Rose Garden: Chapter 04

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Even after Warren changed into his demon form, the child no longer seemed afraid. On the contrary, he tugged curiously at the black wings on Warren’s back and peered up into his catlike eyes.

…It had been about fifty years ago. He’d once been seen in this transformed state and driven out of the town he lived in. People he’d once gotten along with hurled stones at him while calling him “demon.” It had hurt, but he couldn’t blame them. If he had been a regular human, he probably would’ve done the same.

But this child… Even after seeing his terrifying form, he simply said, “I’m not scared anymore,” and treated it with amusement. Now, Warren finally understood why he’d shown his true self to this child in the first place. Somewhere deep down, he’d hoped, believed this child might not be afraid of him, wouldn’t judge him, and might even accept him.

Why had he wanted that so badly? Probably because he longed for someone who would understand his true nature.

Holding the small, lively body close, Warren flew toward the northern forest. From the sky, they passed over the forest of Oliva and its small walled houses, gliding above the golden fields until they landed on the northern path. As soon as they touched down, Warren changed back into human form. Snair looked disappointed and muttered, “Aww, you changed back already.”

After passing through the northern gate, they walked hand-in-hand. As Warren held the child’s tiny fingers, he found himself wondering if he had lived a human life instead of awakening as a demon, maybe he would have had a child around this age. The thought left a strange ache in his heart.

“It’s really cold,” Snair said as he hunched his shoulders while walking.

“It’s just about time to harvest the Isli seeds. Soon, the snow will start falling.”

At the mention of snow, Snair’s eyes lit up.

“Then I can go sledding soon!”

“Sounds like it,” Warren said.

Suddenly, Snair tore away from his hand and took off running. Warren tried to call him back and even reached for his coat to drape it over his shoulders, but it was too late.

“Hurry up, Warren!”

He ran ahead, then turned around to wave. But right in the middle of the road, Snair tripped and fell hard. Warren rushed to him. There were no scrapes, but the child had banged his knee and now wore a pout on his face.

“Does it hurt?” Warren asked.

Snair nodded silently.

“That’s what happens when you don’t watch where you’re running.”

Snair pursed his lips in a sulky pout. He stood up stiffly and grabbed Warren’s hand tight, so tight it almost hurt, as if trying to make him understand how much pain he was in.

This time, they walked slowly together. As they made their way down the road, Snair suddenly asked, his voice soft and thoughtful:

“You like Kyle, don’t you, Warren?”

“I do.”

“And Kyle likes you too, right?”

Warren couldn’t answer. Because he couldn’t say yes. Snair’s grip on his hand tightened.

“But you slept in the same bed last night. You wouldn’t do that if you hated each other, right?”

“Even people who don’t get along can share a bed. Kyle hates me.”

Snair frowned.

“If he hates you, why does he live with you? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Kyle can’t survive without me. That’s the only reason he stays by my side.”

“What do you mean, he can’t survive?”

The child’s curiosity was endless. But it wasn’t something that needed to be hidden so Warren told the truth.

“Angels are supposed to be much stronger than monsters. But Kyle lost all his power when he lost his wings. So even though he’s still an angel, he can’t do anything anymore. Worse, he’s constantly hunted by monsters who want to eat ‘angel flesh.’ I’m a demon, so most monsters won’t come near me. As long as he stays with me, Kyle’s safe. That’s the only reason he’s here.”

Snair’s small lips pressed into a tight, flat line.

“That’s so sad…”

He muttered it as he kicked a rock down the path.

“Yeah. It is. I’m sad too.”

“Do you think Kyle’s sad?”

“I don’t know. I really don’t know.”

There was no way to understand what that beautiful angel was thinking. They barely spoke, just passed each other in the same space like shadows.

They walked along the riverbank. Snair kept glancing back at an old man fishing nearby.

“He’s fishing there… but he never really catches anything…”

Murmuring under his breath, Snair suddenly tugged hard on Warren’s hand.

“Hey, demons can do a lot of magic, right?”

