Flying Without Wings

I held a hot strong cup of coffee in my hands. I was fingering the handle and staring into the swirling blackness of my cup. I didn’t want to lock eyes with any of the people that were sitting around my kitchen table, I had gone to bed happily but had woken up sober, with a cracking headache and angry at everyone. Marvillo’s little vibrating body was warming my feet, he was softly growling in his sleep and I could feel his furry body quiver with each breathy exhale. Bastian’s long brown fingers were caressing my leg but I hardly felt him. A few days ago I had found an invitation to a Secret Garden Party under my front door and now I was vaguely listening to plans of battle and revenge all in the name of love and a creature that I only this year knew existed. I had thought that the party would be fun, an adventure and I was half right.

“Bea, Bea are you OK darling? I’m sure this has all come as a bit of a shock to you.” Audrey’s husky voice sang out.

Shock? Shock didn’t even begin to cover what I was feeling. I looked up at her glaring, now that I knew they were sisters they did look a lot alike, Zenasia, the apparent evil sister, was yet really be explained.

“Have a shot of this.” Montgomery said sliding his flask of sweet whiskey across the table. I picked up the flask. It had a beautiful emblem of an Angha welded onto the front, it was old and the metal was tarnished and dull, remnants of gold and maroon could barely be seen, it was like a distant memory you just can’t grasp. Under the Angha was an engraving. I’m so proud of you daddy. I felt a pang of sorrow in my chest as I read the engraved words from the daughter who had been murdered. I took a swig of the liquid to hide my melancholy. It was a bad idea, the whiskey burnt my throat and I spluttered half of it out over the table. Montgomery couldn’t help but laugh at me, so I took another swig before sliding the flask back across the table and looking up at him. Montgomery was studying me, his grey eyes were lively and bright. He was again dressed as he was the night I had met him, in a large threadbare coat and tartan hat, I liked him like that, he reminded me of a grandpa that takes you fishing or teaches you how to use a hammer. He winked at me and took a swig of the flask too, I don’t know why, but it made me feel closer to him. I watched as his finger mechanically rubbed the words of his daughter, as if rubbing them might bring her back to life. I could fell Audrey was staring at me too, I wondered why no one was staring at Bastian, weren’t we both new to this? I figured maybe it was because he was looking at me as well.

“Got something to ask love? Now is the time.” Audrey's emerald green eyes didn’t blink, she was looking into me I could feel it. She wasn’t asking me if I had a question – she was challenging me to speak my mind. Her lips were curled into a wicked smile not unlike Zenasia’s, but hers was playful, not evil. She too was dressed down, well for her anyway; she had on a black pair of slacks with a golden chunky knit and glittering ballet flats. It was the first time she wasn’t tottering around on heels. Her red hair was piled on top of her head in a tangle of curls and she was playing with one of her many chains. “I already know, it’s Zenasia isn’t it.” I nodded and waited for her to continue, Bastian’s hand left my leg as he took the flask that Montgomery was now offering him. He was wearing ripped pale jeans and a black over sized tee, his hair was tight on his head, he looked gorgeous but I knew he was exhausted. His eyes lacked their usual brightness and warmth. He leaned back and took a swig, revealing a very hungover Humphrey. I had almost forgotten he was there, hidden behind Bastian’s broad torso. Humphrey’s forehead was pressed against the table and his hot breathe made little fogs on the table. I wasn’t sure if he was sleeping or had passed out but he hadn’t moved since we arrived home hours beforehand. He had left the park before us but was waiting at our house when we got home. Apparently when he got back to his apartment it had been ransacked. They weren’t looking for anything in particular or they would have found his Angha, they were just out to scare him. So he had come to us, Montgomery had suggested he leg it to a hotel but Audrey had embraced him like the old friend he truly was. That and she was excited to be around another four Angha and had invited them all in like our house was her own.

“What can I say?” Audrey began taking a sip or tea, “she is my sister and every family has their disagreements, ours is just a rather large one.” Audrey paused still staring at me. I nodded for her to go on. “Well of course she wasn’t always bad, when she joined the Zimrugh Saviors it was for the right reasons like the rest of us but when she lost her Angha she lost her soul, she didn’t know who she was and she stopped caring about her life and everyone in it. Not long after she lost her Matilda she disappeared. No one saw her or heard from her for months, I had hoped she’d moved away and tried to start a new life. But then I heard news that she was back with the Zimrugh Saviors after the war, I just couldn’t believe it and I had to see for myself. I went to 36 Hyacinth Street and there she was, rejuvenated, she looked healthy and strong, but she wasn’t the sister I knew. I pleaded with her to come home, to come back to us but, she was having none of it. She said that the Angha needed her and she was saving them, I knew she really meant was they were saving her. I don’t hate her, I know she just wants to feel safe, to feel the way she did when she had Matilda, and I believe she really thinks she is doing the right thing…”

“But of course she is not and the bitch must be stopped.” Humphrey had risen from his stupor with a slurred start. “If you only knew what she was doing, makes me sick, but I can’t get into all this now on an empty stomach. Who wants some breakfast I’m starving?” He rose from the table tripped over the four Angha sleeping at his feet and made his way to the fridge. His head disappeared for a second but it must have been all too much, looking around he saw a bottle of tequila on the bench and grabbed a lemon from the fruit basket. “A liquid breakfast it is then.” He set about chopping the lemon and nearly took off his finger. I rolled my eyes and looked back at Audrey, she still had an icy smile on her face, and I knew she was challenging me, for my opinion, for me to judge her. I just shrugged and went back to starring into my black coffee. Of course I had a million questions running through my head, who had taken Zenasia’s Angha, what were they doing now? Why wasn’t anyone doing more? But it was Bastian who asked a question first.

