Bumps Along the Road
We all stand there stunned, staring at Signey and her apparent Mother. Why would Signey betray us? What's going to happen now? I can hear Snowbird breathing heavily from her group beside me and my cheeks are heating up in rage. Why's she doing this? Is it because she's scared? I could almost laugh out loud. What could she be afraid of? Right now, Signey disgusts me. She's cowering against the multiple glares she's probably getting right now. Her Mother takes Signey's shoulders and kneels in front of her,
"Well, Sig, from the way you're dressed you seem to be freeing Snowbird as well." We watch in silence as her face turns pink in shame.
"They made me do it! They threatened me!" We did not!
"No, we didn't," Arrow says quietly, "You were given the choice to back out." Signey's Mother turns back to her daughter,
"Well sounds like you are as much to blame as they are." Signey hangs her head.
"Not that this isn't a cute Mother-daughter moment buuuuut, are going to arrest us? Or are you going to let us go, because we have somewhere to be." Rip cuts in,
"Yeah! My Mom's making tacos tonight and I don't want to be late!" Gabriel adds. Signey's Mother stands us,
"I'll bring Signey home now, if you're going out the back door by the dumpsters, you're going in the wrong direction so turn around. I'll make sure no one suspects you. Go fast! And don't look back, wouldn't want you to miss your Mom's tacos, Gabriel." Gabriel gapes at her,
"She knows my name," he whispers, "She knows my name!" He says louder while shaking poor Rip who's standing next to him.
"Thank you," Vega tells her while we redirect ourselves.
"Why did she let us go?" I ask,
"I don't know," Vega shrugs, "But I sure am thankful." I suddenly notice that Vega isn't wearing her obnoxious witch hat,
"Your hat!" I exclaim, "You're not wearing it!" Rip snorts,
"You just noticed? Bet you haven't noticed her horns either," Horns? Vega grins sheepishly,
"I usually wear it to cover my ears," She looks at Rip embarrassedly, "And my horns." I peer at her head curiously,
"Can I see?" She nods and parts her thick brown hair. Her ears are slightly pointed at the ends with small tufts of fur. On top of her head, she has the small spiraling horns of a goat.
"Whoa," I breathe at the same time Snowbird gasps,
"Ethuenia."
Vega smiles at Snowbird,
"Yes. My Mother's from Ethuenia and she's a Faun. I'm only half Faun so I don't have the goat legs and tail which I'm thankful for! My Mom already gets weird looks in the grocery store because of it."
"Is it nice there?" Vega shakes her head sadly,
"Sorry, Snowbird but I've never been."
"Could you all be quiet?" Alpha snaps, Vega nods her head and pretends to zip her lips and put the imaginary key in her pocket.
"Zip it, lock it, put it in your pocket! Zip it, lock it, put it in your pocket! Zip it, lock it..." Gabriel starts chanting to an imaginary beat, Snowbird smiles.
Alpha finds the stairs to the floor below, our footsteps echo which gives the stairway an eerie atmosphere. After the first half, I realize that I have a headache and the echos aren't helping. These stairs aren't even as bad as the other ones but both my sides start hurting too. In the end, we're all walking faster. Tempted by the light at the end of the tunnel. Every step I take is jarring and my skull splits in pain. An attack is coming on, I can tell by the way my whole body is starting to ache. But we're so close! I can fight it back, I can postpone it until after we're out. We're too close to get caught now by my screams. I grit my teeth and push on though I think I'm stumbling a little now. A wave of pain hits and I stifle a wail, Vega looks at me.
"Are you alright Raylee?" My eyes are tearing up but I nod anyway, I don't think she's fully convinced.
"Hey Alpha? Can we speed up a bit?" Alpha gives Vega an exasperated look,
"Any faster and we'll be running. That won't look suspicious at all!" Vega bites her lip and looks around,
"There's no one to see...just run!"
Snowbird peeks around Rip,
"Are you okay Ray-Ray?"
I don't have the strength to answer. I know everyone's watching me now but I don't have the strength to reassure them.
"Go." Crynn demands, "Go, go, go!"
I can feel Vega helping me move faster and someone else takes my other arm, I can't tell who but I think it's Crynn. Finally, Alpha bursts through the door and warm sunlight touches my skin for the first time in years. If I wasn't in so much pain right now, I'd laugh. My body crumples onto the gravel by one of the dumpsters, I feel like screaming but know that if I do the guards will find us. I put my neck at an awkward angle and bite down on the chain connected to my wrist to muffle the screams. Crynn is kneeling next to me while the others are backing away in fear and confusion,
"What's going on?!" Rip asks,
"She's having an attack. This is the price of her powers, I've only seen this happen once and they rushed her to a doctor. We need one. Someone get a doctor! Alpha! Get your Mom!"
"I can't Crynn! She won't help us the way Sig's Mom did! She'll turn us in. There's no doctor that could help without reporting us, I'm sorry." Crynn lets out a cry of defeat and despair then punches the gravel. I scream again, he shakes pebbles off of his now bleeding knuckles and holds my clammy hands.
"Uh, guys?" Arrow calls,
"What?" Snaps his brother,
"The shadows are moving."
"Don't be redic-" I faintly hear thumps as people jump to the ground. There's the scraping of an arrow being drawn.
"Freeze," A man's voice demands, I feel Crynn tense before my body starts to go numb. I'm going to pass out soon but I need to know what's happening! Gravel crunches as the blurry, blobs creep closer. We've been caught.
"Great googly moogly…" Gabriel mutters before someone slaps a hand across his mouth. My vision dulls and the ringing in my ears gets louder.
"Don't move, and don't touch the body on the ground."
Body? I think as my consciousness slips away.