//------------------------------// // Ch. 4: Message Sent // Story: Nightingale, Neither Snow Nor Hail // by TundraStanza //------------------------------// Nightingale was exhausted. Pumpkin Cake's Cute-ceañera was a load of fun. So much sugar, so many games, so many laughs... all of it had been great. Best of all, Mama and Baba had been there just like they promised. The little filly yawned as soon as she entered the door to her home. The sitters greeted her parents and chatted for a bit. Nightingale took that moment to excuse herself from the main entrance. She crept along the floor toward a shared bedroom. She put her hooves up on the side of the crib bed and smiled. A baby changeling was snoozing. She nuzzled its face. "I'm here, -------," Nightingale whispered. --- June 27, 20X5, 7:55 AM... Natalia blinked the remnants of her dream out of her eyes. Light was entering the room, even with the curtains drawn. She thought it seemed brighter than it usually was at this hour. She rubbed her eyes, only realizing after a couple seconds that she was doing so with her wings. Her hands felt numb. Maybe she had slept on top of them. "Did you call for me, Night?" She looked over the side of her bed. "No, Crystal. I didn't say anything." Her father had pulled out a sleeping bag for Kenneth to borrow. The homeless man was used to sleeping on ground that was completely uneven. To him, this bedroom floor was a boon. He yawned, pulling out something to cover his open mouth. Natalia squinted. "Um, what's that in your hand?" She tried to point, but her own hand was still asleep. "Huh?" Kenneth looked at what he thought his hand should be. He blinked. "Heh. Well... that's different." He turned his wrist slowly, looking over the end of it. What used to be a hand was almost cylindrical. It looked like there were holes in a few places that went all the way through. Yet, he didn't feel any pain. He could still swivel the end as if it were still a hand. He just couldn't point with it in five different directions simultaneously. Afraid to see but still curious, Natalia used her wings to push her blanket down. She was relieved to see her hands were still intact. That relief was quickly replaced with disappointment. Her thigh that had the dove and snake mark had turned a completely faded blue color. Running her hand over it revealed the extra fuzz was there too. Her tail flicked once to show her bemusement. She did a double-take. No, her eyes and lower back weren't deceiving her. There was in fact a mass of grayish hair sprouting behind her. The tail whipped a couple times as her attention was drawn to it. When she internally groaned, it hung limply over the side of the bed, waiting for her command. "This is getting worse." Natalia tried to shake some feeling back into her hands. "Hey, don't be so down." Kenneth laid back with his holey stumps behind his head. "The day's just starting. Maybe it won't feel so bad later." "How do you know for sure?" She sat up. "I don't." He smiled slightly. "I said, 'Maybe'." At that, Natalia got out of bed. She gripped the edge of her night gown as she made her way to the bathroom. After closing the door and turning on the light, she stared at her reflection. Her one gray hair had become an entire highlight. The color of her eyes switched between blue and green every time she blinked. She looked away. She was certain the changing sight was giving her a headache. Her new appendages didn't get in the way of her shower, save for the occasional pinching sensation. She was almost in autopilot as she rinsed and dried herself off. Until she had finished spitting dust from her feathers into the garbage can, she hadn't suspected anything was different. She gasped. "Was I... preening?" She hurried and gargled some mouthwash. --- 11:00 AM... After taking some time to eat and practice piano, Natalia had wandered into the backyard. She thought there were a few too many people out front. The breeze was gentle and warm. Natalia closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Her wings spread out to their full length, waving forward and back. "Careful, you might just fly away." Natalia's eyes snapped open. She whirled around on her heel and saw Kenneth in the doorway. He had his arms crossed until he waved with one of his dark stumps. She put on an annoyed expression. "Don't even joke about that." She walked up close. "At most, it's half a joke, since you have real wings." He pointed out. As if to retort, her wings immediately folded themselves at her sides. "Can I get back inside?" He chuckled and moved to the side. "Sure." "Thank you." She walked back in, sliding the door shut behind her. He leaned as he looked through some blinds. "Say, does your mom own a blue, electric car?" "Yeah, how'd you know that?" She blinked. He pointed at the window. "I'm looking right at it." Confused, she walked over. She pressed down on one of the blinds. When she looked through the opening, she saw her mother's vehicle of choice in the driveway. Natalia tilted her head. She thought her mother had work that day. Why was her car still waiting around home? Natalia quickly glanced around to the far left and right. Nobody else was out there at the moment. She marched over to the front door and pulled it open. She continued her brisk pace over to the driver's side. That was definitely her mother inside. She knocked her knuckles against the window. Marga jumped a little before rolling down the window. "Hi, Natalia! What are you doing here?" "Pretty sure you stole my line, Mom." Natalia crossed her arms. "Don't you have to go to work?" "Uh, no!" Marga smiled brightly. "I... had something I could only do on my... computer! Here!" Natalia raised her brow. "In your car?" Marga's eyes darted to the left for a split second. "Yes?" "Even though your computer is still sitting in the work room in the house?" Natalia inadvertently pointed her left wing toward the house's front door. "Oh! Is that where that is?" Marga chuckled. "I was wondering why I couldn't find it!" Natalia put her hands against her hips. "It's been in that room for five years, Mom." "Well, heh heh... you know how my memory only works long-term. Give me another ten years, and I'll know it's in the work room." Natalia wasn't laughing. "So, uh... how's school going?" Marga adjusted her mirrors. "It's summer." Natalia's wings crossed like arms in front of herself. "Also, I graduated from college last year. You hugged me after the class threw their caps." "Right...Right... of course." Marga bit down on her nails. "Mom, what's really going on?" Natalia's arms and wings spread