Silverbird, p.24
Silverbird, page 24
‘Ask him yourself. But be gentle.’
She composed herself and stepped in closer. “Why are you upset with me?”
“It’s not important.”
“Well, it clearly is.” She gently guided him by his shoulder so that he would face her. She was cautious as knowing how strong the Eagle-Avio was and how easy it would have been for him to punch or swipe her away, she didn’t want him to break her bones even on accident.
“Amell. You can talk to me. Whatever it is you’ve got to say to me, I’ve heard far worse from Rex.”
Amell hesitated.
“You have a chance to find your family and you’re being…what is the word- uh, flippant? Like it doesn’t matter. Aren’t you bothered about it?”
“I have no memory of him, so why should I care? It’s the same with Freya. She may be alive, but I don’t feel anything towards her.”
“Why should-” He shook his head and breaking away from her he paced back and forth across the kitchen in agitation. “Just because you don’t care doesn’t mean that there isn’t someone out there who loves you and misses you! Fuck me, how hard is it for you to see that? You have no idea if they’ve been looking for you or if you going missing has ruined their lives! It bothers me when you leave for two or three days and don’t come home, you can’t even begin to imagine what it must be like for him to have not seen you in years!”
With his arms flailing as he spoke, running his hands through his long hair and beating his wings in an outraged frenzy Storm only stared at him and listened until he ran out of breath.
“Is this about me or you?” She asked.
Amell’s cheeks reddened. Unable to respond he sat down, holding his head in his hands and drawing his wings over his head. Looking to Wilny, he gave her a small nod.
“Is this why you’re upset?”
He shied away from her, knotting his fingers together.
“I want to think someone out there misses me.” His shoulders sagged, voice thick with emotion. “I’m not like the rest of you. I wasn’t born like this Storm, not like you. I was human. For the majority of my life, I was human. Beth has the basic facts about me. A name I don’t use, a list of schools I attended, but who the hell even is that? Did anyone even notice when I was gone?”
“Amell,” She said softly, kneeling down in front of him, “if you want to find your family you could always just ask. We’d help you. We said we would when you first came here.”
“I was a little too afraid of Beth to ask and with what Kat said about her brother and sister where Beth couldn’t find them…I…I don’t know, it felt pointless.”
“What about now?” Wilny joined Storm at her side. “Did Wilheim coming here give you some hope?”
“Some.” He hid his face in his hands. “But you’ve got so much on your plate, I don’t want to add any more pressure to the shit that’s already going on.”
“It’s not a hassle, Amell, trust me.”
“But-”
“I don’t want to see you upset and angry. Come on, let us help you.”
“See,” Said Wilny gently with an arm and a wing around his shoulder in comfort, “I told you she wouldn’t mind. It’s all okay.”
Amell looked as though he could cry as Wilny lowered his hands from his face. Reassuring him with a smile, Wilny knotted his fingers through Amell’s and held him close as he hid his face against the soft iridescent feathers of Wilny’s wing.
“I don’t want to lose this family Storm.” Amell choked on his words. “I love you all so much, I’d rather die before I let any of you get taken away or hurt and I just want to hope that someone would have done the same for me. I want to think that the one I was taken from- that they would have done something, because whenever I imagine what I’d do if I lost you or Wilny-”
“We would do the same for you. But as far as the family you came from…” She hesitated. It was hard to speak on the behalf of total strangers. “You should go meet them and find out. I’m sure they must miss you and must wonder where you vanished to.”
“Really?”
He looked up at her in surprise. It hadn’t been the answer or reaction he had been expecting from her. He was relieved but he was also conflicted and the brow knotting and rubbing at his arms his uncertainty grew.
“What if…what if they- how would they react to- to this?” He spread his wings, showing off the gradient of cream and brown feathers that grew across his shoulders and torso and gesturing to the areas where the wings joined into his back.
Wilny and Storm gave a little shared look of surprise noticing that some of the plumes were spreading further down his arms and even contorting around his lower back to his waist, both certain that there was now more feathers there than there was a few months ago. Soft white with an inner gradient of warm brown and a delicate sheen of purple whenever they moved. There were even some long quills forming in his long hair and beard that gave it little strands of colour. Amell was Transhuman; a lot of his biology had been changed but neither of them knew how much further it would go, nether the less they would be there for him no matter what.
“I don’t know Amell. I’ve no idea.” Wilny rubbed his shoulder, breaking open some of the newer quill casings with his fingers and brushing the dust away. “But if you want to try, you should try to see them. Right?”
Storm nodded in agreement.
“Talk to Beth and she can find a way to get in contact with them and make arrangements for your flight out there.”
“Only if you promise to go find your dad.” His expression hardened again.
She wanted to cringe at the words. As much as she wanted to protest that Swann wasn’t her father, Storm sighed. Keeping her family happy was more important than her pride.
“I promise. Look, I’ll even ask Beth right now to do it.”
Across the kitchen and through the archway that led into the living room a black and red bionic arm shot into the air with a thumbs up. Beth had been listening. Storm smiled. No doubt she had been making arrangements and plans the entire time that they had been talking.
“See. Beth can organise it all for us.”
