Hey guys!

And another chapter uploaded!

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You guys are the best readers ever!

*The next chapter will be uploaded on the weekend of November 30. ( <- Look, I actually have a set date for an update! Don't know if that will happen again..)

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Chapter 7

I awoke to the soft noise of rain hitting the window. I rubbed my eyes and sat up. I noticed my wings, which were now slightly longer than my arms, were a bit crumpled and started smoothing them out. I usually slept on my back, but with these new limbs I would have to change that.

I got out of bed and went into the small adjoining bathroom, where I was pleasantly surprised to find a clean towel and a change of clothes. I quickly showered and got dressed. I stepped out of my room, still sorting through everything I had learned yesterday night. Now that I was not about to drop down from exhaustion anymore, I realized that even if I did learn a lot, I was still in the dark about numerous things.

I walked into the living room and saw Chase snoring softly on the couch. I smiled. He looked so cute laying there! The innocent boy sleeping in front of me looked very different from the brave warrior who had fought a monster last night. What was the name of that thing again? Morsee-something? Oh, right! Morsydrus! What a weird name... Definitely never heard it before.

I left the living room so as not to wake Chase and found the kitchen. A note on the table said, 'Went to town. Will be back soon. Help yourselves to anything you want. -Mortimer.'

I opened a few cupboards and soon had poured myself a glass of milk and found a box of cookies. It wasn't until I had bitten into my first cookie that I realized how hungry I was.

I must have been almost halfway through the box when I heard a laugh behind me. Turning around, I found Chase laughing at me. He came to sit on the opposite side of me.

"And I thought I was a big eater!"

I showed him his comment hadn't bothered me by shoving another cookie in my mouth.

Chase laughed even more.

"You look like a squirrel!"

I swallowed my cookie. "I do not!" I said indignantly.

As an answer, Chase grabbed two cookies and stuffed one in each cheek.

"I do not!" He said in a high pitched voice.

I burst out laughing. "Okay, that's funny! You do look like a squirrel!"

Shaking my head at his antics, I took a sip of milk. When I put my cup down, three cookies were missing from the box.

I raised an eyebrow and looked at Chase, then pointedly at the half-empty box. Chase smiled and grabbed the box to put it right in front of him and took a cookie in each hand. Suddenly, he froze and quickly put them back in the box which he pushed right in front of me.

"I saw that, Chase!" Mortimer's voice said reproachfully, making me jump. "You better be sharing with the young lady."

Chase smiled sheepishly while I looked at him in wonder. "How did you know he was coming?"

Chase tilted his head to the side. "You didn't hear him?"

"No, I had no idea he was here!"

Mortimer nodded thoughtfully. "She must not have developed Winged senses, yet." He turned to me and continued, "Winged have enhanced hearing and sight compared to humans. My guess is that you'll develop them later, along with other senses that will help you when flying."

"Like what other senses?" I asked curiously.

"Like a good sense of direction, for example."

I had a striking image of little seven year old Hailey proudly guiding her daddy back to the park entrance, while he looked at her proudly and said 'Look at you! It's like you have a little built in GPS in your head! That will be very useful to you when you grow up, you won't be getting lost like your old father does.'

I shook myself out of the bittersweet memory, and told Mortimer, "I think I may already have that, at least a little bit."

"Good! But you should know that developing new senses might be a bit disorienting at first. In this case, here's a piece of advice: trust your instincts.

I thanked him even though I was a bit confused.

Meanwhile, Chase had eaten all the other cookies. Mortimer looked at him reproachfully, but he just shrugged. "What? I'm a growing boy, I need my food."

Mortimer shook his head, but there was a smile on his face. "So, Chase, how's your wing?"

Chase shrugged. "It's been better, but as long as I don't move it around too much it's fine."

"Remember, you have to get to Aeolus as fast as you can."

"I know, I know. I'm sure it'll be fine by tomorrow." He said, but Mortimer looked a bit doubtful. "I just won't be able to carry you, Hailey, so that means you'll have to learn to fly."

"Really?" I said, jumping on my feet. "When do we start?"

Mortimer smiled at my excitement. "I think I will teach you. Chase will need to rest."

Chase looked at me, silently asking if I was fine with this. I nodded and smiled at the old man. "Alright."

"Aw, man, I was really looking forward to teaching you!"

"Well, in that case, it's better that I will be the one teaching her, and not you." Mortimer said sternly.

