Sparrows

by Laura Mae

  Sydona shrugged as she folded her clothes, keeping herself busy. Her father sat down next to her on the sleeping bag as close as possible. From the corner of her eye, she could see him watching her pack, waiting on a moment to speak up.

  “What’s up, dad?” she asked.

  “Oh. Nothing…” he faded and rubbed her back more.

  “Nothing? Come on. I know you better than that.”

  Ian stayed quiet and grunted as he switched positions on the floor.

  “It’s going to be weird living with me again, huh?” She nudged him with a small grin. “‘Course, I’m as tall as you now, and I don’t care for pink anymore. But otherwise…”

  “I’m going to the island,” he interrupted.

  She stopped folding the jeans and stared at the hem with loose stitching. Her heart beat faster. She couldn’t believe what she heard.

  “And don’t try to stop me. I know you, too.”

  Sydona shook her head, letting the information sink in. But she still couldn’t make sense of it.

  “Why?”

  “I’ve caused this family enough trouble. I can’t do it anymore. I’ll have a fresh start on the island. Willow says they have the most amazing beaches.”

  “You sound like you’re retiring…”

  “No. I’m just so tired, Sydona.” He lifted her trembling chin and made her look him in the eye. “I’m sorry, baby.

  “I just found you. Now you’re wanting to leave again?” Sydona asked. Tears poured down her rose-colored cheeks.

  “I love you. But this might be my only chance to get away from it all and live peacefully. It’s got nothing to do with you, sweetie. I promise.”

  She hated the idea of losing him again. But if the doctor still lingered out there, at least her father would be in a place most people didn’t know existed. She longed to spend the rest of her days with her elderly father, but she had to respect his wish. Who was she to stand in the way of someone kept in captivity for fifty years?

  Her heart ached, and she wished she [SD88]didn’t have to agree. “I’ll miss you.”

  Ian kissed his daughter on the forehead with shaky lips. [LM89][SD90]“I’ll write.”

  Sydona finished packing and headed back downstairs. The sun disappeared, and the moon shone brightly through the windows. The fairies lit the house with old candles sitting on every flat surface. There were so many, in fact, it seemed brighter than when the lights were on. [SD91]Heat radiated from the plethora of candles, calming and relaxing her. It gave her confidence to speak with the Shaman[SD92][LM93].

  She found him outside, sending up prayers for the family members of the lost ones.

  “Shaman Faro?” she asked as he bowed his head at the last fairy.

  “Ah, Sydona. How are you?”

  “Um, not good, actually.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  She dusted off a spot to sit on the lower, cracked concrete step. “Would it be possible… to make me fly again?”

  Shaman Faro flew backward in despair, then came closer to her. “Good heavens, dear. What happened?”

  She shook her head, dreading the inevitable question. “Is it possible?”

  “Oh, well, I’m not sure,” he said.

  “What about the V.I.P.?”

  His eyes widened, and he stroked his beard. “Yes. It could work. But it would take every single fairy to contribute and a lot at that… Even then, it’s not certain.”

  Sydona held back a smile but nodded. “I understand.”

  He leaned in closer with a sideways grin. “I’ll let everyone know. Go up to your room and lie above your covers. I’ll send Lanie up.”

  “Thanks,” she smiled soberly.

  Her feet led her back upstairs with a tinge of excitement. She imagined she felt like Jubilee on her VIP day. It was hard to not get her hopes up because it could crash and burn. But at the same time, she kept envisioning all the times she flew above the treetops and houses. Her skin grew goosebumps again.

  As she lay in bed, she stared at the ceiling and shook with anticipation. Soon, a lilac-winged fairy with short auburn hair flew into her room with a cup the size of herself.

  “Good evening, child,” she said. She landed on the side table, clunking the full cup down.

  “Hi. Lanie?” Sydona asked. She had never seen her before. “What’s in the cup?”

  “Some tea. Chamomile and lemon balm. Plus, some stuff Faro put in it to knock ya out,” she said with a high-pitched but raspy voice. “Needed to get ya a little extra ‘cause, well… you about five-hundred of us[SD94][LM95][SD96].” She giggled.

