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SUMMER
“What do you want to do?” I asked, peering past the boulder. I still couldn’t see all the way to the bottom, and that made me nervous. What waited for us down there? We wouldn’t be forced to come this way if there weren’t traps waiting.
“I do not wish to try flying,” he said. “Not yet, but I will try to coast to the bottom. I feel confident about that.”
“Have you tried that before?”
“Only when forced, and since I worried that I’d die in the fall, I made myself do it. My wings did hold my weight for a long distance.”
“Please tell me he didn’t shove you off a cliff.”
“Only once.”
“Adone.” I hugged him, still unable to get over the idea that he’d been tortured, that someone had fused bits of flesh to him. That Vunne had hurt him. “You don’t have to do this. We can walk the rest of the way down.”
“Time is limited.”
The sun hovered overhead, and I wanted to argue, but he was right. Half an hour could make all the difference. “Maybe try for a short distance.”
“I will try for everything. If it doesn’t work, then I will land, and we will walk.”
That seemed reasonable.
“Tumbles?” I asked. He wiggled over to my feet, and I lifted him.
Adone gathered us into his arms and climbed onto a large rock.
The monitors both came in close, taking images from all angles to blast throughout the universe. Was anyone “back home” cheering that he was going to try this or were they all betting against him?
He jumped off, his wings snapping out to their full length. For something that had caused him so much pain, they were beautiful, as if Lord Vunne hadn’t been able to resist crafting something that was aesthetically appealing as well as functional.
Adone coasted downward, his wings fluttering in the breeze but correcting our trajectory as needed.
I still couldn’t see where we’d land, but there had to be an end. The bottom of the cavern would be visible soon.
The monitors flew beside us, and I knew the moment the Universal Council decided this was too easy for us, because the wind picked up, buffeting us. We shot to the left, and then the right.
A gust hit us from above, sending Adone into a spin. He corrected, fine tuning the flap of his wings to take us where we wished to go without plunging uncontrollably.
“You’re doing great,” I said. Everyone needed praise and encouragement. “You’re brave.”
Tumbles cooed in agreement.
Adone’s laugh snorted out. “No braver than you.”
“We’re both brave.” And for the first time, I actually believed it. I’d gotten up the nerve to run from the commune, something so few did. It might’ve taken me years, but I’d done it. And if the aliens hadn’t kidnapped me, I would’ve hidden in the location Jake showed me on a hand-drawn map. One of his friends ran once, and he’d gotten quite far before they caught him. He’d taken time to make a map, and before his second successful run, he’d shared the information with Jake.
I was never sure why Jake didn’t try to leave himself, though there was a guy he liked a lot. Maybe he hoped something would come of it?
Adone’s arms tightened around me, keeping me safe while the wind knocked us everywhere. He remained above the steep slope, though only by a few feet. And he floated.
“We are both brave, aren’t we?” he asked in a voice full of hope and excitement. “Perhaps I could try to fly. Floating is easy.”
It didn’t seem easy to me, but I had no wings. Not the physical kind, that is.
My only wings lived in my heart.
“You do what you feel comfortable with, nothing else,” I said.
