Soar, Part 7 - Trees

They called the police eventually. Roxie's mother, to be precise. Not that the police who finally arrived on the scene could figure out any better what could possibly have petrified an entire city block all at once. They did seal off the street and took all the people to a hospital at least. The girls watched their friend be lifted into a back of an ambulance as they gave their testimonies to the Roxie's mom.

"And when you got here, no one was moving," she asked, writing on her small notepad. The girls started to nod, but Olivia let our a sudden "oh!"

"No, there was a bird," she said. "A super big, white bird."

"Oh, that's right," said Alex. "It flew off from that alley when we arrived." She pointed over at the side street. Roxie's mom hummed in thought.

"How big a bird," she asked.

"Wing span bigger than mine," said Roxie, spreading her jet black wings above her head. He own wingspan was well over three meters. Her mom made a note on the pad and then rubbed a hand over her face.

"Did you notice anything else peculiar? About the bird or anything else?"

The girls exchanged glances, but none of them could think of anything and they reluctantly shook their heads. Roxie's mom sighed and tucked away her notepad.

"Well, this is something. Let's hope the hospital will be able to tell us what exactly petrified everyone. With luck it's just a really weird version of Medusa's curse, and we'll be able to turn everyone back in no time." She smiled, but it was strained. The girls knew she was just trying to make them feel better. They didn't say anything.

~x~

"Should we do something?" asked Alex after a long, long silence. They were sitting in the park, staring blankly at the colorful trees and their slowly falling leaves.

"About what, exactly?" Roxie asked, not looking up at Alex.

"Well... anything? The petrified people? Annalise? ...our choreography?"

"You're actually thinking about dancing when one of our friends could be in mortal danger??" Roxie seethed, standing up and spreading her wings in an impressive show of power.

"That's not what I mean!" Alex scoffed back, glaring at the Valkyrie. "But this competition is the chance of a lifetime and it means the world, especially to Annalise! I just... I just think that it would be disrespectful to her to just... abandon the whole thing! Besides, your mom said they might be able to cure everyone right away!"

"Mom doesn't know shit," Roxie snapped. "And apparently you don't either! We can't just leave Annalise behind! We can't-"

"Girls, please," Skye said, standing up between her two fuming friends. "Fighting isn't going to solve anything. Let's just calm down and..."

"Uh, excuse me?"

The four girls turned to look over at the sudden voice.

"Well what the fuck do you want?" Alex huffed, plopping back down on the park bench. Anka scratched his cheek, looking sheepish.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt anything..." he said. "If this is a bad time..."

"Oh, no, not at all," said Skye, a sweet smile on her face. "Can we help you with something? Are you lost? You are new here, right?"

"No, no. Well, yes, I am new, but I'm not lost... at the moment anyway. I was just wondering if you knew what happened over there?" he said, pointing over to where the police were still swarming. Alex stiffened and grit her teeth. "They've got the whole street blocked off but no one would tell me what had happened."

"There was a... an accident," Skye said eventually. "A lot of people had to be hospitalized. The police are still trying to figure out what exactly happened."

"Was one of your friends there? That fifth girl, uhh... Anna-Lisa?" Anka asked with a frown. Alex could feel her eye twitch. She was just about to give him a piece of her mind when he slapped a hand on his mouth. "Oh, gosh, sorry, that was rude, wasn't it? The rules of social interaction are still a bit foreign to me, I didn't mean any disrespect. I was just... worried. You five are always together, so I thought..." He shook his head. "Anyway. I hope she's fine. I'll just... leave you alone now. Sorry to have bothered you."

He gave them a small wave and walked away. The girls watched him go when suddenly Alex had a thought.

"He's an... animorph isn't he?" she asked, squinting at Anka's retreating back. "Did he ever say what animal?"

"No, I don't think so," said Skye, thinking back. "He just said he's a... oh."

"You don't mean..?" asked Olivia, looking up at Alex. She tilted her head, pressing her index finger on her lips.

"Oh yeah," she said, watching as the last of Anka's white hair disappeared behind the trees. "A big, white bird."
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Ok so this week has been super weird. My internal calendar is all mixed up cause I haven't been in school for three weeks. But yeah, here you go I managed to get it done before Monday so it's all goood.

You don't like the story because you've decided you don't like the story. I mean... you do realise that you are the person that writes the story, right? If you don't like it just make it into something else. It doesn't have to be anything you don't want it to be. We're just starting, so you can literally write anything you want. I really don't care what we write about, so... just do what you want I'll patch up everything else.

Your topic is "Free!"

Pie out.