Page 67 of Glass Wings
Take Hector’s hand and run.
Her head was shouting at her unwavering, planted feet.
“I’m staying for now, Hector, but you are the best friend I could ever have for checking in on me,” Hadley said, reaching her arms out to embrace him.
“Hadley,” Hector whispered, “give me a sign if you need help.”
Hadley let go of the embrace and met Hector’s eyes, giving him a reassuring smile, shaking her head no.
“Perhaps I can escort you out,” Amis offered, still hovering in the corner of the room. Hadley watched Hector hold back a smile, fighting his own inner battle, and nodded.
“I’ll wait for your call.” Hector turned back to Hadley. “Are you sure that you want to stay? I did it; I found a place where we can stay in LA! A girl in class just signed a lease and needs roommates. I told her we’d go. I told her I was bringing a writer.”
“I might never leave.” Hadley blushed, holding a hand up to her cheek.
Hadley’s mind screamed for help as she watched her best friend, her savior, leave, not hiding the confusion or disappointment on his face.
20
Allienna | Sacramento, CA | Late 1900s
Walkingdown the street wearing snow boots and a loose fitting parka drew too many stares for Allienna’s comfort. She pulled up her hood, hid her brown hair, and adjusted her black parka over her growing belly, sweating in the California sun.
There were only two scenarios as far as she was concerned, the first being that the Life Gifter was unforgiving and killed them all. Her childhood friends and her lover were gone. The other scenario would be that Arryn finds out about the bargain she made with Ayurveda and did something drastic trying to protect her, and in doing so, put their child at risk. She thought the latter of the two was more probable. He was the original, the most important of them all. She couldn’t imagine him dead. No, they all had to have survived. She refused to plan for otherwise.
Allienna decided in the temple to flee and hide to protect thebaby growing in her womb. She did love Arryn but suspected he would grow cold, jealous even of the child. He would come second in her life and she was willing to die, give this baby her immortality. That was the deal that she had made with Ayurveda, and Arryn would never allow that, she knew it in her very core.
If there was ever a true emergency, being in the same city as Reign felt good, safe, but a solemn truth lingered in Allienna’s mind. Reign was too close with Arryn, possibly even a better friend to him than she was to her. Allienna didn’t trust that Reign wouldn’t eventually give in and share their location.
No, she would do this alone and still, it made her happier than she could ever imagine. This is exactly who she was meant to be: a mother. For the first time, she was going after what she wanted. She was taking care of herself. She could do this.
Spending her entire life inside that temple with little reason to leave, Allienna didn’t account for her lack of skills or understanding of survival when traveling to the only place she’d ever been without Arryn, at least in the Earth realm.
Here in Sacramento, she risked Reign finding her, but her plan was to find a home further out from the city, living with the comfort of knowing that family did lay close by should she need it.
“Your godmother will always be near,” Allienna whispered to her belly, growing larger by the day. Sweat had begun to bead up at her brow as she passed an old baby blue movie theater and popped inside. With no plan and nowhere to go, she stared at an unfriendly looking teenager holding her hand out, asking for her ticket.
“I don’t have a ticket. I was just hoping to get out of the heat,” Allienna sighed.
“That’s not how this works.” The teenager seemed bored. “You can start by taking off your parka. It’s, like, ninety degrees outside.”
“Right, good suggestion,” Allienna replied, embarrassed, leaving the theater through the same door she had entered.
Maybe she’d made a mistake, coming here alone. Where did people go the first time they were on their own? Perhaps she should have found some money.
She continued walking down the street, passing various cafes and businesses, fighting off the stares for her odd attire. She couldn’t have removed the parka. She had nothing underneath it.
A shop on her right side had a large sign in the window saying “Now hiring.”
“Perfect, a job,” Allienna said out loud cheerfully and walked into the glass retail front to be welcomed by trendy, loud alternative rock music and a receptionist with more facial tattoos than Allienna had ever seen.
“Can I help you?” the receptionist asked, her eyes bright, friendly, and large. Her overlined lips split into a grin, and Allienna, dressed in all black, felt like she fit in here better than she had in the street.
“I saw your sign in the window,” Allienna started, “I am interested in the job.” Allienna looked around the shop and noticed about twelve cushioned plastic chairs behind the receptionist, some filled with people and a matching counterpart chopping or working on their hair.
“Do you have any experience or a license? We were the first barber shop that opened in the area that supports, how do I put this, the non-conforming communities. Demand has exploded. We need good people urgently. I’m Paisley, the owner,” she added.
“My name is Allienna, and yes, I am licensed and experienced,” she lied, wondering briefly why Paisley was being so choosy with their words.
