Wings of Paper - Chapter 4

“Wow, I didn’t know that you were such a troublemaker,” Hiro commented, holding the paper in his hands. 

“I don’t think it’s actually me,” I pointed out. 

My worry subsided as I realized that the hair surrounding the face was much longer than mine - though only going to the base of the neck. And the figure was much curvier than me, it couldn’t be me. Or at least that’s what I told myself. 

“Why would you be Wanted already?” Hiro asked, fingers grazing the edge of the paper. “I mean, I got my first ransom when I was ten, but still, you’ve been here for a day.” 

“Again, I don’t think it’s me,” I replied. 

The eyelashes were much longer, and the face was feminine. The more I looked at it the less I saw myself in it. Hiro simply shrugged and began to read the fine print. 

“Wow, 10,000 gold coins!” he gasped. “That’s insanely high. But it says here that they’re looking for a young woman called Dee. She used dark magic on the streets and is therefore being searched for. “ 

The words clicked in my head. Of course! 

D and Dee, they were the same person. This villain we were chasing, it wasn’t a guy, it was a girl! Sure, she looked suspiciously like me. And although I was a bit skeptical, I was still excited to have a face to hate, even if it was my own. 

“It’s D,” I told Hiro. “Dee is the one controlling the Darkness.” 

Hiro’s eyes widened. “That makes so much sense.” 

“You there!” someone called behind us. I spun around, heart picking up speed and fingers grazing the hilt of my knife. 

It was an older woman, a small child clutched to her leg. The woman was scowling and waving her fist at me. “Yeah, I’m talking to you, kids. I thought we told you to get lost last week. We ain’t joining your cause.”

“What are you talking about?” I interrupted. “I wasn’t here last week.” 

The woman’s eyes traced the contours of my body, probably realizing that Dee and I weren’t the same person. This was going to be a problem. 

“Tell your sister that she needs to find a better hobby than hackling us poor folk,” the woman said, revising her sentence. Hiro’s muscles tensed beside me, but I held out a hand to hold him back. Fighting innocents would make us just as bad a s Dee. 

“Look, she’s not my sister.” I tried to sound calm, but my voice was higher than normal. “I’m Luke - I’m trying to stop the Darkness.” 

“Luke? Like from the books?” It came from the small child with knobbly arms wrapped around the woman’s legs. The child stepped forward, eyes wide. “Mommy, there was a Luke in our story last night.” 

“Yes, Nigel,” the woman seemed exasperated. She was eyeing me like maybe I was more interesting than I looked. “You’re an odd group. A dragon and two teen boys claiming that they’re trying to stop the Darkness.” She crossed her arms and humphed. “Look, I don’t want to cause trouble, so scram now. I don’t have scraps to give you. 

I met Hiro’s eyes. What would happen if the woman called for help? Surely we would be in trouble, there had to be some sort of police force in this city. If we were caught there would be no way for us to defeat Dee and the Darkness. 

We were desperate, there was no denying it. 

So I did the only thing I could do to stop the woman. “I’m the Creator.” The words tumbled from my mouth and the woman’s eyes widened almost as wide as Nigel’s. 

The small boy tugged on his mother’s skirt. “Mommy, it’s just like what’s in the books!” 

“Yes, Nigel,” the woman repeated, her stare blank. She looked at me, forcing a smile onto her grubby face. “I’m so sorry, sir. It was a simple misunderstanding.” 

“It’s fine,” Hiro interjected. “Luke knows you didn’t mean it. Don’t you, Luke?” He elbowed me in the stomach hard. I winced in pain, shooting him a glare. 

“I understand,” I said, rubbing my stomach. 

“Is there anything I can do for you, sir?” The woman looked at me, her face desperate for something - anything - that could stop the Darkness. 

I turned to look at Hiro, his expression conveying exactly what he thought. 

