“Dang, that is a big honkin’ feather,” he commented. “I’d hate to see the crow that left that thing. Where did you find it?”
“Uh, just out on the street,” she stammered. “I thought it was pretty.” She said it softly, like she cherished the words, but she didn’t know why.
Chad nodded. “It is.”
Kelly smiled tremulously and downed a few gulps of coffee. She kept casting glances at the black feather while she drank, wondering why her heart seemed to flutter every time she looked at it. What in the world did that mean?
She listened to Chad ramble on for a while about his newest love interest and then decided to take his advice and get in the shower. She’d been in her pajamas for, what, five days straight? She probably was bordering on rank. She bade goodbye to her friend, telling him that she’d see him later, then hopped in the shower and tried to imagine all of her problems going down the drain with the hot water. After getting out and drying off, she put on a black T-shirt and a pair of track pants, figuring it was one step above pajamas, and dried out her hair. She made herself a quick bite to eat, then collapsed on her bed, exhausted. Between her depression, the work she’d done, and the fact that she had almost met her maker that morning, she felt like she needed a nice, long nap.
She closed her eyes, snuggled under the covers, and sighed in contentment. She replayed what had happened that morning for the hundredth time, and as she drifted off to sleep, she could have sworn that she could remember something flying away just out of her line of sight as she’d turned to look up at the sky.
Chapter Two
“Sing the song of the Guardians who live beyond the skies. Who fly to fight beside us and help us when we cry.”
She was falling…falling… She could feel the wind on her face as she plummeted to the street below. Then, suddenly, she was no longer falling, but flying, and then on firm ground. She searched around her in astonished wonder, and as she turned her gaze to the skies, she saw a dark figure out of the corner of her eye. Nothing more than a retreating shadow.
“Come to us, great Guardians. Your friendship is a must. We are your kindred spirit sisters. You have our promise and our trust.”
Through a chain-link fence and a rusted gate overgrown with ivy, she could see a figure standing on a hill just beyond. It was a man. Tall with dark hair that blew ever so slightly in the breeze. He wore a long, black coat, and a pair of magnificent black wings protruded from his shoulders. Despite his otherwise ominous appearance, he seemed to emit a soft, warm light that surrounded him like an aura. It made her feel at ease and at peace. Safe. He turned to glance at her over his shoulder, but she could barely see his face. All she could see was the way he smiled.
She was falling again, like before. The same scene replayed, and she found herself standing on the sidewalk once again.
“Sing the song of Guardians who live beyond the skies…”
Somewhere, five girls were holding hands and dancing in a circle with poorly made flower chains in their hair.
“I’m not scared. Garren will always protect me.”
Kelly shot bolt upright in her bed, breathing heavily and not really knowing why. Her heart was hammering, and her mind was buzzing. She raked her fingers through her hair and tried to make sense of the bizarre dream she had just had. The strange song was still playing through her head, and she frowned. What was that, and why did it seem familiar to her? And who was Garren? She felt a strange sensation niggling in the back of her mind, trying to tell her something, trying to make her remember something, but nothing came.
She closed her eyes and tried to remember the man on the hill. That had been the winged man she’d been dreaming about lately, but he looked a little different than he usually did. Most of her dreams had him with black hair and looking somewhat rock star-ish. In this dream, his hair had been a shade lighter and, despite the black coat, had been slightly less of the Goth package. The ivy-covered gate seemed so surreal, like she should know it. And the shadow she had seen when looking up at the sky after falling from the window ledge…It had been a large shadow. A shadow roughly the size of the very same man on the hill.
She slung her legs out of bed and all but ran into the living room. She snatched the black feather off the coffee table and stared at it for a long moment before caressing it again. “I’m not scared. Garren will always protect me.” Her brow creased. What was it that her mind was trying so desperately to remember?
Someone pounding on her door made Kelly jump about a foot in the air. She closed her eyes and put her hand over her heart, which was now beating erratically. She let out a slow breath and went to open the door to reveal Rachel standing there.