  Sydona smiled. “So, how does this work exactly? I never get to see this part of it.”

  “It’s quite simple, really. You just lay back and relax. Everyone will come by to donate their dust to you, just pile it on top of you, I guess. A bit impromptu. Normally, we have a whole thing. Then, when Faro comes in to start his chanting, drink the tea. You’ll fall in a deep sleep. Then, when you wake up, you should be able to fly!”

  “Should be,” Sydona said, less enthusiastic.

  “Well, dear. We’ve never attempted this before. Only fate knows what will happen next.”

  Sydona closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Fairies began to pile in her room one by one. Some brought candles to illuminate the room better. Raoul opened the window to let in the midnight breeze. A group of fairies sang an enchanting melody as the rest of them donated fairy dust. Once a fairy stopped by, they would touch her skin and whisper, “Svibanj vas lebdjeti s milost.” She was not fluent in the ancient language, but Lanie said it meant “may you soar with grace”. [SD97][LM98]Grace of course, used in two different ways, which she greatly admired. She hadn’t felt so relaxed in months; she thought she might not even need to drink the tea.

  The ceremony lasted about an hour. Her lids grew heavy, and she wanted to drift off to sleep, but then Shaman Faro flew in. He wore robes created by silkworms, which complimented his ashen blue wings, and a large headdress twice his size. He floated down next to Sydona.

  “It is time,” he said. He slowly stretched his arm out toward the cup and bowed his head.

  Her arms felt dead with comfort and struggled to reach behind her. The tea tickled her nostrils and soothed her throat on the way down. Even for as long as she lay still, the liquid still warmed her insides. The effect of the tea and magic went to work immediately. It was strange to feel completely void of weight while lying down. Normally, she would feel this way when she flew with her troubles far behind her. It was a feeling of absolute relaxation and euphoria. Her hopes soared.

  After what felt like a year, the light from her bedroom window woke her up. A grin grew quickly on her face at the sight in her bedroom. Raoul lay on his bed on the window sill. It was the first time in a month he had slept in the same room as her. She let out a peaceful sigh and sat up in bed. The dust she remembered all over her body disappeared. Not a single speck was left behind. Only moments later, Raoul stretched out on his bed and perked up at the sight of her.

  He flew straight up with hands on his hips. “You wanna give it a go?!”

  “Try and stop me!”

  She leapt out of bed and within seconds, she stood outside in the fresh morning air. Her lungs took in enough oxygen to give her a slight head rush[SD99]. Quickly, the fairies gathered nearby to watch her.[SD100][LM101] She positioned herself along the dirt road for a running strip. Her excitement overrode her worries of anyone seeing her.

  With her feet locked into a sprinting position and fairies cheering her on, she took off[SD102]. Her heart pounded harder with every step, and she swore she felt lighter already. When she felt she sprinted hard enough, she kicked her left foot off the ground and leapt[SD103][LM104][SD105] into the air with her arms straight back.

  It worked.

  Her feet no longer depended on the ground to keep her up. Back to her normal self, she took another sigh of relief as she rose higher into the air. There would be no more feeling sorry fo
r herself. With a huge grin, she thought about how she could go to Sparrow Island to see her father. She quickly pictured him making sand angels on the beach and drinking a cup of coffee.[SD106]

  But something felt wrong. Involuntarily, she slowly sank back down to the earth, and she felt like cement blocks hung off her legs. The feeling of weightlessness disappeared within only a few minutes. Her hopes were dashed. Normalcy had been within reach but quickly dissipated at her grasp. Raoul and the other fairies came to her aid and tried to sprinkle more of their dust on her. Her face turned beet red from embarrassment, and she waved them away.

  It was done. [SD107]She sat in the mud and cried. She lost all hope.

