Chapter 2

I saw the ground coming fast, then saw red and felt PAIN. I hit the ground and rolled, something wasn’t right. I rolled to my feet, looking back I saw the car was upside down and my parents were still inside.

I ran back, grabbed the car door and pulled hard! The door ripped off easily in my hands. Shit, there would be time to figure that out later, right now I had to get my parents out of the car. I looked in and saw both of them were hanging by their seatbelts. “Mom, Dad, can you hear me?” I yelled. Neither responded, they were both out cold.

I reached in, and undid mom’s seatbelt and pulled her out. Weird, I don’t remember mom being so small. ‘Think later, act now.’ I kept telling myself.

After I carefully lay her on the side of the road, I went back for Dad. I ran around the car and yanked the other door off, grabbing Dad, I laid him out beside Mom. Both of them were still breathing, thank God, but in bad shape. When I stood up I could see a hospital in the distance. Since no one had even called the accident in yet, there was no time to wait. Since I was able to rip off car doors maybe I could carry one of them to the hospital.

My dad looked worse, so I picked him up and started running toward the hospital. After a few steps I realized my feet were no longer touching the ground, and something was happening on my back. Oh shit, I was flying!

It took me less than a minute to get to the hospital. As I tried to figure out how to land I came to a hover in front of the ER, causing people to start running towards me.

“I NEED HELP!” I yelled.

“What happened?” a nurse asked me, while helping me lower my dad to the ground.

“Car wreck, I need to get back for my mom!” I replied as I turned and took off back to the car.

I faintly heard the nurse asking how many patients were coming, but I was too far away to answer.

When I landed beside my mom, it looked like she was worse than when I left with Dad. I saw the cops coming but didn’t have time to wait on them, so I gathered Mom up and took off. When I got back to the hospital, I landed near a nurse with a gurney. As I was laying my mom on the gurney for the nurse. I heard someone yell “FREEZE!” I turned to see a policeman standing there pointing a taser at me.

I stared at him in disbelief, and asked him, “What the hell is your problem?”

His answer shocked me, “You’re an unregistered mutant and I’ve called the paladins on you.”

I told him angrily “I haven’t had a chance to register as my powers showed up less than ten minutes ago, and I was busy saving my parents lives!”

“Well, we’ll see when the Paladins get here.” he replied, seemingly not caring in the slightest what I had said.

I just looked at him like he was crazy. First, how did he know I wasn’t registered? Second, I needed to find out about my parents. So I just turned and walked into the ER, or at least I tried to but I realized I was too tall for the door. I felt something bounce off my back as I stared at the doors. Turning I saw the cop with the taser and he was looking at me in surprise.

“Are you crazy or what?” I asked, stunned he had tried to shoot me in the back.

Just then a nurse walked out to me and held out a gown. She obviously had no idea the cop standing there with the dumbfounded look on his face had just attempted to tase me and failed. Her distracting me was a good thing as I was ready to take out my anger and confusion on him. Apparently there was only so far the cop would go when there were witnesses, or he was still in shock that the taser didn�t work as he said nothing.

“You might want to put this on.” she said.

That was when I realized I was standing there naked, even my panties were just scraps. I blushed hotly, grabbed the gown and put it around myself, while staring at the cop.

Deciding to ignore him for now, I turned to the nurse and asked, “How are my parents doing?”

“They are both in triage at the moment, the doctor will let you know what is going on when they know.” she answered.

`

It suddenly hit me, both my parents were in the hospital, and I was all alone in a strange city with a cop who wanted to arrest me as the only person I was talking to. I started crying, I’m not sure how long I was crying when I felt a presence beside me. Looking up, I saw a giant wolf. I was scared for a moment, but it simply leaned against me. That gave me a moment to wonder, a giant wolf, I had only heard about one of those.

Feeling a little odd talking to a wolf, I asked him “Are you Fang?”

His reply was to lick my face, feeling overwhelmed all I could do was hug him.

Well, if Fang was here then Dire Wolf had to be nearby, I looked around and saw her by the cop, probably asking him what was going on. Thankfully, Dire Wolf sent him off and walked over to me.

