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Eden is yawning lazily as she trails behind Adella along the bumpy dirt road. Flat fields roll far till they meet the edge of the spruce forest, which covers the horizon. The trees are so far that Eden can barely see them. They are like a thick black line separating Earth from the night sky.
“Adella, do we have to wander off that far, in the middle of the night?” Eden asks with resignation in her voice. She stops for a moment to catch her breath, but quickly returns to a steady walk when she sees that her companion is not waiting for her.
“Don’t complain, we need the open field so you won’t bump into a tree or something. Plus, it's only 6 pm, so not even bedtime.” Adella said optimistically to raise morale.
“What, so why is it so dark here?” Eden turns her head nervously, looking around. “Did the sun explode!? Dionissia was telling me about this and men from the moon.”
“Okie dokie, you two are banned from being alone with each other.” Adella gave her a look that was somewhere between worry and fear.
Eden only gave an unhappy ‘mhpm’ in response.
They walked at a steady pace for a while, their soles beating out a similar rhythm on the stony path covered in snow. Eden needs to catch up occasionally. She is tired after a whole day of studying, and Adella is walking as if she wants to thread a hole.
Finally, they stop on the very same wasteland they've been walking through all along. The only difference is that the forest is more visible now. Eden can see a thick layer of snow on the treetops.
“Wait a minute. Why couldn’t we just stop somewhere closer?” Eden wonders, looking at her friend as if she is thoughtless.
“I just liked this spot better.” Adella shrugged.
“So you dragged me through all this snow, only because you felt like it?” Eden couldn't believe it.
“I just thought that there would be some birds in the forest to inspire you or something.” Adella is both terrified and surprised that Eden can bring out such fury in her eyes. She tries to quickly rectify the situation. “Hey, don’t give me that look. I wanted to help.”
“Okay, okay, thank you, I guess,” Eden says like an offended child.
“Go on, show me what you got.”
Eden stands uncertainly, slightly apart from Adella. She slowly spreads her wings, flapping them slightly. The blades of grass are swaying in the gusts her wings cause, but she is not rising an inch.
“Come on, you can do this.” Adella tries to cheer up, sending her a soothing smile.
With this encouragement, Eden decides to actually take off into the air, even if only for a few meters high. She is flapping her wings hard, and a few loose feathers break free and fly to the sides, landing on the ground. Finally, Eden slowly begins to rise, struggling to stay in one place.
Her blue feathers resemble ocean waves, not only in color but also in the movement that was necessary to maintain the position. The plane of her wing bent in a wavelike motion starting from her back and looping its movement when it came to the end of the wing. What she was doing can, at first glance, resemble swimming, and probably if Eden could swim, she would describe this the exact same way.
“You got better at it, you know?” Adella praises, crossing her arms.
Eden just sends her a thankful smile and flies higher. It scares Adella at first, but she decides that she won’t stop Eden if she thinks she can do it. She never flew this high before, and it isn’t as scary as Eden initially thought.
She soaks up all the stimuli this height offers her. The chill of the winter air is making her nose red from the cold. From there, she can see stars that she could never really see, except for her fluorescent ceiling stickers. The glow of the city always obscured the beauty of the night sky for her.
Life had already denied her so many things that Eden absorbed everything like a toddler. The years she had spent under the sole of a tyrant who called himself a prophet had left their mark on her. Times when the only things she had known were prayers and closed doors, were replaying in her head every time she was doing something unfamiliar.
Eden felt guilt at the thought of a god whom she had escaped from. She was told she is a symbol of divinity, but the truth is that she was a puppet in the hands of an evil man who pulled the strings.
When Eden is observing how small things can get when she is high enough, she sees lights that catch her attention. Somewhere in the forest, lights flash in a panic-like manner, pointing in different directions fast and not long before changing again.
“Adella!”
“Yeah?!”
“I’m going to check out these lights in the forest. I think someone might be lost!”
“Wait, don't fly alone, we can go there together!”
“From the earth, I won’t be able to see it. Stay here, I will be back in a minute!” And then Eden flies before Adella can even try to stop her.
It feels like only a moment before Adella hears loud gunshots that seem to pierce through her ears. As if through a fog, she sees the silhouette of the falling Eden, and then she just runs as fast as she can. She runs for so long that her legs start to give out from the pain, but Adella doesn't even think about stopping.
She still isn’t sure how she managed to get back to the school, but she finds herself in front of the front door.
---
At first, Eden only hears a gunshot; she doesn't realize it almost hits her. She only acknowledges it after a few seconds of muffled screams. It takes her another few moments to realise that it wasn’t an accident, and someone tries to shoot her. But by that time, it is already too late, and Eden isn’t quick enough to dodge the shots that come. The next shot was way more accurate, piercing her right wing.
