Chapter 10: The Wings
Light is pouring out of Luis.
Not shining. Pouring. Thick gold spills from his neck, his shoulders, his spine.
The air hums. It hurts to breathe.
The grass under him turns white. Then black.
Jack steps in front of the others. "Everybody back. Now."
Julia shakes her head. She's holding Lily tight. "I'm not leaving him, Jack."
"Julia, you'll get killed," Jack snaps. "I'm serious, move!"
Rio takes a half-step forward, fists clenched. "Let me help you hold him down or something—"
"You can't help," Jack cuts him off. "None of you can. Stay back."
Lily's voice cracks. "Please don't let him die. Please."
Luis throws his head back. "AHHHH!"
Jack lifts his right hand. He mutters under his breath. Old words.
Light gathers in his palm. It folds. Hardens.
A paper made of light appears. It burns gold.
Jack walks straight into it.
The energy hits him like a truck. His skin ripples.
He takes another step. His knees shake.
Blood runs from his nose. From his mouth.
Julia gasps. "Jack!"
He wipes it on his sleeve. Keeps going.
Luis screams again. The light flares. The old tree behind him splits — CRACK.
Jack grits his teeth. Forces his legs.
One step. Two.
He reaches Luis. Grabs his shirt. Rips it.
He slams the golden paper onto his chest.
It sinks in. Brands him. A mark forms — two tiny golden wings, right over his heart.
The light chokes. Then dies down.
The huge white wings on Luis's back shiver. They fold. Shrink. Smaller. Smaller.
Until they're just two small bumps under the skin. Soft white feathers, tucked flat.
Luis's eyes roll back. He drops.
Jack catches him — then Jack drops too. Both hit the burnt grass.
Julia runs. Drops to her knees. Pulls Luis into her lap.
"Luis? Hey. Hey, baby, look at me. Come on, open your eyes."
Rio and Lily just stand there, staring at Jack.
Jack pushes up on one elbow. Blood on his chin. He looks at the ruined garden. The broken shed.
He pants. "Huh... we... we talk inside."
Luis's room. Night.
Lamp low.
Luis is out cold. Chest rising slow.
Julia hasn't let go of his hand once.
Jack — his uncle — is in the chair with a wet cloth on his neck. Rio and Lily are on the floor against the wall.
Rio finally breaks the silence. He can't sit still.
"Okay, no. Someone has to say it. What was that? I'm serious, Uncle Jack, what the hell just happened out there?"
Jack puts his glass down. It rattles on the table. "No more secrets. Not after that."
He looks at Julia. "We tell him everything."
Julia nods, but her eyes are wet.
Right then, Luis's fingers twitch. His eyes flutter open.
He whispers, "...am I dead?"
Julia leans in fast. "No. No, you're okay. You're right here. I'm here."
Lily crawls closer, crying. "Luis! You scared us!"
Jack's voice is quiet. "You remember anything?"
Luis nods slowly. His voice is hoarse. "My back... it just... it felt like it was tearing open. Like something was trying to get out."
Rio leans in, eyes wide. "Dude, you had wings. Actual, huge, white wings. How? Did you know you could do that? Did Uncle Jack teach you in secret?"
"I don't know!" Luis snaps, then winces from the pain in his chest. "I swear I don't know, okay? I couldn't stop it. It just happened."
Jack points at his chest. "Look down."
Luis looks. The golden mark glows faintly on his skin.
"That's a seal," Jack says. "I put it on you. It's the only thing keeping the rest of it locked down right now."
Luis touches it with shaking fingers. "Why me? What's wrong with me? Why did this happen to me?"
Jack glances at Julia. "You want to tell him, or should I?"
Julia takes a deep breath. Her hand is shaking in Luis's.
"Luis... me and Chris... we're not your birth parents."
The room goes dead quiet.
Rio blinks. "Wait. What?"
Lily gasps, hand over her mouth. "Aunty?"
Luis just stares at her. He tries to push himself up. "What do you mean? What are you saying? I'm... I'm adopted?"
He looks at Julia, desperate. "Mom, that's not funny. Tell me you're joking. Please."
Lily's crying harder now. "Please say it's not true, Aunty."
Julia's crying now too. She nods slowly, tears running down.
