Nightingale, Neither Snow Nor Hail

by TundraStanza

Ch. 3: Family Grows

June 26th, 20X5, roughly 1:45 PM...

Natalia stood up, releasing the wing from her hand and her thoughts. She briskly walked over to the mail on the floor. When she crouched down, she could read the address on the top envelope. It was at the correct location, yet the intended recipient wasn't specified. All that was there for a name was the letter "N". This struck her as odd. Usually, any mail intended for her had her first and last name spelled out.

She picked up the pile. She glanced at the junk mail card underneath before returning her attention to the first letter. She walked over to the dining table and took a seat. Her fingers were already tearing the envelope's edge. Unfolding the letter inside, she squinted as she read the handwriting.

Dear Nightingale,

If you are reading this, then I am afraid plans have already moved forward. Friends and enemies have stumbled upon each other and are clashing as we speak. There is so much more going on that I simply do not have time to explain. What I can tell you is this: Changes will happen that nobody can be prepared. You likely won't even recognize yourself when it's done.

He who took credit for defeating a devil, yet became one himself, will try to oppose you. But remain steadfast. You bring hope to our world. Soon, you will fly higher than our dreams and sing ballads of joy.

And no matter what happens, your father and I will always love you, our little songbird.

Sincerely,

Mama

A droplet fell onto the paper. The twenty-five-year-old girl voiced confusion and wiped her eyes. Why was she crying? She didn't understand. Nothing about this letter made any sense. It was vague and it had nothing to do with her. So why did it feel like somebody had punched her heart in the breasts?

The doorbell rang. Startled, Natalia jumped and nearly fell out of her chair. She clasped her hands together while trying to steady her breath. She slowly walked toward the front door, trying to ignore the feeling of her ears standing up. For the moment, her wing was actually helping distract her stray thoughts.

When she was right up at the door, she looked through the peephole. She wasn't quite sure what she was looking at out there. The face of the visitor kind of reminded her of charcoal. She was tempted to stay quiet and pretend nobody was home. Yet, the shaking blue in the visitor's eyes compelled her to answer.

Before she could change her mind, her hand had turned the door knob and pulled. Without the round distortion of the peephole, she could see the other person more clearly. Yet, she still wasn't fully comprehending at what she was looking. The closest approximation was that it was a beast's mask held too long under a blow torch. But the blue eyes blinked without any electronic whirring. So, was it a real face? How could it be?

"Um, hi?" The visitor held up a human hand and waved it. "I'm... Kenneth?" He shook his head. "It's easier to think Crystal is my name."

Natalia blinked twice. "Er, if it's any consolation, you look more like a 'Crystal'." Her wing seemed to shrug by itself. "Can I help you?"

"Maybe." Crystal's fingers idly poked at one of his fangs. "I was going through life as usual yesterday. But when I woke up this morning, I found my head had been replaced by this monstrous cabeza. I ran down streets, trying to avoid being seen as much as possible. Then, I heard a very pretty singing voice and saw through the window that you had a wing. I was wondering if maybe we were experiencing similar changes?"

Both of her hands were grabbing the door now. Her wing was doing its best to hold her head. "This is a lot to take in, but... I suppose it's possible. I kind of hope I'm just dreaming."

"But it feels too real to be a dream, doesn't it?" He massaged his neck with both hands.

She sighed. "I guess it does. I don't know what I can tell you about these changes that you don't already know. I have no idea how or why it's happening."

He smiled slightly. "At least we're on the same page then. Maybe we can work together. Best case, we figure out how to stop and reverse the changes. Worst case, well... uh..."

"Then, each of us knows that we're not the only freak of nature in the world?" She held her left arm against her hip.

"Yeah, that." He nodded. "Hey, so... about not being seen too much, may I enter?"

"I guess that's okay. My parents will be out for most of the day, anyway." She stepped aside to make room.

"Really?" His smile grew. "Thank you, Night!" He hurried on in.

"Night?" She closed the door and looked at him.

"Oh, sorry. Is that wrong?" He turned around. "That was the first thing that popped into my head when I looked at you."