Amell’s face lightened after a moment of silence then twisted as he looked tentatively between her and Wilny. “Can Wilny come with me? If I’m going to see my family, there’s no other person I’d rather have beside me.”
“That’s down to Wilny.”
“I’ll be there for him.” Wilny assured Amell softly, taking his hands and squeezing it tight. “They’ll love you as much as I do.”
“But what if they don’t?”
“Then you will still have me.” Wilny’s wings flared wide as he arced them around Amell in a shield of peacock-blue and brassy-green. Amell’s shoulders heaved as he hid his face in Wilny’s feathers once again as Wilny brushed his fingers through Amell’s hair.
‘Thank you.’ Mused Wilny to Storm, sparks of relief and adoration blinking through the static. ‘Are you sure this will be alright?’
‘He needs you, Will. I wouldn’t want him going to New Zealand alone and I’m not going to stop him. Please go with him and support him, Malana will be safe with the rest of us.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Have I ever willingly wanted to put Malana in harm’s way? Has she ever not been able to handle anything that happens?’
Wilny’s expression softened. She could feel him considering everything and then with a little shake of his wings and tail feathers he cleared his throat.
“Come on. Let’s go talk to Beth about this.” Wilny insisted, gently taking Amell by the arm and pulling him up. Semi-reluctantly, he allowed Wilny to drag him along as Wilny gave Storm a little nod.
‘Could you…’ Her mind buzzed with an uncomfortable and uneasy feeling, overwhelming her words.
‘I didn’t catch any of that.’
‘Could you do something for me.’
15
Imperial War Museum, Duxford
Tailfeathers quivering in unease as he sat uncomfortably in the borrowed car, Wilny was not happy to travel with Wilheim, but this was Storm’s request. Her apprehension was understandable, but she had assured Wilny that there was no one better for this than him, even if he absolutely hated the fact that his brother would be joining them on this venture.
Beth had taken several days to complete her research on Swann for them. As an ex-ARCDA employee, it had been a difficult time in locating him, but she had managed it eventually with some assistance from Wilheim.
“Why are we going? Do we have to do it this way?” He had complained that morning.
“You all have smaller wings that can be hidden more easily, and you look more human, so you’ll be less noticeable. It’s nothing dangerous, and you’ll enjoy the time to be a dad with Raoul and Lana.” Storm had insisted. “And it will give you a chance to talk to your brother.”
‘What is there to talk about?’ He had bitterly thought to himself, the entire way up. Raoul had been polite on his behalf as he sulked and watched Wilheim, asking questions about what he did and how different Aura was to Core. He was grateful that neither Malana, Palmer, nor Wilheim were musers as they would have heard nothing but bickering between the pair of them.
‘You’ve got to talk to him eventually.’ Raoul had warned as he held two conversations at once.
‘Why?’
‘How are you going to help Amell if you don’t know how it feels to talk to someone who misses you.’
‘Amell’s family aren’t sociopaths.’
‘That you know of. Just be professional.’
Wilny scoffed aloud. Raoul was choosing to be as stubborn as he was on the matter, but if Raoul wanted him to act professional then he would, and he would trust in Beth’s research that they were going to the right location, and according to her this was where Swann worked.
At first, he was confused, as to why they were heading to a giant warehouse, until they rounded the corner and pulled into the carpark. There stood a full-scale model of a spitfire poised outside the entrance to the Imperial War Museum, with the tails of many huge planes peeking out from behind the vast hangars and smaller aircraft landing along the runway. His wings strained in his seat, giddily tremoring with excitement, squashing down his bitterness. Even if Beth was wrong and Swann wasn’t here, he was going to have a fun time with his family regardless.
Raoul took the lead as Wilheim and Wilny negotiated the treasure trove of the giftshop with Malana and Palmer, both eager to explore the new area and play with the toys that were on display. Getting them into the building was easy, and he was very proud of himself in how easily he handled it. The hardest part for him had been trying not to let his curled tail wag in the excitement of being able to do something that the Avios in the Rogues could not.
Map in hand, they followed the path directed to them and gazed up in wonder as the first thing that greeted them was an ancient Lichtenthal glider, made of wood and canvas hanging above them along with the casing of a huge, decommissioned rocket. It was interesting to see but then the path gave way to the main hangar where at least a hundred jets and planes of all shapes and sizes were suspended from the ceiling or neatly parked across the entire hangar for visitors to stride about and admire.
“Look at that!” Breathed Wilny, staring up in awe at the machines suspended above them. His heart aflutter, he leant against the railings of the elevated walkway they had begun to climb to stop himself from fainting. “Just look at all of that!”
Whilst the boys admired the machinery, Malana looked less excited by it all and more focused. Analytically, she took note and counted each plane, each person they saw, reading the names and listening to conversations. He had to give Storm credit; she had trained Malana well to be alert to her surroundings.
“Can we look around before we find Mr Swann?” She asked as they walked beneath the wing of a jet that Wilny was staring in awe of.
“Oh, absolutely Sunbeam! That’s what we’re here for. Don’t worry about the work, just see if you can find a cool plane.”
