Curtis bowed slightly to both Chloe and Ethan.~I shall send them both your regards,~he said.~Thank you for letting me see the forest one more time. I shall be forever in your debt.~
“Of course,” Chloe said. “It was our pleasure.”
“Think nothing of it,” added Ethan. “Thank you for helping us work out what we need to do – hopefully we’ll be back by this evening with the necklace, and you can go back to your family.”
Curtis smiled an ethereal smile, and then spread his hands out in a gesture that seemed to encompass the whole forest. He looked up one more time, taking in the fog-shrouded treetops, and then vanished with the wind.
Chloe shivered. Everything suddenly felt weirdly empty without Curtis – she’d gotten so used to his quiet presence that it felt strange not having him here. Even the forest felt muted.
Well, he’s probably off having fun bowling with Eula and Janie now,she told herself, brightening a little.Or maybe Janie will find him some trashy reality TV.
She turned to where Ethan was standing next to her, looking thoughtfully at nothing in particular. His expression was a little pensive, and so she poked him in the ribs, enjoying the way he jumped and made an undignified sound.
“Hey, you!” she said cheerfully. “What was all that about with Kira earlier today, hmm? What could possibly be so outrageous that you have to keep it a secret, when you’ve already dropped the ‘I’m actually a winged horse’ bombshell on me?”
Ethan resembled nothing so much as a pegasus caught in the headlights, his eyes wide, but then he relaxed slightly. Or enough to talk, anyway.
“You’re a persistent one, aren’t you?”
“You’re damn right I am.”
He sighed. “All right. I promise that I’ll tell you… just as soon as we get up there.”
Chloe opened her mouth to protest, but Ethan raised a hand, cutting her off.
“Time is of the essence here, and the weather could turn at any moment, so it’s vital that we get flying as quickly as possible.But as soon as we’re up there, I’ll explain everything to you, I promise.”
“I suppose I can’t argue with that,” Chloe sighed, before her expression hardened in resolve. “But the moment we’re up there…”
“Okay, okay,” Ethan said in mock surrender. “Have you ever considered becoming a lawyer? You’re certainly persistent enough.”
Chloe thought about it for a moment.
“Maybe an animal rights lawyer, but that’s it,” she said. “But I think I’m of more use where I am. Anyway,” she went on, “let’s get going. I want to get to the bottom of this. All of it.”
“Stand back,” Ethan said, moving into the middle of the clearing, and Chloe did so, tightening the straps and checking the zippers on the backpack that Kira had given them. The last thing they needed was for everything to come tumbling out while they were flying over the forest!
Ethan began to shimmer, and she watched, fascinated once more, as his body elongated and widened, wings bursting forth from his back, hair turning pure white and covering his body… until, at last, the magnificent pegasus stood before her, ethereal and imposing in the mountain mist.
It tossed its head in an extremely haughty fashion, clearly aware of how beautiful it was, and she took a moment to wonder whether that was Ethan’s usual somewhat restrained arrogance being given free rein, or if the pegasus itself had its own personality. She couldn’t wait to find out more about it!
Chloe approached him with a sense of wonder, reaching out one hand to touch the soft hair on his flank. She only had a moment to wonder about how she was going to mount him before he knelt down obligingly, moving himself closer to the ground so she could get a leg over him.
Despite her years of working with animals, she didn’t have a lot of experience riding horses – but something about sitting on him felt soright, even here on the ground, that she knew without question that he wouldn’t let her fall.
She could feel him making the most minute adjustments whenever she shifted her position, ensuring that he always compensated for any movements she made. Chloe had never felt sosafein all her life.
That wasn’t to say that she didn’t still feel a bit nervous about the idea of flying, though!
“Okay,” she said, gripping his mane and hoping that she wasn’t pulling his hair too hard. “Let’s do this thing.”
She wasn’t sure exactly what to expect, given that there wasn’t a lot of precedent for riding around on flying horses. Presumably he wouldn’t taxi like a plane, or hover like a helicopter!
In the end, it took her a moment to even realize they’d taken off. The little leap he did into the air was so smooth that she barely even noticed it, and then they were off, the enormous wings making a gentlewhoomphsound as they beat up and down, creating drafts of air that sent her hair blowing around her head.
I hope Ethan finds the world’s worst bedhead attractive, she thought giddily for a moment, even as the professional part of her wondered about how the pegasus’s anatomy differed from that of a normal horse in order to accommodate the wings.
But then they were above the tops of the trees, picking up speed,flying, and suddenly she was thinking about nothing at all.