“Magic? Yeah, I can use some. I need a bit of practice, though.”

“So if there’s something you want, can you just use magic to make it appear?”

“Sure, I can.”

“That’s so cool… I wanna be able to use magic too.”

His eyes sparkled with wonder. Warren gently pressed his palm against them, as if to shield himself from that innocent gaze.

“If you chant the right words, you can get whatever you want. But demon magic doesn’t create anything it just takes it. Let’s say I wish for some bread. If I concentrate, bread will appear. But it’s not new it means I stole someone else’s bread, from somewhere in this world. Demon magic doesn’t make, it steals. That’s why I don’t use it lightly.”

Snair looked puzzled and said softly, “Oh… I see.”

“I like working. I’d rather live on what I earn. These days, I’ve been spending a little more money than usual on flowers.”

“Why do you buy flowers every day?”

He tilted his head as he asked.

“I have to buy roses for Kyle to eat. In the summer, the garden flowers are enough, but in winter they get expensive. And if it’s not roses, Kyle hardly eats.”

Snair tilted his head again.

“But Kyle’s the one eating them. Why doesn’t he work?”

Warren had never even considered the idea of Kyle working. The question was innocent and logical. He came to a sudden stop.

“Angels don’t need to work.”

“Why not?”

“They just don’t.”

Snair didn’t seem convinced, but he didn’t press further.

“But… if you’re at work, then Kyle’s home alone during the day, right? Isn’t that lonely?”

“He can’t be away from me at night. So it’s better for him to be alone during the day.”

“Why?”

“You sure like asking ‘why,’ don’t you?”

Snair scrunched his brow. “Well… there’s so much I don’t know. I’ve never had an angel friend or a demon friend before.”

Friend. The word sounded sweet, soft, almost nostalgic. Once, long ago, someone had called Warren their friend. Nearly a century had passed since then. Come to think of it, that friend had also had reddish-brown hair like Snair’s.

Warren looked down at the child beside him, too young, really, to be called a “friend.” One day, he might be betrayed again. That bitter memory flickered in his chest.

“Do you want to hear my story, Snair?”

His voice trembled, surely because he was afraid. The child looked up at him.

“Do you want to know why I ended up living on the outskirts of the village, with an angel?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s not a happy story.”

For a moment, the child’s lips hesitated and closed.

“I still want to hear it.”

Warren closed his eyes, slowly reaching for the memories worn thin with time.

“…It started with rain…”

And so, Warren began to speak, haltingly, about his grim past stretching back over a hundred years.

◇:-:◆:-:◇

The emotions of childhood are divided with startling clarity into either pleasure or displeasure. Perhaps that’s why the images carved deep behind his eyes, though vivid, were terrifyingly objective, devoid of warmth.

His first memory was darkness. The basement of his grandparents’ house had been pitch-black and bone-chillingly cold. On top of that, he was hungry so overwhelmingly uncomfortable that Warren screamed until he thought he might lose his mind. Crying had been the only outlet for all the discomfort welling up inside him.

No matter how long he cried, no one came to take him somewhere warm or feed him. How long had he been wailing like that? Just when his voice began to rasp and his memory blurred into a haze, a sliver of light came streaming from far, far above.

From that square patch of brightness, he caught glimpses of gray cloth fluttering in and out of view. It came and went, again and again, until eventually a large shadow descended slowly into the dark and frigid basement.

A gray figure, wrinkled hands reaching down to lift him up. The steady rhythm of a heartbeat, the smell of dried grass on that gray chest it was the first warmth he had felt since being cast out into the world. His small body rocked slightly, and before he realized it, the darkness around him had filled with blinding light.

Sunlight, for the first time in his life. He opened his eyes wide. The dazzling, warm light sent a shiver down his spine but just once. Then he was left again, in a hard little basket.

From there, he could see his grandmother Maria in her gray clothes, resting her elbows on the table and folding her hands. She mumbled softly, bowing her head as she made the sign of the cross.

His frozen body had warmed just a little, but his stomach still ached with hunger. To fill that next need, Warren began crying again.