"Well, my name is Na-" She stared into space for a few seconds. "Natalia? Why does my name not sound right?"

"That happened to me too!" His eyes opened wide. "I know what my name is. I've had it all my life. But the other name sounds more like it belongs."

"This is just... oh my..." She sat down on the living room sofa. "Uh... sit anywhere you'd like. I need a moment."

"Okay." He walked over to the opposite end of the sofa before sitting down. "Did you know your eyes change color every time you blink?"

"No." She slowly shook her head. "What color are they?"

"Well, they were blue just a second ago." He tilted his head. "Now they're green."

She took a deep breath and exhaled. "My name is Na... My name is Nai... I'm... Nightingale." Realization covered her face. "Wait a minute!"

"Wait, what?" Kenneth/Crystal asked.

She dashed over to the table and grabbed the letter. She skimmed over the message again. She then took it with her over to the couch. "Do you know who wrote this?"

He held the letter himself and gave it a read through. "Hmm... no. But that handwriting looks familiar. I wonder, why?"

She fell back onto the sofa and took the letter. "Sorry, just a thought. Maybe I shouldn't have sprang it on you so suddenly."

"Ah, that's okay." He idly played with the top of his gray hoodie. "A lot of weird things have happened in such a short time. What's one more?"

"Yeah..." She nodded. "I just ate recently. Do you need any food?"

He shook his head. "Thanks, but I'm not hungry. Heck, I haven't been for several hours. Maybe I should be worried, but I'm not."

"You're a really easy-going guy, aren't you?" She glanced over.

"I could describe you in a similar manner." He chuckled. "You haven't pulled out your hair or anything."

"There's still daylight left." She pointed at the light coming through the window. "Maybe I'm saving up my stress."

"Please warn me if you're going to explode."

"If I am, I'll be sure to lock myself in my room before that happens."

They shared a laugh.

---
Roughly 6:00 PM...

Natalia's head jerked up. When had she fallen asleep? She looked around the living room. Nobody was there except... a sleeping man with a beast's head. So, that part had been real, or at least consistent.

She wasn't sure, but she thought she saw something different about Crystal. Had he always had a crooked horn above his forehead? As she crossed her arms, two feathers reached around and rubbed her eyes. She blinked, looked left and right, and sighed.

It seemed her singular wing had copied itself, flipped one copy around, and pasted it onto her other side. At least it had been polite enough to leave her shirt intact. She curled a finger in front of her mouth. How had the wings avoided ripping holes in her shirt, without going through the shirt's normal openings?

She shook her head. This was too surreal for a brain that just woke up from a nap. She stood up and walked into the kitchen. She got a drink of water and opened the cover of a bread box. Her mother had made banana bread a couple days ago and it was still good. Natalia cut herself a slice and started nibbling it.

As she took another sip from her glass of water, she paused. There was a faint hissing noise. She hadn't left on any appliance that could make steam. She was also certain that it wasn't a snake. Those weren't indigenous to her neighborhood.

Whatever it was, the hissing was getting louder. There was also a bit of another noise. It kind of sounded like a growl. Natalia turned slowly on her heel for a couple seconds. Right after that, she spun to look in the direction of the noise. Her visitor was sticking out a long, forked tongue at the exposed banana bread.

"K-Kenneth?! What are you doing?" Setting the parts of her snack on the table, she ran over and shook his shoulder.

The hissing immediately stopped. "Huh? What? Duwah?"

She pulled her hand back and chuckled nervously. "Bro, if you're that hungry, you could have just asked."

"I..." He tapped the side of his head. "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. I vaguely recall feeling a little hungry. But when you called me, I was already here."

"A lot of weird things have happened today. What's one more?" She sliced another piece of the banana bread. "Didn't you say that earlier? Here."

"That's alright." He waved his hand dismissively. "I'm not hungry now."

"Bull crap." She held the piece toward him. "You've clearly got an animal side of you that needs to eat, even if your stomach doesn't think so. See if you can't calm it down for a little while."

He chuckled nervously. "Well, okay. Since you went to the trouble already, thanks."

