She lied very still, breathing softly in the shadows of early morning. Dreaming in her lonely bedroom far away form the house full of worried faces. In the midst of her dream a curious feeling swallowed her heart like a shadow she couldn’t run from. She was drowning in her sheets, without thrashing, without screaming, she let the waves pull her down. Deep inside the moldy school that echoed the distant sounds of moisture throughout its halls that wove through Iris’s dream; she spoke casually of her secret crush to a strange girl named Mab; something she would never talk about in real life.
“He’s so cool…”
“You must really like him then.”
“I guess so.”
“I like you, you’re so honest.”
Mab turned gracefully in her red dress and grabbed Iris by the wrist. Pulling lightly she lead Iris to the deepest corners of her soul, a place that’s not so easily accessed. She looked back at the captive girl with intense yellow-orange eyes; the kind that only dream people can have. Mab looked to be about eight or nine, but the expression on her face was of the kind of sorrow that only adults could know. It was all too familiar to Iris, like a dream she had as a child that she just couldn’t picture anymore.
There was a door in the back of Iris’s mind labeled ‘The Circus Club’. Inside silent cannons oozed smoke of purple and blue, even though it seemed that that no one else was there. She was lead almost unwillingly to what appeared to be a large birdcage, half covered in a red sheet. Iris blinked slowly watching the blue smoke vanish into the darkness. It was a strange room with no floors or ceiling, only darkness. She felt a little uneasy in the emptiness, she was afraid of becoming a part of it. Looking up she noticed gold eyes looking down on her. She felt warm and relaxed lying in Mab’s arms, peering up into the yellow cat-like glow of her eyes. She felt as if she were going to melt away into nothing. Mab whispered softly to the dreamer pulling her back. “Don’t you remember me?”
“No.” She looked hurt for a second. But then she only smiled and kissed Iris’s cheek warmly.
“That’s okay. But do you still like me?”
“Yes.”
“But what about that boy, don’t you like him?”
“Yeah…” She felt a cool tear run halfway down her cheek before Mab wiped it away with more kindness that Iris had ever been offered before.
“Don’t cry, I like that you’re so honest.” She gave Iris another sweet little kiss on the cheek; but for some strange reason Iris wished that Mab had kissed her on the lips. What a weird thing to want. Mab’s a girl…we’re just friends. All conflicting thoughts were gently pushed aside with a single kiss. After that nothing else mattered. It was Iris’s first kiss, in this world and the real world, Mab knew that in the way back of the girl’s heart some memory still glittered lightly even in the deepest of long forgotten summer nights.
Softly, sweetly, she kissed the side of the girl’s neck before sinking her teeth into Iris’s lovely skin. There was almost no resistance from the girl whatsoever, but a part of her was still missing. Just outside in a further layer of darkness Hermese watched as his wings slowly dissolved into nothingness. Iris was stunned, she looked like a fish; her mouth was open a bit and her eyes were staring straight out. Her fingers twitched as Mab sucked her life away, just as she had once done to him. He could no longer bear it, he left silently as usual; but he felt responsible for Iris, Genevieve wouldn’t want her to be alone; besides this made him a big brother.

Iris sat bolt upright screaming and gripping the sore spot on her neck. She was thankful to be awake, but then again she wasn’t. She felt a sharp burning pain in her back that spread throughout her whole body. I’m burning… she thought hopelessly to herself. The pain in grew more and more severe until she felt something cool run down her back. She touched her fingers to the cool liquid. “…Blood…” Her heart began to pound uncontrollably in her ears, her eyes rolled back into her skull as she fell into blood stained sheets breathing heavily.

He materialized in front of her house. The windows were dark and uninviting; there were no cars in the driveway so she was probably all alone. He felt a sharp twinge deep in his stomach, how could they leave her all alone? The door was locked but he was far beyond that, transformed, he slipped through the keyhole resembling mist. Like severed puppet strings, he no longer bore the wings that tied him to Mab’s will. Even so, he could never return to being a human. Slowly, he walked through the house looking for the hatchling named Iris.
Hermese found her wrapped in bloodied sheets and black angel down. Her wings weren’t quite fully developed and they were sticky from all the blood. Would she know how to clean them? No… He thought not. Besides, she needs someone to take care of her right now. She murmured something pleasant in her sleep.