When Maria disappeared from view and he was lifted up once more, a sweet scent brushed his lips. His instincts knew instantly it was something that would satisfy his hunger. He latched onto the cloth soaked in that sweet aroma. But he couldn’t suck properly, and the milk kept dribbling out of his mouth.

“Oh dear, this one’s not very good at nursing…”

Fingers wiped the milk from his cheeks. A gentle voice. Gradually, through repeated attempts, he got better at drinking, and before long the hunger eased, and drowsiness began to fall over his eyes.

He woke to the sound of people arguing. Maria and his grandfather Ido were shouting across the table. Their raised voices echoed through the room, and the table rattled violently each time Ido’s fists slammed into it.

“Why did you bring that thing up from the basement?!”

With sunken eyes, Ido glared at Maria, waving his coal-stained hands wildly.

“He was crying so much… I felt sorry for him…”

Maria clenched the edge of her white apron tightly. Ido’s shoulders shook as he gave a sharp, bitter laugh.

“Sorry for that? You saw what it looks like. Black hair, black eyes, pointed ears, and a lizard’s tail. That’s a demon’s child. Our daughter Nina was cursed by a demon.”

“I know that!”

Maria shouted, covering her ears with both hands.

“A year ago, after Nina came back from the Oliva forest, she wasn’t herself anymore. She shut herself inside the house, and then, two months ago, gave birth to him. She went mad right after that and died in the lake. I know she was impregnated by a demon. I understand that of course I do. But still…”

“If you understand, then why…?”

“You’re gone during the day, so you don’t know what it’s like!”

Maria’s voice cracked as she cried out, eyes filled with tears.

“After Nina died in the lake, we locked the child away in the basement. We thought… if we didn’t lay a hand on him, he would eventually die on his own. But even after two months, we could still hear the baby crying from the basement. I felt like I was going mad. So I thought, maybe it would be better to just… end it myself, quickly. That’s why I went into the basement. But even though he looked like a demon, I couldn’t help feeling sorry for him… because he was Nina’s child.”

Maria clung to Ido.

“I gave him some goat’s milk, and he started to sleep. Just look at him like that, doesn’t he seem like a normal human baby? He looks a little like Nina when she was small…”

Her desperate voice was drowned out by Ido’s angry, heavy footsteps. His blackened fingers reached into the basket and plucked Warren out carelessly, like one might handle a kitten.

“I’ll take care of it.”

“Ido !”

Then came the cold rain. It seeped into everything, freezing him to the bone, stealing his warmth. Cradled against Ido’s chest, which smelled of coal, Warren trembled. Ido ran through the rain, stopping many times along the way.

On a bridge over muddy waters… at the edge of the quarry’s cliff… he wandered back and forth through the same places, until he finally reached the lake. By then, Ido himself was soaked to the skin, his lips purple and chattering.

With an animal-like roar, he hoisted the child high above his head. The cold rain struck Warren’s entire body directly but it didn’t last long. He was pulled back against that frigid chest. At the lake’s edge, Ido crouched there, clutching the small body in his arms. No one knows how long they remained like that. When he finally rose to his feet, staggering, he turned back the way he came.

At home, he shoved the drenched infant at Maria, whose red-rimmed eyes revealed how long she had been crying.

“He’s crying. Do something.”

With trembling hands, Maria took the frozen child and carried him to the hearth. She boiled water and gently washed his tiny body. Ido changed into dry clothes and sat in a chair, watching blankly as his wife devoted herself to the baby’s care.

“Maria.”

She turned slowly to face him.

“Do you think we’ll go to hell?”

Ido’s voice shook.

“Surely God won’t forgive us for what we’ve done.”

He shut his eyes tightly and folded his hands, tracing the sign of the cross. At the sight of her husband like that, Maria shook her head quietly.

“God helps those who believe in Him.”

Her wrinkled hand stroked the baby’s belly, who now lay in the warm bath, his eyes gently closed in peace.