“Yes, actually,” I began. “Take Nigel and as much supplies as you can carry. Get as far from here as you can, head west along the roads and try to run far. Bring as many people as you can find left in this town. It isn’t safe here anymore. Tell them the Creator is here.” 

The woman nodded hurriedly and scooped Nigel up into her arms, rushing away to spread the word. I smiled at Hiro. “Do you think they’ll make it?” 

“We can only hope,” Hiro relied. “Come on, we should finish our inspection and meet with the others soon. I’m starving!” 

Kip, Sammy, Kenzie, and Alex were surprised by the revelation of Dee being, well, Dee rather than D, along with the fact that she was a girl. 

Sadie claimed she knew it all along. “Why can’t girls be powerful?” she asked us. 

No one wanted to remind her that Dee being powerful was a bad thing. It felt wrong to damper her spirits. 

It was nearly six by now and Hiro complained about his growing hunger until we finally pulled over in an old gas station. It was long since abandoned, but the pumps still worked and Kip filled the car. We scavenged what we could from the racks of chips, avoiding the curdled milk. 

Kip announced it would be another eight hours before we arrived at the next village and he advised us to simply stay the night at the gas station. All of us agreed - no one wanted to be out in the air when there were Dark Warriors out and about. Or things worse - the woman said Dee had been recruiting people. 

The skies were clear and the stars dotted the sky like pinpricks of light. I decided to spend some time outside, mostly because Smokey had gotten into some of the expired food and it wasn’t agreeing with his stomach. 

Surprisingly, it was Sadie who joined me not long after I had climbed some fallen scaffolding to sit on the roof. Her nimbleness was also shocking, but I remembered she was an elven princess and it was only typical for her to be agile. She took a seat beside me, her golden ringlets pulled back into a braid. 

“Who did your hair?” I asked her, attempting to start a conversation. 

“Kenzie,” Sadie replied. 

“I didn’t realize she had a soft side,” I mumbled, blushing when Sadie turned to look at me. It was true, though. Kenzie appeared to hate me, and I just assumed she was like that with everyone else. 

“She’s really nice when you get to know her,” Sadie said, crossing her legs and peering up at the stars. “She taught me all of the constellations.” 

I didn’t realize that there were constellations. 

My imagination must have been stronger than I thought, either that or the world was beginning to develop on its own. 

I fell silent, eyes scanning the sky. Although I couldn’t piece together actual pictures in the normal sky, it seemed that the stars in this night sky were actually shaped like things. I saw a woman with a quiver and arrows, a lion, and many other things. 

“I saw your Wanted poster,” Sadie interrupted, a grin on her face. 

“It’s not my Wanted poster,” I argued for what seemed like the billionth time.
“It’s Dee - not me.” 

Sadie shrugged. “She does look like you. Her eyes are the same gray as yours, although her hair is a darker shade of brown. You’re sure you didn’t create her? Not at all?” Sadie was looking at me like she expected me to say I created Dee by accident. 

But I hadn’t. I didn’t know where Dee had come from, but I hadn’t tried to make her. Never had my subconscious strayed to create a villain so evil and destructive. 

“I don’t know where she came from, but she didn’t come from my imagination. I only create characters who actually have a purpose.” I was telling the truth, for the most part at least. Characters like Smokey weren’t necessarily imperative to my story plots, but they were helpful. 

“You do?” Sadie seemed surprised, something that shocked me. 

Why would I create unnecessary characters? 

“Why so surprised?” I asked her. Sadie shrugged, turning away so I couldn’t see her face. I could feel the tension between us, like an invisible wall that separated the two of us.

I was so different from all of the Fictionals, I didn’t fit in at all. They had all grown up in this world together while I was forced to live in a world full of disappointing realities. Even Alex seemed to belong with her sword skills and exotic flares of knowledge. I was nothing. The wall between Sadie and I seemed to thicken with every second until finally she looked back at me, her eyes brimming with tears. 