Later she awoke to find herself in the bath tub staring at her legs beneath a cool layer of crimson water. The sound of humming echoed off the peach colored tiles. What is it; Ode to Joy? Her body still throbbed with the sudden sickness as someone gently dabbed at something beyond her back, but definitely still a part of her. Her eyelids felt like lead as they involuntarily fell over her eyes once more, she was too hot and too sore to think about what was going on. The pleasant humming stopped. “Are you awake?” It was a man’s voice, which surprised Iris slightly. Is it Dad? No, he never took care of me like this. She didn’t feel like using the energy to open her mouth, so no answer was given. But whoever it was felt it necessary to say something anyways, “Don’t worry, you’ll be okay.”
Sometime in the afternoon Iris lay in bed and breathed in the spring sunshine. She stretched and sighed still feeling a little sore. She remembered a sudden fever and being in agony. But there was no blood so she figured it was all part of a dream, just like that guy humming in the bathroom. There was a soft scratching sound coming from the corner of her room. She sat up slowly, staring at the source of the sound. There was a strange man that Iris had never seen before drawing in her sketch book. “Oh geeze, you moved…I guess that’s it then.” Iris couldn’t tell if he was dangerous or not, so she decided not to make any sudden movements. “Good afternoon, your name’s Iris right?”
“Um…yeah?” Her back was suddenly very sore, she wondered if he did something weird to her while she was sleeping.
“Well, Iris you are quite the artist. My name’s Hermese, pleased to meet you.” For a psycho creep who sneaks into peoples houses he’s very polite; and kinda cute, that helps a little.
“So what are you doing here?”
“Well I couldn’t leave my new sister all alone right?”
“Sister?” Christ, this guy is insane; I gotta call the police…
“Yes, we were both made by Mab.” Suddenly they were both insane.
“Mab? But she…” Iris grabbed the side of her neck. “How do you know about her?”
“I’ve worked for her for a while.” Hermese walked over and grabbed her hand calmly and pulled. “Here stand up.”
“But I want to know more about Mab.”
“I’ll tell you another time; just stand up.” Iris frowned; ‘another time’ means ‘I’m not telling’ in adult. She slid out from under the covers feet first as usual, but as soon as she stood up it felt like something was pulling her backwards. Hermese balanced her again.
“Hey…!”
“Its okay, just lean foreword a little more, you’ll get used to them, and then it’ll be like there not even there.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Here walk a little.” He led her over to her mirror. After that, all she could do was stare at herself in disbelief. What she saw confirmed that all the pain and blood was real; she now had two black angel wings perched on her back. She touched them gingerly; she could feel them they were really a part of her. “I’m sorry, I had to cut up one of your shirts, you know for the wings…” Iris didn’t hear a word he said. Normally she would blush and act embarrassed if someone dressed her like a baby. Tears started streaming down her face.
“What…What am I supposed to do? How do I know that this isn’t some nightmare?” Hermese put his hand on her shoulder and spoke kindly.
“You’re not dreaming anymore, although you did sleep a long time.” He smiled warmly and got Iris’s sketchbook. “You don’t have to worry about anything so don’t cry.” He flipped to the back of the book to a drawing that Iris didn’t recognize and handed it to her carefully with meaning. “We’ll talk later.”
She dried her eyes and stared at the strange drawing. It was a beautiful picture of a sleeping angel done in charcoal. Looking at it a little closer she realized that it was her. She looked up only to find that Hermese had vanished. Bewildered, she went and sat on her fresh clean bed with the beautiful drawing, finally she noticed a carefully printed phone number and message. ‘Contact this number immediately, your friend Hermese. PS you really did sleep a long time.’

The phone rang and the doorbell rang simultaneously. Shira frantically ran to answer the phone. “Hikari! Get the door!”
“Hello? Hoshi residence,” she watched as her daughter took an armful of roses from a stranger just outside. She closed the door and looked to her mother for what to do with the bouquet. “Just hang on a second….”
“Hello? Who is this?”
“Ah… this is Iris, I was told to call this number.”
“By who?” Shira didn’t know anyone named Iris.
“By Hermese, uh, I only met him today; ‘cause he helped me with you know, my wings comin’ in and everything….” She stopped talking realizing how absolutely insane she must’ve sounded. But to her surprise she got an enthusiastic answer from the woman on the other end of the phone. “Wings! Ha! I knew something amazing was going to happen today; it came to me in a dream last night. So what are we going to do? Do you want to get rid of them or something?”
“That might be nice…I don’t want my mom to see, she’ll freak out.”
“Okay I got an idea; these things can take a while so pack some bags like your going on vacation; tell me where you live and I’ll pick you up, no one will have to see.” Shira scribbled the address on a sticky note said hung up. She smiled down on her daughter. “We got something good; what do you got there?” Hikari handed the roses to her mother with little interest.
“There for Genevieve; there’s a note in brail, but I can’t read it.” She turned around and started back up to her room, but Shira stopped her.
“Hey, come with me, were going to get someone real special to come live with us for a while.”
“Won’t her parents come looking for her?”
“Yeah but no one’ll find her here, this house is special.”
“What if the police get involved?”
“We can handle it. But right now we gotta help Iris! Even if her parents get a little worried…” When it came to helping people with their problems Hikari’s mom would stop at nothing. Even if it meant kidnapping.