Chapter 4 ~ Ember Lumi’s face scrunches up like she’s thinking. I know something’s wrong. But what? She might be planning something… Her brain cells haven’t fully developed yet, so it’s probably not fully thought out. And neither are mine, so I guess that’s justified. But, I’m not going to be here to witness it, so instead of confronting her about it, I sneak up behind her and wrap my wings around her. Don’t worry, I’m careful to disable my heat. She squawks and stiffens in surprise, then melts into the hug, because somehow she knows that it’s me. I try to let it go, but my mind is flooding with what could be wrong with her. What’s happening to her? Did she fail a test? No, she wouldn’t be acting like this, she doesn’t care about her grades- unless it’s her Snow Feather class! That must be it! OR- She’s being bullied! Oh gosh- it must be that one Snow Feather hatchling. What was it? Penguin? I knew there was something fishy about him. Wait- but what if it’s- I’m broken out of my trance by Lumi’s voice. “E- Ember…” she says. “Hmm?” I say, not really listening. “Ember, you’re getting hot.” She says. “Mmm” I reply, still not with it. “Ember!” She says louder. I realize my feathers must be getting hot and I immediately jump back. “Sorry!” I yelp. “S’okay” she says, closing her eyes. Lumi’s feathers glow a deep blue for a second, and then she sighs in content as her feathers cool off. “Sorry, Lumi, I didn’t mean to…” I trail off. My thoughts wander to the egg, and I bet Lumi’s are too. Her eyes are far away. I bow my head, and she repeats the motion. Tundra is getting impatient, I can tell by the way he’s shuffling and rubbing his wings together. I walk over to him, and he nods to me. “Ready?” He asks. I nod my head back. “Ready.” I look over my shoulder to see Lumi waving enthusiastically. I smile and wave back. We walk towards the edge of the cliff, where Aella is waiting for us. She smiles and opens her arms. I concentrate to turn off my heat, and then hug her really tight. “I’mma miss you so much,” I tell her. She squeezes me harder. “I love you so much, Ember.” When we pull away, she has tears in her eyes. I smile awkwardly, since I still don’t know what’s happening. I walk back to Tundra. “Bye!” Lumi and Aella yell out in unison as we flap away, waving hard. I try to call back, but the howling wind whips away my words. As we fly, the wind gets sharper and sharper until it feels like daggers are piercing my whole body. I see something silvery-blue flash by me out of the corner of my eye. I whip my head to where I thought it was, but whatever it was is now gone. Probably just the sunlight reflecting on the snow, I think to myself. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As we fly higher and higher, snow starts to fall. The flakes come drifting down slowly, then the wind catches them and sends them flying through the air. We’ve been flying for hours now. I can’t even see the sun anymore. My wings start to falter, the bones straining harder to stay aloft with each flap. “Tundra,” I gasp. “Are we close?” “No, we still have…” he glances back at me and his voice trails off. I must be in a pretty poor state, then. Hurrah. Tundra’s eyes scan the horizon. “We can land over there,” he points with his talon to a small cave. I fight against the wind, flapping as hard as I can to fly to the cave. The wind catches my feathers and my wings stop several times, muscles burning with exhaustion. I land on the ledge outside the cave, and stagger inside. I focus and let fire warm my tired muscles and relax my mind. The flames surround me, licking at the walls, and melting the icicles in the mouth of the cave. I sigh in content, and time seems to slow down. Then Tundra calls to me. “Ember, let me inside the cave!” I quickly withdraw the fire, allowing Tundra to enter. But he’s not alone.
