“Let me show you my inner fire.” Kal stood. His visible scales and the different colored crescent shapes began to glow brighter and brighter. Something started to slide out from his back, straining his shirt for the barest moment. Two massive, steel-blue wings with thick black talons extended out. Kal grinned, finally revealing his sharp canines. “We can do things with our inner fire. Bend nature to our will. It is different for everyone.”
I moved to his side, hand hovering near one of his wings.
“You can touch me,” he said, his voice deepening.
My fingers skimmed over the leathery wing, tracing the membrane. A black talon rested near the middle, the tip sharp against the pad of my finger. I asked, “Did your inner fire conjure your wings?”
“No, I simply let them spread.”
“Do all your people have wings?”
“Yes.”
“Can you fly?”
He chuckled. “Yes.”
“What can you do with your inner fire?”
“It depends on the person.”
“And you?”
“I exude light and life. It is said my inner fire is from the Crystal itself.”
Before I could ask for a demonstration, he began to glow impossibly bright as the temperature in the room swelled, making me sweat. I shielded my eyes, and he let the light dim.
“That’s impressive. You have magic.”
“No, not magic. We used to believe that, but it's part of our brain chemistry. Power and ability depend on genetics.”
“Awesome.” My gaze returned to his wings, which were more impressive. When my eyes met his, he enclosed me in his wings, tail wrapping about my ankle and traveling up my calf.
“I’m glad you think so.” His wings completely surrounded me and something cracked in my brain, not in a good way.
My breath turned to shallow gasps while the sensation of being trapped swept through me. I pushed on his chest as sweat dripped down my back. He moved away instantly, freeing me.
“Seth?” he asked, but I couldn’t even pay attention.
I stumbled back. Everything was too much. I couldn’t breathe. I was trapped. I was stuck. I was in space. There was nowhere to go.
I grabbed the front of my hoodie, choking. When the black spots floated across my vision and white noise filled my ears, I sank to the ground, lungs screaming in need. The walls were closing in and my thoughts clung to one thing: I was stuck in a spaceship, hurtling to a foreign planet.
What would happen when I got there?
Every worst-case scenario from dissection to simply being abandoned and having to fend for myself barrelled through my thoughts and stoked my panic into a raging inferno.
Blazing hot hands seized my cheeks, and I barely saw Kal above me. His mouth moved, but I didn’t hear the words.
The world swirled, but his burning touch breached the chaos. I managed to take a tiny breath and smelled cinnamon mixed with nutmeg, soothingly familiar. Kal’s deep voice broke through the white noise, and so did Lucy’s purrs from where she was pressed against my thigh.
“I’m here, my Seth. It’s alright,” he repeated over and over again, voice even and calm without even a hint of annoyance. Worry was written all over his alien face. I dropped my head against his knee, and he stroked my back, much like he would pet Lucy.
“What can I do?”
“Don’t move.”
“I can do that.”