out. "I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed that you're dodging the question." "Nothing's going on! Really!" Natalia rolled her eyes. "Right, because raising your voice really proves your honesty." "I'm not raising my voice!" Marga shouted. Natalia's tail tapped the right side of her body. She looked up and toward the street. A pale man in a suit, sunglasses, and frozen stoicism walked briskly toward them. Natalia gasped and made a run for the front door. But before she could make it, something grabbed her neck and had her pinned to the ground. "Don't hurt her!" Marga cautioned while getting out of her car. The pale man immediately had the woman in a choke hold, slamming her spine against the garage door. Somehow, the man had a twin and each was restraining one of the residents. Kenneth ran out and tried to tackle the man that was on top of Natalia. Yet the man magicked in a triplet and punched Kenneth's face, forcing him to fall to the side. Natalia struggled fruitlessly. "Who are you?! Why are you doing this?!" "Marga Gabriel informed the organization of the presence of two rogue elements." The pale man did not even move his lips. His voice just sort of went out of him. "She does not know what she really harbors in her house. The less she knows, the better." "Slow down! What? Augh!" Natalia felt like her arm was getting crushed. Meanwhile, the pale man near the garage made a damp cloth appear out of thin air. He pressed it against Marga's face. The smell of chloroform overpowered her as her eyes closed. The triplet closer to the front door slammed his wrist against the back of Kenneth's head. He went limp and the stranger picked him up. Natalia's scream turned into a quick succession of three high notes. A couple gray birds flew down and started pecking at the pale stranger nearest to her mother. He flinched a bit and flailed around his arms. After a second or two, he pressed his left index finger on the center of his right wrist. He vanished in a spray of electrical sparks. Without that target, the gray birds turned their attention toward his two remaining friends. "Change of plans." The stranger on top of Natalia stated without moving. "Relocate the targets immediately." The one carrying Kenneth vanished along with his unconscious cargo. Natalia felt her hairs stand on end. Electricity covered the pale stranger and herself. Both vanished from in front of the house. The sleeping Marga slid down. Her back was awkwardly positioned against the garage door. The gray birds chirped around, as if checking on the woman. Then, the birds flew away to their usual business. --- ??? You have a great singing voice, Night! Nah, I just copy what I hear from Mama. Maybe you were at first. But you've been talking and singing in your own voice a lot more. I really think you're great. If you say so... thanks. Nightingale's head hurt as she opened her eyes. Her ears were ringing. She reached up her hands to try and cover them. However, there was nothing but the skin and hair covering her skull. Frantically, she patted around wildly along her face and head. When she finally reached the top, she felt like her ears were being tugged by her fingers. Her ears were on top of her head, and they were a bit larger and fuzzier than she remembered. She groaned. Her tail whacked the ground in frustration. As she moved to sit up, she realized that this wasn't home or her bed. This room that she was inside was surrounded by three walls of white mattress, one wall that looked like glass, a floor of dirt, and a ceiling of concrete. Through the glass wall, she couldn't identify much of anything. There may have been metal safety railings, but anything else outside was shrouded by darkness. A dull thud drew her attention to one side. It was a familiar face trying to repeatedly tackle the glass with little success. "Why did they waste bulletproof glass if we aren't carrying guns?" He growled. "Crystal!" Nightingale stood up. Crystal gasped and spun around. "Night! Crap, are you okay?" "Aside from being completely lost, I think so." Nightingale held out a hand. "You're bleeding!" Crystal reached up a hoof to a bandage near his nostrils. "Nah, it's stopped now. I guess the suits wanted to keep us alive." "The suits?" Nightingale's eyes opened wide. "You mean the weirdos that attacked us?" "Well, yeah!" Crystal scoffed. "Who else would I be talking about? I don't suppose you recognized him." "No, sorry." She shook her head. "Wait, if we've been kidnapped, why did they let me keep my clothes, but take away your hoodie?" He shrugged, showing off the blue carapace that had grown around his mid-section. "I don't have a clue. But is that really what we should be focusing on?" "Right, right, means of escape... um..." She looked around, trying to find anything. It looked like there was a washing basin in one corner, a small hay pile in another corner, and a vent in the ceiling. Nothing really looked like it would help. She tried kicking the bulletproof glass wall, but that just resulted in a stinging feeling in her toe. She exhaled slowly. "I guess that's not going to work." Crystal nodded. "Yeah, I thought I was loosening it for a while, but then it just sort of bounced back into place." Nightingale grabbed her arms, shivering. Her wings curled around and held her shoulders. She was briefly surprised by her ears flattening against her head, but resumed her staring contest with the dirt. "Where are we?" Her tail limply hung. "Why did they take us here?" "If I believed in conspiracies, I would have blamed the feds for scientific experiments." He looked out into the darkness. "But I don't. So, I don't know." He walked over to the mattress wall opposite of the glass wall. He turned around and sat against it. "Well, it looks like we could be here a while. I don't see any food anywhere, so we should try to conserve our energy where possible. Might as well take a break." Nightingale dragged her shoes along the dirt before walking over and sitting beside him. A pinching sensation convinced her to sit up and adjust her tail's posture. Finally, she managed to sit without hurting it too much. "I want to panic," she admitted, "yet I can't seem to bring myself to be that terrified." "Me too." He nodded. "Must be something they're pumping in the air." "Don't even joke about that, brother." She shook her head. "Do I look like I'm joking?" He crossed his arms. He blinked. "Wait... brother?" "Sorry, I just... that felt like the right thing to say." She tilted her head. "Was it wrong?" "No, it's fine." He smiled slightly. "Maybe I can call you 'sister' in return?" She chuckled. "Okay, I deserved that." ---