Secret Wings

Chapter 27

Hi!

Thank you for all the support you showed last updates when I asked what you thought of the pace.

Your opinions were all helpful, and they helped me feel like I was indeed going in the right direction :)

Even those who had something to say that could be a bit negative managed to say so in a rather nice way, so that was also appreciated. I really have the best readers on Wattpad;)

Also, I'm sorry I don't have the time to personally answer all of your comments, but I want you to know I still read all of them and they are each highly appreciated!

Enjoy this chapter!

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Chapter 27

I was sleeping soundly in my hammock, with Autumn next to me in another one we had set up just before going to bed, when I was woken up by a shrill, incessant sound.

I sat up groggily, trying to make sense of what was happening, but Autumn was instantly up and alert.

"Is that the fire alarm?"

I shrugged, even though she couldn't see me in the gloom.

"How should I know?" I muttered. "Kind of stupid to do a fire drill in the middle of the night, if you ask me."

"Earth to Hailey, you can catch up on your sleep later, but I highly doubt this is only a drill. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's the real deal, so get up and move," she said, jumping out of her hammock.

With a yawn, I stumbled out of my hammock and almost walked into Autumn while she was opening the door.

We stepped into the hallway just as Carson ran up to us.

"Princess, Autumn, this is an emergency. Enemy forces have been spotted heading straight to Sol. The whole village and castle are being evacuated immediately."

The information registered slowly into my brain. Enemy forces? Grandpa had showed me a map of the Kingdom of Aeolus, and the cities under attack were much more North of the kingdom than Sol was. How was the enemy here already?

"We have a good head start, because according to the scout who saw them they are still about two hours from here, but we still need to move," Carson said.

As he ushered Autumn and I down the hallway, I had an unsettling sense of deja-vu. How long has it been since I left my house with nothing but the clothes on my back? It seemed like months, but it couldn't have been more than weeks. I stopped walking and looked down at my tank top, pajama shorts, and bare feet. There was no way I was rushing outside unprepared again. I sprinted back into my room and grabbed my pair of jeans, ignoring Carson's surprised, "Princess? But... What?"

I didn't even bother taking my shorts off as I jumped into my jeans, put on my sneakers in record time, and, at the last minute, grabbed my new bow from an otherwise empty bookshelf. I had no arrows and had only used a bow once in my life, but I'd worry about that later.

I ran back to confused-looking Autumn and Carson and jogged past them, yelling behind me, "Come on, the city will be under attack in less than two hours, don't just stand there!"

I heard Autumn's short laugh and both Winged soon caught up with me. There was a puzzled look on Carson's face, as if he was still processing what had just happened. To be honest, that was understandable. On top of there being an attack, some crazy girl had just taken the lead when he had expected to be the one to be the one in charge of leading us to... wherever we were going.

"Hey, Carson, where are we going anyway?"

A sense of purpose returned to his eyes, and he stepped in front of me.