Broken Wings by Viola Grace

against the creep.
    He looked at her, sneered and jumped off the balcony with his wings spread. She sighed and turned to return to the party. Hands gripped her and pulled her off the balcony and up into the sky.
    Blood dripped on her hands and he glared at her.
    “Bring me back to the party.”
    He looked at her in astonishment and kept climbing. This wasn’t a game of catch and release. He was either going to make her pass out or terrify her. The other option was just stupid.
    “Alien bitch.” He dropped her.
    One point for stupid.
     

Chapter Eight
     
     
    Don’t panic, don’t panic. She calmly moved her fingers on the corset and the bands opened, shifted and reformed.
    Her eyes teared and her gown snapped wildly as she rapidly plunged through the sky. The corset finished its reformation and the metal wings that Fixer had provided her with snapped open, to ease her descent. She stroked upward, the muscles of her back knowing what to do.
    Her attacker was watching as she approached, and he seemed astonished as she bypassed him, moved behind him and dropped onto his back squarely between his wings.
    His wings snapped backward, and one dislocated from the weight of her body and the speed of her attack.
    His scream was gratifying, but she grabbed the base of the good wing and a handful of his hair and surfed down through the winds, back to the party with him under her and her metal wings scooping the air and keeping control.
    A crowd was gathered when she dropped him to the smooth stone and she dismounted from her position on his spine.
    She closed her wings and had them resume their corset shape. She smoothed her hair with her fingers and smiled at the approach of the squawking and flapping Poppy.
    Minerva cuddled her friend and soothed her panic.
    Astien walked up to her cautiously.
    “Minerva, are you all right?”
    “I am fine.”
    He looked around and whispered, “Correct me if I am wrong, but it looks like you have flown before.”
    She looked into his serious blue eyes. “Once or twice.”
    “How do you know the Kirios Manoeuvre?”
    “What?”
    “That move that you just carried out. Only two Enjel have ever been able to manage it. One was Yamora Kirios, but she went to Decla with her husband. The other was her daughter.”
    Minerva blinked. “How would you know that?”
    “The information exchange on Decla was not all one way. They reported to Jela and refused the added support for their social experiment, but they did report on the development of the new generation.”
    “Fascinating. I am guessing that the daughter of Yamora Kirios would have been an Enjel?”
    He scowled. “Yes.”
    She shrugged. “No wings on me.”
    “You know, that is very odd. Those metal wings seemed perfectly suited to you.”
    “They were made by Fixer.”
    His expression was exasperated. “I suppose that would explain it.”
    One of the men in the crowd came forward and nodded his head in respect, “Specialist, we were told you were on Decla when it came under attack?”
    She swallowed and nodded. “I was.”
    “My daughter, Uriana Tems, was there and she is amongst the dead. Do you know what happened?”
    Minerva swayed at the memory of the school principal etched in her mind. She swayed. “I do know that she died protecting the children of the colony when the first attack targeted the school.”
    Astien took her arm and Poppy rubbed at her cheek. “I think you need to sit down.”
    “That might not be a bad idea.”
    Astien supported her as she walked through the gathering. A few curious glances were directed at her and then flitted away.
    “I do not mean to disrupt the proceedings, but he came to me while I was thinking and I simply reacted.”
    “Do not worry. A celebration without a brawl of some variety is simply a cocktail hour. You are not telling me something.”
    She blinked. “You could say that. I will say that I have never thought to set foot on Jela.”
    His hand stiffened, but he continued to