“Look, I’m sure he’s fine,” Leela finally said. “He’s supposed to taking the crown or something, right? I bet that’s eating up his time. In fact, he even warned you that he’d be busy. But that’s not the point.”
“Busy is one thing. Two whole weeks without checking in to see if I even made it to Alaska? No chance.” Avery forced herself to breathe again.
Leela’s massive brown eyes for once didn’t show any sympathy.
“Yes but…Avery, that’s not the point. The point? I’ve wanted to talk to you about this for a while. I just didn’t want to shake you out of your zone so close to finals. So listen up…
“I think it’s a good thing. Besides Adalyn coming around, it’s been amazing since then you’ve been back with me. And with no Mason. Like old times. Let’s face it, it’s not the worst thing in the world that you’ve gotten a break from him, Avery.”
Avery stiffened. The fresh air suddenly seemed that much staler. Leela continued before Avery could.
“Remember when my sister moved to Florida to be near her boyfriend she’d only known for six months? You said she was crazy because she barely knew him. Spent all her time with him and totally neglected the rest of her life.”
“Okay, what are you saying?” Avery had to interrupt. She knew where the conversation was going, expected it for a long time, but stayed determined to end it quickly.
“I’m saying you’re just like her. Worse than her. Avery, you met Mason and since have done nothing but be suffocated by him! Have you even spent any time on your own? I think, whether he’s doing it intentionally, maliciously or not, he’s really influencing your life. More than he should be. I mean that college is going to be a nightmare trying to hide a harpie prince in your closet.”
Avery waited before answering, skull pounding as she ran through every possible response. She knew one thing, Leela was right. Mason had been…around to say the least. But she’d been around him just as much. Still not exactly ready to tell Leela her post-high-school plans yet, she tried to divert the conversation. Using the same logic Leela prided herself with against her, Avery explained.
“It’s not all his influence. I’m not the same person I used to be. There’s no reason why I would want the same things I did before, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing… Plus, back then I didn’t know that there was an entire mythological race or magic. That’s kinda hard to ignore.” She lowered her voice only partly because of other students, mostly because her throat threatened to close.
“It’s dangerous. I think sometimes you forget you’re still a human, Avery. That magic doesn’t change what you are. You need your old life. You need to be the old Avery. You can’t live a harpie’s life forever.”
“I can try,” Avery countered before she felt the words escape her lips.
Leela’s eyes widened, but Avery didn’t need to see the accompanying paleness in the girl’s face to know she said a bit too much. She stumbled to backtrack on her words, but the syllables failed to come out correctly.
“Avery, what are you doing?” Leela stood quickly and turned the full weight of her eyes on Avery. “What are you actually doing? I don’t need the sugarcoated version of this. I need my best friend to tell me the truth.”
This definitely wasn’t the way Avery had planned to go about it. Her mouth went dry and she gave herself a moment to panic.
“I’m just going to live with him, there on the harpie island, for a while.”
“And college?” Leela’s absolute calmness was a little bit unnerving.
“I don’t know. Probably not.”
Leela held an open hand and ticked her fingers off slowly.
“So you’re going to run away with a dangerous mythological creature.” One finger raised. “Leave your friends and your family.” Two. “Squander everything your mother has given you. Everything your brother wants for you. Not going to college. Which is going to make you even less likely to be able to come back to your human life in the future.” She combined the college and the coming back to human life in the future. She only had her ring and middle finger in the air still. She dropped her ring finger with the next point. “And you’re leaving your best friend without even telling her about it. So basically, you’re never coming home. Oh, wait. I’m out of fingers.”
Leela threw her hands up.
“Hey, you’re being unreasonable. Just because Mikhail…” Avery started.
“This is not about Mikhail!” Leela screamed. “You’re so wrapped up in your world, your harpie fantasy, that you don’t even know what it’s about. Not everything is about those frikkin’ feathered things. But you’ve gone and gotten with a guy that you’ll trail after forever and forget how to live! You forgot how to be yourself! What are you doing? You still have time to change this.”
Leela glared but Avery had no response. Only when Leela stormed off did she come to a shaky stand. Sure the girls had fought before, but this? This was just insane. After a few moments of letting the tension in the air disperse, she reached for her phone and hit redial. Mason’s voicemail came up. For the first time, she pressed the phone up to the air.
“Mason, please answer already. I don’t know what’s going on, but I at least deserve a call back. You were right about Leela. She’s…” Avery dropped the phone into her lap. What was she doing? Crying to the boy that Leela just pointed out that Avery couldn’t live without? Avery let out a breath. She was still herself despite what Leela thought. Her goals had just changed. Suddenly determined to prove that, Avery buried her phone in her bag.
Avery knew there was one thing she needed to do. It was time to get ready for a party and to make Leela eat her words.
