by C.L. Mozena
Chapter 43
Orion slumped on the couch in his room. He had been practicing levitation under Joshua’s watchful eye for several weeks, and had managed to say upright for just over an hour. He leaned back against the soft cushions and took a deep breath, wiping sweat out of his eyes. Levitating for an hour was tiring.
“How’d I do, Josh?” Orion asked. He was exhausted and sweaty, although he was also freezing. Joshua had allowed a small fire in Orion’s large fireplace.
“You did great, bro,” Joshua said, glancing up at the clock, “An hour and six minutes this time. Way to go!” He flopped down next to Orion, sighing. “Just think. If you keep this up, you’ll be levitating all day in no time.”
“Yea, right,” Orion breathed, “One step at a time, okay, Josh?” Joshua smiled. “Hey, what’s Star doing?” Orion asked watching his zupzie jumping and wiggling the large tufts of fur on her back.
“Looks like she’s trying to fly,” Josh said, watching the animal jump gracefully, wiggle it’s tufts of fur, and land on it’s paws before trying again.
“Fly?” Orion sat up and looked at his brother, “What are you talking about?”
“Didn’t you know? Zupzies, once their wings grow in, can fly.”
“What wings?” Orion asked.
“See those large tufts of fur on Star’s back?” Joshua pointed. Orion nodded. “Well, those are immature wings. They ought to grow in any day now. A zupzie’s wings usually grow in when the animal’s about two years old,” he chuckled, “kind of like our wings growing in at seventeen years, huh?” He nudged Orion.
“I didn’t know zupzies grew wings,” Orion said, ignoring Joshua’s comment and staring at his pet, “I just thought that it had longer fur on it’s back.”
“Well, maybe next time you want a pet, you aughta do a little research on the animal first,” Joshua chuckled, “Break’s over. Let’s see if you can levitate longer this time.”
