“In time, I think there will be very few differences. The lines will begin to blur as your mastery of one enhances the other. Though ultimately, the objective is to never have to borrow anything at all. To create everything you could possibly need. Imagine.”
“Think of the possibilities,” I murmured.
“Indeed,” Raziel said. “Now turn around, Mason.”
I squinted at him, but obeyed anyway. “Why, exactly?”
“So I can slice your shirt off your body. It’s easier if I do it from the back.”
I sprang away from him, my hands instinctively clutching at my chest. “Now, you listen here. I don’t know what kind of perverted little game you’re playing, but if you wanted to see me shirtless, all you had to do was ask. I love this shirt.” I thumbed its material, glaring at him reproachfully. “I paid five whole dollars for it.”
He scoffed. “And here I thought I could finally help you be rid of it. That thing is hideous.”
“And you’re an elitist snob.” I pulled my shirt over my head, tucking it into my waistband for later. Good thing the day was nice and warm. “So, what now? There’s a reason you dragged us all the way out here to the middle of nowhere.”
Florian gave Raziel one crooked eyebrow. “Yeah, man. This is super sketchy.” He fiddled with his trousers. “But if you want us naked – ”
“Keep your pants on,” Raziel hissed. He tossed the knife into the air, watching as it spun, then disappeared. “This is about Mason. You’ve seen now that your experience with the Vestments has deepened, that you have grown somewhat in power.” He smiled at me, pushing his fists proudly into his hips. “You’re going to love what’s about to happen.”
I grunted when Raziel grabbed me and turned me in place, and I tried to stay dutifully still when he traced his fingers across my shoulder blades, whispering in that strange tongue the celestials used. I knew I had glyphs back there as well, similar to the ones branded all over my chest and stomach. But something was different this time. Parts of my back and my shoulders felt changed, even warmer, as Raziel continued his incantation. Finally, he patted me on the neck, then stepped away.
“You couldn’t have handled this with your limited understanding of your power before,” he said quietly. “No offense meant.”
I shrugged. “None taken.”
“Only stating facts, Mason. You needed to be stronger to perform this particular feat, if that makes sense. Now your soul, I’d wager to say, is more than powerful enough. At least to let you experience this new joy for a time, even if it is only brief.”
I threw my hands up and turned around, clomping my feet. “I give up. What new joy are you talking about? You’ve been cryptic for hours, dude, even more than usual. Spill.”
That was when the sunlight touched my back, tracing its own invisible fingers over the sigils drawn there. I turned my head over my shoulder, right, then left, weirded out by the eerie, almost electric sensation of something being stuck to my back. No, of something – oh God – something sprouting right out of my skin.
I looked again, my breath catching in my throat as I saw them there, hooded like canopies of golden leaves to either side of my body. Wings. Enormous wings, like I was in the embrace of some great golden bird. It took me a second to understand the looks of excitement on Florian and Raziel’s faces.
Those wings were mine.
Imagine the feeling of getting up from your desk after hours and hours of bone-crunching, mind-numbing work. Imagine the pleasure and thrum of blood your body feels when you finally stretch those tired muscles, lengthening the bits of you that were strung too tight, the sensation of release and relax.
Now multiply that feeling by ten. No. By a hundred.
I was ecstatic. The grass rushed at my feet with every beat of my wings, scattering as I folded and unfurled them. I hadn’t known about them minutes ago, but using them felt so natural to me, so instinctive. I let them stretch as far as they would go, watching in amazement when I found that my entire span was even longer than my own height.
“Holy shit, you guys,” I breathed.
Florian was too stunned to speak, his mouth opened wider than I’d ever seen. Raziel, on the other hand, beamed at me with precious pride.
“This is what you are, Mason,” he said, a gentle quaver in his voice. “This is who you are.”
I walked in a circle, stupidly gawping at the sight of my own wings, bending them so I could see every gleaming feather, every filament like a slender wire of delicate gold. Then I looked up at Raziel with what I knew was a face filled with fragile hope.
“Can I use them to – you know.” I pointed up at the sky.
Raziel parted his hands. “Why do you think we came all the way out here?”
God, I could have hugged him right then. But I was too damn excited. I wasn’t going to know if I didn’t try, right? I glanced around us, observing the open field, and realizing it didn’t matter where I tried to take off. Any spot was going to offer me a decent running start.
I thought back to Belphegor, of all people, and how he’d unfurled his own leathery wings to blast off into the sky. He’d taken a running start back in the alley when we were both evading the Lorica. I didn’t know if my tenuous friendship with him would ever amount to anything in my favor, but that was a concern for a different day. A running start it was, then.
My breath hitched as I watched the distant horizon, focusing on the farthest point I could find. I didn’t even think about stretching, just picked a direction and took off, my sneakers stomping into the grass as I ran, my arms pumping a rhythmic swing. My wings dragged behind me, and I felt the wind catching in the filaments, the feathers of gold.