Five
The fire pit roared, painting the circle of trees in flickers of orange and spread its heat throughout the entire clearing. Between the smoke clouding the sky and the music two notches too loud, it was a surprise that the party hadn’t yet been broken up. Avery dodged the flock of girls who went giggling to the east and sprinting over the bumpy terrain like masters. Avery lacked the apparent skill, spilling the disgusting foamy beer over herself with every stumble. It could have been that her eyes floated back to the sky with every moment or that she secretly hated the bitter, cheap brew.
“Hey.”
Avery turned to follow the voice but didn’t recognize its owner. The guy it belonged to looked like a jock—short blonde hair and the school’s letterman jacket.
“You’re in my history class, right?”
She could have been, but the question was too vague to answer honestly. Avery nodded and smiled anyways. She had seen Leela earlier, hovering at the edge of the clearing and chatting it up with some girls from their English class. She hadn’t looked her way, but Avery knew Leela was aware of her presence just as well as Avery felt hers. Avery was at this party to make a show, demonstrating to Leela her allegations were untrue. She could be a highschooler. She could talk to other guys.
Focusing back on the guy, she attempted to twirl her hair and look inviting.
“Cool. Are you all smart and stuff?” he asked with a grunt.
She cringed internally. Not only was he a jock, he had to reinforce the worse stereotypes about them. She didn’t feel like pushing through the crowds of seniors to find a more suitable boy for her to flirt with. It had to be near midnight and even with all the commotion around, Avery didn’t feel uncomfortable being outside this late, she still didn’t like it. Soft bed and hot tea to wash down the awful beer sounded so wonderful right now. She tried not to let herself get distracted by the thought of it.
“I mean, I’m more modest than to say I’m brilliant,” Avery said. She was a prided B student. Not too high, not too low.
“Cool. That’s cool.” He sloshed his own beer. Avery flinched. It was actually warm. “So I have something to ask you. I hope it’s not too out of line.”
Finding her knuckles clenched white around her beer, she threw back a gulp without gagging. It bought her a minute. Chill out
, Avery told herself. This jock was no harpie.
“Go ahead.”
“Well, you see my girlfriend and I really need help in history. Would you be willing to tutor us?”
Caught between laughing and sighing, Avery snorted. Another swig of the bitter beer later and she had straightened her face.
“Okay. Looking for a tutor. That’s…” Not what she thought he’d wanted. Her cheeks burned but not from embarrassment. Her eyes drifted to the left, where Leela once stood, but she saw someone else nearing her instead.
“Beat it,” Nate ordered the jock like he owned the place. The jock mumbled something nasty in defiance, but his dark words were lost under the party’s music.
“To what do I owe the honor?” Avery asked.
Her quickest assumption was that Leela had sent Nate over here for some badgering. But since Nate was the absolute worst person to send as an ambassador, she doubted that. His answer seconded her opinion.
“Can I talk to you alone?” he asked, gesturing sideways. It was an odd request considering their absence would have been more noticeable and their conversation more eavesdrop worthy than if they’d stayed in the center of the party. Avery nodded anyways after doing a quick scan. She wasn’t concerned about the danger this close to the school, but there were few places to chat. Although she knew of one.
“Lead the way.” She gestured back towards the school. Nate did, bee-lining them through the people with a short nod and greeting to those who shouted for him. When they reached the place reasonably considered empty, he fully faced her.
“I don’t know if she told you, but she’s agreed to move in with me after graduation.”
Avery narrowly avoided bashing into a tree. Too distracted to move with the ease that was required, she stopped and gawked at Nate even through the shadows.
“My Leela?” It wasn’t supposed to be a denial or even a disbelief. Leela wasn’t innocent, but the girl had her whole life mapped out. And prominent amongst those was the idea that Nate definitely wouldn’t be making it into Leela’s college with her.
“Where?” Avery thought of the follow-up question.
“Nevada. Where my brothers are.”
“Oh.” She shut her mouth dumbly and tried to wrap her head around it. The whole thing must have happened when she was away with Mason. Avery couldn’t escape the heavy guilt that followed and made her stomach knot. What else had she missed? No wonder Leela had been upset by Avery’s disregard for being a high schooler.
“My girl was totally down for it. She loves my family. She likes the warm climate. And most of all, we’re gonna be close to Vegas! But the nearer it’s gotten, she’s started to spaz. And I figure she’d look to you, she always does, but then you’re running off with that bird freak.”
“You think she’s getting cold feet the more real it becomes?”
“You tell me.” He nudged her.
Avery knew at that moment what Leela and her fight had really been about. But she felt far too embarrassed to admit it. Leela wasn’t just upset about Avery running off to start a new life. Leela was concerned about doing the same thing which fueled the explosion.
“I need to talk to her. Like really talk to her,” Avery said, but she honestly didn’t know what she would talk about.