“I’m surprised because I have no purpose!” The words spilled from her mouth so quickly I thought I misheard them. Sadie, useless? She continued on anyways. “My whole life I’ve tried to tell myself I’ll find a purpose. My older brother gets the kingdom, and my father only ever sends him on quests. 

“When they sent me away to be spared of the Darkness I finally had a chance to do something helpful. But all I’m doing is holding you back.” Sadie’s eyes burned into my soul as she finished. “Luke, why would you create me and give me nothing to live for?” 

I felt attacked, like someone was tearing at my heart. But I couldn’t articulate what I wanted to tell her. 

Sadie was not useless, and I had never planned for her to be. Her story wasn’t over yet - none of our stories were. I had created Sadie originally as an emotional peg for her brother’s story, but I had begun to lean towards her leading a tale of her own. 

“You’re not useless,”  I finally managed to say. 

Sadie raised an eyebrow at me but she didn’t speak. Her thin lips were pressed tightly into a line. 

“Look,” I sighed. “Originally I did make you a supporting character.” Sadie humphed. “But now it’s your story. Your brother and your father - I’m sorry to say it, but the Darkness is going to claim them. Your kingdom will fall to the Darkness unless we can find a way to stop it - and you’re in the right place if you want to help.” 

“What do I have that will help the team?” Sadie complained. “I’m just a little girl!” 

I took a moment to run over the mental list of traits I attributed with Sadie when I created her before speaking. “We all have talents. Kenzie can read minds, Hiro’s good with a sword, Sammy is a loyal fighter, Alex is smart, Kip is a great leader. Heck, even I have an imagination that can be useful.” 

“What about me?” Sadie asked me, seeming to hang on the edge of my words. 

So I spoke directly from my heart. “When I picture the Elvish Princess Sadie I don’t picture just any little girl. I see someone fierce, someone dedicated enough to fight for her kingdom even when it seems all is lost. But that doesn’t mean anything. If you don’t like how your story is going remember you have the power to change it.” 

Sadie nodded along. “I think I understand.” She looked at me again, her face breaking into a small smile as she flung her arms around my waist. “You’re right, Luke, I’m going to change my own story.” 

Sadie uncurled herself from me and stood, offering me a hand. I politely declined and Sadie made her way off the roof, nimbly leaping from debris to debris. 

Hope was blooming in my chest. Maybe the wall between the others and I wasn’t as thick as I had first thought. If Sadie trusted me that meant maybe I was closer than I had thought.

And I didn’t notice it at the time, but far off in the distance, the Darkness slowed to a crawl. 

By the next afternoon we had driven for what felt like forever. We had occupied most of the car ride by explaining the origins of each of the Fictionals. Alex was mainly the one to want the information, I think she wanted to ensure she knew as much about each of us as possible. It was a curious experience for the other’s as well to hear about everyone’s stories. 

As for me, it was odd to hear someone else repeat my stories like it happened to them, which I supposed it did. 

Kip went first, explaining that he was a mere dragon trainer. Smokey perked up at the sound of Hux’s name and I wondered if they were related. The thought was smothered when I remembered that Arya had flown Hux into the Darkness and never returned. 

Sadie told us (with Sammy adding details) about how a coven of witches had attempted to recruit her for their cult which was why she had Sammy as bodyguard. She added very specific details about how Sammy had been chosen when he had wrapped his tiny eight year old arms around her neck to keep her safe from the witches. 

Kenzie and Hiro took turns narrating Hiro’s attempt to overthrow Kenzie’s kingdom. 

Long story short (literally), Hiro had been sent by his father, the king, to marry into the opposing kingdom as a “bonding experience”. But Hiro was supposed to murder the other king after gaining his trust. Instead, Kenzie was from the opposing kingdom and read Hiro’s mind, discovering his plot. She ordered him to go on a quest and find her four diamonds that would increase her magical power in exchange for her silence. 

The pair of them shared in such a way that suggested they weren’t enemies like I had originally meant for them to be. 

