The awesome drawing of Hailey you can see at the top (on the app) or on the side (on the website) is by the talented VvianCordeiro, to whom the chapter is dedicated!

Chapter 3

After my little freak out moment, I spent a whole hour looking at my wings. I was fascinated by them. They looked similar to bird wings, with thin, soft feathers. They were a snowy white with a light sparkling emerald undertone. The color matched my eyes, which I thought was pretty cool. Well, to be honest having wings period was cool. I soon discovered I could move them around, and when I angled them to reflect the light, the green shimmered beautifully.

I had some trouble wrapping my head around the fact that I actually had wings, but I had finally come to term with it. I did not know what they meant, though. Was I not human? But then, what was I? And if winged-people really existed, then why hadn't normal people already found out about them?

At 7:25 pm, I heard my dad come home. I put on a large shirt to make sure that no bump showed through. My wings were not that big right now, with the tips lower than my shoulders, so they were not too hard to hide.

I wondered if they would grow much bigger, though. If they grew to be as big as the strange boy's, it would be kind of hard to hide their existence.

Before going down stairs, I grabbed my phone on my dresser. I was surprised to see I had 15 text messages and 3 missed calls from Ali. Crap, she was probably freaking out right now.

I immediately called her back.

"Hailey! Oh my God, are you okay? I have been trying to call you, and you didn't answer! You weren't at school either, and I..."

"Allison!" I interrupted her. "Please calm down. I promise I'm alright. I started feeling bad so I came back home. I fell asleep, and I didn't hear my phone. That's all."

"Oh thank God that's it! I was afraid you had been kidnapped or something." She answered, her relief evident. "Are you feeling alright?"

I laughed lightly. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine now. I guess I had an energy rush this morning, and I just kind of crashed."

"Yeah, that makes sense. So you're fine?"

"Ali, how many times do I have to tell you? I'm completely fine. Don't worry about me. Hey, sorry, I got to go my dad came home like fifteen minutes ago, and he's going to wonder what I'm doing."

"Alright, Bye then! Love ya!"

"Love you, too! Bye!"

I hung up. I felt horrible for lying to her. We told each other everything; there was no lying between us. Lying doesn't make people trust you, and Ali and I trusted each other fully. I told myself that there was no way I could have just said "Hi Ali! Yeah, well actually I saw an angel at school today, and then I came home, and guess what? I have wings now! Cool right?" but I still did not feel much better.

I put a smile on my face and went down stairs. I found my dad in his office, going through some paper work.

"Hey, Daddy!" I said, coming up to hug him.

"Hey, sweetheart. How was your day?" he answered, hugging me back. I suddenly remembered my wings and maneuvered my way out of the hug, so my dad would not accidentally touch them.

"It was good. Kind of tiring, though. If you don't mind, I'll just heat up some pizza and then go up to my room. I have some homework to finish, then I'll get some sleep."

"Sure, honey." Daddy smiled at me.

"Alright, goodnight, then. Oh, and I made some cookies. Don't eat all of them, though!"

He laughed. "I won't, don't worry. 'Night, Hailey!"

I went to the kitchen, and heated up some pizza which I brought up to my room. After a few bites, I realized I was not that hungry. I was too distracted by my new wings to be.

I changed into a racerback tank top so my wings would not be constricted by the shirt and laid on my stomach, my brain whirling with a thousand thoughts. I doubted I would get much sleep tonight, though I certainly needed it. Today's strange events had exhausted me.

~

I must have finally fallen asleep, because I was awakened by an insistent knocking on my window. Reaching over my night stand with a groan, I picked up my phone. I shielded my eyes from the overly bright light and looked at the time. The screen flashed 2:34 a.m. The knocking continued, and I got up with a sight.

I went up to my window cautiously, because to be honest I was not too fond of looking out of my window at night. No, I'm not a coward, but still.