  Chapter Four

  Sydona ripped the heads off dandelions and crushed them in her hands, instantly staining her fingertips yellow. She memorized each petal smeared along her fingers, ignoring the attention around her. Tears soiled her face. Reflections of the glowing, mourning fairies bounced off her cheeks. The families pitied her as if she had lost a baby. Though she knew they meant well, it took everything within her to keep from running away. [SD108]

  The brown line around her wrist reminded her why she couldn’t fly. It only angered her more. The doctor took something away from her that she was never able to get back. He stole a piece of herself.[LM109][SD110]

  Shaman Faro was the last to speak with her. “We did everything we could. I wish I could help you further…”

  Sydona wiped her hands on her legs and cleaned her face. “I know.”

  “You’re the same person you were, whether or not you can fly. A good person.”

  Sydona hung her head. “Thank you, Shaman Faro.”

  He flew off, back into the house with the rest of them. Raoul cleared his throat.

  “I can’t believe it didn’t work. Everyone contributed so much…”

  She stood up, her legs fresh with grass indents. “It’s really okay. I’ll be okay.”

  Raoul nodded. “Where do we go from here? Back home?”

  A breath escaped her at his words. They were home, but it suddenly felt unknown. She took a closer look at the house. It was overgrown with vines and colonies of branches bundled into nests for fairies. Her home was now theirs.

  Home. Giovonna. Silas. Willow. Time to go back, she thought to herself.

  “Willow will want us back soon,” said Sydona.

  “But we just got here.” Raoul looked back at his people.

  Sydona sniffled one last time and glanced at Raoul with a sullen face. “I think they’ll be alright. We don’t belong here anymore.”

  A lump formed in her throat as she headed back inside to gather her things.

  The goodbyes held them back another hour. In all her life, she never thought she would be saying a final goodbye to the fairies she lived with half of her life. But she saw no future for herself there anymore. She was a Sparrow now, a rebel who fought to end the discrimination of fliers[SD111]. She mentioned Sparrow Island to the fairy families as well. As much as they had been sending fliers there, she assumed they sent fairies too; they were an essential part of being a flier.

  As she headed back down the longer-than-she-remembered-driveway, she took one last look at the great blue house. A part of her wanted to say goodbye to it, but it was just a building after all. It wasn’t like it could hear her or miss her in return. She lingered though, memorizing its every feature.

  Trees and farmland whizzed by as they left. Her eyes glazed over the road, and her mind wandered the last few hours. [SD112]Willow would be furious if they didn’t leave in time, but she didn’t care. She blasted rock on the radio, and they lost themselves in the music the whole way back.

  A few hours passed and she pulled up to the house, which was a third the size of hers. She could almost hear Silas saying “size doesn’t matter”. She smiled. Immature as it was, it relaxed her. Willow’s new used van was parked in front of hers, and she could already hear the lecture.

  “She’s back!” Giovonna called out as she ran from the house and straight over to them.

  Sydona barely got her seatbelt off before she squeezed her.

  “How did it go?” she asked.

  Sydona turned to point to the truck.

  “Oh.”

  “How long’s Willow been here?” Sydona asked.

  “Uh, yeah. She’s not happy with you. Said we’re gonna be late.”[SD113][LM114]

  Sydona scoffed. “Willow can kiss my--”

  “Syd! Where the hell you been?!” Willow shouted through the trees.

  She rolled her eyes and grabbed her things from the truck bed. “You didn’t tell her where I was?”

  “We did. But she didn’t care,” Giovonna whispered.

  They walked up to the front where Willow stood like a guard on the porch.

  “Morning, Willow,” Sydona said with sarcasm in her voice.

  “Don’t mornin’ me, princess. Ya knew--”

  “I know, I know.” Sydona shoved past her to go inside the house.

  Silas grinned as she walked through the door, and her heart raced. But she kept her head down at Willow’s yelling and headed to her bedroom. She dumped her items in a corner of her room and repacked her bag of new clothes and essentials for the trip. She couldn’t wait to sit in a car for another few hours.[SD115]

  Willow finally [SD116]calmed down. She assumed Raoul talked to everyone and filled them in. Knowing she wouldn’t have to explain gave her a wave of relief. As she got ready and opened her bedroom door, the three of them and Raoul turned to look at her with sad eyes.

  “Oh, Syd...” Willow uttered.

  “It’s fine,” she said softly. “Can we just go now?”

