“Nevermind,” I giggled. “He didn’t want to join us this time.”
“Oh well. His loss,” she sighed. “Cool hoodie. Where’d you get it?” She asked.
“I think Alaine must have bought it for me. When I opened my drawer, it was there.”
“I’m going to ask her to get me one. Then we can be the Hidden Wingirls.”
“Sure,” I laughed.
“I saw Ethon the other day, when I visited Caleb. I glanced out his window, and Ethon was standing out near the entrance of the labyrinth; just staring blankly into it. He didn’t move. I sat there and watched him for a good five minutes. He looked lost, almost sad. I felt really bad for him. But then—” her voice raised and she started to get excited. Her hands spread out to her sides. “All of a sudden he spread out his arms and two humongous black wings appeared out of his back! I was freaking out. And then he took off into the sky so fast, I don’t even know where he went. I thought I was going crazy.
“I tried to tell Caleb, but he just rolled his eyes and said, ‘what’s new?’. That pissed me off, but then I realized, there is a lot more going on than people are telling me. I know about the angels, Fallen, and those horrible Darkling monsters, but now I’m finding out they have wings that magically appear. Hidden wings! Oh my God. Do they all have wings? Can they all fly?”
“No,” I said quickly, before she had a meltdown. “All of the Guardians don’t have wings. They supposedly have to earn them, and it takes five hundred years. The only ones who do have wings around us are Ethon, Samuel, and the goons… Bane and Azzah. Everyone else is basically normal.”
“Samuel has wings? Are they black or white? They must be black because he is one of the Fallen, right?”
“Right,” I nodded. “All of their wings are black.”
Her face beamed with confirmation. “So, if you get wings when you transform, what color will they be? Since Alaine doesn’t have wings, and Samuel has black wings, will yours be black too?”
“I don’t know, but that’s a good question. One that will take another five months to find out.”
“Well, if you get wings, I call dibs on the first ride.”
“Oh gosh. If I get wings, you’ll definitely have more than one ride. That much I can promise,” I said, shooting her a thumbs-up.
“Yay! Well, here’s to hidden wings,” she said, raising her sparkling apple cider bottle. I grabbed mine.
“Hidden wings!” I cheered, clinking our bottles together.
She grinned. “What do you want to watch? I have two new movies; The Hobbit or The Sound of Music.”
“Hmmm.” I had to think about it a minute. “I’m feeling like a little Julie Andrews.”
Her face scrunched up. “I didn’t expect you to say that. I seriously thought you’d choose the hobbits over the nun.”
I laughed. “I only chose The Sound of Music because it was my mom’s favorite. We’d watch it on her birthday every year, and she’d sing all the songs out loud.”
“She sounds like a wonderful person,” Courtney said softly.
“She was.” I breathed out, fighting back tears which stung my eyes at her memory.
Courtney walked up to the player and stuck the DVD in. She then plopped on her pillows, grabbed some popcorn and Pepsi and settled in. I did the same, except I chose a handful of peppermints, a chocolate bar, and a Dr. Pepper.
As the movie started to play, I felt a heat on my chest. Puzzled, I looked down to see the bloodstone amulet glowing bright red. I touched it and it zapped me.
“Ouch,” I gasped. That never happened to me before.
“What?” Courtney asked, looking at me with a bewildered look.
A sudden hair-raising scream vibrated around us. As I turned to look out the window, something large was hurling toward us. I dropped to the ground as it collided with the window. Glass exploded, shattering everywhere. Courtney screamed and covered her face. I shielded her with my body from the shards of glass being thrust around the room. A large rock, about a foot round, slammed into the wall directly in front of us and rolled back touching my foot.
Fear gripped me as a familiar, horrifying stench filled the room.
It can’t be.
I looked up as long decrepit fingers reached inside her window.
The Darkling were here.
“Courtney, run!” I screamed, but she didn’t budge. She took one look at the Darkling climbing through her window and lost it. I jumped up and grabbed her arms, yanking her with me, dragging her out the door. “Help!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, to anyone who could hear me. “Help!”