Wings

Valerie placed her hands on her hips and let out a thoughtful sigh.
Sage, bored and slumped against a tree, looked up at his friend with new interest.
"What?" he asked slowly, knowing the scheming in Valerie's eyes.
"Nothin'," she said, shrugging.
Sage raised an eyebrow.
Valerie pretended not to notice him, glancing out across the darkening skies, blowing up her cheeks, popping them, and repeating.
After a few minutes, Sage made a frustrated gesture. "Okay, out with it," he told her.
"I wanna go flying!" Valerie burst. Sage made a frantic quieting motion at her.
"Ssh!" he hissed.
"Please?" Valerie said. She lowered her voice to a whisper and said, "You know you want to."
"Val, no," he said.
Valerie spread her hands wide. "Why? Sage, we've been sitting around doing nothing. I'm sick of it!"
"We're gonna get caught, Val," Sage told his friend seriously.
"Ooh, I'm scared!"
Sage tried to frown, but couldn't hold back the grin forming. Valerie laughed and grabbed his hand, hoisting him up off the ground with surprising strength.
"Wait, wait," Sage said. "Let's wait until after sunset."
Valerie rolled her eyes, but knew it was a good idea.

~

An hour later, Valerie was practically bursting with impatience by the time it was finally pitch black outside. She grabbed the cape from the back of her bedroom door and fumbled to secure the clasp at her neck. At last, she bolted to the front door of her two-room cabin and slipped outside.
The moon shone pearly-white on the waves of Arb Sea. Valerie met Sage in the forest between their cabins. Without a word, they began padding silently from shadow to shadow, making their way down the grassy slope to the shore. There, steps led up to an old wood dock that spread out over the waters. Before Sage could stop her, Valerie was racing across the creaky planks. She whipped off the bulky cape she wore, revealing a pair of neatly folded wings. Sage watched as his friend did not slow, but sped up at the end of the dock, leaping into the warm night air. Her white and gray speckled wings spread out and she soared up out of view.
Sage groaned inwardly. He took a quick glance around to make sure no one was watching and took off after Valerie. He ran lightly down the dock, pealing off his own cape as he went. A pair of sleek brown wings snapped open and carried him above the rolling waves of the sea.

~

Sage found Valerie sitting on the edge of a large rock jutting out of the ocean. He tried to hide the fact that he was panting like a dog as he landed beside her.

"I see you finally decided to join me," Valerie said without looking at him.

Sage scoffed. "You need to work on being a little more -I don't know -subtle?"

Valerie stuck out her tongue, then said quietly, "I can't help it. I feel like an eagle trapped in a cage that's too small."

Sage knew he couldn't argue with that. He felt the same way, but if he didn't constantly push precautions, they would have been discovered ages ago.

The moon had already reach its high point in the sky and was beginning its descent on the glassy horizon. Sage noticed how the moonlight reflected off Valerie's wings and dark hair in a beautiful, yet mysterious way.

Valerie caught Sage's gaze out of the corner of her eye and saw him quickly glance away.

Sage cleared his throat awkwardly and said, "We should probably get back."

But Valerie didn't seem to be listening. "Wouldn't it be amazing to fly across the entire ocean, or see the Aurora Borealis from the sky? I wonder if our wings are waterproof. It'd be so neat to use them as...fins, or something. I don't know."

Sage smiled. "We should try it sometime," he suggested.

Valerie stared at him, her mouth open. "You're joking."

"Come on," Sage said, ignoring her. "I'll race you back." He launched off the rock and, for once, Valerie had to hurry to follow.

Little did the two teens know that someone hid in the shadows back at Valerie's cabin, awaiting the friends' return.....