Landed Wings - By Skylhur Tranqille Page 0,9
back is that before I left the LandBound, I saw that boy spread his wings and fly.
CHAPTER 6: PASSWORD
ASHLYNN
The first trick is to get out my house. My mother is serious about security, I think our house alarm is designed to keep me in, rather than keep other people out. I’m seventeen years old and my mother has never given me the alarm code – unbelievable. That’s not a big problem though, she made the mistake of giving the code to my father. He’s easy. He can’t remember anything so he writes down everything in a folder he labeled - get this, “Passwords”. In the folder, everything is in alphabetical order so, you guessed it, “Alarm Password” is right at the top, nice and convenient for me. Disabling the alarm was the easy part but then I have a decision to make. Do I set the alarm when I leave so if they wake up in the middle of the night they won’t notice it’s off or do I just take my chances? The door does the little beep-beep sound when it opens but I already disabled that sensor so it’s fine. I’ve decided, I’m just going to take my chances. I’ll be back before they wake up and if they notice the alarm’s off, I’ll just blame it on my dad. He can’t remember anything anyway. Pleased with my plan, I made my way to the house alarm around two in the morning. I punch in the code, “PEACE”, smile and wait for the alarm to disable. What I see instead is a message across the screen saying, “Incorrect Passcode. Please try again.” My smile is replaced with a serious frown and fast beating heart. My mother must have changed the password. Not good. Hoping she gave the new password to my dad, I sneak into their office to check his password file. Nothing. PEACE is the last password on his list. Okay, think, think, think. Where am I going to find the new password? Maybe the list of old passwords will help, let’s see. Before PEACE, it was WAR, before that it was DAY and before that NIGHT. None of that is helpful, if she’s going for opposites, if I know today’s password, I would probably be able to guess the next password, but right now, I don’t have a clue. I won’t just give up, there’s got to be a way to figure this out…Looking down my dad’s file of passwords, I see what I need – the password to her computer. I bet she keeps a file of passwords so she doesn’t forget. Turning to the computer, I log on and BINGO, there’s her Passwords folder. Being the precise person that she is, my mother noted the password change as well as the date and time she made the change. Good for her, great for me. I punched in CHAOS (what kind of password is that?) and watched those beautiful words, “Alarm Deactivated” roll across the panel. Satisfied, I walk out closing the door softly behind me.
I left at three in the morning, flew around a bit, singing softly to myself. No one comes out this time of night. They all obey curfew. Sky Patrol doesn’t bother checking anymore because no one breaks the rules. So I have the sky to myself. I think about what I will do, or say. How am I going to see that boy again? What if I get caught by other LandBound? I don’t even know if they have a curfew. I figure the worst case scenario is getting caught and losing my wings. I dip a little in the air at the thought. That’s a pretty bad consequence. Best case scenario, I meet the boy, learn what I need to know, and leave. Nice and Easy. I wish I really believed that would happen. I have this feeling in my stomach, the same feeling I had when I was caught in that updraft with my father all those years ago. Cold, raw fear, as if I am flying into more than I can handle. I will do it anyway of course. I swoop down into the same field I found the first time and land gently. I quickly fold my wings against my back and crouch down low, looking around – watching and listening for any sign of life. No coat this time, I need to be able to fly away quickly if necessary. I make my way back