Page 96 of Whispered Warnings: Part Two

River frowns, “I want to go and see the cliff cave.”

“We can fly you guys down too,” Reed says and then glances at me, “Which way?”

I nod, “We need to go through that gate and then we just keep going until we hit the cliffs and then walk until I recognize it.”

“Why does that sound like you’ve forgotten where it is?” Van asks, a knowing look on his face.

I try not to look guilty, “Erm.”

“Really?” Ransom asks, looking like he’s about to burst out laughing.

I wrinkle my nose, “I’ll know it when I see it, and if not, I’ll see if my finding thing will comply, and I’ll find it that way.”

“I would be interested to see that actually,” Raiden says, as we climb over the gate and walk in a straightish line for the gate on the other side.

“You know you can fly too, right,” I point out to him.

His eyes widen as if the thought hadn’t occurred to him, “Oh shit, yeah.”

“You’ve never flown before?” I ask.

He shakes his head, “The wings came with the other side of my magic being released. I didn’t even realize that I had them.”

“Wow, okay, that must have been a surprise,” I reply. “There’s no one around, so why don’t you test them out?”

Raiden looks hesitant.

Van smirks, “You may as well man, we already know that the Reaper council would have felt when you took the hybrid over.”

Raiden nods, “Yeah. I was actually supposed to start practicing anyway. River suggested that it is probably a good idea to do so in case they call on me.”

“Well, what are you waiting for?” River grins, bouncing on his toes.

Raiden’s smile widens, and in a burst of magic, his wings release, and I realize that his magic must have somehow made his wings smaller when we were in the cabin with the hybrid because they are fucking enormous and would still be even if they were folded against his back.

“Dude, they’re fucking awesome,” Van says, looking impressed.

Raiden grins, a lightness in his eyes that I really fucking like.

He looks at Griff and Reed and asks, “Okay, so how do I do this?”

Reed surprises us all when he drops his glamor as well and grins widely as he stretches his leathery wings behind him.

“Well, if everyone is doing it,” Griff says and then shifts so that he just has wings and isn’t in full gargoyle mode.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Neith

“Okay, so most of it should be fairly instinctual,” Reed says to Raiden.

“At first, try just to move your wings. Opening them and closing them is probably a good thing to start with,” Griff adds, going into full teacher mode.

We’ve stopped in the middle of the second field in order to help Raiden get at least a start on learning how to fly, which means that we’re a good way away from the road and that if someone were to drive down it, they shouldn’t see a bunch ofsupernaturals playing in a field, get suspicious or worse try and report us to someone.

Raiden’s face fills with concentration as he tries to do what Griff suggests. He does it within moments of trying, and his wingspan is so enormous that it’s awe-inspiring. I’ve seen reapers with their wings out before, but never up close like this, and it’s incredible. It’s easy to see why so many humans thought of them as angels, even depicting them as such over the centuries. They aren’t, of course; angels don’t exist, but reapers are probably the closest supernatural beings to what humans consider an angel.

“Whoa, man,” River says, smiling proudly. “See if you can flap them!”

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