  The group silently loaded into the van with Willow in the driver’s seat. Giovonna sat up front as usual, and Silas, Sydona and Raoul sat in the back. It felt like when they went to Eagle Lake, but now she had someone to hold her hand.

  “We gotta stop by an’ pick up a few people. Might get a little cramped,” Willow announced as they drove onto the main road.

  Silas’s and Sydona’s fingers played with each other but not for long before Silas spoke up.

  “You wanna talk about it?” he asked.

  Sydona sighed and looked out her window.

  “Come on. You can’t keep holding things in. It’s not good for you.”

  Why did he want to know her anger? About how absolutely defeated she felt? Talking about it would only make her more upset. But she soon realized she hated when Raoul kept things bottled up, and she was doing the exact same thing to Silas. She sighed.

  “Shaman Faro did a Vila Prah, and I thought it was going to work. And it did... But then it didn’t.”

  “I can’t imagine what that felt like.”

  “I feel empty. And defeated. And not the same person I used to be…” She felt her face flush and tears trying to come up, but she squashed them. Her hands gravitated toward her lap. As much as she wanted to get angry, she was tired. All that remained was depression and sobriety. “I never should have gone. Should have just stayed home. None of this would have happened.”

  “Shoulda, woulda, coulda. You killed the leader of the pack. Why are you regretting that? You should feel proud of what you did. You saved so many lives. You found your parents! That wouldn’t have happened if you decided to stay at home, silly.”

  Silas grabbed her hand again and squeezed.

  The car came to a stop, and Willow yelled out the window. Lost in her head, Sydona rolled her window down for fresh air. Jet and Lacey walked toward the truck with a small, dark-skinned boy following them. Large backpacks weighed them down, while the child carried a vibrant multi-colored school bag on his back. Sydona met Jet and Lacey in the past, but the boy was new. [SD117][LM118] His head hung low, making him look damaged[SD119]. He dragged his feet and pushed up his black-rimmed glasses[SD120]. She had a feeling he wasn’t a flier like the other two or even closely related. Who was he?

  “Hey guys!” Lacey called out. Devon ran ahea
d as Lacey waved.

  “Hey y’all!” Willow shouted. “Ya excited for Chicago?”

  “Chicago? I thought we were going just outside of Chicago?” Raoul asked.

  “Yeah, but sayin’ ‘excited to go just outside of Chicago’ just don’t sound as fun.”

  “How are you, Sydona?” Lacey asked with a bright smile.

  “I’m alright.”

  “Great job on your trials, by the way. I still got a bruise on my ass from you!” [SD121][LM122]She rubbed her backside and nudged her through the window. “Hey, Gia! Hey, Raoul!”

  “Who’s the little guy?” Willow turned to greet him with a smile just before he got in.

  “This is Devon. He’s… going to join us today,” Lacey said, her tone much softer.

  Sydona leaned over Silas to get a closer look. Eyes were the first thing she noticed when meeting anyone, and his were brown. Could he be a human? Or had Giovonna been making contacts for other Sparrows?

  Lacey bent down to level her face with Devon’s. “Can you say hello?”

  He waved his hand quickly. “Hi.”

  Lacey grabbed his shoulders and gently guided him to the back seat. “It’s gonna be fun, okay?”

  Devon didn’t answer but moved to the back with haste and sat by the window, directly behind Sydona. She turned to face him.

  “I like your glasses,” she said.

  He sniffed, wiped his nose and stared out the window without noticing her presence. She and Silas exchanged looks and silently agreed they should leave him be.

  “Y’all got room back there?” Willow yelled back through the vehicle. Jet held a thumbs up. She put the van in reverse, and they headed out.

  Lacey and Jet sat in the back. Sydona caught Jet from the corner of her eye taking a drink from a metal flask and hiding it back in his bag. Lacey bobbed her head to whatever music she was listening to on her Walkman[SD123][LM124], while Devon drew on a pad of paper.

  Giovonna popped her head around once they were on a straight highway and whispered, “How do you suppose they know him? I’m guessing he’s not theirs.”

  Silas shrugged. “He doesn’t seem to really want to be here.”