“Even if we’re bound for hell… if I’m with you, then…”

Warren remembered nothing after that. The comfort of warm water, his first, lulled him into a deep sleep, one as dark and endless as the void.

◇:-:◆:-:◇

It was Ido who named him Warren. The name came from his deeply devout great-grandfather. Even though the child was born of a demon, Ido chose it in the sincere hope that it might offer some small measure of divine protection.

Warren was raised entirely indoors. But after a year had passed and the boy began to pull himself upright, Ido started building a wall of bricks around the house. At first it was only knee-high, but it gradually rose past chest height and eventually towered up to the edge of the roof.

When people asked why he was building such a high wall, Ido would smile and say, “The wind’s strong around here.” Brick by brick, he enclosed the home, setting a heavy iron door into the only gate. The small house, once modest, soon looked like a fortress.

Warren was allowed outside only into the enclosed garden. That high-walled space became his entire world. Ido and Maria firmly told him, never go beyond the gate. But whenever they were away, Warren would secretly climb up onto the roof.

Gripping the blue weathercock at the peak, he would gaze out across the desolate grasslands. The endless green carpet shifted with the seasons buried in white snow during winter, covered in stifling deep green during summer. As he grew, so did his yearning for the outside world. But no matter how much he begged, Ido never allowed him beyond the wall.

When Warren turned seven, Ido sat him down at the living room table, his face unusually solemn. Snow was falling outside, but the hearth burned warmly, and the room was filled with a gentle heat.

“Warren, do you want to go outside the wall?”

The world beyond the walls, the world he had dreamed of even in sleep. Warren gave a small nod.

“Do you want to go to school?”

Maria, who had been listening from nearby, grabbed Ido’s arm. “There’s no need for that conversation,” she said quickly.

“Even if he never leaves the house, even if he never goes to school, Warren will be just fine. We don’t need to force him into anything…”

“I’m asking Warren,” Ido said firmly.

Maria looked at him with worried eyes, but Warren answered: “I want to go.”

Ido let out a small sigh.

“If you want to go outside, there’s something you must do. You’ll have to cut off the tips of your pointed ears and that long tail.”

Underneath the chair, Warren’s tail which had been curled into a small coil gave a sharp twitch.

“Stop it. Please, just stop.” Maria’s voice trembled. “Even if his ears are pointed or he has a tail, that doesn’t change the fact that Warren is our grandchild.”

But Ido cut her off with an intensity he rarely showed.

“I love him too, just as much as you do. But we’re going to die before Warren does. What do you think will happen then, when he’s left alone? Do you think he can survive without a single friend, without anyone to turn to? What if the villagers turn on him and drive him out into the fields? I can’t bear that.”

Ido bit down hard on his lip. Then he stood from the chair and pulled the small child into a fierce embrace.

“He’s our grandson. Just a child nothing more. God, in one of His whims, happened to give him a few extra things he didn’t need. But he’s a human child.”

That night, Ido used a knife to cut off Warren’s pointed ears and his tail.

The pain was excruciating so much so that he thought he might lose consciousness. If Maria hadn’t held him tightly the entire time, he might have gone mad. Afterward, a fever came, and he was bedridden for three days.

Then winter passed, and spring arrived. That spring, Warren began attending the village elementary school.

◇:-:◆:-:◇

Once he was able to leave the house and step beyond the brick walls, the world expanded dramatically. It felt as if a vast ocean one he had never seen before was beginning to stretch endlessly in front of him.

Before Warren started school, Maria repeated the same story to him over and over. He was to say that he was the child of distant relatives, and that after his parents died, he was taken in by the family. That’s what he should tell anyone who asked.

His once-pointed ears and tail, she said, had been symptoms of an illness one that Ido had cured. But if people learned he’d once been sick, they might shun him, so that, too, must be kept secret.

With these strict instructions impressed upon him, Warren began attending school. At first, he was too overwhelmed to speak, surprised to see so many children his own size. But before long, he made friends Joshua and Karen. The three of them threw their studies aside and spent their days tumbling across the open grasslands until sunset.