“All right, little sis,” she said, pushing her way into the room. “No more moping. We need to—” She stopped and stared at the vacant room in stunned silence.
“Yeah, you don’t need to help me unpack anymore,” Kelly said, shutting the door. “I got a little ambitious earlier.”
“And decided to get rid of all your stuff?” Rachel queried. She turned to her sister and placed her hand against her forehead. “Are you sick?”
Kelly gave a small smile and shook her head. “No, I just decided I didn’t want anything that made me remember my old life. New start and all that, right?” She swiped a hand through her hair and, not wanting to tell Rachel anything about her earlier experience, forced another smile. Chad was someone who would believe her after a little while. That man was the most superstitious, paranormal activity seeker on the planet, but Rachel was very practical and very matter-of-fact. She didn’t believe in anything out of the ordinary or supernatural. If Kelly told her about what had happened that morning, Rachel would think she’d lost her mind.
“Did you actually change your clothes?” Rachel asked. “And take a shower? Holy cow, Kelly! You’re trying to give me a heart attack!”
Kelly frowned and swatted at her sister, who was trying to put her palm to her forehead again. “Oh, knock it off.”
Rachel giggled. “Well, I’m proud of you, Kel. That was a huge step. And I’m glad you chucked all your old stuff. We can go shopping and get you all new things for your new life.”
Kelly wanted to strangle her for her perkiness and unbridled optimism, but she restrained herself.
Rachel frowned. “Why are you holding your hand like you have a death grip on something?” she asked suddenly, pointing at Kelly’s left hand.
Kelly looked down at the feather she was still holding and shook her head, loosening her grip. “Oh yeah, I found this earlier today. It’s cool, huh?” She tried to make light of it, even though the remnants of her dream still had her feeling very disoriented.
Rachel’s frown deepened. “Kelly, what are you talking about? Found what? There’s nothing there.”
Kelly’s attention snapped to Rachel and she frowned. “Are you blind? You know, the big, black feather I’m holding. I’ve been wondering what kind of bird it came from.” Okay, actually, that was a lie, but what she’d really been wondering would make her seem like a nutcase.
Rachel took a step closer to Kelly in the way a person might approach a frightened animal. “No,” she said in a placating tone, “there is nothing there, Kelly. Are you feeling okay?”
Kelly’s stomach made a strange flip, and she held the feather straight up to Rachel’s face. “You mean to tell me that you don’t see this?” she all but snarled.
“Kelly!” Rachel exclaimed. “There’s nothing there! What’s the matter with you? Did you take something?”
Flustered and bewildered, Kelly looked back down at the feather in her hand, and her fingers began to tremble. Rachel couldn’t see it. It was there, plain as day, but she couldn’t see it.
“Kelly, answer me!”
She directed her attention to Rachel, who was starting to look frantic. “Uh…y-yeah,” she stuttered, saying the first thing that popped into her head that might appease her sister. “I took a tranquilizer. Probably took too much.” She giggl
ed nervously. “I should probably just go to sleep. I don’t know what I’m talking about.”
Rachel stared at her for a long moment, as if trying to decipher if Kelly was telling the truth. “A tranquilizer?”
Kelly nodded, her heart beating out a strange rhythm. Her fingers tingled where they touched the feather, and all she could think about was getting Rachel out of the apartment. “Yeah, something Chad gave me. I think it was just too potent. I’ll probably be seeing pink elephants next. How embarrassing.” She tried to laugh again, but Rachel did not look amused. Kelly shrugged. “Look, I just need to get some rest, okay? Don’t worry about it.” She started to usher her sister toward the door.
“Don’t worry about it? Kelly, you’re hallucinating!”
Kelly rolled her eyes and tried to seem casual when she felt anything but. “Yeah, and you once sleep walked all the way into the kitchen when you were sixteen and started shouting at the top of your lungs that Elvis was alive. That make any sense?”
