Windswept (The Airborne Saga) (18 page)

             
“I’m not jealous!”

             
He chuckled and that only made it worse. Though she couldn’t feel the weight of the ‘unwed daughters’ stares, she knew they hadn’t left. Avery had to admit one thing. Though they huddled like high school girls, the women were truly beautiful. Hair in intentional curls, blonde locks bobbed the perfect length of their shoulders and framed oval faces. They were tall as most harpies, but filled out perfectly to be beautiful and not lanky. Makeup done carefully, it looked like their faces were bare, but Avery knew it was impossible to have those perfect bronzed cheeks and high cheekbones without intervention.

             
Tugging at her own curls, she freely fingered what Evelyn had done. She hadn’t liked the star treatment but had to admit she could use it again. Not for Mason, Avery reminded herself mentally, just for fun.

             
“I mean, you wouldn’t be jealous if I had to take a date to my high school party. Ya know, just because Leela pushes human guys at me doesn’t mean it’s anything to be worried about.”

             
He went silent for only seconds but she could hear the hum of vibration in his chest.

             
“Jealous, no. Worried, no. Because you’re going to like it here. And human boys have nothing on me.” His ego had returned full force.

             
She let out a breath and leaned in closer. For a long time, she’d wished they’d legitimized their relationship by taking it to the next level. At this very moment, she had to admit it was nice to slow it down.

             
Mason shifted his cheek on her hair.             

             
“Now which human boy was this? Would anyone notice if he went missing?”

             
“Mason, down boy!” She grinned upward at him and accepted his kiss as an apology.              

Fourteen

              “You are the talk of the town! And it’s all because of me!” Evelyn’s voice replaced her knocking and Avery opened the door to find the woman beaming on the other side. “I’m so good at what I do! Except I still think you should have reconsidered the hair style.”

             
Avery stepped back. She’d been awake long enough to shower and eat. Now the woman’s overwhelming presence seemed so much more welcome than yesterday.

             
“Talk of the town?” Avery prompted to direct the harpie woman’s excitement. Evelyn refocused on Avery and stopped her mini-victory jog around the room.

             
“Sit down. Here. You’re not going out today so I don’t need my full set.” The woman directed her onto the seat of Avery’s desk. There was a mirror set above it and fluorescents above that. Evelyn dropped a bag onto the ground and fetched supplies from it. On the table she dumped a hair brush, spray, and some type of bottle that reeked of strong jasmine.

             
As if their one session had left her skilled with the curls, she tamed Avery’s hair instantly. Then Evelyn answered.

             
“Everyone is scrambling to find out who you are. You are the beautiful, mysterious human girl. Now that the commencement is coming up, you’re big news!” She sprayed Avery’s hair down until all oxygen had left the room. Avery coughed subsequently. Only when she could get a breath, she croaked.

             
“Yeah. Mason’s bringing me to that dance.”

             
“That dance? It’ll be the biggest ball we’ve had in centuries! It comes every year before the big speech. And at these two events, the whole world will be looking at you. Well, at His Majesty but you will be by his side.”

             
Avery swallowed thickly but not because of the hairspray polluted atmosphere. Had she not been nervous before, it seemed like everyone in this building was determined to make her so. Evelyn went on without missing a beat.

             
“I have a dress picked out for you. And you’ll have to be up bright and early!”

             
Avery was fearful of knowing what bright and early actually meant. She had no clock in her room; the only numbers she assigned to time came from her cell phone. But that last link to the human world was almost in vain. The phone mostly sat dead by her night stand. Her worries threatened to take her, but she quashed them. She’d spoken with Leela. The girl had been alright even if a bit spastic. It turned out Nate and Leela were having a bit too much trouble actually adjusting to living together. After having lived with Leela for four years, Avery could attest to how difficult it was.

             
“What’s wrong?” Evelyn asked, cuing Avery from her thoughts. The woman may have been very perceptive or Avery just wore the thoughts all over her face.

             
“I’m just thinking about a friend I have...”

             
“Well spill. You’ve opened the door.”

             
“They’re having relationship problems. Not because they don’t love each other. But because they can’t find a way to live together.”

             
“And this friend is you, huh?” Evelyn took it the wrong way but kept on that track. “Are you worried about the girls that the council is trying to set up with Mason?”

             
“Wait, what?”  Avery twitched a little too much.

             
“It’s nonsense. Certainly the council would like someone of more appropriate blood. He’d been engaged before to one of their daughters. But Mason can do what he wishes. He’s higher than the council and he likes you.”

             
“You mean Adalyn.” Avery piped in. She’d known of that. She’d known the woman had been a bloodline ‘worthy’ of Mason. Or at least that’s what she always said when she proclaimed that Mason needed her. That he’d ruin everything with a human who didn’t understand their world. In a disturbing way, she almost felt like Anne Boleyn minus the marriage.

             
“Yes. Poor dear. I knew her well and it’s just tragic to hear those things.”

             
“What do you mean?” Her father’s death? Her kidnapping? Evelyn had so much to choose from, Avery was instantly curious about how much the woman actually knew.

             
“Forget I mentioned it. I shouldn’t speak of it.” Evelyn’s hands dropped. She’d finished Avery’s makeup—skimpy wisps of bronzer and eyeliner.

