Page 17 of Scars Like Wings

Rainbow Moonstone

WHITE LABRADORITE

A milky white stone with flashy rainbows that vibrate with calming and relaxing energy.

The crystal maintains mental clarity throughout the day and shields one from negative vibrations. It raises one’s awareness. The stone encourages you to be open to new beginnings. Simply holding the stone for a short amount of time can create new opportunities in your life that change you forever.

Saplings in the Ash

Fourteen years later…

Smoky, hot clouds inked out of my mouth and nose. Underneath my oversized striped sweater, jeans, and Converse, my skin aggressively itched and burned, stretching into something newer and stronger. My obsidian pendant pounded against my chest, matching my racing heartbeat. My sharp black stiletto nails clawed my palms. My back ached, reaching the point of being pushed too far. The wind from it all made my eyes tear up, making me blink rapidly from behind my glasses. They were threatening to fog from the difference between the heat radiating off me and the chill outside. My feet pounded the grass so hard and fast I thought I would take off, sailing through the skies from just my efforts alone.

Haha, in my dreams. Then my life would betooeasy.

“Don’t leave me. Don’t leave me.Pleasedon’t leave without me, train. I’mbeggingyou!” I whispered. Times like this made me wish for magic to teleport to my destination, like witches, or to fly, like some shifters and air elementals. Missing the last Midnight Railway train straight to my apartment was an absolute curse I would do my damnedest to avoid. If I missed this train, I would have to wait thirty minutes for the next train,make two transfers, and still walk four blocks to get to my apartment.

Anightmare.

I ran through the Everlore University Commons toward the edge of campus. It was almost seven o’clock at night. The grounds were packed with the diurnal students leaving their last classes of the day and the nocturnal students heading to their first classes of the night. Both sets of students—one, full of supernaturals who preferred the day and the other, full of vampires, shadow-manipulators, and other creatures of the night, freshly woken up to start their day—meandered on the large central patch of grass and the circular path around it with no sense of urgency. On a normal day, I would never be on campus this late because of the crowds. But these things can’t be helped when the Evening Library Manager wasan hour and a halflate for her shift.

I smiled to myself. I couldn’t wait to tell the Director. That would almost make this slight and all the other passive-aggressive bullshit she did worth it.

Karma had a nice kiss in store for her.

“Excuse me! Pardon me! So sorry!” I said politely. I tried my best to run around folks, but pushing quickly became a requirement as the crowd thickened. Despite all my apologetic smiles and quality Southern manners, folks still gave me glances of distaste, hisses of annoyance, or outright blocked my path out of obnoxiousness. I lightly shoved against shoulders or chests, avoiding literally stepping on toes. I steered clear of coffee cups that were likely full of blood—Gods forbid, I deal with being grossandlate. I hated being rude, but I also refused to miss this train.

Finally, the entrance came into view. An illuminated sign above read MIDNIGHT STATIONS, EVERLORE UNIVERSITY GATE. Auras lit up the dark stairwells and escalators leadingunderground. Moving billboards followed the stairs down, advertising various magical products and services, like a smart crystal ball and bespelled tattoos, that could be used for various tasks. An elevator was to the right, and an elevator-like shaft stood to the left with its bottom able to slide out to a pool to enter the Waterways. A series of transparent tunnels transporting water-inclined supernaturals, the massive tubes laced around city buildings and the Midnight Railways’s tracks. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see merfolk, water elementals, and other aquatic passengers as I crossed a bridge over one of the tubes to reach the gate.

I took the stairs fast enough to make my backpack purse slam against my back. Unlike this morning, there was not a soul taking the steps with me. It was too quiet. My curses bounced off the walls and back to me.Shit, I was late. I could feel sweat pooling under my bra’s underwire and streaming down my lower spine as I pushed to move even faster.

“Welcome to the Midnight Railways, Spellways, and Byways, the premier way to travel in Blackbell and beyond. Please maintain possession of all items, grimoires, familiars, and ferocious little tykes at all times as you make your way to your final destination. We know you could have chosen a personal teleportation spell for your travels, so we thank you for choosing the Midnight Railways, Spellways, and Byways!” A female voice announced overhead.

The Station had been so busy and wild this morning that I hadn’t even been able to hear the announcer. Now it was insanely empty, and I could easily see its moving parts. To the right of the stairs, there was a wall of magicked elevators from various apartments and street-side elevators to teleport visitors. Across from them were ticket kiosks and counters to buy tickets or add money to passes. The staff behind the counters looked bored and tired, unlike their frenzy this morning with fast-moving hands and lines of customers. I rushed ahead to the barricades that separated the entrance from the rest of the station.

In place of simple turnstiles, colorful floor-to-ceiling translucent walls softly buzzed that would give you a not-so-gentle zap if you didn’t pay or use a pass. I placed my hand over the scanner. After beeping an error messagetwice, my hand finally warmed when the red line went over my palm. At last, the screen below the scanner glowed green:Rune accepted! Proceed through the barrier to board. The color of the walls shifted, and I ran through.

I raced down the stairs to the platforms. A train,mytrain, waited below. I almost breathed a sigh of relief. I had made it!

Then I reached the bottom of the stairs.

“Please hold on. The doors are closing?—”

“No!” I screamed.

Now, anyone could see I was a big girl. I had an apron belly, big titties, a fat ass, and curves for days. I wasn’t a runner. As-is, I was spent and ready to sit my ass down. But hearing the announcement and seeing the doors slowly start to close pushed me over the edge. It made me pull from energy reserves I didn’t know I had. I ran—like,reallyran—toward the doors. I gave it my all. I held my hand out to catch the door.

Right before they closed, I reached the doors.

But I totally forgot about the gap between the platform and the train.

I fell forward into the train, losing my breath entirely. My necklace clanged against the train’s floor, the noise like a coin falling on tile, but that wasn’t the only noise I heard. My favorite jeans, having been worn relentlessly, gave in where all my jeans do: where my thick thighs rub together. I felt the hole in the threads against my thighs and the new breeze there. Worse, in trying to catch myself to avoid my beautifully beat faceconnecting with the dirty floor, I ended up breaking two of my nails and cracking a few more. I groaned as my fingers throbbed from the pain. I immediately knew that the two broken ones were bleeding without even looking.

Fantastic.

I heard scattered clapping from the few folks aboard. I rolled my eyes.

Hell is other people. Truly.