Rachel smiled in spite of herself. “Hey, that’s not fair. I was asleep at the time.”
“And I’m doped up on prescription medication that’s not my own. So let me go to bed before I start talking to the King also.”
Rachel shook her head, but seemed momentarily appeased. “Fine, but I’m coming over on my way to work in the morning. I want to make sure you’re all right.”
“Fine,” Kelly grumbled. “It’s becoming your routine stop anyway. See you tomorrow.” She all but pushed her sister out the door and shut it before Rachel could say anything.
Kelly swallowed hard and looked down at the black feather she clutched in her shaky hand. Why couldn’t Rachel see it? It was there. There was no denying it. She was not insane. Chad had seen it earlier—
Her eyes widened. Chad! He had seen it too! Without hesitation, she grabbed her purse and a light jacket and headed out the door.
* * * *
“Of course I see it,” Chad said, arching an eyebrow as he let Kelly barrel into his apartment. “What in the heck is the matter with you?”
“So you do see it?” she repeated. “You see the big, black feather I’m waving in your face?” She passed it back and forth in front of him a few times.
Chad frowned and swatted it away. “Yes, I see it. How could I miss it? I talked to you about it when I came over earlier. It was sitting on your coffee table. What is the matter with you?”
Kelly blinked rapidly and shook her head. “Something weird is going on, Chad. Either I’m going crazy or Rachel is.”
Chad arched both eyebrows. “I would place my bet on the latter. Why?”
“She couldn’t see it!”
He frowned. “What?”
“Yeah! Okay, I took a nap and had this weird dream about little girls singing and this winged man that looked an awful lot like the shadow of whatever it was that saved me earlier today. When I woke up, I went to—”
Chad blinked. “Wait, back up. Saved you? Saved you from what? What happened earlier today?”
Kelly stopped and glanced up at him. “Oh yeah, I forgot you didn’t know about that.”
“Well, what? Kelly, you need to start speaking in plain English or I’m going to smack you.”
She sighed in defeat and sank down onto his sofa. “Okay, but you absolutely cannot think I’m crazy.”
“O…kay. Continue.” He folded his arms and waited.
She forced her breath out in a short huff. “This morning I was standing on the kitchen window ledge—”
“You were what?”
She waved her hand. “Don’t freak out. I just wanted to feel the wind against my face.”
“And you couldn’t feel it from inside the twenty-story-high building?”
She rolled her eyes. “Look, can I finish my story, or not?”
He snorted, but motioned for her to go on.
“Anyway, I was standing there, and I turned to go inside when this flock of pigeons came out of nowhere and scared the crap out of me. So I fell—”
Chad’s eyes bulged. “Kelly!” he shouted. “Oh my gosh! How are you not dead?” He flew to sit down beside her and took her by the shoulders as if to make sure she was really there.
Kelly giggled a little, her heart warmed by Chad’s obvious concern. “I’m getting there. That’s what was weird. So there I was, falling to my death, and suddenly something grabbed hold of my wrist, and I felt like I was flying instead of falling. The next thing I know, I’m standing on solid ground in front of my building. I looked up at the sky and, right out of my line of vision, I could swear I saw this shadow that was like a person with…” She stole a glance up at Chad and swallowed. “Well, with wings.”
He stared at her. “Wings?”
She nodded. “And then this feather fell down into my hand.” She held up the black feather. “I took a nap and had this weird dream where this nursery-rhyme song thing kept playing. I felt like I should know it. And then I saw the silhouette of this man with enormous black wings standing beyond an ivy-covered gate that I also felt like I should know. I’ve been dreaming about this guy for weeks now, but this dream felt different. When I woke up, I went into the living room to look at the feather because my mind was reeling from my dream, and Rachel came tramping in. I was still holding the feather in my hand, and I mentioned it to Rachel.” She glanced up into her friend’s eyes. “Chad, she couldn’t see it. She thought I’d lost it. I had to tell her you’d given me a tranquilizer and that I was getting loopy. It was the only way I could get her out of there. I thought she was going to try to commit me or something.”
