CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: The Journey Home

The ride back was a lot better than the ride out there. Mostly that was because RC wasn’t completely terrified that the Demon Master would eat his friends and because now he knew for sure that the Rydens were good guys. But also, it helped that they weren’t riding on a park bench this time. Instead, Mr. and Mrs. Ryden just lifted them into the air with their magic. Rachel and Jason both found this absolutely horrible, but RC sort of liked floating. It made him feel like an astronaut, which was obviously the very coolest job ever.

This time, Mr. Ryden pointed out things on the ground as they flew over them, like the lake that RC’s family went boating on in summer, and the straight, bright line of lights in the distance that was the interstate. They were flying lower than most airplanes, so when the sun started coming over the horizon, RC could see everything laid out below him, like in a computer game or on a map. Once there was a little bit of light to see by, he spent most of his time staring down, so it wasn’t really odd that he didn’t notice anything happening to the Rydens until Jason cried out.

“Hey! Your wings! What’s happening to them?”

Then RC did look up. Mr. and Mrs. Ryden were changing color, like the leaves do in fall, but much faster. As RC watched, their wings and feathers turned from a dark black to an pearly white. The edges of their feathers were actually see-through. Neither adult seemed bothered by the transition at all.

“Oh, that,” Mrs. Ryden said, looking down at herself. “It’s just our daytime color.”

Danny blurted out what they were all thinking: “What?”

“Well, black is a good color for camouflage at night, but it’s really not very helpful when you’re flying during the daytime,” answered Mr. Ryden. “Really, Mr. Centroni, I know your class covered the chapter on protective coloration last year. I checked the curriculum most carefully before I agreed to teach. I’d have thought you’d understand about camouflage. Perhaps I’ll need to reteach it...”

Sara piped up, “I know what camouflage is! But, you mean you’re like chameleons?”

“That’s so cool,” Kevin whispered.

Mrs. Ryden nodded. “More or less.”

“Less, mostly,” countered Mr. Ryden, looking somewhat irritably at his wife. RC grinned, because now he sounded just like he did in science class, and that was always interesting. “When a sufficient amount of solar radiation hits our feathers, they transform into this white-blue coloration. When there is an insufficient amount of light, they convert back into the black color, which allows them to absorb more energy from our surroundings, which we can use for magic. It’s really a most impressive adaptation, I’ve always felt. It keeps us powered with magic at night, but not overwhelmed during the day, plus it has the benefit of visual camouflage.”

“Just keep flying, Stratos,” said Mrs. Ryden with a sigh.

But Rachel called out, “Wait. Doesn’t that mean that you look like demons at night, but angels during the day?”

Mrs. Ryden sighed again, but Mr. Ryden responded excitedly. “Exactly! I’ve often thought that’s where humans get those images of angels and demons from. Not that we actually are angels, of course. Or demons, except for those who do it to themselves from the power-lust. And we do try to stop those.”

“We’re just people,” added Mrs. Ryden. “Just like you, some of us are good and some are bad, and most are in-between.”

RC thought that made sense. Mostly, though, he was busy watching the last few feathers on Mr. Ryden’s stomach turn white. That’s just so cool. I wish I was an Aeryan. Then RC remembered what the Rydens had said about having to move whenever anyone figured out the truth, and changed his mind.

Finally, they reached the edge of their town. Mrs. Ryden took Rachel, Sara, and Jason, who all lived in one part of the neighborhood, and RC and the others stayed with Mr. Ryden. It was just after dawn and the streets below were empty.

They dropped off Kevin first, and then Danny. After Mr. Ryden put Danny down, he once again shook his hand. Danny looked sort of embarrassed, but he also smiled a little. RC gave him a high-five and said, “Thanks. You were amazing! Seriously, I owe you for life.”

Danny shrugged, still looking embarrassed. “Yeah, okay. You can do my English homework for Monday, then. I hate diagramming sentences.”

Mr. Ryden tried not to laugh. “Ah, I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear that, I think. Come, RC, we need to get you home, before it gets too late. My camouflage isn’t any good at all so close to the ground.”

They flew the last few blocks home to RC’s house. The window to RC’s room was cracked open, so Mr. Ryden pushed it open the rest of the way with magic and RC crawled inside.

“Phew! No one’s up yet,” he said. “It’s a good thing it’s Sunday. Everybody’ll sleep in ‘til church.”

Mr. Ryden smiled. “I hope you’re right. I wouldn’t want any of you to get in trouble because of this.”

“It’ll be okay,” RC said. “Don’t worry.”

“Well, in that case, I’d best be off. Please take care!”

“Yeah, okay. Bye!” RC grinned. “Have a good flight!”

Mr. Ryden flared his wings in reply, then took off. He looked beautiful, glistening in the morning sunshine. He really does look like an angel, RC decided. He watched until Mr. Ryden vanished from sight, then pulled his head back inside and shut the window as quietly as he could.

As he tiptoed to the bathroom to wash the worst of the dirt off his face and hands, RC realized he’d forgotten to ask the Rydens the most important question! Now that he knew that magic really worked, could someone human – like, maybe, RC – learn to do it? Science was cool and all, but real magic would be even better!

RC was mad at himself for a while, but then he realized: the Rydens weren’t going anywhere, if he and his friends kept their secret. There would be plenty of time to ask after class on Monday or any day following. As RC put on his pajamas, he couldn’t help but think, Demon Masters or not, this is going to be the very best school year ever!