Okay? Chase saw my confused face and gave me a smirk that I wasn't too sure I liked. "Well, then," He said, "I'm going to take a shower. See you guys later. Have fun, Hailey!"

"Don't listen to him." Mortimer said. "Come on, it's stopped raining and we want to have as much time as we can to practice."

I nodded and followed him outside, suddenly regretting eating all these cookies.

"So," Mortimer said as we walked farther and farther away from the village. "Remember what I said about instincts? They will come in very handy for flying. Once you'll be up in the air, everything will come naturally. Just remember to flap your wings."

He looked at my wings. "You don't have any trouble moving them, do you?"

I shook my head. "As you said, it just comes naturally."

"Good. Now, one thing that Winged learn as children and that you wouldn't know, is that wings require careful grooming. I would do it for you today, but it probably wouldn't be very comfortable for you. Us Winged are a bit sensitive and protective about our wings. We don't like anyone we aren't close to touching them."

He paused for a moment before adding, "Although, I guess that isn't entirely true. It's a bit different with girls. Your good friends might comb your wings, say, just like your human friends would comb your hair. But as you can imagine, boys don't comb each other's hair, so it's awkward for them to touch each other's wings. Did that make any sense to you?"

I nodded, and he continued. "Once you get to the castle, a woman can probably help you groom your wings."

I was about to ask him what he meant by 'once you get to the castle,' when he announced, "And this is where you're going to practice flying!"

We stood not far of the edge of a cliff. The only sounds that we could hear were the crashing of the waves below, the cries of some birds, and the whistling wind which tangled my hair. Around us, the soil was rocky, but tufts of wild grass and few low-growing bushes sprouted from between the stones.

Mortimer led me closer to the edge of the cliff, and I looked down with a gulp. Good thing I wasn't afraid of heights! Come to think of it, was that something I had inherited from my Winged ancestors?

"Over here, the cliff forms a sort of cove, so it's a bit sheltered from the wind." Mortimer informed me.

The old man motioned for me to come closer, until my toes were almost off the cliff.

"Now remember, Hailey, just flap your wings and let instinct do the rest."

I was about to ask if I could have a bit more advice, when Mortimer gave me a big shove from behind and sent me tumbling down to the sea far below us.

I screamed on the top of my lungs and felt my stomach lurch. The air whistled in my ears, and I started panicking as the endless sea came closer with each second. Oh my God, I'm going to die! No, Hailey, come on think! Flap your wings! I frantically moved my wings back and forth. I slowed in my fall and saw Mortimer flying towards me from the corner of my eyes. Thank God, I wasn't going to die! I relaxed just a little and continued flapping my wings, feeling them curl naturally around the air until I stopped falling.

Angling my wings as if I had done it forever, I caught an air current and started rising up. Mortimer flew up to me. "Great job, Hailey!"

I gave him a huge smile, holding no grudges against him for pushing me off the cliff. Even if it was a frightening experience, it was most likely the quickest way to learn to fly. Flying was even better than I thought. It was so exhilarating. I just felt... So free.

We flew back up to the cliff and practiced flying, over and over again. Mortimer gave me tips to angle my wings this way or that to better catch air currents, and even how to fly stationary for a few seconds.

At one point, a curious seagull came closer to me. We flew alongside a bit, but when a gust of wind blew past, tipping me off balance, the bird gave a startled cry and decided to leave before I flew into him. I watched it fly away enviously, noting how light and graceful it was and shaking my head at my clumsiness.

When Mortimer thought I was good enough, we left the wind-sheltered spot and I had to fly against stronger air currents and avoid being slammed back into the cliff.

When the sun started setting, my wings hurt from the effort, but I was so happy I didn't want to stop. Mortimer, who was flying besides me ready to help if anything went wrong, motioned for us to get back up, and I reluctantly followed.

"We have to get back now, before it gets dark. Your wings probably hurt a bit, but that's normal, you're not used to using them." He smiled at me. "You did a great job today, Hailey, and let me just tell you this. Some Winged might try to tell you you are not as good as them because you're half-Winged, but don't listen to them. You're as good as the whole lot of them, if not better."

I smiled warmly at him and drew him in a hug. "Thanks, Mortimer. You're the best." I told him. He returned the hug, and I reflected that hugging Winged was very different to hugging humans.

"Come on, let's go."

"Can I fly back to the house?" I asked him.

He laughed. "You didn't get enough for one day? You could try, if you want, but you're going to have trouble taking off."

He started walking off, and after a few unsuccessful tries at taking off from the ground, I had to agree and ran to catch up with him.