“A bit sore.”
“Too sore to show me your wings?”
Mia started coughing. “How?”
“Audrey talks too when she’s plowed.”
“The thing is, Glenda. Once you see me this way, you’re never going to be able to un-see me with wings. Do you really want to carry that kind of burden?”
“Hell yes. I’ve been keeping Tripod’s image and that Angelo. Heavens, if I were a younger woman… Where was I? Yes, please.”
“Hold on. Let me talk to Ted and Orion first.”
“They are down by the dock. I’ll go with you.”
“I think that if she transforms, the healing will take off. She’s got all this power in that little feather in her back. Do you know that archangel wings are so strong, you can’t cut through them? Let Mia go flying with me tonight. I’ll take care of her.”
“As a hummingbird?” Ted said doubtfully.
“No, I’ll stay human. I’ll just have wings. And I’ll keep my pants on. Audrey and Glenda are making me rather nervous.”
“I bet they are,” Ted said. He saw Mia approach them. He walked up and hugged her. “I missed you.”
Mia enjoyed his embrace. “What are you guys doing? Fishing?”
“No, we were talking away from the drunken mob up there.”
Mia laughed. “I bailed when Burt started telling the painkiller story.”
“Ouch. Should I go and punch him in the nose?” Ted asked.
“No. I did the crime, I’ll do the time.”
Ted laughed. “What’s on your mind?”
Mia wrinkled her nose and tried several times to talk but changed her mind.
“Come on, you can tell me.”
“Should I show Glenda, Burt and Mike my wings?”
“Ah, well that’s up to you.”
“No. It’s up to us. I’m the freak of the geeks here, and once they see wings…”
“Oh. Cid likes them, and Audrey. I fucking love them. Trust the boner-heads to be amazed.”
“K.”
“If they have any trouble, you can fly me and Brian to Hawaii until it all blows over.”
“Deal,” Mia said.
“Well?” Glenda asked Mia as she walked by her. Mia was on her way to the house to change into a t-back bra and shirt.
“I’ll show all of you at once, and then I’m going to go flying with my grandfather.”
“Sounds good. You get changed, and I’ll corral the drunks,” she offered.
~
Mike approached Mia as she walked out of the house. “You don’t have to do this.”
“Yes I do. But thanks for the out.”
Cid held on to Brian on the deck. He remembered very well Mia transforming, the night she fought for Ted. He didn’t need to see it up close, but still, he wasn’t going to miss it. The others stood in a semi-circle in the yard.
Orion had his shirt off and walked up to his granddaughter and asked, “Ready?”
“As ready as I’m ever going to be. I don’t know if I’m doing it right. You can correct me later away from these bozos, okay?”
“Don’t be nervous. Here, let me go first.” He rolled his neck and rubbed his thumb along the inside of his wrist. Tattoos emerged.
Mia followed suit. She turned her back, not wanting to see the expression on Burt’s and Mike’s faces.
Her back was full of black moving feathers. Mike couldn’t help himself. He walked up and ran his hand along her back. “Cool.”
Mia turned around and said, “Step back. I don’t want to hurt you.”
He did. Mia tapped her wrists together, and the wings folded out of her body. They were so large that they raised her off the ground.
“Mia, they’re beautiful,” Orion said, producing his crow wings. He reached out and took her hand, and they started running.
Burt watched in amazement as Mia took off flying. Her massive wings but trembled, and she shot upwards.
“Well, that’s something you don’t see every day,” Glenda said. “Okay, who wants to play poker?”
“I’m in,” Audrey said and left with her.
Burt and Mike walked over to Ted.
“I had no idea, Ted,” Burt said. “Did Angelo do that to her?”
“No. She’s always been a little flighty,” Ted said.
Mike started laughing and patted him on the back. “That is so cool. G Damn, you’ve got your own superhero mutant. I’m jealous.”
“All of this happened because I was an idiot,” Ted began. “After the hotel investigation, I thought that I should leave Mia, because she had so much, and I felt bad for Beth who told me she had nothing but me. So I left for Kansas before Mia came home one night. I didn’t even write her a note. I just took off my ring and left.”
‘”You fucking asshole,” Mike swore. “How could you do that to her?”
“I’m not proud of it,” Ted explained.
“Let him talk,” Burt said through clenched teeth.
“Cid said that when she found out, she changed before him. The tattoos emerged, the feathers moved, and then the most beautiful set of wings sprouted. She never flew before. Angelo had wanted to teach her, but she was too worried about my reaction, my feelings, so she decided to put it on the back burner. But when it became apparent that she couldn’t catch up to me in the truck, she took off running and flew to get to me before I did something stupid.”
“Where did she catch up to you?” Burt asked.
“A few hours out. I was driving down that little country lane we take to get around the construction on the highway when I saw something up ahead in the road. I saw wings, and I thought that Angelo had come to talk to me. I got out and walked forward, but it was Mia. She read me the riot act, told me that I was confused, and that I had some idiotic idea that as a superhero I had to leave all that I loved in order to do good. She was right. That’s exactly what I was thinking.”
“I knew it wasn’t over,” Burt said. “I should have tossed you through a few more windows.”
“How did she change your mind?” Mike asked.
“She used my and her memories and created a holographic view of our life
