1 A cab driver, a witch, an albino, and an Australian bounty hunter

My arm felt numb. I laid there contemplating, untangling my thoughts, my head is always fuzzy when I first wake up. I was conscious but not yet awake, I slowly opened my eyes only to be stung by the rays of the golden sky. My eyes soon adjusted to the light, I still didn't have the energy to move just yet. I looked over to the window and witnessed the bright greens, reds, and yellows of the outside. The birds flew overhead I loved watching them, they flew with purpose, I flew with clumsiness. The rays reflected off the dust in the window as if a fairy exploded in my room, which based on my life is completely plausible. I don't live in a word like most its not normal here there's no calm walks through the woods no quiet days to relax, there was always something dangerous. I finally found the will to urge my jelly arms to move, shifting my weight to force my body forward. Now sitting up I looked around my room, it wasn't much the floor was old rotting wood. It hadn't been replaced in years. there were three big holes near the walls where the wood had been the most damaged. I shifted myself toward the window and slid some slippers over my feet. Carefully I lifted myself off my bed and shuffled my weight over to the mirror, a dusty old piece of polished metal I had sitting in the corner of my room. I ran what felt like rusty nails through my tangled hair and went to my clothing chest, to get dressed. Today was our big day, our first job. I reached into the chest and withdrew my new uniform, a white sleeveless shirt with an eagles crest imprinted on the front, I slipped it on and managed to carefully maneuver my appendages through the holes in the sides, top, and back, I then slid on my big brown baggy pants, they were supposed to be for maneuverability but they mostly just got in the way. TAP TAP TAP, footsteps I turned my younger brother miraculously appeared in the attic I called my room

"Hey big bro u ready"

"Yeah I'm ready"

"you sure"

"Yes"

"brush your hair?"

"Yes"

"grab your satchel?"

"it's downstairs"

"your boots?"

"Downstairs"

"Wristcuffs" I lifted my arm

"Oh!! did you brush your feathers"

"yea" I raised the large freshly groomed limbs attached to my back." always such a hassle"

"well it wouldn't have to be if you took care of your wings more often"

*sigh* "whatever"I grabbed my belts, one for my sword and one for my dagger. Then followed my brother downstairs out the barn and into the house, I walked over to the stove and the smell of propane stung my nose, I clicked on the burner and the propane ignited. Slowly the room filled with the smell of perfectly cooked eggs cheese mushrooms and ham. I slid the omelet in front of my brother.

"eat up we might not get food for a while we don't know how long this mission will last"

"it won't be that bad" my brother snarked. We proceeded to eat in silence. When I finished I excused myself from the table and walked over to the living room. Just like always, our mother was passed out on the couch. I handed her the remote and left a note on the table.

Mom, Icarus and I are leaving for our first mission don't sleep in too long. I left food in the fridge, also try to stay off the alcohol -love Daedalus.

I walked towards the kitchen again Slid on my shin guards and boots, grabbed my satchel and opened the door

"Icarus it's time to hit the road"

"coming" he rounded the corner slid on his boots and shin guards. I looked him over, and noticed that his uniform was different, I guess before dad died he managed to deceive him enough to get what he wanted, overall his outfit was similar, same materials same crest, but his shirt had long sleeves and was red instead of white. It's too late to change it now so I guess we were ready to leave. We walked about 20 feet into the front yard and simultaneously readied ourselves for flight, I squatted down, I felt my muscles tensing as I got ready to lift off. I lifted my wings and all of a sudden I could see the tops of clouds as the wight of my appendages thrust downward. My brother, who at this time is currently lighter than I am due to the fact that he does not have to lug around about 40 pounds of magical tomes cast a shadow from above me.

"so where are we heading" he shouted from above the winds

"bobs item palace in ingbas, we need new journals, tomes, you need a new bow, oh and lunch for when we get to makriá"

"cool how long till we get there" even though through clouds I could see the slight contempt on his face

"about two hours by air, but if we factor in the amount of time we take by car when we get tired probably about four to five hours"

"uuuuuuugggh whyyyyy" he looked down with an irritated face

"uuuuuuuggh I don't know because that's how time works"I crossed my eyes and made a face implying that he was stupid when in reality if we took a test he would probably ace it and I would get a c minus. For the rest of our flight, we remained silent save for a few moments in which we shared laughter or told stories. It was beautiful to see the sky like this, yeah we had wings but due to the abnormality of this we never really used them for excessive purposes, so in a way, it was still new to me. The suns golden rays seemed to bounce off the tips of the clouds turning them a golden yellow hue as a purple sky rose from below following the sun in its path towards the center of our sky. I looked down as we passed a thin puffy cloud, it was a Stratocumulus if I remember correctly, I reached out my hand to touch the cloud wondering if my inner child's creative mind may have been right can this mass of water vapor truly be the softest floating pillow in existence, alas it was but vapor like a misty ghost that had touched my hand leaving dew drops on my now damp sleeve. About an hour has passed since we left home, and we began to pass over Itlan "we should stop here I see a good place to eat and maybe we can catch a ride"

"ok sounds good to me" Icarus dove down and quickly ripped through the clouds leaving a hole as he descended toward the earth. Making sure not to be left behind I quickly followed suit.

