Page 68 of Wings of Death

She looks at the Zelon then swallows hard, and Demetros leads her closer. The Zelon moves toward them, closing the short distance, and I’m thankful Lacinda doesn’t freak out and dosomething stupid. He lowers his head and sniffs them both, then rubs his face against Demetros and then Lacinda.

After that, it’s as if her nerves vanish, and a smile takes over her features. “Wow, this is…” she says in amazement.

“Incredible?” I finish for her, and she nods, totally speechless.

Demetros laughs, rubbing the Zelon’s neck. “What a handsome boy,” he says in a funny voice.

The Zelon licks his face and then turns and runs off back through the trees and out of sight.

Lacinda lets out a long breath. “You were right.”

“Big teddy bears,” I remind her.

We carry on walking, snaking our way deeper into the forest. I’m not sure how much farther it is to reach this clearing, but we can’t stop now. The Dark Forest is seriously big. I don’t think any of the angels within the Kingdom really know just how big. It takes up a huge footprint in our Kingdom and stretches on farther than the eye can see, past the distant mountains. Someone really ought to explore it further.

I can only hope it won’t take us longer than a day to reach it, because with the size of this forest, we could be hiking for days. I decide to keep that bit of information to myself. The last thing I want to do is freak Lacinda out.

Sounds of various creatures echo throughout the forest as I take in its beauty. Until this point, it’s been mostly lush greenery surrounding us in all shades imaginable. But now the colours of the forest are changing. The deeper we venture, the more magnificent it becomes. Enormous brightly coloured flowers surround us in shades of red, pink, and orange, and little birds and other small creatures fly above and occasionally land on the flowers as they curiously watch us.

The trees here are impossibly tall, with thick vines hanging between them. Four-legged grey creatures with long fluffy tailsand silver wings swing on the vines through the forest above us, and they occasionally let go and free-fall before their wings snap out to catch them. I giggle at their thrilling little game as they fly back up to swing from the vines again, and we all stare in awe at the beauty surrounding us.

“I never knew the forest was like this,” Lacinda says, scanning her surroundings. “They never taught us much about it. Why do you think that is?”

“I don’t know,” I reply, confused myself. “Perhaps they were trying to protect the forest. Or maybe no one really knows.”

It wouldn’t surprise me if we were the only angels to have ventured this far into the forest. If other angels have, that information was sure kept private.

Demetros stops near the base of a tree and glides his fingers over the soft green moss growing there. “Neither did I. It’s beautiful.”

A rainbow-coloured bird flies down and lands on a low branch, tilting its head as it studies us. It’s about the size of my palm. I hold my arm out to it as it flitters down and lands on me.

“Hello, little fella,” I say as I gently reach up with my other hand and pat its head.

It chirps, hopping up my arm before flying ahead and landing on another low-hanging branch. I laugh and follow it. When I reach it, it flies off again to the next tree branch. Something tells me it’s leading us somewhere, and that we should follow.

“Is it…?” Demetros asks.

“I think it wants us to follow,” I say.

Lacinda stops. “Look, I agree it’s a cute little bird. But should we follow it? I mean, what happened to the feeling inside you that was leading us?”

“It’s telling me to follow the bird,” I tell her.

She sighs and gestures for me to lead the way.

We follow the bird for about fifteen minutes until it eventually flies inside a clearing and lands on top of a large stone covered in vines. My eyes widen when I recognise the clearing from the book, although it looks quite different now. The forest has well and truly claimed it. I rush forward through the trees into the clearing. Vines snake across everything in sight, covering the stones until they are only just visible through a few small gaps. It’s as if the forest is trying to hide them.

“Thank you, little fella,” I whisper to the bird, and it chirps and flies off out of sight.

Trees line the circular clearing, which is about twice the size of my quarters. There are large stones in the centre, in the same circular pattern, surrounding an even larger circular stone that is embedded into the ground.

“Wow…” Demetros and Lacinda both whisper as they move into the clearing.

I walk over to the stones and stop near a gap big enough to fit through. The air is thick and powerful, and it’s as if my body is telling me to run. That it’s dangerous here. There is a heaviness pressing down on me, and I’m finding it difficult to move. I slip my way through the gap and into the centre of the stones.

I take deep breaths through my nose as dizziness takes hold, and eventually, I have to crouch down for a moment to catch my breath.

“Are you okay?” Lacinda asks.

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