I will not bore you with the details of hugging Andrea, and walking down the stairs. Rather, I will skip to the door. The door that I had been so apprehensive to enter. Now I felt apprehensive to leave. I wanted adventure, but I had not been outside for a year. I glanced at Nathaniel. I had to act unafraid, because I didn’t want him to know I was. So I opened the door. In front of us were two shoulder bags. I picked mine up and Nathaniel picked up his. We glanced at each other, still thinking of Andrea, and then we walked forward together. Several of the other students saw us and looked as though they had seen ghosts. We just walked forward, past the lunch area where we had first met, and I thought I could feel the younger me grabbing his hand, right here, so long ago. I walked past. And finally we were at the gates. We walked on.
After walking several miles, we came to the edge of the protective field. Neither of us had ever been outside. Not a word was spoken. We just stepped forward, and then we were in the forest.
We camped with our heads in the force field and our feet out. Inside the air was full of familiar smells. Outside the air was wild and new.
The next morning we ate jerky produced from my bag. Then we stood up and were off, lost in the wild woods. I felt free in a new way.
Nathaniel broke the silence. “So …” was all he said, but I answered anyway. “So. Where are the monsters?” I asked. He shrugged and replied, “I guess hiding.” We walked for a while more, still unclear of our mission, and then I stopped and listened. There it was! Talking! We crept forward silently on spoken agreement. On the edge of a clearing we halted. There were several strange people. One was short with a beard. Another was tall. One had huge blue wings. We stepped forward and held up our daggers, which had also been in our packs. They looked up, startled, and the one with wings flew away. I took off after him. I saw Nathaniel chasing the others.
I watched, in awe, as the monster soared effortlessly above me and I followed.
A little while later, I kept my eyes on the sky and stomped my foot in frustration. On wings, they were impossible to track. I had just lost the one I had been following, but those wings had been magnificent! If I had wings, not only could I track more easily, I would also have freedom. No one could control me. No one at all.
I went back to the clearing, planning to track Nathaniel and see if he had had any more luck than I. The tracks were confusing—some faced different directions, and some ran off the main track. Then they ended. It would have taken careful work to make them that distorted, and the monsters didn’t have time for that. One thing was clear, though: Nathaniel had not walked away. At least I hadn’t found a body. But then again, knowing they had him was pretty bad. He must face torture, imprisonment, or death. I had to save him. Not only was he a friend I would die for, but also Sir Dime would be angry if I let him go this easy. And Andrea would kill me.
I walked for a couple days, searching for clues, and every now and then I would scare a monster. Then one day I stumbled across the Daun River—literally.
I fell down into the water. I came up sputtering. I swam back to the bank and pulled myself up. I turned and there was Nathaniel on the other side of the river. He was watching me with a strange expression. I was on the alert, forgetting that if someone was going to attack they would have done it while I was in the water. I scanned the opposite bank, up all the trees, looked behind me, everything. I turned to Nathaniel and called, “Is there an ambush?” Nathaniel said, “Nothing hidden. Just me.” I, glancing around, slowly swam across, alert to any small detail that would signal an ambush. I reached the bank and climbed up. I said to Nathaniel, “What happened?” Nathaniel said, “They were a big fraud. The Evenlys are evil.” I stared at him as if he had sprouted wings. He went on, “Don’t you see it? They are power hungry. The ‘monsters’ are good.” I stared at him and said, “Don’t betray me. Don’t.” I shook my head and walked backwards. “No. Don’t. You can’t. Think of Andrea.” A pained look came over his face, but he insisted, “I hoped I could get her to join us.” I said, “Stop saying that. Don’t betray me. Because then—Then I would have to kill you.” I had been shouting, but I whispered the last part. “I don’t want to kill you.” He looked at me sadly and said, “You won’t. You will either join us, be sentenced to prison, or be executed.” Then he pleaded one last time, “Please. Trust me.” I shouted, “You betrayed me! We were going to live adventures together! I will never trust you again, traitor!” Tears streamed down my face. He stared at me and slowly, ever so slowly, he pulled out a dart gun. I whispered, “Et tu, Nathaniel?” and he shot the gun.
I woke up chained to a chair by my wrists and feet. I instantly straightened my back and stared ahead, my face blank. I was in a small underground room, and it was pretty dark. Then the horrible reality sank in. Nathaniel had betrayed me! Seeing that I was alone, and the chair was nailed down, I began to cry. Sobs shook me. Oh Nathaniel, I thought, What did they tell you that made you believe them?
The door opened. I tensed like a spring and glared at the short figure silhouetted in the door way. I shouted, “You will never buy me! I stick with beliefs. I am loyal. I will not join you!” The figure said, “What if you are loyal to the wrong people? What then?” I said, “Then I die for what I believe to be goodness, whether I was misdirected or not.” The figure said, “Then you are a fool, for only a fool believes and dies for something he isn’t sure about.” I said, “But a loyal fool is better than a betraying wise man.” The man answered, “The loyal fool must be blind then, because only a blind man would believe that one party is right before seeing the other side of the story!” I answered, “Yes, but this is not the case! The Evenlys are good. They are hard, but rewarding. Like a hawk trainer, they actually care about me.” The man shot back, “But what if the hawk gets tired? They will whip it. What if the hawk’s best isn’t good enough? They will not reward it and it will go hungry. What if the hawk wants peace? They will call it lazy. What if the hawk gets old? Then all the other hawks will turn on it.” I answered, “Okay, so a hawk trainer was not a fitting metaphor. So what?” The man chuckled meanly and answered darkly, “Oh yes it was. More than you realize.” I asked, “What!?” He said, “You are already one of us.” The room spun. I said, panicked, “What do you mean?” Beads of sweat gathered on my forehead. A sick feeling rose in my stomach. I gripped the arms of the chair. I already knew the answer, but I didn’t want to believe it. The man said, “You are a hawk.” And that was when my wings exploded.
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