Beginning To Fly

Alone

I found Nuffink sitting on a bench just outside.

"What do you want," he demanded. He refused to look at me.

I just sat down beside him before he immediately stood up and started walking away from me.

"Quit following me!" he shouted after we'd already travelled several blocks away, finally turning to face me.

I folded my arms and looked at him with raised eyebrows. "We both know that that's not going to happen."

He snarled at me, "I can take care of myself."

"Yes. Because getting beat up is taking care of yourself," I replied calmly. He froze like a deer caught in headlights. The wild look in his eyes didn't help me from picturing him as such.

"Don't ever bring that up, again," his voice shook as he turned away again.

"Nuffink... she didn't mean-"

"To send me over the edge? Well, then she shouldn't have hit me. Why can't you guys get it?" he asked me.

"Get what?"

His face contorted with a thousand emotions before settling on a frown. "Nevermind..." he muttered.

He had stopped at the edge of Lake Superior.

"What are you doing?" I asked suspiciously as he took his shoes and socks off.

He walked closer to the lake. He called without looking back, "what does it look like I'm doing?"

"Nuffink! Don't you..." he walked ankle-deep into the water. "...dare," I groaned. He didn't say anything as he watched the waves crashing against each other.

I kicked off my own shoes as he sank to his knees in the shallow water. I walked in after him as the waves lapped at his stomach. The water chilled my very bones as I stood beside him.

"C'mon, let's get you out of the water before you catch your death," he shook his head, still staring out at the lake.

"Nuffink... I'm being serious... You'll freeze..."

"Why am I even here?" he asked me instead of answering.

I sank to my knees beside him, ignoring how the cold sank even deeper into my skin.

"Hey... what's going on in that head of yours?" I asked. He still didn't move so I pushed a little harder, "you can tell me anything, Finn. You're like a brother to me. I won't judge."

He swallowed and his eyes shut tight. "You don't want to know," he whispered softly. A tear slowly slid down his cheek.

"If I can help, I want to know," I insisted.

He stood up abruptly, stalking away from me. "No. No, you don't." He whipped around to face me. "No one knows. No one can know," he said, starting to mutter to himself. "He'll call me delusional. Crazy. I'm being stupid." He clawed at his scalp as he prowled back and forth.

Finally, he sank to his knees again, this time on the sun-warmed sand. I sighed in relief as I approached slowly. "I promise I won't call you any of those things, Nuffink."

He looked at me before his gaze turned back to the lake in front of us. "There's something pulling me," he whispered. "I don't know what it is but every step we go further North, the worse it gets. It wants me to go South, South, South. Away from cold and ice." He shook his head. "It's sometimes just a quiet tugging and sometimes it's whispering. Hissing at me for not heading towards it. Cursing my name."

I swallowed. "That sounds terrifying."

He nodded. "But there's more...

"It's not just that thing that calls me... it's the water too. It always has. But since I shifted for the first time, it's gotten worse." He ran his hands over his face. "And then there's Val... There's something pulling us apart."

He paused. "Gods. Mystery forces. War. All of these forces at play are terrifying, Kieran. And I don't know what to do."

I held my brother, in all but blood, as he sobbed.

"You've never told anyone about this?" I asked. He shook his head slowly.

I pulled away. "How long have you been hearing these whispers, Finn?" I asked, searching his face for answers.

He shook his head again as tears trailed down his face from his tightly shut eyes.

My stomach dropped at his lack of an answer. "How long?"

He swung his head from side to side as he stared at the ground. "The- the whispers... Heard them first when- when I was shifted. But the pulling... pullings been there forever. Not even Val knows."

"And what about the Gods..."

"Since after-" He winced and I nodded slowly.

We sat there a little longer before I helped him to his feet.

"We should head back before my mom sends a search party after us," I told him.

His lips twitched into a smile that disappeared aa quickly as it had appeared.

"I promise I won't tell," I replied. My words eased the lines across his forehead.

When we arrived, Val smiled tentatively at us but didn't approach. Her gaze caught on Nuffink, who was clearly much calmer than when he'd left.

Mom stepped forward. "I'm glad you're feeling a bit better." She met Val's gaze.

"We were thinking..." Val started slowly. "That we should practice flying and getting used to being dragons..."

Nuffink nodded. "Makes sense. Where would we do that though?"

"Oh. Well, there's a secluded lake Northish off here... Postagoni Lake, to be exact. We'll drive there tomorrow, all of us..." Mom stated.

"And what will we be doing while those two get to have all the fun?" I asked jokingly.

"We'll be doing our own training, of course!" she replied brightly. I nearly groaned, it should've been obvious that mom would be having us working hard.

"Ummm..." April started. "What kind of training exactly?"

Mom grinned. "The best kind!"

This time I did groan. "Moooooom..." I complained. "Whhhhhhy?"

"Oh, don't be like that! Chess is awesome!" I blinked.

"Wait. Chess? I thought we were just going to be doing brain teasers."

"Like that has anything to do with war! C'mon it'll be fun and we'll be practicing strategy! Great for war!"

Nuffink's laughter quickly followed that statement. "Well, that should be fun," he told my mom.

I caught Val's gaze as she wrung her fingers. "Nuffink... I- I wanted to apologize for hitting you earlier... I shouldn't have. It was bad. Wrong. Stupid. Selfish. And I'm so so so sorry. I wish I could take it back."

Nuffink's frown didn't ease up. "I-"

"You don't have to forgive me... it's okay..."

He swallowed. "I want to forgive you. I really do. But... I- you'll have to rebuild the trust between us..."

She smiled brightly. "That's the best I could've hoped for," she stated before sauntering into the kitchen and pulling out a tray of fresh cookies.

"Now! Who wants cookies?"

Over the weeks, I chose to forget that she had left me. So, maybe, I shouldn't have been surprised when she disappeared without a word, even as it hurt more than I would like to admit.

A/N

Kieran (August 12), 16

Valkaria (January 5), 16

Nuffink (January 6), 16

Alice (May 28), 40

April (December 31), 15