Some time after he started school, Maria and Ido took Warren to church. He had already heard stories from the Bible at home from Maria, but witnessing a crowd of people listening to the priest with rapt attention, all praying with complete devotion, carried a powerful conviction he couldn’t ignore.

Warren prayed earnestly to God, asking that Ido’s chest would get better. It was said that working long hours in the coal mines would ruin your lungs and Ido had developed a persistent, shallow cough that wouldn’t go away.

As Warren continued attending church and listening to sermons, he began to notice a growing discomfort, something off between himself, Maria, and Ido. God did not allow lies. And yet Maria and Ido made him lie. He wasn’t allowed to say he was Nina’s son, their daughter’s son.

The ears that had been sliced off now looked misshapen and warped. They had once been large and sharply pointed. His tail, too, had been long. But no one else had such features. Maria had said it was a “sickness,” but the truth was his body resembled the “demons” described in the Bible far more than anything else. Why was that?

He didn’t need to ask. Deep down, he already knew. Warren still remembered it clearly: how Ido had once tried to kill him. He was the child of a demon. The child of the demon who had deceived Nina.

And yet, to the Warren of today, demons felt more distant than God. The church, and God Himself, felt far closer. He no longer bore the form of a demon. He had a heart that believed in God. As long as that heart remained true, a little demon blood wouldn’t matter. If he never lost that heart… then surely God would help someone like him, someone who believed.

He hadn’t forgotten that demon blood ran through him, but neither was it something he agonized over day in and day out. His appearance no longer set him apart from humans, and he wasn’t subject to discrimination. And so, life flowed on in peace, utterly, peacefully uneventful.

Until that fated day, when he was fifteen years old.

◇:-:◆:-:◇

The village was in high spirits, bustling with preparations for the upcoming harvest festival set to take place in a week. This year’s wheat yield had been unusually bountiful, and the air was thick with anticipation that the celebration would be livelier than ever.

That day, on the way home from the school in town with Joshua, Warren stopped in front of a large mansion facing the main road.

“Oh, isn’t that Warren?”

A horse-drawn cart came to a halt on the cobblestone street, and a plump woman turned her face toward them. It was Cheka, the wife of the neighboring Randall family. Though "neighboring" was a generous term the Randall estate sat an entire hill away from Warren’s home.

“You’ve gotten so tall since I last saw you. You’re hardly different from a grown man now. What are you doing in a place like this? On your way home from school, perhaps? If you like, I could give you a ride back.”

Warren politely declined her offer and watched the departing cart with a tinge of regret before turning back to his best friend, Joshua.

“Why don’t you just ring the bell?”

Joshua muttered, “Give me a second,” and lowered his gaze. Warren sighed and leaned against the brick wall. Earlier that day, Joshua had confided in him that he planned to ask Laina the most beautiful girl in town and their age to the harvest dance. At first, he had brimmed with confidence: “Laina loves dancing. I’m sure she’ll say yes.” But the closer they got to her house, the more his legs trembled. Warren had suspected this would happen. Joshua had always been one to talk big and then lose his nerve at the last minute and here they were.

“You okay, Joshua?”

He couldn’t help but ask. Joshua’s face had turned pale, and he was biting his lip.

“She’s going to turn me down, I just know it.”

Just a little while ago, he’d been confidently repeating, “She’ll totally say yes,” as if there was no chance of failure.

“You don’t know that,” Warren replied.

Joshua glanced up at him.

“You’ve got it easy. All the girls say you’re good-looking.”

“I think you’re the better-looking one.”

Joshua raised his head.

“You’re the best at growing Isli berries in the whole village. You’re tall and solidly built. Compared to you, I must look scrawny and lanky or something, Ido always laughs and calls me a ‘chick,’ and Karen keeps yelling at me to ‘man up.’”

Joshua shook his reddish-brown hair and smiled wryly, freckles dancing across his face.

“Karen’s got a strong personality. She says a lot, but the truth is she really likes you. You’re planning to invite her to the dance, right?”

