• Chapter Two
    I really disliked flying. I mean, it was pretty nice, being held close by him and feeling magical and all, but it was only fun for, like, 30 seconds. Because, after a while, you look down. And, when you look down when you are really high in the air without a parachute, flying becomes a least-favorite action.
    “Everyone hates their first flight, including me, so don’t barf on me, please.” said the boy.
    I never thought of it before, but now it struck me. “What’s your name?” I asked.
    “Ventus.”
    “Oh, nice, and my name is—”
    “June T. Scorpion. June 6th, 1997. Father was a policeman, mother a news reporter. Reported—” he faltered for a moment, looking at my facial expression, then continued. “Reported insane on February 4th, 2003, sent to aunt an uncles’ house, then ran away a year after.” He said.
    I gawked. “H-how did you—?” I questioned, stammering.
    “I also know your blood type, your first words, etc." said Ventus, blinking a few times as wisps of his wavy white hair got into his eyes.
    "A-anyway," I stammered, still flabbergasted about him knowing nearly everything about me. "Isn't 'Ventus' Latin for 'Wind' or 'Air'?"
    "Why, yes." said Ventus, smiling. We walked/flew towards a cathedral tower and it looked like we'd run right into it.
    "Ven--"
    Where we should've crashed into the tower and fallen into the street to our doom, we just passed through it, and it rippled like the window did.
    "--tus." I finished, less loud then before we went through the cathedral.
    "No need to alert me of solid items. I am, after all, Ventus." said Ventus, a wide grin on his blue face, then spat as some stray strands of hair flew into his mouth.
    I thought for a moment, then asked (in a rather whiny voice, I must admit) "Can I call you Venny?" I think Ventus swallowed his tongue accidentally in surprise, because he started gagging and coughing madly.
    He finally got his mind strait. "'Venny"?? You make me sound like some sort of pet dog!"
    Both of us laughed at that.
    Chapter Three
    After a few hours of a long, tormenting, quiet, air-sicky flight, Ventus finally went "There." and we landed.
    We were standing inside of a bell tower of a cathedral that was abandoned after a large fire, which was blown out by harsh winds. Ventus landed gracefully, his white hair and robes flowing around him like wispy clouds, and his light blue skin and eyes shimmering in the moonlight. My landing, however, was spectacular, but not in a nice way. Given the fact that my feet went unto a loose patch of bricks in the floor, Ventus had to pull me back into the bell tower before I hit the ground. After a fit a chuckling, Ventus told me to wait for him to come back and try to not fall out of the window.
    Carefully, he slipped his legs through the hole I had made from my clumsy landing and fell through. His hair looked like a white cape, billowing out behind him as he dove.
    I almost cried out in fear for him, but he landed with a gentle tap of his feet as he landed on the marble floor.
    He looked up, smiled, and waved cheerfully at me, then pranced off.
    Sitting back down in a comfortable dark corner, I muttered: "Show off."
    I don't know if saying 'show off' had triggered it, but just after I said that, the air got incredibly warm and reeked of sulfur. The ground shook, and the air kept getting warmer, and the sulfur smell increased. Wait, not just sulfur now.....now I could pick up the feint smell of burnt eggs and bacon.
    From the hole in the tower floor came, suddenly, Ventus' voice. "June, jump through the hole! I'll catch you!"
    Sighing, I did as I was told. Falling so quickly, the air whistling past my ears, had a dizzying effect on me. It could've also been because I did multiple flips during the fall, and also because when Ventus caught me, I was upside-down.
    The cathedral floor and walls were made from white marble, lined with old, broken statues that were probably of angels, an old, torn red rug laid out on the floor. The ceiling arched high, and a beautiful painted glass window of an angel holding a sword hung over a tall, oak door.
    After my eyes stopped spinning, I inhaled and gagged.
    "Yeah, hold your nose. My brother is cooking." said Ventus. Then, as though on cue, the heat increased even more, and from what appeared to be the kitchen, something exploded.
    "AAAAARGH!!!!!" came a voice from inside the kitchen. The voice sounded like the rumbling before a volcano exploded, the crackling of flames as it eats up plantation. I shuddered.
    "Flagrantior, didn't I tell you?" said Ventus, careful to not breathe through his nose. "You're a terrible cook. You burn things and make stuff explode, you don't cook."
    The heat increased even more. "Be quiet and help, Ventus, before I cook the whole Cathedral when I get really angry!" screamed the voice. It may have sounded like a natural disaster, but it also sounded rather....male.
    Ventus sighed. "Coming." He started walking towards the kitchen, and I made a move to follow him, but he turned and slowly shook his head. Taking the message, I stayed where I was.
    After a few more explosions, sudden rises and decreases of heat, and extreme nauseating smells exuding from the kitchen, Ventus came out. His hair looked singed around the edges, and there was ash all over him.
    Weakly, Ventus said: "Flagrantior, there's someone I want you to meet out here."
    "HOLD ON!!!!" boomed the voice from the kitchen, accompanied by the clatter of dishes.
    "Manners, Flagrantior. The guest is a girl." said Ventus, a smile suddenly starting to tweak at his face. He winked at me.
    "Oh, okay." the voice said sweetly, now sounding like a purring cat made out of crackling flames.
    Ventus leaned towards me and whispered into my ear. "He has a weakness for girls, but careful, he's sometimes a world-class pervert." I nodded. And out pranced the 'Flagrantior' character.
    He looked the same age as Ventus, with super tanned, almost red, skin. His hair was short and ragged, colored red, yellow, and orange, like flames. Like Ventus, he was tall, thin, and had very long fingers, but he was considerably more muscular, as though he used weights for two minutes every morning. Muscular, but not too muscular. He was clad in tight black leather clothes, with large, clonking black platform boots and a nose-piercing and two earrings on his left ear.
    "June, meet my....brother," said Ventus (a bit unhappily on the word 'brother). "Flagrantior."
    Flagrantior looked down at me behind dark sunglasses, then he leaned down.
    "Quite a cute little lady, but very young. 10?" said Flagrantior, examining my face.
    Irritably, I said: "12."
    "Oh." said Flagrantior. "Well, Ventus, when she turns 15, well I'll be--"
    "Flagrantior," said Ventus in a low voice. "She would probably appreciate no pervertedness coming from my brother, and we don't even know if she'll live long enough to get to fifteen years--oops."
    "Huh?" I asked, baffled. I hadn't really been paying attention, just glaring at Flagrantior for thinking I was 10 years old.
    "Nothing!" they said in unison.
    I wish I had pestered them more.
    TO BE CONTINUED.....