“You’re right. Prison food is crap, so I’m sure anything will be an improvement. I’d appreciate it if you just take me to one of your favorite places for takeout so we can get inside as soon as possible.”
“Okay. You like seafood?”
“I’ll eat just about anything.” Andreus smiled, his pointed incisors scraping the inside of his upper lip.
“You’re easy. There’s a nice place close by with some variety, so if you have a taste for more than one thing, that’s fine too.”
When he didn’t respond, Jaci glanced at him, her dark eyes narrowed. “You okay, Andreus?”
He didn’t want to alarm her, but he knew she would have to deal with whatever dangers they were about to face, sooner than later. His ability to concentrate was now nonexistent. The pain in his shoulder blades had become unbearable, as if someone was tapping their way out with a sledgehammer. “No. We need to hurry and get off the—”
Sssss! Boom!
Andreus felt the air crackling around them just milliseconds before a single bolt of lightning came out of oblivion, striking the ground in front of them and knocking out two of the car windows. Sudden, inexplicable seismic activity shook the ground directly underneath.
The front of the car tipped up, and Jaci bumped her head on the door as the car tilted. Blood trickled from her wound. He pulled her to him, shielding her from the wreckage as well as he could, refusing to let her go even as shards from the windshield embedded in his back.
The hammering at his shoulder blades increased, ripping his back open with such force, he levitated against the car ceiling, breaking through the fiberglass as if tearing tissue paper. Andreus heard the back window crashing just as the car tumbled over and landed upside down.
That’s when he saw the wings: his. Heavy black and green feathers shot out from his back, each one appearing to be as long as he was tall. He realized the wings had propelled him from the car, allowing him to hover over the SUV with Jaci in his arms.
Her eyes were like saucers as she looked up at him. Her entire body shook, a thin line of blood continuing to trickle from her forehead.
Andreus placed his palm over the wound, and her pain rushed through him again, images of a man and child lying next to her following an accident—a car accident much like this one. Immediately, as if the knowledge had always been there, he knew they were Jaci’s husband and child. Images from his nightmares flashed before him like movie clips on a screen, swords clashing, loud voices, high-pitched and deep at once, a cacophony of sounds, destruction, and wings rushing toward him, toward them.
Another laser-like beam headed in their direction, and three winged beings, men, as far as he could tell, zipped through the night sky. The lasers seemed to emanate from their hands, and one of them fought the other two. The realization that they were in the open and still in danger struck him like a boulder.
He moved away from the road, dropping to his feet several times before successfully managing to carry Jaci to the line of trees. The newness of his wings seemed more of a hindrance than a benefit as he did not know how to use them to shield Jaci, and lasers continued to shoot through the sky, a few of them landing on the ground not far from their makeshift shelter.
Suddenly, everything was silent.
“You can come out now.” Startled, Andreus turned to find the winged man who had been fighting the other two standing directly behind him.
He stumbled back, shocked that someone had been able to get so close to him undetected.
“Rehobeth.” The man extended his hand and smiled, revealing pointed incisors exactly like the ones Andreus had spent a large part of his life hiding.
Realizing the danger had passed, he set Jaci on her feet, but kept her close as she glanced nervously from one of them to the other, her lips slightly parted.
“Your things.” Rehobeth had obviously retrieved their belongings from the decimated vehicle. He glanced at Jaci, smiled warmly, and handed them to Andreus.
“Are the other two dead?”
Rehobeth nodded. “I’m sorry I arrived so late, but I didn’t know about you until very recently.”
Jaci’s breaths were shallow and short, and Andreus knew that not only was she experiencing shock from their immediate situation, but she was reliving the accident that killed her family.
She glanced at Rehobeth again, then whispered to Andreus, “You look like him.”
Rehobeth’s smile turned into a grin, and Andreus had to admit that there was a strong resemblance between them. The resemblance extended to the same kind of energy or life force he had always sensed within himself. Rehobeth’s wings were no longer visible, but Andreus recognized him as kindred, and immediately trusted him. Considering that he had never trusted anyone besides Helen and now Jaci, that was saying a great deal.
“Now that I’ve located you, we can discuss that later. For now, we’d better get you two some place safe. Those things I just killed are called minions, and not the funny cartoon kind. They were sent to kill both of you, and I’m sure there will be more of them soon. I have a truck just down the road.”
Andreus turned to Jaci and she swallowed, her nails digging into his side as she clutched him. Her free hand shook as she brushed it across her forehead.
“Can you walk that far, or do you need me to carry you?”
Jaci nodded, her movements jerky. “I-I can walk, I think. Yeah. I need to walk.”
Rehobeth led them to his truck and Andreus helped Jaci onto the seat. Her wound had healed as if it had never happened, but he felt her body still trembling. He admired her calm resolve. She seemed to be handling things well, despite everything she had been through.
Bracing himself, he felt the painful retraction of his wings as they receded into his back, no longer needed. They folded and joined with the muscles and nerve endings along his spine. When the pain finally subsided, he was able to breathe again.
Rehobeth waited patiently behind the steering wheel, a satisfied gleam in his eyes. “It only hurts like that the first time. Eventually it will be like lifting your arms and putting them down.”
Andreus climbed in beside Jaci, watching her carefully as she slid as close to him as possible. The poor woman had to be in shock. Despite remaining questions, the feeling of shock was oddly absent for him. Instead, he acknowledged a sense of coming home, and anticipated finally learning more about who and what he really was, whatever the answers turned out to be. One thing had already been made clear to him: his instinctive need to protect Jaci from whatever dangers she was about to face.
One step at a time, Andreus thought. One mystery at a time.
After three attempts at writing different urban fantasies with complete endings, the main characters in “Outreach” insisted on being a part of this urban fantasy anthology. I hope you’ve enjoyed their story so far.
For your FREE copy of Part Two, send an e-mail to: darielsdreamkeeper(at)gmail(dot)com. Please include “Good Things Anthology: Outreach” in the subject line.
Personal Responsibility
by Mia Darien
I sat in the chair on the other side of my boss’s desk, watching her read over the report I had just placed in front of her. Crossing my legs, I leaned back in my seat and crossed my arms over my chest to keep from chewing my already-devastated fingernails. I could see her eyebrows keep lifting like she wanted to look at me but was stopping herself, and my foot started swinging in the air entirely of its own accord.