Crystal took the slice and started nibbling it. Meanwhile, Nightingale closed the bread box and put the knife into the dishwasher. Crystal blinked in surprise and swallowed his first bite.

"Did you do something to this bread? It tastes better than any kind of bread I've ever eaten."

Natalia looked at him weird. "No, my mom made it. Have you never had banana bread before?"

"All this flavor is just bananas?" He smiled in amusement. "What's her secret ingredient?"

"Uh... yeast? Baking soda?" She shrugged. "I don't know. I've had it so many times that I've gotten used to it."

"You lucky girl." He continued to eat the slice. He mumbled something else, but it was difficult to decipher through the chewing.

She walked back to the table and continued to eat her snack. "What?"

He swallowed. "I said, 'You get to eat good food like this all the time.' "

"I guess you're right." She shrugged. Both of her wings moved to imitate her shoulders.

"Whoa, since when did you have two wings?" Crystal looked in fascination.

"About the same time you grew a horn." Nightingale pointed her finger at the top of her head.

He blinked twice before reaching up with his hand. "Huh... that feels... huh."

"Yeah, that sounds about right." She idly pushed her wings away from her face.

"Like, it doesn't feel hard, but it also doesn't feel completely flexible." His fingers felt the uneven ridges along the horn.

She grimaced. "Uh..."

His eyes went wide and he waved his hands in front of himself. "Oh, crud! I wasn't trying to make a double entendre!"

"Okay, good. You're not oblivious." She sighed in relief. Soon, however, she was looking off into space.

"Night? What's wrong?" He walked over and took the seat next to her.

"Trying to think of what to tell my parents." Her gaze moved to the ceiling. "I mean sure, they'll find out just by looking at us. But, I'd kind of like to text them and let them brace themselves, even if it's not a lot that can be prepared for."

"Oh." He nodded. "Just say what it looks like. If they reply with a laugh, you can show them that you're not joking when they arrive."

"But I don't know what it looks like." She shook her head. " 'Hey, Mom and Dad. I've turned into an angel and I made a friend with Beelzebub's face. Can he stay for the night?' Oh, good grief."

"Heh, I'll take that as a compliment." He smiled, showing off his fangs. "That's a way better description than 'hobo'."

She sighed, slapped the table, and then pulled out her phone. "You know what? I'll just keep it vague. Showing is better than telling anyway."

---
Nearly 7:30 PM...

The front door rattled. The lock above the handle turned. Two individuals walked in, commenting and laughing about how their arrivals were almost simultaneous. After closing the door, the man cleared his throat and looked around.

"Natalia?" He called out. "We got your text. Is everything alright?"

"I think so, Dad. But I wouldn't mind a second opinion."

Natalia walked out of her room and up the hall. Despite her wings being folded, some feathers could still be seen above her shoulders. Her mother gasped as she approached. Natalia idly twiddled her thumbs as she walked. As soon as she was about six feet away, she stopped and parted her arms to either side.

"Yeah, so... um... this is my current predicament." Her wings wiggled in response.

Her dad smiled a little. "Where'd you find the material for these?"

He walked up to her and lightly gripped the wing on her left. She flinched and the wing shifted upward to try and push the hand away. He let go and blinked in surprise.

"I think they're from my own flesh and bones." She half-frowned.

"Oh..." He scratched his head. "That's, uh... huh."

"Mm-hmm." She nodded.

Her mother looked back and forth at the two. "How are you both acting so calm right now?! People don't just randomly sprout wings for no reason!"

"Marga, this is our daughter." He glanced back. "The last thing we should be doing is breaking down in front of her."

"I'm serious, Zake!" The mother shook out her hands for emphasis.

Zake held up an open palm. "So am I."

Marga looked with pain in her eyes at her daughter. "Natalia, please be honest. What kind of substances have you recently taken?"

"I haven't drugged myself, Mom." Natalia shook her head. "Besides, from what I recall from science classes, steroids only shrink existing muscles, not grow new anatomy. At least, not to this degree."

"Well, what other explanation is there?!" Marga wiped her hands down along her face.

Zake shrugged. "Maybe she was touched by an angel."

