Page 100 of Glass Wings
“What is happening?” Sheng looked at Hadley expectantly, which she ignored. She was too busy watching the shadow—her shadow, her protector—who plunged into Sheng next.
A minute later, Hadley watched as every living creature in the room was somehow disarmed. Her newly discovered family, Sheng, Amis, and the hooded Vrae that stood behind her, were all caving to some type of emotional breakdown.
She raised her eyebrows at her shadow, both staring at one another with the same question in their eyes.
What now?
The shadow danced over to Amis, plunging itself back into him as he gasped and looked at Hadley with shame.
“I’m . . . I’m so sorry,” he stammered, getting to his feet and rushing towards her. “Please . . . please forgive me.” Amis fumbled in his pockets and removed a small key before unlocking the shackle around her ankle.
Hadley paused, a trembling Amis backing up from her with unmistakable fear hanging heavily over him. She was the only one in the room standing tall.
She stepped towards the door, looking around to see if there was a reaction. No one seemed to notice; they were all wrapped up in their tears, cries, and movements of self-comfort. She took a deep breath and took another step, then another, until she walked right out of the front door.
Hadley was outside and unguarded. She was free. Sheng’s hold on her gone.
Her shadow self followed alongside her and brushed towards her wings.
“No, I can’t do anything with these,” she said. “I wouldn’t know how.”
The shadow danced in front of her, sprouting out wings that matched hers, and effortlessly jumped into the air, the wings barely moving but somehow able to support her. Hadley realized that this was her lesson. This shadow, this part of herself, was showing her a new path.
She should reach out and take it.
Hadley followed in the shadow’s footsteps, her heart beating so loudly that she was sure the entire neighborhood could hear it. She half expected the group of Vrae to snap back to attention and attack her for the blood pumping so heavily in her veins.
No one chased her.
She was in the air as if she pulled her arms out wide and pulled herself up invisible steps. Her muscles protested under her weight. There was no feeling of floating like a feather; instead, she felt like she was swimming in tar.
It was awful, but she was doing it.
Hadley pulled her shoulder blades together and apart, using muscles she had never used before and clawing at the air above her like she was working to break through a surface. Her shadow fluttered around her, even mocked her by laying on its side like it was lounging mid-air.
“I know I’m slow,” Hadley puffed out, never one to learn how to breathe through exercise.
It took a few minutes, but the feeling and movement had started to get familiar, and she began to access it more rapidly. She looked down and had to consciously choose not to panic, seeing that she was a hundred feet above the ground.
She moved her arms like she was in a pool doing a butterfly stroke, until her body leveled out horizontally. She moved hershoulder blades again, her wings pushing the air behind her, and for the first time, she felt like she was flying.
The wind was rushing through her hair, and the chill of the high altitude seeped deep into her bones. For the first time in a long time, a genuine smile spread across her face, her cheeks hurting. She welcomed it, grateful to feel and be on her own.
Her shadow self stayed with her, flying loops and circles around her while Hadley giggled. She didn’t have a direction or know where she was going, but she wanted to put distance between herself and that mansion.
I should find Hector.
But the thought of landing overwhelmed her. How was she supposed to get down without falling out of the sky? She wasn’t sure where to start.
She decided to keep going, getting in as much practice as possible.
A sunrise hit the horizon, revealing a snow-capped mountain range ahead. Hadley sighed in relief, seeing that if she continued straight, her feet could touch the ground without descent.
She would have to learn to fall out of the sky again.
As soon as she felt safe, her bare feet touching the cold earth, covered in pine needles and bits of snow, she let herself flop down, utterly exhausted. She rolled over, her face stretching towards the sky and her wings aching underneath her.
She was alive, and yet, the anger returned and pooled through her body, simmering.