Nate finally smiled, even if it was a half-cocked grin. The man probably felt like he just worked a miracle. Avery gestured him to head back towards the party and the two separated as they returned in bee-line fashion to different parts of the crowd. Avery scanned the place for Leela, clutching her drink as she attempted not to look too noticeable. Her eyes passed the jock from earlier and he offered her a thumbs up. She only gave him a grimace instead. Then she finally spotted Leela. The girl hovered by the keg, pumping the empty shell as if it’d spill a bit more precious foam.
“It’s out. Want mine?” Avery offered the cup.
“No. This stuff is terrible.” Leela dropped the pump and her cup. She’d hadn’t made direct eye contact with Avery yet, but her tone didn’t scare Avery away either.
“You have a habit of not telling me things lately.” Avery dove in without fear. This made Leela snap her head up and glare.
“Oh look who is talking,” she snipped. “I always figured you were going to move in with Mason. I mean, you certainly spent enough time over there.”
“Do you not want me to go?” Avery asked pointedly.
Leela sighed overdramatically. The question unfairly fenced Leela in, but she still answered anyways.
“I’m worried about you going. But if I were you, I’d probably go. I just want you to hold onto your real life too, Avery. Your high school, your college, your dreams. I feel like you’re not even my friend anymore.”
The last sentence hurt enough that Avery grimaced at the dirt. Surely she spent more time with Mason, and surely Leela and she had fights throughout the years, but Leela still was her only best friend. The fact that the girl would now doubt that made the guilt heavy enough to suffocate. Avery even fanned at her throat, though it was her eyes that needed to dry out. It took her a long moment to answer.
“You were right. This is our last week in high school. I’m glad you made me come out.” They had trailed away from the groups. Still within the camp fires view though, they kept their voices low.
“Me? Right?” Leela’s eyebrows disappeared underneath her bangs. Avery giving in so quickly apparently made Leela’s head spin.
“I mean about me being a little bit harpie obsessed. I know it sounds crass, even stupid on my part, but I feel like I have to do this. There was never any hesitation after he asked me. You of all people believe in that destiny stuff. Maybe this was meant to happen. I feel like it.” Her own speech, though true, bordered on making her uncomfortable. Avery took a long swig hoping the gross liquid would make a difference.
“How did that make me right?” Leela finally asked slowly.
“About keeping some of my human life too. I’m going to look at colleges in California. Stay by my brother. Stay in touch with my friends. It’s a must. If I’m moving there, I’ll tell him it’s a requirement. And Nevada isn’t terribly far away. You and I are going to be fine. We’re going to be friends. And we’re going to have each other’s backs.” This thing was threatening to get very sentimental very quickly.
Avery scanned the area, but it only made it worse. This was the last high school party. The last big she-bang with her best friend. And the last time she’d really be living the human life. Just because moving in with Mason would be worth it, didn’t mean she wasn’t allowed to miss some things right?
“Good.” Leela must have been thinking along the same lines because her voice got weaker. She cleared her throat futilely and added a question. “I wish I had some of your nerve. I’m just moving to Nevada. You’re moving to the harpie capitol. So how are you so prepared to go?”
“I mean, I’m not.” Avery laughed with her confession. “I’m going. For sure. But I’m absolutely terrified.”
“Seriously?” Leela let out a giggle too, even if the subject was not necessarily funny.
“Frikkin’ terrified.” Avery kept emphasizing. Just because Mason was there, she’d follow. But the moving in with the boyfriend thing? Not ideal.
“That’s awesome. I’m glad I’m not the only one who is afraid. But warn Mason I’m coming for him if he’s up to anything.” Leela’s phone buzzed and the girl’s face dropped to the screen. Avery pitched the solo cup towards the fire, suddenly feeling more energized than ever. It was only when Leela’s face came back up that the energy turned into fear.
“What’s wrong?”
“I had the news alerts set up to my phone” —Leela waved the Android in the air— “there’s been another harpie attack.”
“Are you sure? Where?”
“Thirty miles. Avery, they’re on their way back. You need to call Mason now!”
Leela herded her back to the school. The shoes suddenly seemed like a huge mistake. Avery stumbled viole
ntly three times before they even reached the stairs. Avery jerked backwards abruptly and shoved Leela towards the shadows. Just as Avery had attempted to climb the steps, a faculty member named Morrison came clomping down the other side. Morrison was a sure sign the party was about to be busted, and they couldn’t be caught outside with it.
Avery let out a breath, an agonizing extra few minutes as they waited for the area to clear. It’d have been worth it to be caught, as they would have been ushered back to their room, but not if a thirty minute lecture would get in her way.
Adalyn hadn’t taken a swing at killing Avery the last time she was here, but the second time could be the charm. And then there was the concern that Adalyn wasn’t alone. Leela held the phone out for both of them to see the story as they waited. The screen’s low light made the images blurry but Leela could whisper the text.
Windswept (The Airborne Saga) Page 4