My characters had a mind of their own. 

We pulled over briefly afterwards for a quick lunch. Alex gave me some sword fighting lessons, pointing out my mistakes in balance and positioning of my feet. I was a quick learner and picked up the basics relatively fast. I thought I had made good progress until Sadie beat me in a duel. Thunder cracked in the distance, a sign we were steadily approaching the Darkness. 

No one wanted to spend much time outside after that and we piled into the minivan and drove off again. 

And luckily by about seven we finally spotted buildings in the distance. Sadie and Sammy cheered, waking Smokey up. Kenzie breathed a sigh of relief and I couldn’t deny the pressure that was lifted off of my chest. 

It took about twenty minutes to get to the town, but it was worth it when Kip pulled over in front of a motel at the far end of town. 

“Hello?” Kip called as we entered the building. The place was definitely not the cleanest, and I swore I saw a rat scramble across the floor. Kenzie wrinkled her nose, frowning unpleasantly. The whole room reeked of, well, garbage. 

There was movement and a man appeared at the desk across from the doors. His greasy hair stuck to his forehead and his bulging stomach seemed appropriate for the state of the motel. He grinned when he saw us and the way he moved kind of reminded me of a rat. Alex turned to me, raising an eyebrow as if to say another one of your creations? I shook my head. 

“Ah, customers,” the man breathed, his voice high and nasally. “How can I help you today?” 

“Where exactly are we?” Hiro asked, stepping forward to the counter. 

“This is East Featherpass,” the man answered. “I assume you travellers are just passing through, of course.” 

“How did you know we were travellers?” Kenzie interrupted, whipping a knife out. The man squealed and cowered behind the counter. Hiro trapped Kenzie on the shoulder, perhaps as a reminder that she didn’t need to threaten everyone we met. 

Kenzie sighed, tucking her knife away. The man glared at her as he pulled himself back up. “I only meant that most of our townsfolk are at the Western edge of town performing our nightly ritual. If you belonged here you would be there.” He eyed Kenzie’s knife warily, but she seemed satisfied with his response and sheathed the blade. 

I glanced at the peeling wallpaper, looking for any sign of Darkness. The Darkness was travelling westward, so why would the people be gathered at the western edge of the town? 

“Thank you, good sir,” Hiro said at last. Then he turned to us. “Do we get a room?” 

“I can’t drive at this hour,” Kip yawned. “We can get a room for the guys and a room for the gals if you’d like. Even if this place is crappy looking it certainly beats sleeping on the floor of a gas station.” I had to agree with him there. 

“Two rooms, please,” Hiro told the man at the counter who gave an oily grin and began rummaging for keys. 

“Oh, and there are no dragons allowed in the rooms,” the man said as he popped back up, two sets of keys in his grubby fingers. “We have a strict no-creature policy.” He gestured towards Smokey, who gave a small snort. 

That posed a small problem because we couldn’t exactly leave Smokey in the car, we didn’t know if the tiny dragon possessed any kind of magic or if his mother was looking for him. Adult dragons were known to be extremely protective of their young, they would tear apart the minivan to find Smokey if needed. 

“Luke and I can go search for a dragon kennel or somewhere for Smokey to sleep for the night,” Alex offered. I kept my face expressionless even though inside confusion was welling up inside of me. Alex wanted to go with me? “And we can check out this whole villager ritual thing while we’re at it.” The others shared a look. They probably didn’t trust us to go out in the dark together, especially with my crappy sword skills. 

“Fine,” Kenzie said at last, reminding me of her mind reading skills. She handed both of us swords from inside our bags, ignoring the looks from the man at the counter. “Take these and we’ll get the rooms ready.” She turned back towards the man at the counter. “These had better be your best rooms or I swear I will kill you.” 

The man gulped and Alex grabbed me and pulled me away. 

Smokey trotted behind us into the dark sky outside. I could only hope the rest of these townsfolk wouldn’t be hostile.