Sage popped the last of her ice pop in her mouth. It tasted of melon, sweet and cold. The stinging breeze of Windmoore hadn't shown this morning, the sun streaking across the sky. Travis had bought her a popsicle to celebrate the warmth.
"How is it?" Travis asked. His chocolate fudge bar was halfway in his mouth, dripping on the hot cement.
"Good," she replied, catching a last drop on her tongue.
She wasn't even sure how Travis had gotten the money for the treats, but she was glad they had at least something to eat today.
They dropped their sticks in the round trash can just outside the candy shop and wiped their hands on their jeans.
As both of them turned around the corner of the shop, a glint of silver caught Sage's eye. As she turned to look, she noticed something suspicious.
"Hey, Travis," she whispered. "That girl over there is staring at us."
The girl in the dark cloak peeked over at them over dark-rimmed glasses, most of her body hidden in shadow.
They had both noticed her milling around the corner before, but now she was right here in front of them. Her jet black hair was chopped at chin-length, curving around dark brown eyes. She was probably no more than fourteen. The glint of silver that Sage had seen before was the point of a small dagger gleaming beneath her sleeves. Sliding her hood over her glasses, the girl disappeared into the shadows.
"Should we follow her?" Sage suggested, frozen to the spot. The girl looked very out of place with her dark cloak and blades, especially in a town like Windmoore. She seemed like a suspicious character as well, which made her worry.
"No, let her be. She's the least of our worries right now. Let's go home." Travis replied, turning down the path.
He was lying of course, they had no home. They lived a nomadic lifestyle, wandering from alley to alley seeking shelter and food, not lingering for more than a few days. Reluctantly, Sage followed him down the street to their little alley behind the bookstore.
Sage couldn't sleep. She was restless, fidgeting in her blankets every minute that passed. Her mind was filled with thoughts of the girl they had seen today and for some reason it made her anxious and worried. It was pitch black outside, only a small smattering of stars spread across the sky. The town was quiet, a couple of faint lights emitting from a few late night shops. The smell of the alley was overwhelming, making sleep nearly impossible. She glanced at the figure of Travis, out cold at the other end of the alley.
"Sleep is something you can't be rushed into. Breathe slowly, and think about happy memories." Her mother's voice echoed in her head, bouncing around in her mind. "Only then will you drift into the Dream World." And suddenly, it was like the trigger of a bullet. Rivers of memories flooded the banks of her mind. Her mother sleeping next to her, hugging her close. Then they were in the kitchen, laughing and wiping frosting on each other's noses. Shrapnel raining down, as they both squatted in the bathtub of their small home. The wooden board collapsing on top of her mother, a teenage boy with ruffled dark hair reaching out to help.
Sage clutched her head, mind swirling in the midst of her past. She hadn't had an attack like this in years, and now it had come back to haunt her. Another memory flashed past. A helicopter, dropping blurs of black and red that descended to the ground at rapid speed. The whirring of the missle, getting closer and closer.
Whirrrrrrr! Sage glanced up into the sky. A small dot in the sky was making whirring noises. Her eyes widened. The dot got larger and larger, until she could make out the shape of a helicopter.
No. This is not happening, she thought. Terror and fear over took her as she huddled inside her blankets, blocking out the sound. As she looked upwards expecting the worst, an oddly shaped bird almost the size of a human flew out of the helicopter and swooped down, near the alley they were sheltering in. As it got closer to her, Sage realized it, in fact, was a human. A girl. With wings! The girl in the sky wore full silver body armor over a flowing white dress and had two little pearl colored wing symbols attached on either side of her helmet. It looked like the armor from wild fairytales she had heard as a child such as the story of the Valkyries. Sage was still staring blankly into the sky until a cold hand suddenly gripped her arm. Her heart leapt out of her chest at the sudden attack and she jumped up to face her opponent. Her dagger was already in her left hand, the other one stuck in the other sleeve the winged figure was clutching.
"Travis! Help me!" she screamed.
"Be quiet! You will attract attention!" the girl whispered angrily. She reached to grab Sage's other arm.
Without thinking, she pierced the girl's arm with her dagger in panic. The girl barely reacted, staring blankly at Sage. Icy, blue blood ran down her hand from the girl's wound, and her face twisted into shock.
Who are you? she thought.
The girl stared down at Sage's pale face. In this short moment, Sage took in the girl's face and curly hair, short and colored purple. Her sky blue eyes held Sage's own blue gaze coldly.
"Why are you taking me and who are you?" Sage asked, trying to release the girl's grip. The girl stared down at her in response, regarding her coldly.
"Take this!" a yell suddenly erupted from behind the girl. She saw the tip of Travis's own blade stab through the girl's right wing, hitting a clump of feathers gathered there. It looked like a pretty painful cut and Sage winced, feeling the blow of the hit. Instead of screaming, the girl's grip tightened and Sage almost saw her grit her teeth in pain. The girl's icy blue blood leaked from the fresh wound. Her arm, Sage realized, had felt numb the moment the blue blood had touched it. As the blood trickled down her arm, it was like a switch in Sage's brain. Black spots danced at the corner of her vision, and her blade clattered onto the cement ground.
"Sage, focus! Don't let her take you! I'm coming!" Travis's voice sounded miles away already, and the darkness seemed a few moments away from taking her. She barely felt the brush of Travis's fingers grabbing her other arm, desperately trying to pull her away from the girl.
The sound of wing beats filled the night air as the two girls soared upwards. Travis's grip was ripped from her arm. The whoosh of wind relieved her from the incoming darkness for a bit, snapping her back to reality. The girl was now dragging her up in the air by her arm and they were flying closer to the helicopter every second. She wondered how the girl was still flying so strongly after Travis had injured her wing. She also couldn't try to escape now, otherwise she would fall to her death.
Her eyes flitted to the ground, and saw Travis's figure way down below. The black haired girl who was watching them from the corner was standing right next to him, daggers in hand. A black beam of
light shot from the blade in her hand at Sage's captor.
How did she do that? Sage wondered.
Another beam shot up after them as she weighed the options she had.
A broken leg is probably better than wherever they're taking me, she thought again.
She struggled against the girl's grip but it wouldn't budge.
Her captor, barely noticing the movement, kept flying up towards the helicopter. More black beams followed them, and Sage finally realized that the black haired girl wasn't trying to shoot her captor down. She was trying to destroy the helicopter in the air, where her captor was taking her.
The helicopter lurched forward as one of the beams smacked into the side, throwing it off by a couple inches. The hope died in her chest as the helicopter righted itself back in position, looking almost unharmed.
Darkness swarmed in her vision again, and Sage wished it was all a dream, that maybe she was hallucinating, but the pain in her upper right arm told her otherwise. The two girls were right beside the vehicle now, and right before the girl brought Sage inside, the girl turned towards her and breathed a strange cool air from her mouth. It engulfed her face and rushed down her windpipes. The darkness overtook all her senses, lingering, waiting for her to give up. "I'm sorry, Travis," she managed to whisper as she succumbed to the haze of darkness.