With a little smile, she checked herself and pulled her wingtips up off the floor, giving her big coat a few adjustments so that she could move a little more freely. Walking between the displays of the discovery area, Malana on her tiptoes at points to read each plaque for herself whilst Raoul read to Palmer.
“This is a-”
“Big plane!” Palmer squealed in delight from where he was kicking his legs on Wilny’s back – having used him to disguise the shape of Wilny’s wings on their way through the reception area. “I want to fly one!”
“When you’re older Palmer. And when you get a pilot’s licence.”
Putting the Canid cub down onto the ground, Raoul kept a firm grip of the leash on the child harness to keep him from running off, being careful not to pull on it too hard and send the poor cub flying. He wasn’t happy about the harness either, but it was for Palmer’s safety as this was a large and unfamiliar human environment. Not only that but if the toddler could remove a bionic leg from Beth without her noticing, he wouldn’t put it past him to figure out how to get into the cockpit of a decommissioned plane and start its engine.
‘I think we need one for Wilheim.’ Wilny mused sarcastically with a little nod towards his brother who was scribbling down a copy of a diagram of the engine blueprints to a harrier jump-jet and mapping out the structure of the wings. Rolling his eyes Raoul snorted.
‘I’ll get one for you too for Malana to hold if you keep that attitude up.’
‘You’re very…Beth-meanie today. What’s wrong?’
‘Talk to him.’ Raoul sent with a nod to Wilheim.
‘Here? Right here and now?’
‘Why not? It’s neutral ground and it has something you’re both interested in and can talk about together.’
‘But I don’t want to.’
Raoul frowned at him, whiskers twitching. A strong sentiment of disappointment towards Wilny coloured his thoughts as well as the slip of a memory from talking to Storm. She’d put him up to this.
‘Don’t get mad at her. You’re both stubborn and bad with emotions.’ Raoul defended as Wilny’s feathers prickled in annoyance. ‘If you want to be the mature and responsible parent, then be mature and responsible.’
‘I hate this righteous attitude you’ve developed.’
With a little shrug Raoul strode off with Palmer, letting the cub lead him away so that Wilny could decide for himself what he wanted to do.
Gathering himself together Wilny eventually resentfully grounded himself and went over to Wilheim stood at the railings, gazing out at the planes all carefully arranged within the hangar, everything from tiny Cessna Skyhawks to a Vulcan and Concorde II. Silently they admired the collection together.
“I didn’t think this would be something you’d be interested in.” Wilny snorted as his brother sighed loudly and adoringly at the camouflage colours of a Lancaster bomber as it sat monolithic in the hangar after reading the little plaque of information on its engine power. He looked over at the little notebook that he had in his hand and at the sketches that he had made.
“I thought you were into robots and bionics.”
“Are you kidding? Without basic engineering like this, we wouldn’t have developed anything, and sometimes it’s good to learn from the originators of your field.” Wilheim smiled up at the planes, dark eyes flicking back and forth. “What about you. I thought you were Ruby who was mad about guns and other weaponry.”
“Planes are other weaponry. I did want to go into the pilot programme, but Core only accepts Preternaturals for that which is completely unfair.”
“You can already fly, why are you upset about not being able to fly a jet.”
“It’s not the same.” Wilny shrugged. “I did once nearly convince Rainbow – she was a telken user on my team – to cut my wings off so I could get into the programme.”
Wilheim’s head snaped around at him, horror written across his face at the very concept, but Wilny quickly held his hands up and gestured to the lumps beneath the long coat he wore.
“I didn’t. I didn’t. Clearly.”
“Good. Mum would have been furious if you had.”
Wilny’s face darkened. Jaw clenched, he turned away.
“Would she?” He said in a spiteful, sarcastic, tone. “Did she really care that much? She abandoned me there so why would have it mattered to her.”
Wilheim’s face dropped, bereft for a moment then went as dark as Wilny’s.
“She didn’t abandon you, Wilny, she would have never done that.”
“Sure. If that’s what you believe. Ten years of Core training says otherwise.”
“Wilny. We didn’t abandon you in Core, its more complicated than that.”
“Complicated? Then why-”
“You were a broken mess!” Wilheim snapped. His voice echoed across the hangar, and behind them Raoul’s ears pricked at the tone. Startled by his own outburst, Wilheim looked away from his brother, cheeks flushing with the tiny little violet-blue feathers down his neck rousing into a bristle.
Wilny could only stare at his brother as fingers tapping quickly on the railing, he took a moment to compose himself. He reached out to muse upon Wilheim’s fragmented thoughts and memories. A strong sentiment of resentment and pain coiled and curled around Wilheim, turning Wilny’s stomach and sending phantom pains splintering down his spine and legs. His wings felt numb, his heartbeat echoed the heavy pounding of Wilheim’s own heart as his brother tried to be calm.
“You were a mess, Wilny.” He repeated in a softer tone. “I don’t blame you for it. All that death, all of that destruction, the explosions and collapses, what happened to me, and everything else on top of that. You couldn’t handle it and you were feral and broken. If anyone came near or frightened you, you’d either shut down or flip out on them. Mum couldn’t handle it, and Guy took advantage of that.”