"It's true, baby. It's true. Ryan, Kite, and Emy found you in the forest. You were just a baby. You were cold and alone. We adopted you the next day."
Luis is quiet for a long, long time. He just looks at her. Then he looks at Jack, at Rio, at Lily.
Then he grabs her hand, hard. Squeezes it.
"So?" he says, his voice breaking. "So what? I don't care. I don't care who found me in some forest. I don't care if it was the next day or ten years ago."
He looks around the room. "You all raised me. Mom you yelled at me for not eating vegetables. Dad taught me how to hold a wooden sword even though I kept dropping it. Emy, always steal my snacks and then pretend you didn't, and you're annoying, but she is my sister.
He looks back at Julia, tears in his own eyes now. "All of you. You're my family. That's it. I don't need any other parents. I don't want them."
Julia breaks and pulls him into a hug, sobbing into his hair.
Jack gives a tired, proud smile. "Kid's got more guts than I thought."
He leans forward. "Alright. Turn a little for me."
Luis turns his shoulder. Jack carefully lifts his shirt.
Two tiny white wings, folded flat against his back. Soft feathers, barely there.
"They'll stay like that now," Jack says. "Put on a baggy shirt and nobody will ever see them."
Rio whispers, almost afraid to ask, "So... what is he, Uncle Jack?"
Jack looks Luis dead in the eye. "You're not fully human, Luis. You're a sage."
Lily frowns, confused. "A sage? Like in the old stories?"
Julia wipes her face, nodding. "Sages look just like humans, sweetie, but God gave them wings. That's their blessing."
She looks down at her lap. "Beginning of the War of Blood, people started Hating them. They blamed them for everything. Almost all of them are gone now."
Jack's voice drops lower. Serious. "Which is why you never, ever tell anyone. Not a friend, not a teacher. People still hate sages for what one of them did in that war. You keep those wings hidden. You hear me? Always."
Luis nods slowly, still processing.
"And Luis," Jack adds, "sages don't just have one kind of power. They've got all of it. Devil energy, Maschew, ORIMs — everything. Because inside you, you've got something called X energy. It can turn into anything."
Luis looks down at his own hands. They're shaking. "I'm nine, Uncle Jack. I'm nine years old. I don't even know what half those words mean. I just learned how to properly hold a wooden sword last year. This is... this is too much."
"I know," Jack says, and his voice is softer now. He puts a big hand on Luis's shoulder. "I know it's a lot. That seal I put on you locked everything except your Maschew. But listen to me — if you lose control again, if you get angry and push too hard... it'll break. And next time I might not be there in time to stop it. You'd die, Luis. Do you understand?"
Julia snaps, tears fresh. "Jack! Don't you say that to him!"
Rio tries to break the heavy silence. He nudges Luis's foot with his and forces a grin. "Well, well. Look who's special. My little wing boy—"
Luis grabs the nearest pillow and throws it right at Rio's face. "Shut up! Don't you ever call me that!"
Everyone bursts out laughing — a real, loud laugh that finally cuts through all the tension. Even Julia laughs through her tears.
Later. Living room. Fire going.
Jack and Julia are sitting with Chris and Emily, telling them everything that happened.
Chris just crosses his arms, listening, then shrugs. "I don't care what he is. Sage, human, alien, I don't care. He's my son. That's all that matters. That's it."
Emily bites her lip. She's twisting her hands together, worried. "But Uncle Jack... people in town still talk about sages. You hear them at the market. They call them monsters. They say they're cursed. What if someone at school finds out? What are we gonna do?"
Jack stares into the fire for a long moment. "He's not a full sage. He's half sage, half human. That's probably the only reason we never noticed for nine years. And his wings now... they're tiny. You put him in a loose shirt and you'd never know they're there."
He pauses, then adds, "Just... no tight shirts. Ever. That's the rule from now on."
Julia stands up, trying to sound normal, trying to smile. She touches Emily's hair. "Come on. Tomorrow's our day off. Let's go shopping. We'll buy him a whole new closet full of baggy shirts, okay?"
Emily manages a small, watery smile. "Okay, Mom. Can we get ice cream after?"
"Anything you want," Julia says.
Upstairs, Luis is asleep again, finally peaceful.
Jinsoo is curled up tight against his side, his furry head resting right on Luis's chest — right over the faintly glowing golden wings.
----
To be continued...