Page 83 of Sidhe
They were on the roof of the Gatehouse! And not that safer little patch outside of Jim’s window either, but up on top of the higher area of roof over the attic that was reallyfreakin’highto Nathan Grier. Three stories was more than enough for him to break limbs or crack his head open, not to mention that being an incubus did not suddenly null and void his fear of heights.
“Don’t think I won’t play momma bird and throw you off the building,” Epica warned.
“Ah, come on,” Nathan whined—because he had every right to in this situation as far as he was concerned, “working on the emotional stuff, and controlling my strength, and even all the sensing so I can pick out certain monsters and know what types of affection and whatever other crap I can feed off of, all great, really. But can’t we just—”
“We are not skipping flying,” Epica said sternly.
“It’s totally the best part, Nathan,” Attoinette chimed in. “What’s there to be scared of?”
Uh, falling to his death?
No,worse, breaking several bones at once, even if being an incubus meant he would heal quickly. He was not a baby bird!
“Nathan, it’s okay, we’re just asking you to try and fly straight up a few feet.” Sasha’s voice was the only one still sounding patient with him. “The only place you’d fall to is back on the roof. You only have to fly off away from the building if you’re ready.”
Nathan wanted to do this for Sasha, but letting incubus Sasha whisk him away every now and then was not the same as controlling it himself. It meant he had to actually…take off. The twins had flown Sasha up to this part of the roof while Nathan had sort ofclimbedwithout looking down.
“Okay, I can…I can do this.” Nathan shifted his weight from raptor foot to raptor foot. It was late, and he was making everyone frustrated. He just had to—
“That’s it,” Epica said, her voice bored sounding but her hand firm on his back as she gave a good push, “time’s up, pretty boy.”
Déjà vu of way too many times Nathan had begun a descent from a frighteningly high height washed over him, heights that could have very well killed him if he had landed just so, and sometimes might have killed him simply because he landed at all. In the past there had always been someone or something to catch him, make him not go splat all over the ground below, but Nathan had the worst sinking feeling as he left his stomach back up on the roof that the twins would not be soaring down to his rescue; they wanted him to do this on his own.
Why thehelldid everyone have so much faith in him?
Nathan was plummeting at an awkward angle towards the ground, seconds away from just closing his eyes tight and accepting the broken limbs he would probably suffer—and also promising to himself that he would filet Epica and maybe her sister too, just out of spite, for dinner tomorrow—when he caught a gust of wind. He was in his new incubus form, claws and fangs and wings and all, and since his wings were open in preparation for flight anyway, they caught the wind and lifted him like a glider.
But the glider effect didn’t help his falling so much as slow it down and propel him farther away from the Gatehouse, finally giving him the motivation and opportunity toflap. Nathan wasimmediately amazed how much one simple movement of his wings was enough to soar him back up several yards.
“Nathan!” called Sasha’s voice from the roof that seemed so far away now. “Don’t stop! You’re doing it! Just keep flapping!”
Easy for the ex-incubus to say; Nathan was a little preoccupied staring at the ground. He told himself not to look, to keep his eyes up, or at least level, and gave his wings another flap. He had started to sink, the current of the air only enough to let him hover a little before he started falling again without added momentum. Flapping seemed to do the trick though—Nathan wasn’t stupid; he knew it would, he just didn’t particularly like the free-falling feeling currently filling his belly.
He flapped again, not having any direction, his heart in his throat as it wildly beat, his body feeling so hot even though it was night and dark and supposed to be chilly. He could see surprisingly well in the dark, an incubus trick he knew came naturally, but all he could see were trees scattered about and the land below that was still a little too close. Or was it not close enough? Nathan wasn’t so sure anymore.
He could hear Sasha calling to him, Epica and Attoinette cheering loudly. They were definitely behind him. Flapping again and feeling surprisingly safer as the ground got farther away, Nathan felt out the current of the wind and tried to turn with it, to let that whole gliding thing steer him in the direction he wanted to go. It wasn’t easy at first. He over-compensated, like a lot of kids did when they first grabbed the steering wheel of a car, and ended up almost doing a 180. Then he tried again, adjusting how much he moved, and saw the Gatehouse take shape in front of him like a holy beacon straight from Dave above. He was a lot farther away than he had thought, anda lothigher.
“Nathan, stop thinking about it and fly already!” called Epica.
“You look awesome!” Attoinette chimed in.
Sasha waved his arm in the air as if that movement was necessary in order for Nathan to see him. All Nathan needed to do was flap in that direction, feel out the wind and let it guide him, and hopefully not suddenly crash headfirst into the ground. He could do this.
Hewasdoing this, each flap bringing him higher and closer to the Gatehouse. It was weird how he didn’t have to really think all that hard about it after a while, his wings being a natural part of him that just knew what to do, like walking. The weirdest part was that the closer he got to the Gatehouse and the faster he went with the wind whipping around him, the less he was afraid.
His skin—he had so much more of it with the wings and the extra largeness to him—felt exhilarated, not cold or numbed. He almost couldn’t believe it but…he was actually kind of enjoying it.
As he neared the Gatehouse, high enough to fly right over his companions if he chose, Nathan got a wicked idea. He let the wind carry him up above the others’ heads and then dove right for Sasha, hooking him under the arms and carrying him off the roof.
“Nathan!” Sasha cried, startled at suddenly being airborne. “I thought you were scared!”
“Someonesure sounds scared,” Nathan chuckled into Sasha’s neck as he lifted him up close. It was ridiculous how light Sasha felt in Nathan’s arms, how easy it was to hold and carry him, even while flying. Nathan thought that he finally understood why Sasha wanted this of him so often. He had never before been so sure that nothing could hurt Sasha as long as he held on tight.
“Nathan!” Sasha still sounded frantic, clinging tight to Nathan. “I-I don’t have wings! What if I fall?!”
Nathan held Sasha tighter, watching where he was going over the dark-haired man’s shoulder as he circled the Gatehouse roof, seeing the twins below still cheering him on. “Come on, baby,you trust me, right? I know it’s weird for you since you’ve always had wings, but you know I’d never drop you. I got you.” He squeezed Sasha for good measure, kissed the side of his hair.
Soon, even though Sasha was still flooding Nathan’s senses with fear, he began to relax, to let the trust he had in Nathan convince him that he wasn’t going to fall. Nathan had always had a fear of heights and flying, but for Sasha to suddenly have his wings clipped, it had to be scarier. Nathan understood that but he still enjoyed every minute of flying with Sasha whenhewas the one with wings.