Chad shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. “Okay, let me get this straight. You fall off a building and, for all intents and purposes, should be dead right now. Except something you never really got a look at saved you, something with big wings. Am I right, so far?”
Kelly swallowed. “Right.” Having it repeated like that did make her sound like a lunatic.
“Okay, then you had a bizarro dream about said winged dude.”
“No, I don’t know if it’s the same one.” She wrinkled her nose. “I’ve been dreaming about this guy for awhile. I thought maybe he was a story character idea or something.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter. Do you remember the rhyme thing you said was in your dream?”
Kelly frowned for a minute as she tried to recall it. “‘Sing the song of Guardians who live beyond the skies, who fly to fight beside us and help us when we cry. Come to us, great Guardians, your friendship is a must. We are your kindred spirit sisters. You have our promise and our trust.’”
Chad’s brown eyes were as big as saucers, and he looked very much like a little boy who was hearing a fantastic bedtime story. “Wow, that’s so cool,” he murmured.
Kelly frowned. “What’s so cool about it? It doesn’t even make sense. Oh, and I kept hearing this voice. It sounded like a little girl, and she kept saying, ‘I’m not scared. Garren will always protect me.’”
“Who’s Garren?”
Kelly flung her hands up in frustration. “If I knew, would I be here right now?” She shook her head, then thrust the feather back in Chad’s face and shook it vigorously. “Why couldn’t Rachel see it?” she cried.
“Here, I have an idea. Hold on.” Chad snatched the feather from Kelly’s hand and disappeared out into the hall for a few minutes. When he came back in, he looked completely stunned.
“What?” Kelly prodded. “What’s wrong?”
He glanced up at her. “Bob couldn’t see it either. My neighbor. I knocked on his door and asked him what I was holding in my hand. He said, ‘nothing’.” He frowned. “And then he told me what I could go and do with my hand, which was really not very friendly at all.” He put his hand on his hip and gave a furious scowl. “You know, I fixed his friggin’ leaky sink last week. You would think he’d have the common decency to be nice at least.”
“Chad!” Kelly exclaimed. “Could you focus for two seconds?” She stood and went to him
. “You mean to tell me that no one besides you and me can see this thing?” She felt like she had fallen into a bad sci-fi show. Or maybe this was all some elaborate practical joke…No, she was a bestselling author, but she was nowhere near famous enough to get Punk’d. Ashton Kutcher had a lot more interesting people to pick on besides her. And she didn’t know anyone creative enough to go to such lengths. Besides, there would be no point to it.
Chad tapped his finger against his chin in thought. “Maybe it’s a ghost or something.”
Kelly rolled her eyes. Whenever anything weird happened, Chad summed it all up by deciding it had to be a ghost. “Ghosts don’t exist,” she spat.
He stared at her. “And giant, winged guys do?”
Okay, he had a point there. She shook her head. “Still, ghosts are supposed to be spirits, right? Whatever this thing was seemed solid enough to me when I was being flown to safety.”
“Hmmm.” He frowned and resumed the tapping on his chin.
Kelly sighed and twisted her fingers in uneasy agitation. This whole situation seemed very surreal. Her life was complicated enough as it was. She did not need a story like The X-Files right now. Maybe in a few months or something after she got out of her depression and felt like a human being again, but not now.
“I have an idea!” Chad grabbed Kelly by the arm and started to haul her toward the door.
“What are you doing?” she asked in bewilderment.
“Come on. I think that maybe this thing is supposed to protect you.”
She frowned. “What gave you that idea?”
He snorted. “Maybe the fact that he saved you from falling to your death.”
“Chad, we don’t know if the dream I had and what happened to me earlier are even related.”
“They have to be. Nothing else makes any kind of sense.”
Beyond Wild Imaginings Page 2