“Yeah.”

Karen’s fiery expression came to mind, her sun-kissed golden curls flying as she puffed out her slightly low nose and snapped at him. But Warren also knew those green eyes of hers were easily moved to tears and full of kindness.

“Must be nice, already having someone in mind.”

“Then hurry up and ask Laina.”

He gave Joshua a light slap on the shoulder, and his friend clutched his head in both hands.

“It’s not that simple! Laina’s a real beauty…”

“Warren? What are you doing in a place like this?”

The two boys, leaning against the brick wall, quickly turned around in surprise. Standing there with a heavy basket of groceries was Laina herself. Her golden hair, fine and straight like spun silk, flowed smoothly down her chest. Her face was porcelain pale, her lips glossy like freshly picked strawberries, and her eyes shimmered with a blue as deep as melted sapphires. She was, without question, the most beautiful girl in town.

Warren gave Joshua a firm push from behind, but his friend merely flushed red and kept his gaze fixed on the ground, refusing to look in Laina’s direction at all.

“Joshua has something he’d like to ask you,” Warren said at last, unable to just stand by and watch her slip inside the house. If he didn’t speak up, she’d be gone in a moment.

“Oh? And what might that be?”

Laina tilted her pretty face and peered at Joshua. The timid boy began to mumble, barely audible.

“...Next Sunday, there’s a harvest festival in Torney Village... I was wondering if you’d dance with me...”

Laina narrowed her eyes and let out a soft giggle.

“Hmm...”

Her suggestive tone made Joshua snap his head up in hope.

“I suppose I could go with you... but, oh, I don’t know, maybe I shouldn’t.”

Joshua’s eyes darted wildly, completely at the mercy of her teasing words. Truth be told, Warren didn’t particularly like Laina. She knew how beautiful she was and flaunted it, stringing people along for her amusement.

“If you do something for me, I might just agree to dance with you.”

Laina smiled with sly malice in her eyes, then shrugged.

“Last month, my pet canary escaped. His name’s Chichi. If you can find him for me, I’ll do anything you ask.”

There was no way they’d ever find a runaway bird. From the start, Laina had no intention of accepting Joshua’s invitation. Her condescending attitude made Warren’s blood boil. He grabbed his friend’s arm roughly.

“Let’s go.”

But Joshua didn’t even hear him.

“If I really find your canary Chichi you’ll dance with me? I’ll find him. I will find him. What does he look like?”

“He’s yellow, with a white crescent shape on his chest. His beak is orange. And when I call him, he chirps in the sweetest voice.”

“I got it. I’ll definitely catch him.”

“I’ll be waiting,” she said with a wink.

Even after Laina disappeared through the gate, Joshua stood there, dazed, cheeks still burning red.

“Let’s go home,” Warren said, tugging at his friend’s arm again.

But Joshua jerked away.

“I’m not going home. I’m going to find that canary.”

“That’s impossible. There are tons of yellow canaries out there you don’t even know where to start.”

“But if I find him, Laina will dance with me.”

When Joshua looked up, his gaze fixed on a single point: the tallest building in town the clock tower. Birds perched in clusters along the roof and ledges. Warren felt a jolt of unease.

Joshua started walking toward the tower with determination. Warren grabbed his friend’s shirt.

“You’re not seriously thinking of climbing the clock tower, are you? Don’t do it.”

“Someone built that roof. It’s possible to get up there,” Joshua muttered.

Once he made up his mind, nothing could stop him. No matter how Warren tried to hold him back, he slipped into the tower’s entrance.

Up and up he ran, ascending the dizzying spiral staircase. But the stairs ended at a door fastened tightly with a large padlock. Warren felt a flicker of relief maybe now he’d give up.

But instead, Joshua threw himself at the lock, rattling it violently.

“What are you doing?! If you break that, the tower keeper’s going to come after us!”

“It’s fine, as long as we make sure they won’t find out later!”

