The Winged Curse - Leah Crowe (best book club books for discussion .TXT) 📗

way to get them back!" I was shouting but I didn't care. I tried to shove him out of the way, but he was firm, like a pole and he wouldn't budge. "You don't need them, Beth. Forget about them. They are part of the past. You can have new parents. Not those fakey ones." He said, looking at me. Suddenly, a WHACK was heard and there was silence. I had slapped him across the face. I was fuming! "HOW DARE YOU! They are my PARENTS! Get out of my house! NOW!!!" I screamed, clawing at him. he just sighed, not showing any signs of pain if I was hurting him. "You don't understand Bethany. I can't make you understand. Not yet. I will tell you during the next full moon. Please, don't go after the wizard. He is bad news." I slumped to the floor. "How? How can you say such things? I...I need my parents. I'm sick of being alone. You say I don't understand but you don't know me. I mean, we met a couple days ago and before that; nothing. I hardly know you." I moaned. It seemed I was doomed to be alone forever. I felt arms around me. "I'm sorry. I guess that was harsh of me." Thomas said and he released me and turned to face me, "But you're not alone. You're never alone. And I do know you. Alot more than you think. I can't talk about that right now." He said standing up. He looked towards the door. "Please don't-" But he was cut off by a gasp. The gasp came from me becasue something other than the door now took up the frame. Or should I say someone.
The wizard.
The wizard was standing there, listening to our whole conversation.

"You know 'the wizard' has a name. I'm Simon." The wizard had been chuckling but now he walked towards me with his hand outstretched, as if to shake mine. Thomas put his hand out to stop him and growled. I slapped it away. "Stop it with the false happiness will you? It's giving me a headache!" I snapped at Simon, wanting some answers. "My, my haven't you grown up. And fiesty too! How cute!" Simon said, stroking my cheek. Thomas grabbed as his hand and looked like he wanted to bite it off. "Wonderful, now where are my parents?" I asked him as calmly as I could. "Oh them? Well, don't you like it? Being in charge of your life, I mean." Simon said cheerfully. It was making me sick. "No, I want them back. Now, what have you done with them?!" I began to scream at him. A cold wind shot through the open door, rustling the pictures on the wall and making my hair slap wildly at my face. Simon closed the door with Thomas following, probably ready to push him out of the house. Finally, Simon turned to me and answered, "If you must know, I sent them to the whole other side of the world. They have no memories of you and are living happy lives together with their son, Rob. You should be happy for them. he just turned 3!" He smiled but I felt sick. My guts were twisted in knots and I fell to the ground. How could he? They have no memory of me. That was too cruel. And what's worse, they had lives that didn't include me. They had truely forgotten about me! "How could you!" Thomas said, forming my thoughts into words for me because I was too stunned to speak. After all my searching, this is the answer I get. "Even if you found them, child, it would be of no use. They would think you were any other person walking down the road. And, believe me, you could not make them remember. For I burned their memories. They are forever gone." Simon said and he laughed evilly. I began to sob. So I was really alone. All my hopes of having my parents back were dashed in five minutes. I heard a smack and the door open and close. After a while, when my crying had reduced, I saw that Simon was gone and so was Thomas. I was alone. I would always be alone.

I went about my life and soon found that it was the night of the new moon. It was frosty outside so I made sure to dress warm, as it would be even colder up in the air. I didn't want to stay in all night though. I didn't mind the chill; it suited my mood. I had become somewhat reclusive, holing in and only coming out of the house when needed. For me, black WAS the new pink and it quickly became my favorite color. I was depressed and alone and I liked it. Being alone, that is. My solitude had become important to me; sacred almost. Tonight though, I decided to change things and brave the elements. I took to the air ten minutes later and thought back to the visit from the wizard, Simon. It was hopeless talking to him about my parents and I knew he was gone, but I still wanted to ditch these wings. I wanted to have friends, to be normal. If I was going to find out where he went, I would have to ask Thomas. He saw him last and he may know where Simon had run off to. I angled my wings against the wind that was shooting icy daggers at me, threatening to ruin my newly fixed wings. I morphed into a falcon and felt my clothes weigh me down. Using my claws, I managed to stuff them into the bag I had brought and carried the bag in my beak. It was so heavy, but I somehow got myself to the cabin in the woods. Thomas stood outback, as usual, and despite the freezing cold, he wore only a tee shirt and jeans. He didn't look as if he minded the cold, but the look on his face almost made me break down and cry. He was so downcast! His blue eye looked grey and his green one looked the color of cooked brocolli. I landed several feet away behind a tree and quickly went into defalt mode and changed back into my clothes. I stepped out from behind the tree and Thomas didn't even look up at me. It was as if I wasn't even there! "Thomas!" I yelled, "Are you ok?!" He looked up and blinked. He squinted into the darkness, but he was looked past my shoulder. I turned and saw nothing but swirling blackness. I walked up to him and touched his arm. He yelped and jumped into the air. That's when I noticed something. His back was bare. He had no wings.