“Why didn’t you eat any of the food from last night?” he asked Humphrey.

“Feel that headache son? That’s from whatever they lace the food and drink with, it fogs the mind and makes you dreamy. I’m not sure what it is though, I was trying to get it out of Bear but the great oaf wouldn’t spill the beans. Not a bad guy, I think he is just lost in all of this like a lot of people in that house. I have a feeling Kent has something to do with it, he was that big mean guy, got a way with potions he does.”

I did have a thumping headache but had assumed it was from the wine, it was all starting to make a bit more sense now. Such an enticing spread of wonderful food and drinks. It wasn’t just keeping people full and happy, it was keeping them drugged. I thought of Evelyn, her glazed eyes and her robotic speech. It made me feel even sicker.

“Monty, did that…man say last night he knew where Mavis was?” Audrey hadn’t spoken directly to Humphrey all morning. She had welcomed him with open arms at the door last night but having stewed on the lies he had told all eve she was ready to attack him again. Being so she had unceremoniously decided that the rest of us would convey her questions for her.

“Yes Audrey…Audrey would you look at me?” Humphrey was losing his patience and had cut another of his fingers. He swore and sucked on it angrily. “Fine be a child, Gomez said she is hidden in the house and someone moves her from room to room so he can never get her out, but he said someone is looking after her. Zenasia has tried to find out what Gomez knows but he is too smart for her. Mavis will be ok, she knows who to trust, you know she was always a good judge of character.”

“Well she did take a while to warm to you, with good reason.” Audrey finally looked at Humphrey he had taken a shot of tequila and was sucking on a lemon wedge. “Oh for heaven’s sake I’ll make some breakfast, Bastian help me would you.”

They set to work making eggs while I jotted to the corner bakery for some fresh bread. The walk helped clear my head, it was a nice morning and the sun was beaming down on me warming my insides. I happily forgot about the night before and became lost in the songs of the birds and the feel of the morning air. It was just past 6 and the air was so crisp it was as though no one had ever breathed it before. On the steps of the bakery a girl was sitting, her head was in her hands and she was dressed in a stunning sapphire ball gown. I smiled guessing she had had a big night and tried to tip toe around her. She looked up at me as I tried to get around her and grabbed at my leg. Panicked I pushed her right off the steps and turned to run inside the bakery, but she gave a startled cry as she fell onto the dirty sidewalk. She sounded sad and scared, not violent, I turned with the door ajar. The girl looked up at me with tears in her eyes and my heart sank. I had seen this girl before.

“They’re gone you have to help me, I think Johnny took Angus.” The girl begged crawling up the steps and grabbing at my leg again. It was Lydia, half of the snogging couple from the tram. Her long brown hair was messy and full of twigs and her tanned skin was covered in dirt and grazes. It looked as though she had been rolling around the ground all night. I tried to calm her down and asked her how she ended up at the bakery, I was getting tired of people knowing where to find me. Through tears she fessed up to following us from the party, she had been spying on as at the park too. She had lost sight of us on this street and after wondering around for hours she had ended up sobbing on the stoop.

“I heard everything that man said about the Angha Soldiers and the Zimrugh Saviors, Zenasia tried to take my Angus, but I wouldn’t let her. She offered me money and fame and fortune, but I didn’t trust her, I wanted nothing to do with that awful house.” She spat. “But Johnny, he wanted the money and fame, I said no but I think he took Angus, my Angus.” Her lip began to tremble and her big amber eyes squeezed out fat tears as she cried into her gown, her knee was bleeding where I had pushed her to the ground and her gown was covered in spots of mud. “I want him back. How do I get him back?” She hiccupped.

“Don’t worry if he is yours no one else can ever take him away, he isn’t Johnny’s to give.” I tried to assure her, “come with me, have a little breakfast and everything will seem better.” I said gently, I didn’t know if it would be better but I was never any good at dealing with sobbing girls.

“I’ll kill her. And him the bastard.” She said angrily wiping her tears and getting up, her fists clenched. “I have the worst taste in men, but first I do need some breakfast I think, I have the worst headache.” I had to laugh, her ball gown was covered in blood, tears and mud but she still looked fierce. We bought a few loaves of sourdough and walked back to my house. Lydia was talking a million miles a minute but it was all a blur to me. I had a feeling bringing her back to the house wasn’t going to go down well, even though it was my house, and I was trying to think of what I was going to say, mainly to Monty he was the most mistrusting of them all.