With the crazed gleam of a man driven by love, Joshua shoved Warren aside. Warren fell hard, stunned, just in time to see the lock come free and the door swing open wide.

A strong gust of wind blew in, and Joshua stepped back. Beyond the door, there was nothing only open sky. Far below, people in the square looked tiny. A narrow ledge ran along the right side of the tower wall, made of brick and metal footholds.

Just the sight of it made Warren dizzy with vertigo. Judging by Joshua’s pale face, he felt the same. After a long, tense moment, he quietly closed the door again.

“Stop it. Just give up already. If you fall from here, you’ll die. What’s the point of dancing with Laina if you die before you even get the chance?”

Joshua’s face was pale as he grit his teeth in frustration. It looked like he was finally about to give up until they heard it. Warren stomped his foot on purpose, trying to distract him, but Joshua turned and snapped, “Be quiet!”

A sharp chirp-chirp-chirp pierced the air. Joshua’s face lit up with a beaming smile.

“There’s a bird! That has to be a canary!”

He darted to the door and stepped outside before Warren could stop him. With shaky steps, Joshua crept along the brick ledge, eyes fixed on a yellow bird perched at the edge of the roof whether it was the canary or not, he didn’t care.

“Joshua, come back. You’re not going to catch a bird with your bare hands.”

A sudden gust of wind struck. Warren sucked in a breath. Joshua’s body wobbled, but he managed to cling to the wall. The bird on the eaves had already flown away.

“Just come back!”

At last, Joshua seemed to be turning back. He took one cautious step at a time. But the moment his foot landed on the final brick

“Joshua!”

Warren lunged and caught his friend’s arm as he slipped. Pain exploded through Warren’s right hand. Joshua’s body was too heavy to lift with one arm he could only cling desperately, unable to pull him up.

“Aaaah!”

A woman wearing a hat far below shrieked, pointing up at them. One by one, others gathered, drawn by the commotion.

“Help! Somebody help us!”

Joshua flailed, kicking his legs and trying to grab on with his other hand.

Warren’s arm throbbed with stabbing pain.

“Joshua, stop! Don’t move help’s coming. Please, just don’t move...”

Another strong gust slammed into them, making Joshua swing like a pendulum. Warren leaned dangerously out the doorway, nearly halfway outside now. The only thing anchoring them was his left hand gripping the wooden frame but even that hand was beginning to go numb.

“Please, help me!”

Joshua cried out. A powerful gust roared. At the same moment, Warren’s fingers slipped from the window frame.

And then weightlessness.

As they plummeted, tangled together, Warren felt it in the pit of his soul: I don’t want to die.

The harvest festival is next week. He was looking forward to inviting Karen to dance. He’d secretly practiced the steps at home. And what about Maria and Ido? If he died, who would take care of his kind grandparents?

I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die.

That thought exploded inside his head right as searing heat flared across his back. Something ripped with a crackling snap, and their fall began to slow. The air beneath them thickened, the plummet softened. Then lightly, as if stepping down from a stair they landed on solid ground.

Joshua stood dumbfounded, mouth agape. Warren too was stunned. People encircling them stared silently, eyes fixed on the two boys.

God saved me, Warren thought. His faith must have reached the heavens.

Overcome with relief, Warren hugged Joshua tightly. But when he looked at his friend’s face, he saw pure horror.

Warren tilted his head in confusion.

“A demon!”

Someone screamed.

Warren glanced around, startled. Where? he thought. But there was no one nearby who resembled a demon.

And then he realized all their eyes were on him.

Blue eyes. Gray eyes. Green eyes. Every gaze, fixed on him.

“He’s a demon!”

Screams. And then chaos people fleeing in every direction, like spiders scattering.

Even Joshua bolted.

Warren rushed after him, but Joshua spun around, face pale as death, and shouted

“Don’t follow me!”

Warren stopped in his tracks, horrified by the shadow cast on the ground beneath him. It wasn’t just his own. Looming above the human shape was something vast like wings.

