Sororum

“We were out, Charles. She needed air.” Havok said evenly, with his palms up. Soon a grin broke out on his face, “It was so cool!”

Charles didn’t look too pleased, “You could have been seen or shot down!”

I stepped out timidly from behind Havok and chewed the inside of my cheek as I spoke, “I’ve decided to go with you…”

Charles looked back at me with a spark in his eyes, a smile erupted across his cheeks, the scolding forgotten. “That’s lovely! We can leave for the airport in an hour.”

Confused, I looked at the clock. It was already almost seven am. I nodded and slipped on my clothes after throwing Havok his shirt back. A couple of hours later I sat beside Charles with Havok in the seat by himself behind us. By the time we got clear of the ground and were in the air Havok had fallen asleep and Charles wrung his hands nervously. I looked at his face shyly and waited for him to speak about what was clearly on his mind.

I couldn’t help it when I started to study the perfect curve of his jaw, his flawless complexion paired with his stubble-less chin and cheeks, the way his light brown brows were drawn together over his entrancing blue eyes. His face suddenly changed to turn pink and chuckle, “Is that really how I appear to you?”

He turned his head to face me, his brows raised in embarrassed amusement. My own face turned pink and I quickly averted my gaze to my knobby knees. “Y-you read my mind.”

He frowned and sighed, “I thought you were going to be thinking of your sister, so I figured I would comfort you…”

I nodded, “I was thinking about her before I started to think of you…” I let my voice run away into a whisper as my face grew hotter. “I-I’m sorry.”

He shook his head, the blush never leaving either of our cheeks, “It’s quite alright. I’ll be more careful when I read your mind.”

I shifted uncomfortably, I didn’t like the way he said it. It was like a guarantee that he would read my mind again without permission. Animus had never read my mind without asking, and I trusted her… Maybe I shouldn’t trust him. My eyes flicked over to Charles, who was trying to busy himself with a crossword given to him by the flight attendant. “Charles?”

His head lifted and his eyes met with my own. “Yes?”

“Can you…” I sucked in a deep breath and looked into his eyes, trying to gather courage. “Do not read my mind without asking me. Promise me.”

His eyes sparkled and nodded. “I promise you.”

I nodded and snuggled my back into my chair before quickly falling asleep, the adventure from the night before finally taking its toll. Before I knew it Havok was shaking me awake, telling me that we had landed and that he had already gotten Charles off of the plane.

I could feel my powers start to act up as we stepped out of airport security and out into the parking lot where a girl with cropped blonde-orange hair stood with a huge smile on her face. Havoc raced forward and brought the girl into his arms, “Boomer!”

Boomer kissed Havok lightly then turned her face to beam at Charles and myself. “Professor! It’s so nice to see you again!” I shifted uncomfortably, as we came up closer to the hugging couple. “And it’s nice to meet you, I’m Boomer!”

I waved to her timidly as Havok helped Charles into the car and hopped into the front seat with Boomer joining him in the passenger seat. I slid in behind Boomer and could again feel my body wanting to morph; involuntarily I let out a grunt as I fought the urge to morph.

“Is she okay…?” Boomer asked, a worried look crossing her eyes.

Charles put a hand on the knee and looked me in the eyes, “Fight it. You don’t need to morph.”

I looked back at him and was able to choke out, “I can’t.” Not a moment later my body morphed into a swallow and I felt the need to get out so I looked to the windows. Charles had been smart enough to keep them up. I flew up and pecked at the windows franticly, this was all wrong. I had to get back to Animus. I tweeted and sang, trying to tell them that I needed to get out, to fly back to Paris but the car had turned silent and still. Boomer had turned to face forward in her chair, Havok gripped the steering wheel with white knuckles and Charles sat with a sad expression resting on his face as he held my clothes in his lap.

My throat had run dry and my energy had gone, I let myself fall down on the car seat with a loud thud. Charles picked up my feathered body and massaged my tired wings.

“We only want to help you, please stop trying to run from us.” He spoke through my mind and I was too tired to argue.

“Why do you want to help me so much? What do you get out of this?” I asked softly in my mind.

Before I could try and push him out a memory of his flooded into my head. He was a small child, maybe six years old and was playing in the grass with two little girls with match hair and pastel dresses. An older man came into view and took the two girls, who had started to cry, away from Young Charles, who was also crying and reaching for the little girls.

The memory ended and was followed by another, this time Charles was now a teenager traveling in what I recognized as Spain, he saw the two girls again, though this time they were dressed in rags and running from the Spanish police, a loaf of bread in their hands. Teen Charles chased after them as well, both in person and with his now mutating mind.

I was then sucked out of that memory and felt tears in my eyes. My body quivered and I quickly moved to my own seat just in time, I slipped on the clothes from before and looked at him with a new mind. “You’re the singing boy from the meadow.”

My own version of the first memory poured into my mind, Animus, then known as Holly, and I, then called Nina, had been exploring in a meadow that was close to our family home in England when we’d heard a boy singing. We returned every following day at the same time to listen to the Singing Boy. We had never learned his name or spend much time talking with him though. The summer came to an end and our father had come to the meadow one day to take us back home and told us that our vacation was over.

He looked into my eyes with a soft smile and took my hand in his own, “I am.”