She asked, “Why are you crying?”

I started blubbering again as I tried to tell her about the wreck, my parents, and the cop all at the same time.

I heard a sympathetic voice saying, “I don’t speak crying girl, so can you translate for me Dire.”

Looking up, I saw a massive hairy guy standing there, I knew who he was from TV, it was Dad’s friend Clint. Jumping up I threw my arms around him, buried my face in his shoulder and bawled. He just looked confused. He awkwardly tried to pat me on the back, but seemed to be having difficulty doing that. I finally calmed down some, though I was still crying.

“Clint, you’re the one my dad was bringing me to see before the accident. He said you were the only Paladin that he knew personally.” I told him.

“Who is your dad, and why was he bringing you to see me?” He asked in confusion. “No one told me they were coming to visit.”

“My dad’s name is Samuel Raven Wing. He was bringing me to see you about tests to bring out my powers,” I explained in a rush “I was on my way into the ER to check on my parents when the cop had tried to shoot me in the back with his taser.”

Worried about his old friend, Clint said, “Ok, let’s head inside and find out what’s going on with them.”

I had to duck down to get inside, then had to walk on my knees to get to the desk. It was really embarrassing until I realized Clint had the same problem. That made me realize just how much I must have changed.

“I just bought my parents in, can you tell me what is going on with them?” I asked.

The receptionist asked for their names and typed them into her computer. She clicked through a few screens and said, “They are going to be admitted after their work ups are complete for at least a couple of days.”

“What am I supposed to do for a couple of days while my parents are here?” I asked aloud, feeling overwhelmed by what was happening.

I heard Clint say from behind me, “We can try and get you a motel room.”

Even I knew that wouldn’t work. “You realize I’m only sixteen right? And in a strange city, actually the only big city, I’ve ever been in. I also don’t have any clothes that fit, I’m not even sure where to find anything that would fit me or if I can even find anything that will fit. Finally, I don’t have any money.” I reminded them. The thought of money reminded me Mom’s purse was still in the wrecked car.

“Could one of you ask the cops to bring my mom’s purse from the car and maybe find out what hit us, please?” I asked them.

Clint pulled out his phone, stepping away for a minute. When he returned, he said reassuringly, “The police have it and will bring it over soon. They are still looking into what hit you though.”

Dire offered to try and find me some clothes. Clint decided to stay and work with me, to see if maybe I was a Greater Chameleon. Well turns out I’m apparently just a chameleon, since nothing I tried changed me back.

Dire Wolf came back a bit later, with a pair of sweatpants. She said apologetically, “This is all I could find on short notice, I got them from the hospital gift shop.”

Gratefully, I slipped them on under the hospital gown.

“Well, at least my butt is covered now.” I joked.

Dire Wolf looked at me “I’m not sure what we can do for a top because of those wings.”

I looked back over my shoulder, and realized I had a huge set of black wings! Holy shit! I have wings, that explains why I kept hitting things I thought I had ducked under. Damn almost everything Dad taught me was going to be a lot harder to do now. Even my balance was off, and every move felt awkward. I would have to practice my katas to see if they would help with that. But WINGS! I can fly! How frickin� cool is that!

Interrupting my thoughts, Dire said “Come on, let’s get you fed and to the place you will hopefully be sleeping tonight.”

I could deal with that since it was almost 2:00 PM and I hadn’t eaten since breakfast.

I asked “Ok, but can we get food delivered here? I don’t want to leave ‘til I know more about my parent�s conditions. Besides, I’m not going to fit down the halls to get to the cafeteria will I?”

So we called for takeout. I figured on pizza, but apparently we were close enough to China Town that Dire could get us better food faster from there.

About three hours later two Doctors approached us. The first doctor said “Miss Raven Wing? Your father is in recovery, his surgery went well. Your parents, between the two of them, have eight broken bones and your father has a ruptured spleen. They also both have multiple cuts and bruises. Due to the surgery on your father and both of them having concussions we are going to keep them overnight at least and possibly longer depending on test results tomorrow.”