Evenstar (5 page)

A distant human moan of pain snapped his attention off Furcas and on to the world around him.
 
Paimon looked into the sky and shook himself.
 
They couldn’t stay here much longer.
 
He’d already wasted time.
 
He was being stupid.
 
He wasn’t thinking clearly.
 
He rubbed his eyes.
 
“Get it together.”

Paimon rifled through Furcas’ pants until he found his sewing kit.
 
He fiddled with the plastic case.
 
The kit burst open in his shaking hands, sending spools and needles across the grass.
 
Paimon fumbled until he found a needle and thread.
 
He tied a knot in the thread and started on Furcas’ face.
 
He pulled the cauterized ends of Furcas’ skin together trying not to tear the wound any further.
 
He sewed.
 
Furcas did not move or breathe.
 
Paimon cringed.
 
“This is going to look terrible.”
 

Paimon stopped at the cheekbone close to the empty eye socket.
 
He ripped at his pant leg and tied a bandage over Furcas’ ruined eye.
 
He hunted around and pulled clothes off human corpses.
 
He ripped the material into shreds and roped it around Furcas’ hip, abdomen, and shoulder, covering and holding together the gaping wound that crossed through his stomach, chest, and neck.
 
He bound up the stump at Furcas’ left elbow and tucked the cloth into the bandages to keep his injured arm from moving.

Paimon lifted Furcas onto his back.
 
He took the rest of the makeshift rope and tied Furcas to him.
 
Blood soaked through his clothing in seconds.
 
He grabbed Furcas’ intact right arm and tied it to the front of his shirt, keeping Furcas’ sewn up cheek resting against his neck.
 
He held Furcas’ legs in place with his arms.
 

Paimon stood up and tested out the harness.
 
Furcas did not slip off and he did not fall over.
 
“Step one, complete.”
      

Pus oozed out of the sutures on Furcas’ face and went down Paimon’s neck.
 
He swallowed hard.
 
He checked that he had a good grip on Furcas and set off walking towards the south.

***

Dahlia was shocked awake by loud snaps in the night air.
 
Branches broke in the southern end of the clearing.
 
Andy wrapped a long arm around her and pulled her deeper into the undergrowth.
 
It was dark, but the moon was out.
 
They stared into the clearing.
 
Another crash, a tree shook and leaves rained down.
 
Andy hissed.
 
His teeth sharpened into points; his eyes darted around searching out the source of the noise.
 

Helion fell into the clearing.
 
He hit the dirt and didn’t get up.
 
His halo flickered in and out like a dying light bulb.
 
A loan moan escaped his lips.
 

His wing moved.
 
Whitney crawled out from under him.
 
She was bruised, scratched, and dirty, but otherwise okay.
 
“Helion?”

Andy tried to stand.
 
“Dahlia, get me to him!”

Whitney spotted them.
 
“Help him!”

Dahlia grabbed Andy and pulled him to Helion’s side.
 
She sat down and let Andy lean against her so that he was able to sit upright.
 
She gaped at the bloody wing stump in horror.
 
Dahlia looked between Andy and Helion.
 
“What do we do?”

Andy’s eyes fell on the stump where Helion’s wing should have been.
 
He sucked in air, queasy.
 
He grabbed hold of Helion’s remaining wing and braced his feet against Helion’s back.
 

Dahlia beat at Andy’s hands.
 
“What are you doing?”

Helion woke up and thrashed, throwing Andy back.
 

Andy ignored her blows and reached for the wing.
 
“It needs to come off!
 
He can’t heal in this half state.
 
He will die like this!”
 

Helion rolled on the ground, his breathing harsh.
 
His throat was raw from crying.
 
Whitney took his hand and he calmed down.
 
His cries turned to whimpers.
 
He rested his head in her lap.
 
She stroked his tangled blonde hair.
 
Whitney looked up at Dahlia and Andy.
 
“He hasn’t been able to speak coherently since it was torn off.
 
I can’t get through to him.”

Dahlia leaned over Helion and looked back at Andy.
 
“It has to come off?”

He nodded.
 
“He can’t complete the transition with one wing still attached.
 
It’s preventing him from crossing over.
 
If he can’t crossover, he won’t be able to heal.
 
He’s still mortal right now.”

Dahlia stared at the wing.
 
“What if we turned it off?”

“You
can’t
turn it off.
 
It’s not a dial, Dahlia.
 
It’s a receptor.”

Dahlia stared at the wing.
 
Helion heaved and passed out.
 

Andy crawled over.
 
“Let me get it off while he’s unconscious.
 
He’ll wake up healed.
 
He won’t really remember this.”
 
He grabbed a handful of feathers.

Helion’s eyes shot open.
 
“Hurts!
 
Hurts!
 
Let go!
 
Stop it!”

Dahlia grabbed Andy’s wrists.
 
“There has to be some other way!”

He grimaced.
 
“It’s horrible, but there isn’t.”
 
He looked at Helion.
 
“You’ll be okay, buddy.
 
Just close your eyes.”

Helion’s voice was a whisper, “Andy, don’t hurt me, please.”

Andy looked away; he gripped the muscle beneath the feathers.
 
“It’ll be all better in a minute.
 
