Ray's POV

I've been meeting Violet every day after school to help her with using her wings. It's actually been a really cool experience. We wait until everyone leaves the building - like that first time I figured out about Violet's wings - then we go to the back of the school and she pulls out her wings. They're retractable, so she doesn't have to walk around with gigantic wings on her back for everyone in the whole entire school to see.

We would then spend at least 2 hours in the back field, trying to get her to fly off of the ground, then walk home together, talking about the pros and cons of that night's 'Training Sessions', as we like to call them.

This time was different though. She finally mustered up enough strength to fly a couple feet into the air, and safely land back down! In that moment, I felt like one of my hockey coaches - I felt proud. I can't take all the credit though. She's the one who grew the wings, after all.

As soon as she landed safely on the ground, we both started cheering, then we hugged. And then it got a little bit... Awkward. I had never hugged a girl my age before.

Violet's POV

And we both just kinda... Stood there. I have no idea what was going through my head.

Must be the adrenaline, I thought.

I looked down at my hands, and they were entangled with Ray's. I looked back up into Ray's eyes, and he was portraying the same emotion I was feeling. If there was an emotion called "Not-sure-what-just-happened", that would be the emotion that we were both feeling at that very moment.

Then something crazy happened.

We started flying.

Ray's POV

I couldn't believe it. I looked down at our feet as I watched the ground get smaller and smaller. I looked up at Violet, not sure what to say... "Oh my gosh we're flying!", "I'm afraid of heights!", "What if we fall?" "Are you sure you're capable of carrying the both of us?"

"Just enjoy the ride," Violet said calmly, as if reading my mind.

Calm? Calm?! You want me to be calm? We are flying upwards, which means we are getting farther away from the Earth every second, which also means there's a bigger percentage of us dying! The only thing that I am relying on right now is how long her wings can withstand our weight!

Then I noticed something. As we flew up, we got closer to the roof of the school. I looked into Violet's eyes and she caught my gaze and smiled. Honestly, I couldn't help but smile back. It was my first time flying, and I was having a blast. I was literally in the arms of an angel.

Finally, we landed softly on top of the school roof, making sure not to break anything. We let go of each other's hands as we looked out at the view from the top of the school. It was amazing. We could still see the back field, sure. But what really took my breath away was the view above it. The tree line went back for miles, and I could see birds flying in and out from the tops of the trees. After the tree line was a dip. My guess was it's probably a road or something.

Violet's POV

I could see Ray's eyes brighten as he looked out into the distance, obviously amazed by the view the roof gave us. I smiled. I had never seen him like this before. I mean, obviously things will start being different now that I have these lovely wings of mine!

I take the time to feel my wings. They're soft and fluffy and they seem delicate, but they're really strong and can probably carry up to ... Well, let's just say they're really strong. And I feel that they're going to snap off every time I move, but that's not the case. I'm glad I have my wings, to be honest. They let me travel more and get around faster! The only problem I have is people seeing me and my wings. If only I had some kind of invisible shield or something that would make it easier for me to fly around...

"Hey, Violet?" Ray said as he turned to look at me. I kid you not, I was so lost in my train of thought that I forgot that Ray was here with me.

"Yeah, Ray? What's up?" I said, wondering if he was gonna say he was afraid of heights or something.

"As amazing as this is, we should probably start to head down now, if you don't mind."

I nodded. As I looked into his eyes and watched his movements, it looked like he had become a little kid again... all in the matter of a split second. I pressed that thought to the back of my mind and smiled, knowing that the drop was going to be where he would get scared.

"Okay, only if you're sure!" I said, walking around him so that I was facing his back.

I ran up to him and gave him a hug from behind, then lifted us both off the roof with one swift push of my wings. I laughed as Ray was trying to process what just happened. He was so confused! And maybe a little scared?

"Hey, dumb question," I said. Ray looked up at me. "Are you afraid of heights? Or maybe afraid of falling?"

"No, don't think so, why--"

"That's good." I smirked, and I stopped my wings from flying.

Then we dropped. Ray was freaking out so much, I didn't even have to try to read his mind to know what he was thinking. Something on the lines of: "What the heck are you doing?! I don't want to die!" Blah blah blah.

He grabbed my arms that were wrapped around his waist and held them tight, as anyone would on a roller coaster. We got closer and closer to the ground until I spread my wings again and gently landed us both on the ground.

As soon as I let go of Ray, he dove to the ground, mumbling something about how it's good to be back on the ground and how he never loved the grass this more in his life. I couldn't help but laugh. These Training Sessions are so much fun!

I'm glad that Ray is helping me out with all of this, but now I kind of feel bad for leaving out Astrid. I mean, the professor did tell me not to tell anyone, but I ended up telling Ray, because I knew I could trust him. But sometimes when it comes to Astrid - especially now that I have been so distant from her - I noticed something that I haven't noticed before.

She's hiding something from me too.