Marga scoffed and crossed her arms. "If we're going that route, it could just as likely have been a demon!"

Natalia took a sharp intake of air. "So, uh... you remember the part of my text where I said I invited a friend inside?"

"Is it the demon that did this to you?!" Marga was in her face.

"N-No!" Natalia backed up a step instinctively. "If anything, he's just as much a victim as I am."

"Is he still here?" Zake held up the back of his hand against Marga's shoulder.

Natalia looked toward the hall. "Kenneth? Could you come on out here, please?"

Both of her parents looked. The first thing they saw was an old pair of sneakers, some torn pants, and a gray hoodie. Somebody's hand was holding the actual hood down while he walked closer. When he got closer, they could see that his face was protruding more than humanly possible. He sighed and pulled his hood back.

Marga screamed and pulled out an umbrella. Zake was simply dumbfounded.

"That's probably a better reaction than I could have hoped for." Kenneth slipped over to the couch and sat down. "So, I'm Kenneth. But Night already said that."

"Out! Out of this house!" Marga pointed the top of the umbrella at the beast-faced man.

Zake gently pressed down with his hand on the umbrella. "Honey, please. You're embarrassing us both." He turned to look at the visitor. "I'm sorry. She's not usually like this."

"No sweat, Mister." Kenneth waved dismissively. "This is a step up from random guys trying to stab me in the back."

Natalia gasped. "Somebody stabbed you?"

Kenneth chuckled. "Like I said, they tried."

Marga exhaled loudly, let go of the umbrella, and stormed off to her room. After the slam of a door, it sounded like she was screaming into a pillow. Zake chuckled nervously as he put the umbrella away. Natalia sat down on the other side of the couch. She looked down and her wings reached around to cover her face.

"Hey." Kenneth patted the back of the couch. "It could've been a lot worse."

Natalia sighed. "I don't know what I was expecting."

Zake lowered himself to his knees in front of his daughter. "Hey, look at me."

A few feathers moved to make an opening for her eyes.

"It's going to be okay." Zake smiled. "It'll just take a while."

"Mom sounds really mad," Natalia muttered.

"Sure, but that's just how she copes with stress." Her father gently stroked the nearest feathers. "You know that, right?"

Natalia's wings lowered a little. "If you weren't here, she was going to shove us out of the house."

"She won't do that." Zake shook his head. "I'll talk with her after she's calmed down a little."

Slowly, Natalia nodded. "Okay."

The two of them hugged each other. A sudden hiss brought both of their attention toward the side of the couch. Kenneth's forked tongue was sticking out and shaking between his fangs. There was a bit of a growl and unintelligible noise coming from him. He quickly slapped his hand over his mouth.

"Sorry." He cleared his throat. "I don't know where that came from."

Zake smiled wryly. "Let me guess: Getting used to your new face?"

"Maybe?" Kenneth shrugged. "While you guys were talking, I thought I smelled something good. Next thing I knew, my mouth and throat were running on autopilot."

"Hmm." Zake stood up and walked over to a phone. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm getting kind of hungry. Who's up for pizza?"

"Yes, please." Natalia smiled.

"I'm not really..." Kenneth looked over at Natalia briefly. "You know what? That'd be good."

"Super!" Zake picked up the phone and started dialing.

---
9:15 PM...

Marga was lying down on her bed. Her husband was in the bathroom. It sounded like he was brushing his teeth. Meanwhile, she just couldn't understand what was happening to her family. Why did her daughter have unnatural limbs? There was no way that beast-man was completely innocent in this situation.

Her cell phone buzzed on the nightstand. Normally, she wouldn't have bothered checking messages until she was more awake to do so. This time, however, she couldn't sleep. She pulled the phone over and punched in the password to unlock it. After that, the message app opened up automatically.

Is one or more of your loved ones changing into something that they're not supposed to be? Growing horns, wings, tails, or something straight out of the devil's scrapbook? Worry not! We have just the thing to fix them right up! Tap the link to learn more!

Marga squeezed he eyes shut before rereading the text. She sighed. "If we're going that route..."

Her finger touched the hyperlink.
---