bitch you gotta take it
From the moment I hit the ground, I feel like a different person.
I am bolting, tearing down the street with my heartbeat pounding fire-fast in my throat until I can’t hear anything but the pulsating rush of blood rising up into my skull and the clattering sound of my hooves on the cobblestone, only slightly dampened by the blanket of snow below. All of it makes a ringing in my skull like the peal of the church bell, but there’s nothing holy about it.
My muscles are beginning to burn. My life of leisure in Solterra requires little of me but to eat, drink, and be merry, and my siblings and I often spend days at a time without leaving the property, except for leisurely games played on the dunes outside. So I am out of practice. This—running as fast as I can away from the teeth I know are gnashing at me from behind—is something I don’t have cause to do often, and I’m already feeling the pressure of it as my lungs start to burn and my bones begin to feel like they’re knocking together.
Give me my FUCKING GLASSES BACK, Andras roars. He sounds pissed. Angrier than I could’ve expected, like I’ve broken his wing and not stolen his eyewear; it’s still dangling from my mouth like a limp rabbit picked up by whoever’s been poaching in Viride. But I’m not as afraid as I should be. In fact, I’m not afraid at all. I laugh, loud and clear. The noise of it vibrates the metal I’m holding in between my teeth. It’s a noise both brilliantly satisfied and exhausted. The waves of laughter are interrupted by my gasps for air; I am still struggling for breath, distracted by the effort of dodging out of his reach.
His wings stir up a tumultuous wind behind me. I can feel it swirling forward like a tornado and the force of it nearly knocks me off my feet. Suddenly I know what it feels like to fly—just for a second, a heartbeat, a lightning-struck pulse.
Caught off-guard by a suddenly extra-strong, buffeting breeze, I stumble over the divots in the cobblestone street below me, and my heart rushes up into my throat: it sparks a thrill that tingles through me like noxious gas, numbing my legs and my chest and every muscle in between, and in the next moment I can’t feel anything but the lightness in my muscles and the constant ringing of my bones.
“Come get them, then,” I call over my shoulder. “I dare you.” My voice is half-caught in the icy breeze, but I think it will still reach him, at least before I go careening sharply around the next corner and duck into an open shop.
@