Now, Eden already knows she will fall. Out of habit, she wraps herself in her wings, crossing them in front of herself, like she had done many times before she escaped the cult. As she covers herself in her soft feathers, trying to cushion her fall a little, she hears and, after a moment, feels another bullet piercing through her wounded wing, and landing in her stomach.
Eden could tell that being shot is nothing like in the action movies. When she watched shootings in movies that her friends showed her, she wondered if bullets even were deadly. Now it seems very deadly for her.
The blessing in disguise is that she can’t focus on the pain in her wing and abdomen. As she falls into the freezing depths of the snowy forest, she hits rough tree branches that are bruising her body, but the pain is also a distraction from her more severe wounds.
Eden wants to scream her lungs out, but she can’t even let out a whine. She is so scared that her brain isn’t working properly, and her body hurts so much that it doesn't obey either.
She is falling faster and faster into the unknown, and when her blood-spattered body meets the hard forest ground, it all goes dark for her.
---
Jasmine wakes up, from her nap, to someone poking her. She does not look, but guesses who this certain someone is. “Dizia, there is nothing in the closet. I’m not going to check again.”
“Jazz, wake up. I lost Eden, and I need help.” Adella begs in a mournful voice, and Jasmine realizes that this is not what she expected.
“What? How did you lose Eden!?” Suddenly, she is wide awake, sitting on her bedside.
“Just chill, I have a plan, but you need to help us.” Adella’s confession isn’t calming Jasmine down, not even one bit. “The plan is that we will go to the forest and find Eden.”
“Okay, I will be honest. I have never heard bigger nonsense.” Jasmine says, unimpressed. “Adella, Dionissia is afraid to go to the bathroom unchaperoned, let alone wander around a dark forest at night. Plus, how are we even gonna find Eden? We should tell the teachers or some adults.”
“Oh, please, I am an adult. Jazz, think about it like our first mission.”
“Why don't you want to tell someone so badly? Are you afraid of the punishment? Eden could be in danger, Adella.” Jasmine says it like the voice of reason that she is.
“The thing is that I told the teachers.”
“That’s… good?”
“But I don’t believe they would find her. I heard that they called the police and told them that a mutant girl with wings was missing in the woods. How do you think the police will handle a mutant searching? We have to take matters into our own hands, or Eden will be another unsolved case.” Adella grabs Jasmine by the shoulders as she speaks. Each word is spoken with equal passion and fear in the voice.
“Okay, you are right, people hate us.” Jasmine thinks for a moment about the options they have left. “Dionissia, are you up for this?”
The girl is sitting at the end of her bed, her knees drawn up to her chest, clearly lost in thought, perhaps distressed. She is already all dressed up for the cold weather outside, so Jasmine assumes that she agreed to this.
Dionissia perks up a bit at the question, and after processing it, she nods quickly. Jasmine won’t lie that she is satisfied by this answer, but on the other hand, she wouldn't pressure Dionissia to speak, so the nodding must be enough for her.
“Okay, then let’s go,” Jasmine says, not really convinced. Despite that, she understands that there aren't many other options.
The hallway is strangely empty, considering it is only evening. Their mismatched footsteps echoed through the dark hall. Some of the horror stories Dionissia had told her about, flashed through her mind, but she quickly calms her thoughts by reminding herself that she doesn't believe in ghosts.
Jasmine didn't think they would be going that far, and she wants to yell at both Adella and Eden. Not because she can't handle the distance, but because it should already have made them give up, a few hours ago.
“Come on, it’s just a little further.”
“What were you doing that far from the school?” Jasmine’s voice sounds more like an irritated one, but inside, she's just worried about her friend.
“Eden was training to fly, and I came along to look after her,” Adella explains, visibly a little embarrassed.
“So what happened?”
“Some shithead shoot her.”
“Someone shot her!?” Jasmine screams with terror. “So she is hurt, alone, and freezing, and we aren’t running like crazy?”
“I think I sprained my ankle on the way here. Besides, we can't even get a taxi.”
“Why?”
“When Eden and I tried earlier, the driver didn't let us in because he isn't transporting mutants.”
“But we don’t have visible mutations. So why aren’t we in a taxi?”
“Oh shit I haven’t thought about that.”
“You must be joking.”
“Hey, I work under stress here, alright? You didn't suggest that either.”
“Guys, stop fighting, you are scaring me. Let’s focus on finding Eden and not run into the police or, preferably, not into anyone.” Dionissia says uncertainly, stuttering a little.
“Fine.” Both Adella and Jasmina agrees, while they are leaving the school through the side exit.