             
“What things? Why is everyone so secretive about everything?” Avery asked. “Is this about Samuel’s compound? Did everyone finally decide what was going on?”

             
Evelyn let out a whine, like she’d been put on the spot by the executioner. Free of her hands, Avery turned to see her.

             
“You told me you were the spider at the center of the web. So tell me what you know. It’ll stay between us.”

             
The woman had whitened as much as a ghost. She answered slowly and quietly, her usual boisterous attitude long gone.

             
“We must not speak of those things. Or of him. Excuse me.” Evelyn whirled on her heels and made a dash from the room, Avery barely had the opportunity to chase her. She slid into the hall but they suddenly weren’t alone. Passerby’s lingered and in Avery’s momentary hesitation, Evelyn disappeared among them.

             
Avery didn’t get the chance to follow. Someone gave her a sharp jab from behind. She turned around to find a tall, older man behind her with a face she didn’t recognize.

             
“Get inside. We need to talk.”

             
Avery’s mouth went dry. Had someone heard Evelyn’s rant? Avery dreaded each step back inside. The man sealed the door behind them.

             
“May I ask who you are?” Avery spoke because she felt the need to say something. The man’s eyes studied her like she was a complex puzzle and he didn’t know where to begin with the pieces.

             
“We’ve met before. And Mason sent me. He requested me to look into your condition. I am looking into your condition,” he said without missing a beat. His eyes had glued to the Willow tattoo on her arm that her short-sleeved top did little to hide.

             
“You’re a doctor?” she asked in a lowered voice, the new information managing to take away the remaining anger. She corrected her posture on the bed, folded her legs, and brushed the straggles out of her hair with her fingers. Mason’s mind obviously hadn’t left her condition although she’d been doing her best to ignore it. The Willow tattoo had stayed its awkward color and its disobedient strength. It hadn’t caused her much pain but she hadn’t used it. More than anything, it hadn’t gotten better like Mason had promised. Weeks since Mikhail’s attack, there was no change.

             
Her question made him straighten up and fix his glasses.

             
“I told you, we’ve met before. I’ve made my retirement studying you.”

Avery took a moment to stare. With a longer look, it appeared she did remember seeing him once before. A long time ago, she’d been in the harpie hospital after the prison had collapsed. Samuel had been accompanied by this man. He didn’t seem particularly remarkable at the time but she knew now that he was probably high up on the medical chain of the harpie civilization.

“When you’re done with the gawking, close your mouth, and step up. I need to see what magic you can manifest.”

“Mason told me not to do it, that it’d make it worse.”

The doctor snatched her wrist in a crippling grip anyways. He flipped it over until the tattoo showed and she let out a grunt of discomfort.

“You can’t understand something you can’t study
,” he said pointedly.

Avery stiffened her entire body and reluctantly gave in. It took a minute to prep herself. Weeks of trying to avoid using the magic, it would take some mental rerouting to do it now.

Letting out a breath, she focused on the warmth of her skin and the air in her lungs. She let her toes dig into the carpet and pulled on the magic. It came in the form of a singing sensation that didn’t flare up immediately. She shut her eyes and tried again. It was foolish for the doctor to believe that she could do anything but grasp at straws. She’d attempted this before with more focus and less of a rush only to find little success. He kept complaining anyways.

“If this is your attempt to slow down the process of removing the Willow magic, th
en I must protest.”

Avery’s eyes snapped open and she took a long look at him.

“I’m not trying to slow the process of removing anything,” she answered defensively. The doctor straightened up, an irritating blank stare of doubt on his face. The look made her temper twitch. He went on.

“Why would you? The magic has made you a god among men. If you could control it, if it wouldn’t kill you, why would you give it away?”

She struggled for a reply. Only her mouth flopped open and shut. She’d never thought about keeping the magic—everything about the thing was ‘get it out, out, out, out’.  Avery attempted to answer calmly, mostly because she couldn’t think of any other way how.

“Don’t mistake my tolerance for approval. I have never done anything but clean up messes that the Willow magic has made.” Her skin crawled and she resisted the urge to itch the marking. So what if it had changed her life in a positive way? She had Mason and a new life because of it. But it had equally changed her life in a bad way. But to go back in time and prevent herself from finding the amulet on the beach wasn’t something she would immediately affirm. The thought actually left her
puzzled.

“It’s impossible to say that I’d change things. Though I couldn’t picture how different my life would be, I somehow doubt I’d
picture it better. Besides….it’s not even working now anyways. Like I try the same way I always have, but nothing happens. It’s been such a long time and it isn’t working. I’ve used it this much before but it’s different now! It’s changed.”

She glanced back to see him but he didn’t budge. The expression he wore didn’t betray if he believed her or not. He changed the subject.

“Have you considered changing the way you try to use it?”

“It doesn’t work like that.”

He grunted. “Humor me.”

She frowned. He hadn’t listened too much yet and she didn’t feel like explaining the intricacies to him. Letting out a breath, she closed her eyes again. Mikhail had been the first one to teach her how to manifest that magic. She wouldn’t have thought of such a thing without him. Now thinking of manifesting it a different way didn’t make much sense.