulled and stretched. Unfortunately I didn’t slow
enough, because I crashed painfully on the forest floor.
Ground! Sweet, soft ground! Luckily I didn’t weigh as much on this
planet, or I probably would have been dead. For some reason, I no longer wanted
to go skydiving. A grin slowly spread across my face, but something told me I
couldn’t just sit here. He was coming. I leapt up as a new adrenaline
rush hit my system. Run or hide?
My wings were still spread out behind my body, and I had to stop
myself from wasting time looking at them. I left them spread, not having enough
time to find the muscles to move them again. Sitting still for a minute, I asked
my instincts what they would do. They wanted to fly under the trees to lose him
in the tightly-packed forest. That sounded like a good plan, especially since
he was larger than I was, except for the fact that I had about zero flying
skills. I looked for another option, which led me to glance up at the tall branches.
I had never gone climbing, but it wouldn’t be too hard with the
lessened gravity, would it? Turning to the nearest tree and finding some
footholds and handholds, I climbed up the trunk like a spider monkey, pulling
my light body up with surprising ease. The forest smelled sharply sweet.
When I was about fifty feet high, my ears picked up the quiet thump of which I was all too familiar. A fork in the tree was just within reach, but
I froze, holding my breath. Someone was silently walking just below me. My
wings must have stuck out like a beacon. It was only just a matter of time
before he looked up and spotted me. Glancing down, I noticed that the man had
brown hair and handsome features. But that was totally irrelevant right now. It
was also irrelevant that his black shirt clung to his muscled chest.
Without stopping to think, I slowly removed the scissors from my
pocket and chunked them through the air. They crashed into a pile of leaves far
below. The man was a blur as he flew to the noise.
As soon as he picked up the scissors and realized the trick, the Marshal
loudly called, “Peter!”
I slowly turned my head to the direction of the voice.
The Marshal emerged from the trees with Samantha and John. The three
sets of wings were a yellowish gold in the faint light trickling through the
trees, and they were walking just far apart from each other to keep them from
touching. Their petals, speaking of which, slanted steeply downward, after
rising a few feet above their heads.
They all looked quite formidable together, especially since Marshal’s
face was a deep red and he was glaring daggers at the guy below me named
inevitable. I couldn’t stop. Didn’t try to stop. Two feet. The ground fell out
from under me. Just like that; it disappeared. I hung in the air. Nothing was below
me but trees and wind. Then I was falling.
I had always wanted to go skydiving. How amazing would it be to see
the ground beneath you while falling from the sky? Of course, you would have
the parachute for safety. It would be the one item between you and a nasty
death. I didn’t have a parachute.
My stomach dropped, and I flailed my arms. How did I use my wings?!
They were limp behind me. Where were my ‘instincts’ that sent me off this
cliff? My instincts were celebrating the fact that I had a huge lead on the man
behind me while I fell farther and farther. Ten seconds and I would be a splat
on the forest floor. As a final effort, I flung my arms out and put every
thought into slowing my decent. I pulled my shoulders back and willed my wings
to help me.
Instinct took over again, and I felt a strange muscle moved in my
back. So that was how I used them, just like an arm or leg, I moved the
muscles. That sounded stupid after I thought about it. I guess I figured I had
to do a certain movement like the Spiderman hand gesture. Or give some kind of
verbal command. Five seconds away from the ground, I began slowing down. My
back felt like it was being pulled and stretched. Unfortunately I didn’t slow
enough, because I crashed painfully on the forest floor.
Ground! Sweet, soft ground! Luckily I didn’t weigh as much on this
planet, or I probably would have been dead. For some reason, I no longer wanted
to go skydiving. A grin slowly spread across my face, but something told me I
couldn’t just sit here. He was coming. I leapt up as a new adrenaline
rush hit my system. Run or hide?
My wings were still spread out behind my body, and I had to stop
myself from wasting time looking at them. I left them spread, not having enough
time to find the muscles to move them again. Sitting still for a minute, I asked
my instincts what they would do. They wanted to fly under the trees to lose him
in the tightly-packed forest. That sounded like a good plan, especially since
he was larger than I was, except for the fact that I had about zero flying
skills. I looked for another option, which led me to glance up at the tall branches.
I had never gone climbing, but it wouldn’t be too hard with the
lessened gravity, would it? Turning to the nearest tree and finding some
footholds and handholds, I climbed up the trunk like a spider monkey, pulling
my light body up with surprising ease. The forest smelled sharply sweet.
When I was about fifty feet high, my ears picked up the quiet thump of which I was all too familiar. A fork in the tree was just within reach, but
I froze, holding my breath. Someone was silently walking just below me. My
wings must have stuck out like a beacon. It was only just a matter of time
before he looked up and spotted me. Glancing down, I noticed that the man had
brown hair and handsome features. But that was totally irrelevant right now. It
was also irrelevant that his black shirt clung to his muscled chest.
Without stopping to think, I slowly removed the scissors from my
pocket and chunked them through the air. They crashed into a pile of leaves far
below. The man was a blur as he flew to the noise.
As soon as he picked up the scissors and realized the trick, the Marshal
loudly called, “Peter!”
I slowly turned my head to the direction of the voice.
The Marshal emerged from the trees with Samantha and John. The three
sets of wings were a yellowish gold in the faint light trickling through the
trees, and they were walking just far apart from each other to keep them from
touching. Their petals, speaking of which, slanted steeply downward, after
rising a few feet above their heads.
They all looked quite formidable together, especially since Marshal’s
face was a deep red and he was glaring daggers at the guy below me named
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