The taxi takes them to the edge of the fields that Eden and Adella had been walking through earlier. The driver refuses to take them further because it turned out to be private property, but it doesn't change the fact that it significantly sped up their journey. They pay him with some change that each of them had in their pockets. The three of them continue to travel on foot at a fast pace.
Jasmine is thinking about all the horror scenes they watched again. Looking at the faces of her companions, she can see that they are thinking about it too. The forest is quiet; they only hear Dionissia’s chattering teeth and anxious breathing.
“Jesus, how can you be this afraid of horrors and still watch so many of them?” Adella eventually breaks under the pressure of fear.
“Isn't this like the point of watching them? Being afraid?” Dionissia replies shyly but still rightly.
“Okay you win this round but when we get back with Eden we are watching some fluffy and chessy cartoon or some shit.” Adella snapped a little more harshly than she wanted.
Dionissia suddenly stops and holds her breath. Adella, not expecting it, lightly bumps into her.
“Dino, everything okay?” Adella asks hesitantly.
“We are not alone here.”
---
Eden tries to open her heavy eyelids but fails miserably. The first thing she feels is that there is a wet spot on the front of her hoodie, right under her stomach. Her blonde, delicate locks are also stained with this liquid, which makes them tangled and sticky.
When her eyes are finally able to focus, the mysterious liquid that colored the snow around her turns out to be blood. Her blood. She also feels it on her hands that are holding the fabric of her blouse like a lifeline. She can now feel the pulsing pain in her stomach, from which this waterfall of blood is leaking.
Eden lies on her side, curled up, as much as her aching body would allow. She looks at the redness of the blood that stands out on the snow, like a luminous lightning bolt in the dark storm sky.
She manages to turn over, now lying on her back, which gives her about as much relief as pain. Her injured wing isn’t pressured anymore, but now, when she is more conscious, she can exactly feel how severe her injuries are.
For a moment, Eden is almost certain that she has lost her wing. The pain in its place is just so overwhelmingly burning. She tries to take a look at her surroundings, but her head is spinning as soon as she moves it.
As Eden became more aware, the fear began to creep under her skin. She knows she is alone and can bleed out rather quickly, considering how much she has already lost. She won't be able to come back on her own, and the truth is, no one knows exactly where she is.
Eden is scarred. Every time she closes her eyes, she doesn't know if a second or an hour, or perhaps more, has passed. The cold finally hits her body through her snow-soaked hoddie. This sensation numbs her body and she is finally ready to close her eyes again. Eden is now at the mercy of fate, held in a trap from which she cannot escape this time.
---
“Why are you saying the most creepy thing out of nowhere when we are alone in the dark forest?” Adella asks, sounding unintentionally angry because of the stress.
“Maybe because she wants to warn us, hmm?” Jasmine notices, giving Adela a critical look.
“You’re right. Sorry, Dino.” Says Adella after a moment of reflection.
“There are three people here.” Dionissia is still in shock, so she ignores Adella’s tone. She starts trembling lightly, and her eyes are nervously jumping from one side to the other. “What are we gonna do?”
“Well then, let’s just hope that these three people are us, and we can move on,” Adella says, not very concerned anymore.
“What?” Both Jasmine and Dionissia exclaim in disbelief.
“And how would you kn-” Adella stops and then looks at Dionysia suspiciously. “Wait, wait, wait, so how exactly do you know that there are people here?”
“I sense their fear.”
“Oh, Dizia, now that I think of that, I never asked, what are your powers exactly capable of?” Jasmine asks curiously.
“I dunno entirely. Just a bit of it. I will explain when this is over.” Says Dionissia in her typical tentative voice.
“But can you sense Eden somewhere?” So far, this was one of Adella's better ideas. Using Dionissia's powers seemed so obvious and yet so unrealistic, especially since they weren't used very often in their everyday life.
“I don’t think so. She may be unconscious.” Dionissia started nervously playing with the fur on the sleeve of her denim jacket. “They are getting closer.”
“That means we have to find her quickly.” Adella states, ready to move forward.
“Hey, you stop!” Suddenly, as if on cue, they hear a scream. It was a group of three men, the ones Dionissia had sensed earlier. They are the ones who hurt Eden, one of them has some type of hunting rifle in his hand.“I said stop you little shits!”
Adella saw Dionissia freeze in fear and made a note to herself that she needed help to get rid of this defense mechanism. She grabs the younger girl by the arm and starts running, glancing every now and then to see if the danger is near. Jasmine is running ahead faster than Adella, who practically drags Dionissia behind her, until they stop to catch their breath.
“Adella, what are we gonna do?” Jasmine is now openly panicking, and it freaks Adella out because she is usually so calm and self-possessed. “They found us.”