You’ll see.”

Helion watched Andy.
 
He hyperventilated.
 

Dahlia looked between the two.
 
Revulsion made her stomach churn.
 

Andy wrenched.
 
Helion wailed.
 
The wing stayed attached.
 
He swore.
 
“I’m not strong enough yet!”
 
He looked at Dahlia.
 
“Find me a rock.”

Dahlia paled.
 
“No.”

“Do it!
 
Bring me a rock!”

“No, Andy.”

Andy gripped her wrist.
 
“We don’t have a choice, Dahlia.
 
Do you think I
want
to do this?
 
He’s going to die of shock if he doesn’t heal!
 
Get me a fucking rock
now
!”

Dahlia searched for a rock in the dark.
 
She found one the size of her head.
 
She dropped it at Andy’s feet, her eyes wide like saucers.
 

Andy gripped the rock and tore it in two, leaving a sharp edge.
 
He looked at Whitney.
 
“Don’t let him watch this.
 
You should close your eyes too.”
 

“Okay.”
 
Whitney pulled Helion to her and held him.
 
He trembled underneath her hand, making both of them shake.
 
Helion buried his head against her lap.
 
She closed her eyes.
 

Dahlia fell to her knees, powerless.
 
“Andy, don’t.”

Andy ignored her.
 
“Dahlia, help Whitney hold him still.”

“Andy, don’t!”

Andy grabbed the white wing.
 
He pulled the wing out taut and stretched it across his lap.
 
He took a deep breath.
 
“I’m sorry, Helion.”
 
He brought the rock to Helion’s back.

Dahlia pushed back on Andy.
 
“Don’t, Andy!”

He glared at her.
 
“Stop it, Dahlia!”

“
You
stop it!”
                                                

Andy grabbed her arm with his free hand.
 
“Don’t make me restrain you.”

Dahlia searched her pockets for the pendant Paimon had thrust at her hours before.
 
She found and threw it.
 
The necklace soared over Andy’s shoulder and landed across the clearing.
 
No longer in contact with the energy-absorbing pendant, Dahlia was engulfed in red light.
 

“Damn it, Dahlia!”
 
Andy dropped the rock and crawled after the pendant.
 

Dahlia braced for the wave of sounds and sensations.
 
She opened her eyes wide and her world shifted.
 
Helion was no longer blindingly bright; he flickered between gray and shifting colors of blue and purple.
 
The gaping wound on his back threw off sparks instead of blood.
 

Dahlia reached out to his remaining wing on impulse.
 
It thrummed beneath her hands, flooding his body with the ethereal energy that trapped his body between Heaven and Earth.
 
She slid her fingers across the swirls and whorls designed to capture and manipulate energy.
 
She pictured bird wings; masses of muscle and feather that did nothing more than allow flight.
 
Beneath her fingertips his wing shifted, changed form and color, lost the patterns that moved on the surface.

Andy made it back to Dahlia, pendant in hand.
 
He gaped as Helion changed under her touch.
  

Dahlia let go of Helion’s wing, but the transformation continued.
 
Blue, black, and white feathers burst forth from the bloody stump.
 
The muscle and bone shuddered, grew, and unfolded.
 
The wing reformed, but it was no longer white or glowing.
 
His other wing vibrated and matched.
 
Small feathers sprouted between Helion’s wings, fluffy down that linked the two with mottled white and black.
 
His halo sputtered and went out permanently.
 
Helion was Fallen, his access to Heaven severed.

Andy hauled Dahlia backwards.
 
He fastened the pendant around her neck and stuffed it into her shirt.
 
She lost her second sight and dropped back into normal vision.
 
She gasped and held her head as her eyes changed to blue.
 

Andy grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him.
 
“Do not do that again!
 
The Archangels can see you when you’re in that state!”
 
She nodded and he released her.
 
The clearing was silent.
 

Helion stopped crying.
 
He stood up, pulling Whitney with him.
 
Helion pumped his wings and blasted Andy and Dahlia with a rush of air.
 
He went up several feet into the air and came down on his feet.
 
His knees gave out and he hit the dirt.
 
Whitney staggered, stood, and hugged him.
 
He pressed his face into her stomach.

Andy stared at the new wings.
 
He reached out and touched them.
 
Helion shuddered, but did not move away.
 
Andy smiled at the shiny blue and black feathers.
 
He looked at Dahlia thoughtfully.
 
“
Pica pica
, common magpie.
 
Why?”

“It was the first bird I thought of.”

Whitney kissed Helion’s hair.
 
“Leo, are you okay now?”

Helion nodded.
 
He pushed himself up.
 
Whitney looked into his eyes and balked.
 
“What happened to your eye?
 
You guys look!”

Helion blinked and turned to look at Dahlia and Andy.
 
The white of his right eye was black while the iris and pupil were white.
 
He had a streak of black mixed in with his blonde curly hair.
 
Dahlia stared at the changes.
 
“That might have been my fault.
 
I don’t really know what I did to him.”

Helion shook his head.
 
His lips moved as if he wanted to speak, but couldn’t.
 
Tears formed in his eyes.
 
He rubbed them away and held Whitney’s hand.
 
He trembled.
 
“That hurt badly, but not anymore.”