The Winged Boy (G #1)

Voices

I woke up for the second time today. In the same bed. There were voices floating around in my head, I could barely discern some, while one in particular seems very close.

I really hope he isn't dead.

The voice was male, with a slight Spanish accent. It kind of sounded like Tyler without the throaty growl.

I opened my eyes, and I met two brown ones. Tyler sigh, backing away from my face.

"Good to see you're awake."

Gah, he looks terrible.

I stared at Tyler. I could hear his voice but his mouth had never moved. At least the second time. It was so strange. and the sound hadn't come from him, but inside my head.

I winced as another onslaught of headaches took fire to my brain. Tyler leaned against a wall and proceeded to ignore me.

I noticed I was back in my cell, and there was another boy sleeping against the wall. The guy who healed me, Ritchie, I think his name was.

"Where's Casey?" I asked, my voice cracked and I found I was terribly thirsty.

I can't believe she left me to babysit him.

"She and Frankie were taken in for some testing, they'll be back." He replied.

"You don't have to babysit me." I accused indignantly.

He looked up from the interesting wall he was studying.

"I didn't say that."

I huffed, sitting up. "Yes you did."

He remained silent. Staring at me. I breathed out and leaned against the wall, rubbing my forehead and trying to ease the dull throbbing.

Will?

"What?" I snapped.

Can you hear me?

"Should I not be able to hear you?" I replied, feeling indignant.

Beside me Tyler sucked in an audible breath. I stiffened, while the voice I heard wasn't coming from Tyler, it was still Tyler's voice, only kinder. And it was coming from inside my head.

He walked over and sat on the edge of my bed. Creeping me out with an intense stare.

"What number am I thinking of?"

Orange, orange, orange.

"Orange isn't a number, and be quiet, you're making my head hurt." I shut my eyes and rubbed my forehead.

Then my eyes opened wide. And for a second, we both stared at each other in surprise.

"Holy moly," he muttered under his breath.

"I can, I can...."

"You can read minds." He finished for me.

I curled my fist onto the lip of the bed. Clutching it so tightly my knuckles turned white. My head pounded, and I  had started to sweat.

"Please don't think anything." I pleaded. "It's giving me a migraine."

Tyler simply shrugged and leaned against his wall again. Though his thoughts kept drifting annoyingly back towards me. All he thought about was the outside world, but then it would get cut off short as he tried to keep his thoughts to himself.

With nothing better to do and feeling to weak to do anything else, I listened. Not that I could help it, it's not like I was intruding on purpose. I could already tell Tyler was trying to keep them from me.

All of a sudden I was filled with the vivid image of rain. Heavy rain. Rain so thick I barely see past my nose. But for some reason I was loving it.

I pushed the image away and opened my eyes. I glanced at Tyler to find he was smiling contently. He really loved the rain, I learned that much.

I didn't want to set him off, so I tried to push his thought away. It was easier than I realized. Kind of like putting your hand over your ears.

And my headaches slowly drifted away like the receding tide. That was, until Casey opened the door, and the light came back in. I winced, but it wasn't as bad as before.

"Hey Will, how's it going?"

Tyler looked up at me, I swallowed. "Well, I figured out what they did to me."

"What? You're okay right?"

"Yeah, just, think of a number, any number."

She cast a concerned look my way before I opened up my ears to her voice again. 

Three.

"Three, you were thinking of three," I replied, feeling confident.

Her went wide, like two moons staring back at me. "You can read my mind?"

I winced as the loud barricade of sound poured over my sense like hot magma. I nodded, rubbing my forehead.

"We can use this, Will, next time they take you in for testing, ask them about the bands. Maybe they'll think of a way to remove them!"

Tyler stood up. "That's brilliant."

"How many people can you carry at once in the air?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, it's not something I've tried before."

"That's all right, Tyler will help you, after we get the bands off, you'll fly up and break the glass, or whatever it is. Then we'll get everyone out." Her eyes gleamed.

I smiled painfully, resting my head against the wall.

"Where's the little girl, Frankie?" I asked, missing her chanting aura.

Casey's smile faltered. "I don't know, she hasn't come back yet."

She's like a daughter to me. She thought before I could shut it off again.

"She's probably fine Case." Tyler comforted, but he sounded also a little uneasy.

"Yeah...yeah, she probably is. " Casey nodded, brushing aside her bright red hair.

I took a deep breath, and kept concentrating on my new found power. I smiled sweetly as I thought of Frankie's sweet laugh and some random object floating through the air towards her. Tomorrow as anew day, and maybe a new rebellion.