CHAPTER 5
Change



"Who...who's there?!" Thomas yelled. "Um...it's me. Bethany, of course. I'm right in front of you!" I said, grabbing his arms and making his body face mine. "Can't you see me?" I asked. He turned pale. "Oh no..." He breathed, "Oh no. Oh no!" He started to shake. He then turned red as a tomato. "That wizard! I'll kill him!" Thomas started yelling. I was still very much confused. "What are you talking about? What's going on and where are your wings?" I asked. Thomas sighed and sat down. I gasped as a tear slid down his face. "Bethany," He said, his voice raspy, "He took my wings. He took my wings and he made you invisable. I cannot see you and I cannot chase after him because my wings are gone and I ran out of ointment. I can no longer stand to be near metal." I almost fell backwards! Me? Invisable? How did this happen? Why? Of course, I had stayed in my house so no one would know if I was invisable but every time I looked in a mirror, I saw myself! But why would the wizard take Thomas's wings? And why couldn't he be near metal? I had always thought he was like me; cursed by some wizard. I could touch metal though. Of course, he had his wings all the time under normal curcumstances, but different wizards cast different spells, right? "Thomas, why would he do this? And why can't you touch metal?" I whispered near his ear and I saw him shiver. "There is alot I haven't told you Bethany, and I needed to a while ago. You might want to sit down for this." He said but since he couldn't see me, he failed to notice that I was already sitting down. "Ok, tell me what's up." I said. He breathed in and out and then began to tell me something that would change life as I knew it. "Well, for starters, umm how do I put this? Bethany, you were kidnapped a long time ago and well..." "Well?" I urged him on. "We are engaged."

"WHAT?!" I burst out! "Engaged? Are you crazy?! You never proposed! I don't even know you that well! And I have never been taken in my LIFE!" I screamed. "Keep your voice down! I don't want people to hear a voice but not see a body that the voice belongs to." Thomas hissed and I quieted down. "Now let me explain; you are faery, as am I. Your parent's are actually very powerful faery that own a vast kingdom. My parents are also royalty and when we were born, they planned to unite their kingdoms through marrige. When you turned three, on your birthday, someone entered your castle and took you away. They took you to the human world and locked the faery deep inside of you. You grew up with mortals until the wizard came. He works for the enemy.
"See, we found out much later that you are special. You have greater powers than even your father, the king. There is always a bad guy in every relm and Sir Drakkon has oppsed the relm of faery for many years. When he found out that you were taken to the human world, he sent his servant, Simon, to find you. He did, and though he could not fully unlock your Faery self, he managed to pull free a sliver. One that only comes out during the full moon." Thomas sat there, catching his breath and I sat next to him, shocked. My world as I knew it to be was crumbling around me. Somehow, I knew it was true but it still hurt. To think I had cried myself to sleep so many nights just to find out that the parents I loved weren't my real parents. Thomas had obviously caught his breath because he began to speak again and I barred myself for another shocker. "Your father and mine have been searching for you for ages! When I learned of our engagement, I was shocked. I wanted to meet the lady whom I was to marry and so when I came of age, I set out into the mortal relm and by sheer luck have I found you! I thought I could take you back but then the wizard took my wings and sealed me to this house and he has made you invisable! It seems as though we shall never be together sometimes!" He moaned and rested his head in his hands. "I have failed and I have no way to get back into Faery Relm! You see, none can enter without flying! Faeries have one weakness and that is to metal. I couldn't fly an airplane in and I can no longer drive. I'm stuck!"
As Thomas spoke, his voice seemed to get deeper and he began talking differently. His english seemed somehow...older. I looked over at the man whom I was oringionally supposed to