Trembling, he slowly tilted his head and gasped. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a dark blur. Sprouting from his back were wings, slick and black with a sinister sheen wings that looked unmistakably demonic.

Maria, who had been tending to the flowers in the garden, turned pale when she saw Warren come bursting through the gate. She hurriedly pulled him inside and locked the front door behind them.

“Oh… oh no. What have you done…”

She held her grandson now taller than she was in a trembling embrace, tears falling freely. Barely half an hour had passed before the front door was pounded with heavy fists.

“It’s me. Open the door!”

Covered in coal dust from the mines, Ido burst into the living room. The moment he saw what had become of his grandson, his shoulders sagged.

Maria collapsed to the floor and buried her face in her hands, weeping loudly. Ido scolded her sharply.

“Crying won’t fix anything.”

Still gripping her apron, Maria muttered in a trembling voice.

“Listen… why don’t we just cut them off again like last time? Those awful wings if we just get rid of them…”

Ido shook his head.

“People saw him like this. The news reached the mines. I rushed back the moment I suspected it was him. They may not know exactly who it is yet, but it’s only a matter of time. Even if we cut them off now, it won’t change anything.”

Maria screamed.

“I don’t want this!”

“It’s over, Maria,” Ido said, his voice soft, almost broken. “We should never have gotten away with hiding this for so long. The fact that we did was a miracle.”

The iron gate outside rattled violently. It should’ve been nearly dark, yet the other side of the high wall glowed faintly. Voices, hushed and tense, buzzed beyond it.

“This is bad…”

Ido muttered under his breath. He grabbed Warren by the shoulders, his grip firm.

“I’ll go out first and draw their attention. Once they’re distracted, you and Maria run. Get out of the village.”

“But I didn’t do anything wrong. I didn’t…”

Ido pulled him into a fierce hug and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

“You are the pride of your grandparents. But right now, you have to run. Leave the village. Go far. As far as you can.”

“But, Ido ”

“Go!”

The sharpness in his voice startled Warren it was a tone he had never heard before. Ido threw on a black cloak, used Maria’s scarf to mask his face, then dragged their old horse from the stable and mounted it.

The clamor outside the wall was growing louder. From horseback, Ido turned to look at Warren.

“Ever since we named you, I had a feeling this day would come. So don’t blame yourself for any of this.”

Maria unlocked the iron door. Ido spurred the horse’s flanks. Cloaked in shadow, he dashed into the gloom. Cries rang out, mingled with the clatter of hooves fading into the distance. Maria peered past the gate, then took Warren by the hand and led him out.

“There’s someone over here!”

They had barely stepped outside when someone spotted them. Maria and Warren broke into a run, but Maria stumbled and collapsed her leg gave out.

“Go on ahead!”

Her voice was clear and resolute not at all like the Maria who was always on the verge of tears.

“But Maria…!”

“Run. If you don’t escape, Ido will scold me later. Just go, now.”

She stretched out her arms, and Warren pressed his face into her chest, letting her embrace him one last time.

“My poor child… Please don’t hate anyone. You mustn’t hold hatred in your heart. Oh, dear God, merciful God, please bless our grandchild… Please protect him…”

A firm push between his shoulder blades and the force of those unwavering eyes drove Warren to run. Far, far away. Ido’s words echoed inside his head.

Exhausted, Warren eventually sank to his knees in the middle of the road. That’s when a horse galloped straight toward him. For a moment he thought it might be Ido but the gun barrel pointed directly at him shattered that hope.

“Die, demon!”

It was the face of his friend, twisted with fear, Joshua.

“You tricked me all this time! All the misfortunes in my family… it was all your fault, wasn’t it?!”

There was no room to explain. Warren was the one betrayed, not the one betraying. And when death brushed past his ear, he burst into tears, screaming as he ran.

Why was this happening to him? He’d prayed every day to God, yet this was the answer he got? Why did wings have to sprout from his back all of a sudden...?

Gunshots rang out again and again. Warren fled into the forest of Oliva, a place feared as the lair of monsters. Monsters frightened him. But not as much as humans did.

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