“We ran away.”
“But what if they catch up!?”
“We will fight then.” Adella pulled out her spikes and took a fighting stance. Medium-sized pointed bones protruded from her body, mainly elbows and knuckles on the hand, which, together with her sturdy physique, gave her a menacing appearance.
This led to a brief argument between Adella and Jasmine. One wanted to protect her friends from the evil men, while the other, being the more sensible one, wanted to protect her friend from her recklessness.
“Hey, be quiet, hush!” Suddenly, Dionissia started yelling. Unlike the others, not in anger, but in relief. “I sense her. Come quickly, it is unstable.”
Adella and Jasmine follow Dionissia, making unexpected turns and stops so that the latter can think. They seem to wander, maybe it's a mistake, and Dionissia feels something else. They are all thinking these things, until finally they see Eden.
She is lying on the ground in a pool of blood. When they come closer, they see that she is terribly pale and her eyes are surrounded by dark circles.
Jasmine runs up and attempts to stop the bleeding by putting her hands on the wound on Eden's stomach. Adella, on the other hand, tries to make contact with Eden by shaking her, which, considering her probable concussion, is not a good idea.
Dionissia is unnaturally calm and looks a little like she is meditating, only after a few minutes of screams, she seems to come to her senses and comes to help.
Jasmine doesn't know how the search group finds them or how much time passes; she only knows that she feels great relief when she sees the policemen with the medics. She barely remembers the way back; she only realises that they put her, Adella, and Dionissia in the back seat of the police car, and then everything is like a poorly remembered dream.
---
Eden, once again, struggles to open her eyes. Not because her eyelids aren’t cooperating, but because the brightness of the room is hurting her eyeballs. She is in a school’s infirmary, her left leg is in a cast, and her face is covered in patches, just like her wing and torso.
The three other girls are whispering among themselves, wondering how it came to this.
Adella is sitting on a chair right next to Eden's hospital bed. Jasmine is on the other side of it, with the chair moved so that she could look at both Adella on her right and Dionissia, who was curled up in the armchair close to the wall of the room. Dionissia does not have the best hospital experience, so she stays away from medical equipment, of which there is quite a lot next to the bed. Eden just listens to their conversation without announcing that she is awake, yet.
“The police arrested them. You three are lucky that you haven’t been shot.” Said the teacher, whose voice Eden now couldn't recognize. “I will discuss your punishment with Professor Xavier.”
“Punishment? For wanting to help our friend!?” Adella raised not only her voice, but also all of her from the chair.
“Don’t shout,” Jasmine says calmly, but she still frowns, seeing how Eden's face is wrinkling in pain.
This settles Adella, who is too tired to argue, for now. So she fell back into the chair, hunched over a bit, like always.
“And you.” She looks directly at Dionissia. “I don’t know what you did, but don’t do that again. Never, understand?”
Dionissia pulls her knees closer to herself, slightly nodding in response. Meanwhile, the teacher leaves the room, and the conversation fades away.
“You know how the taxi driver told us that it's private property? What if these men did that on purpose? I mean flashing lights to lure Eden.” Jasmine says after a while. She had been thinking about it for some time now, trying to connect the dots somehow.
“Oh fuck they probably saw how we were there every night.” Realisation hits Adella. Then she groans and says miserably. “Why do people hate mutants so much? We didn't do anything to be like this.”
“You know what's sad?” Everyone looked at Dionissia questioningly. “The world is wide enough for all of us; some people just make it so small that no one seems to fit in.”
“Wow, depressing. But we still have each other, right?” Adella comments, the first part with a little bit of sarcasm in her voice. With the other, however, she makes her friends feel a little better, as she usually does.
“Sorry to interrupt this beautiful scene, but Dyzia, why was the teacher so mad at you, and what was she talking about?” Jasmine inquires about something she wanted to ask, for some time now.
“You remember when I said that I know only a bit about my powers? Well, you know I can make people hallucinate their nightmares. However, for some time now, I have discovered that I can also enter their dreams. Well, maybe not exactly, it's more like we're dreaming together. That's what I did. I entered her dream and gave her more or less where we are. But when I use this power, it's not pleasant for the sleeper or for me. I only bring nightmares.” Dionissia tried to explain as best she could.
“Oh, that’s surprisingly creative.” Jasmine praises, slightly surprised.
Dionissia hums in response, pleased with the compliment.
They stay like this for the rest of the day, with Eden peacefully sleeping and recovering from the incident. She doesn’t know why fate decided to put even more emotional and physical burden on her shoulders, nor does it seem righteous to her, but she knew that with the support of her loved ones, she would be able to cope with it.