Lucian turned to face her. “Something the matter, Brooklyn?”
He picked me up in one fell swoop and carried me back to my room. The whole time Brooklyn was looking on in shock.
Inside my room, I fake-whined, “But I never got my coffee.”
He set me on the bed, left the room, and returned two minutes later with two cups of coffee. “She was still frozen in shock when I went into the kitchen, and then she tried to flirt with me. I really cannot believe you’ve put up with her crap all these years.”
“She’s not that bad,” I said.
He shrugged and then sat down against the headboard and crossed his legs at the ankles. I couldn’t stop staring at him.
“What, Evey?” His deep dimple appeared. It was cocky Lucian.
I gave in to him. “Nothing. You’ve had years to stare at me; I just want to look at you.”
“That’s fair.” He winked.
I sat next to him and felt something sticking out of the sheet under my leg. It was a thick black feather. I held it up. “Looks like you lost one.”
Lucian stared at it impassively. Several long, silent, strange seconds went by.
“What’s wrong?” I said.
“That’s impossible.” He stood quickly, and his astounding wings were suddenly spread on full display. He was inspecting them.
After taking the feather from my hand, he pressed it to his wing and let go, but it just drifted, slowly and sadly, to the floor as we both followed it with our eyes. Lucian’s expression was pure horror. I was just confused.
“What? That doesn’t happen?” I reached for it.
“Never,” he said, staring off into space.
I held the feather for a second before it turned to ash.
“Poof,” Lucian said, in shock.
“What does this mean?”
“I don’t know.”
He retracted his wings and plopped onto the bed. The first ungraceful thing I had ever seen him do. He sank down and curled into me, clearly seeking comfort.
“Are you okay?” I said.
“I don’t know. I’ll have to go see Mona tonight. She’ll know.” He closed his eyes.
I knew he didn’t sleep, so I just held him. It was hard to believe I wasn’t in panic mode. My whole world had shifted on its axis. Questions were running through my mind at hyper speed. For a moment, I thought everything I’d ever wanted to know could be answered. I could ask Lucian anything. The meaning of life was within my grasp, but strangely, this cocky, brilliant, funny, attractive celestial being was just a lost little boy who had been existing on sheer faith like so many of us. He knew little more than I did about God, religion, and the afterlife. I should have been terrified, but Lucian was real in my hands. I trusted him implicitly. I could feel that we had always been connected.
“Do you want a drink?” I asked.
He shook his head. After a few seconds of silence and some deep breaths, he said, “I’m not going to let one little disintegrating feather ruin our day.” He smiled, seeming satisfied, before closing his eyes again and nuzzling into my chest.
“Right,” I said.
A moment later, his eyes shot open as he sat up quickly. “I just realized something.”
“What?” I asked.
“I’m free. Fuck, let’s do something. Let’s go have sex in the shower and go eat and go to a movie and go dancing and walk through Golden Gate Park. Let’s sail. Do you want to sail? What about bowling? Oh my God, I want to dance in the rain. I want to hold your hand on the trolley. Let’s go to the Wharf and eat clam chowder. Let’s take one of those shitty ferries to Alcatraz and then I’ll fly us back. I’m only one feather short. You should see Zack’s wings; seriously, it’s amazing the guy can even get off the ground. I’ll be fine. I feel like a million bucks. Evey, I feel alive!” He was excited, triumphant even, and talking a million miles an hour.
