Eversion- Ever Rising Book 1-under editing!

Flying With Demons

Clouds had gathered in the sky during the night, causing the dawn to be gloomy and gray. But it was not raining, and, so long as the winds stayed down, it would be a good day to fly.

Oliver was apparently feeling much braver, as he carefully stood by the river, filling a bottle with water. Cassandra, however, was hovering close to him, ready to catch him if he fell in again, even though the water was quite shallow at that point.

Covy and Cham were carefully inspecting Ezekiel's wing. Unsurprisingly, Zeki was putting up a fuss.

"I told you, I am fine! See?" He flexed his wing, trying to show that he was healed. But the faint wince he made showed that it wasn't quite as healed as he was trying to say.

Covy and Cham looked at each other but didn't comment.

"We should get moving," Ezekiel said. "I'm not going to be a dead weight. I hardly even know why I'm here, and I'm not going to hold you guys back anymore."

Cham tossed his hands up, exasperated. "Fine, but if you get tired, we're landing."

Covy nodded. "We're fine with walking. I'm ashamed to say I'm the one who set the trap, and I feel responsible for this trouble."

Cham glanced at him out of the corner of his eye but said nothing. I wondered what he was thinking.

A demon taking responsibility for pain, and feeling bad for it? The thought was practically an oxymoron.

Covy straightened suddenly. "Cassie, did Kraven come to you last night?"

"No, why? I thought he was running late. Did he not come to you?"

"No." A faint tinge of worry was in his voice.

The demoness walked to her swordbrother and placed her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure he's fine. You know Kraven, he probably got too invested and lost track of time."

Covy nodded, but still looked worried.

We prepared to take off. Cassandra carefully loaded her brother on her back, while Covy took the packs. The two of them worked so closely together to care for the child, almost like they were mates.

Can a swordbrother and swordsister become mates?

Okay, now I was thinking a little too deeply into demon culture.

We flew up over the trees, sticking close to the river to follow the tracks. Chamuel took the lead, with Gabriel and I flanking him. Ezekiel was to my left, and the demons flew a small distance behind us.

They were conversing quietly, but the wind pulled their words away, so I could only hear snippets of their conversation.

"Told...Michael...Stella." Cassandra said.

Covy replied with something I didn't catch. I turned to look at them.

They were flying close, wingtips brushing on the downstroke. Clearly, they didn't want anyone to hear what they were saying.

Oddly enough, I trusted them.

First I'm questioning their personal lives, now I'm trusting demons? The sooner we finish this, the better.

I started flapping my wings a bit harder, pulling myself away from them. What kind of backward world had I come into?

~~~~~~

I should have sensed the trouble.

The river bent sharply, and the trail turned into the forest. We followed it carefully, occasionally dropping below the treeline to ensure we were following it carefully.