I looked out to see a face looking at me. I stifled a scream and promptly ran behind my bed. The face belonged to a boy. In fact, it was the same boy I saw in the school parking lot. I went back up to the window, ashamed at my reaction. I noticed it was raining a little and reflected locking an angel out in the rain was probably not the best decision, especially after having been rude to him earlier. With that in mind, I opened the window for him.

"Hey, sorry for scaring you there," he said coming up into my room.

"It's fine." I stuttered. I had not thought about it before, but my room was on the second floor and should have been hard to access. He did not seem to have a problem with that, though. I could now see his large wings, which had permitted him to fly up to my room.

"Um, why can I see your wings now?" I wanted to face palm. Really Hailey? A stranger comes into your room in the middle of the night, and that's the best thing you can come up with?

The boy smiled a sort of half smile. "You're becoming one of us now, so you'll be able to see everyone's wings."

"Whoa! You mean I really am becoming an angel?"

"An angel?" He frowned. "Well, actually we're not really angels. I mean, sure, we have wings like them, but we're not angels."

I nodded, but inside I was very confused. What was I then?

"My name's Chase, by the way. And both of us are Winged people."

It was nice knowing his name. After all, he already knew mine. Knowing my name was one thing, though, but knowing my secret was another.

"How do you know I have wings?" I asked defensively.

"Well, first off, I can see them right now," he started with a small smile.

"Oh." I had forgotten I was wearing a tank top. I turned my head to try to look at them and started. "They've grown!"

Chase turned his attention to my wings. "Yeah, they probably did. They're going to keep growing, too." He flicked his right wing open so that it was angled towards me. "Your wings are going to be almost as big as mine when they're done growing."

I looked at the wing he pointed towards me with interest. It definitely was bigger than mine, perhaps twice as big. Chase's wings were different than mine not only in size, but also in color. They were of various shades of brown, matching the dark color of his messy hair and his lighter eyes.

I stretched out my hand and gently touched the tip of his wing. Chase flinched and drew his wing back towards himself, looking uncomfortable. I blushed.

"Sorry," I apologized quietly.

"It's fine. It would be better if you didn't do that, though." He responded, his features going back to the relaxed expression he had before.

I nodded, still embarrassed.

Chase opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off when a blast of cold air entered the room. I shivered, and he turned back to the open window, uttering a curse word under his breath.

"What's the matter, Chase?"

"We have to leave. Now."

"What do you mean? Why?" I asked, completely baffled.

"I'll explain later. Right now we have to get the hell out of here." Chase answered, his voice urgent.

"What? I can't leave!"

"Hailey, I know this is hard, and I know you're probably completely confused, but it's not safe here anymore. It knows I'm here, and most importantly, that you're here."

"But I can't just leave! And what is the 'it' you're talking about?" I exclaimed, beginning to panic.

"Hailey, your dad is here, right?" I nodded and he continued, "The Winged have enemies, and now that you have grown your wings, there's someone after you. If you stay here, your dad's in as much danger as you are. If you leave, they'll leave him alone."

That decided me. I did not want my dad hurt because of me. If it meant that he was safe, I was ready to do anything. Chase must have seen the resolve in my eyes, because he said quietly,

"Alright. Let's go."

He held out his hand, and I took it. He went to the window and was about to jump when I realized something important.

"Wait! I can't fly!"

"Oops! Sorry I forgot about that." He said, stopping in his stride. He grabbed me around my waist and jumped out of the window.

I clenched my teeth so as not to scream and wrapped my hands around his neck, squeezing my eyes shut. I could hear his wings pumping the air forcefully as we rose higher in the night sky. I built up the courage to open my eyes and looked around me. The city was calm, with only a few lone cars on the roads.

As I looked back towards my house, though, I saw a dark, menacing figure land on the roof. A blood-chilling cry of frustration rang in the air, and Chase held me tighter as I buried my head in his chest.

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What did you think of that?

Personally it's my favorite chapter so far. That sounds kind of bad because it's the chapter where she has to leave her home... I promise I'm a good person!

Comments and votes are very appreciated!
They make me want to keep writing!