My mouth agape watching Isaac vanish. But again I thought why should I be surprised when everything that happened was shocking already? Yet I decided to ask.
"Uh... Iyan... um... did Isaac teleport?"
Iyan raised his brows at my question. Then smiled and said, "No, he didn't. He flew away."
This was what got me curious.
"Fly... but we didn't see him do so. I mean... How?"
"Oh, that... It's just he went invisible before he flew." Iyan answered.
I gave Iyan a "didn't get it" look.
Iyan exclaimed, "Ah!!... oh... You don't get it?
It's just... Isaac is a spirit and all the spirits have can make themselves invisible to human eyes."
"You do that too?" I asked.
Iyan, "As I am kind of mixed breed or so, I can't do that. I can make some parts of my body invisible though. Like how you can't see my wings now."
I gaped, "Really? You have wings?"
Iyan, "Ahahaha... Wanna see?"
'There he goes again, treating me like a child.'
However, curiosity killed the cat. I gave up my pride and nodded.
Iyan stood up, faced me with his back, and leaped up lightly. He was almost a meter up from the terrace. After a while, some feathery things started to show. Four big wings with glossy feathers appeared before me.
There were two wings on each side. They covered my whole sight. The feathers were brownish-black, just like Iyan's hair. They had some golden lining to them. The feathers were fluttering but the wings remained still, looking all graceful.
"Wow... "
Unconsciously, I traced those wings. Under the soft light of the terrace, the feathers looked like normal feathers you see in all kinds of birds but the texture was all so different.
The central shaft appeared to be hard and sharp. The vane seemed both soft and sharp. The feathers were of different shapes. It seemed that the largest and medium feathers could be shrunk on their own.
"How beautiful..." I kept touching.
Suddenly, Iyan turned around. "I think we should go now."
With his words, I regained consciousness. Indeed it was late. Iyan came back to the ground and made his wings invisible. We headed to the elevator.
"About the wings... Does every one of your species have the same wings as yours?" I asked.
Iyan, "No. Wings vary between strong ones and weak ones. It's more like wings show how strong a spirit is. Six wings are the strongest and can't be found anymore. To my acknowledgment, my grandfather is the only one who has six wings. Four wings are the second strongest and rare as well. So, my wings are the reason for my position and the reason why I am being respected despite being an unknown breed."
The elevator brought us to the ground floor.
"Dean babu, I apologize. I wanted to have a delicious dinner with you but Isaac ruined that. I hope it's not too late to go home and make dinner."
I, "Yeah, Let's go."
We returned home quite late. Granny knew that I was with Iyan, so she didn't say much. After eating, I went to my room and Iyan went to his room which was on the second floor, opposite mine. I guessed it was convenient for everyone.
The next day was the most normal day of that week. I woke up before sunrise, accompanied my grandpa on his morning walk, ate breakfast made of fresh vegetables, and went to school with Iyan. Jebat was waiting for me at the entrance. So, like all other students, I entered the classroom with a friend (?).
The whole day passed and nothing happened. It seemed that Jebat barely concentrate in class. Rather than studying, he kept reading books. The girl on my other side was annoying as well. She dozed off during classes.
In the last class, I tried so hard to concentrate but ended up looking at Jebat's books. One of the books was written in Latin, another one was in Sanskrit. There were two books from which I couldn't understand the language. And I saw the last one, it was in Arabic.
Thanks to my tour(?) around the world, I understood some text of Latin and Arabic books. These talked about some techniques. There were some writings about a gate. It seemed there was a hidden gate somewhere that could be opened by using some techniques. About the gate... I didn't understand everything but it seemed precious and dangerous at the same time.
"Hey, the new student there. Stand up."
My thought got interrupted by a loud voice. The teacher was looking at me with a pair of piercing eyes.
I gulped and stood up.
"Why are you looking at Jebat's notebook?"
I looked at Jebat. 'Notebook my foot. He is reading all these odd books right in front of you and the one getting scolded is me. Damn this Jebat... he is using camouflage again.'
Jebat also looked at me. A sense of guilty showed up on his face. However, I needed to come up with an excuse. So I plainly said, "I couldn't understand the second line so I looked at his."
It seemed the teacher was kind enough. He said, "If you don't understand, you ask me not him."
And with this, he let that slide. And after the class, I caught Jebat by his shoulder and dragged him to the parking lot.
"You monkey," I chided. "The heck you did in the class and got me entangled! Stupid monkey... don't go reading the books and distract me as well."
"But master, I need to finish..." Jebat tried to make an excuse.
"Finish it after classes. And if you're gonna keep doing this, teach me camouflage as well." I frowned.
"Ok," Jebat looked like a withered flower. Seeing that, I felt a strange satisfaction.
When we left the parking, I noticed Jebat's fidget.
"You wanna tell me something?"
Jebat, "Um... about the camouflage... It would be better if you ask master Iyan to teach you and..."
I, "And?"
Jebat, "...and it will take a lot of practice."
I, "That's fine by me."
Jebat nodded.
Seeing his withering state, I realized I scolded him quite badly. To make him feel better, I needed to say something.
"Jebat, text Iyan that he doesn't need to come for me."
Jebat looked at me with surprise, "Then you..?"
I, "I am going with you."
Jebat, "Really?"
His face lightened up.
I, "Yup. By your cycle."
Jebat smiled and nodded.
So, we fetched our things and headed home together. While riding his bike, we talked about so many things. Jebat couldn't stop talking about how humid the weather was and how it never settle down.
Jebat, "You know, even in the winter, sometimes it feels freaking hot."
I, "Then it's gonna be difficult for me."
Jebat, "Yeah, I was worried about that as well."
I, "I think it would be okay. I was in Dubai before, so it would be okay."
Back then, little did I know how it would be. If I did, I would never say "okay".
Our conversation went from the weather to the sky and stopped at the grass by the road. When we reached the mountain, Jebat took a different road.
I, " Where are you taking me?"
Jebat smiled, "Don't worry. It's just a shortcut."
I was sitting with my back on Jebat's back. The road was bumpy. On it's both sides there were crop fields. The smell of wet mud filled the air. 'This place sure gets a lot of rain.'
After a while, Jebat took a turn, we entered a jungle. There were wildflowers beside the road. I saw some purple flowers and stopped Jebat. It seemed we almost reached home, so we decided to walk the rest of the road. I picked some flowers. But there was one thing I was forgetting. I only noticed when I reached and that was when Jebat stopped me.
Jebat," Mas... Dean. There's a grasshopper on your shoulder."
I didn't hear at first and turned my head to look at him. That was when I saw it.
"Wah..." I started to jump.
There were not only one but three or four bugs on me. The flowers were pretty and upon seeing them I forgot why I never get close to any bush. The result was some extra jumps to get rid of all the bugs and bump my foot with the gate.
Jebat was startled at first, but later he started to laugh.
"Why are you laughing?" I frowned at him.
Jebat, "I never thought that you would be such a scaredy-cat. Hahaha... You look like a... and you were calling me a mon... ha ha ha"
I, "Stop laughing and help me already."
Jebat, "Okay... ha ha ha"
I felt a bit embarrassed. But it couldn't be helped. I hated bug to the bones.
"If I'm a monkey, you are a monkey too," I said, sulking.
Jebat, "Pfft... okay..."
I, "Don't agree with me."
"Okay okay... hi hi hi... Let's go inside. Grandma asked me to drop by." Jebat said as if he was convincing a child.
"Hahaha..." I started to laugh as well.
It seemed there would be some peaceful days for a while.