We landed in a back ally way because we didn't want to attract too much attention. I used a quick concealing spell in order to cloak our wings, so we wouldn't stand out, I don't do this all the time because it uses up magical energy as long as the cloak is up, I just figured it would probably help more if people didn't think that we were demons hunting for their souls. We quickly made our way down the busy street and over to a wooded area near the town, I used a proto-tome to set up an enchanted barrier that would make people see us as regular people and dropped the concealing spell, proto-tomes are helpful because it allows you to use much less magic energy and as a bonus they look like little tikis. Icarus got to work right away, quickly making a table and benches for us to sit on, I pulled out the food and we ate. As I took a bite of my pastrami and roast beef sandwich I heard a loud snapping sound. I slowly turned my head and a man about 18 was staring at me, jaw dropped and with a significant amount of "stupid" as my brother put it expressed on his face. He, evidently, stepped on my tome and broke it.

"I'm soooo sorry" his expression instantly turned from one of shock to one of absolute terror, I don't know why this is I wasn't frightening in the least. He apologized profusely and a crowd started to gather so I did the only sensible thing. I punched him in the face, picked him up and ran. I don't entirely remember how but after a little bit I ended up at this coffee shop on the outskirts of the town. I laid the unconscious stranger out on one of the tables in a somewhat aggressive manner. After a little while, he woke up.

"where am I" he looked around.

"uh, I think its called the fugly duck coffee shop" my brother retorted arrogantly.

"no, not that I mean..." he stared at us and slowly started to remember what happened, " uh you're not going to like eat my brains or anything right" his face contorted into a somewhat concerned expression.

my brother who by the way has no chill thought it would be funny to reply with" I dunno maybe"

"we are not going to eat your brains" I gave my brother a look

"what!!! you're just going to lie to him, you have no respect for our victims"

"whatever" I rolled my eyes and walked over to the now terrified man who was practically pissing himself in fear that my brother would eat his brains "what is your name"

"his name is Hellen" my brother shouted out

"how do you know that" I turned

"took his wallet" he flashed the small leather square, waving it around the air like an ineffective paper fan. he then proceeded to open it "see, oh!! money" he pocketed the cash.

"I don't understand your morals"

"easy don't have none" I ignored his remark and faced Hellen again.

"look uuuh Hellen"

"I go by Hell" his expression changed once more it was now one of subtle agitation.

"ok Hell I'm sorry I punched you and took you here but you were attracting a crowd and we don't like crowds soo"

"I understand" he smiled.

"oh... ok cool"

"so can you guys fly with those" he pointed at my wings.

"yeah actually" I turned and flapped them.

"cool, cool.... can I go now"

"Oh um I'm not so sure... I guess it wouldn't hurt, oh! would you happen to know someone that could give us a ride" I picked up a cup of coffee that was sitting on a table and took a sip "that was gross, who drinks coffee black!!?" I set the coffee cup down

"Um, yea... I could, I'm a cab driver" he gave me a quizzical look "couldn't you just fly though"

"you do realize we have to use muscles to do that right, which means we get tired"

"oh ok, I can understand that" he finally got to his feet. "well it is nice to meet you guys, kind of...um would you happen to know how to get me back to my car"

"not even slightly" Icarus was balancing a cup on his face, I assume that's why he was being so quiet, either that or he was actually fantasizing about eating that guy's brains, Either way, it was unsettling. I stood up

"I can fly you around town until we find it... Icarus I need you to stop balancing that cup on your face and do something productive" the cup fell and shattered on the ground

"do I have to?" he frowned

"yes, go up to the top of the hill and set up plan D"

"wait really" a menacing smile flashed across his face, giving me an uneasy feeling in my gut and absolutely scaring the crap out of hell. We exited the coffee shop and headed out to the street, I held hell by his hands and lifted my self into the sky. As I rose up I witnessed Icarus bounding with a powerful audacity, with a drive that mimicked insanity, toward the outer hill of the town, I could never understand why he loved plan D so much, it rarely worked at least whenever I did it anyway.

"there!! that's my car" hell pointed at a long smooth vehicle black with bright mirrored rims.

"that's not a car!! that a limousine, I thought you said you were a cab driver!!"

"what does it matter what I am! I drive a vehicle don't I" he made a valid point. I stooped down towards the car he had pointed out and set hell on the ground.

"ok so get your keys we need to get to Icarus" I looked back towards the crowd of people that were now starting to advance in a somewhat menacing way brandishing rusted pitchforks and crackling flames. "seriously its time to go.." hell was leaned over the car door fiddling with the door handle furiously. "wait... this isn't our car is it!!"hell turned sharply.

"yea it is... someone.. stole it from me" he justified "I'm just stealing it back" he faced the car again and with an astounding click the door opened."ka-ching" hell jumped in the car and revved up the engine. "Hop in" he smirked, I quickly opened the door and jumped into the vehicle making sure to keep my wings folded in so I didn't hit them on the door frame. Hell hit the gas and we took off, most people wouldn't think that a limousine could go that fast but they would be wrong. The gas pumped into the engine the compressed air and the electricity creating miniature explosions, the pistons started moving and then the nitrous kicked in. more oxygen and more fuel were pumped into the engine created bigger explosions the pistons move faster pushing the vehicle into somewhat of an overdrive. I had never been in a car so fast it was exhilarating. If we were to keep up this pace after we picked up Icarus we might even get to dingbats before noon. My hopes we soon shattered eaten shat out then shat upon when out of nowhere the engine just blew up, personally I think its Icarus' fault but hey I'm not blaming anyone (it was Icarus, it was definitely Icarus). Now we were stranded in the middle of nowhere and had only one way to get where we needed to go