• The wind ruffled my deep purple feathers, sending shivers down my spine. I reached back with my arm to smooth them down. My arm swung back down to my side. I wish I'd brought my coat.
    I looked over at the bright lights of downtown Paris. People were still strolling down the sidewalk, oblivious to the sixteen-year-old perched atop the Eiffel Tower, looking in shop windows, even though it was well past midnight. The wind snuck back up, this time blowing my hair across my face. I had to grip the iron bars I was sitting on so I would not fall. When it died down, I loosened my grip and relaxed. I brushed the hair out of my eyes.
    My wings itched to open and take me up into the night sky. I placed a hand on one, as if soothing them.
    Suddenly, I heard a shout from below me. My head snapped down and my wings tensed just in case I had to take off quickly. I couldn't see anything. It was probably just a dog. I brushed the tips of the tiny down feathers underneath my wings. Just a nervous habit.
    I tried to think of something else. Immediately, my mind went to the dream I had last night. Right away, my stomach clenched and my breathing sped up. It had been so strange, so scary, so. . . .
    BANG! I jumped, nearly falling as I did so. "What the hell was that?" I muttered. I looked down, expecting to see some explosion or something--that's how loud it was. Instead I could faintly see two figures climbing up the stairs of the Tower. Oh great. Company.
    I closed my eyes and muttered, "O Legna fo Ssenkrad, tnarg em eht ytiliba ot raeh eht sdrow nekops yb yht nwonknu seititne."
    A tingle, quite like the kind of tingle you get when your foot falls asleep, spread up from the tips of my fingers to the tips of my ears, causing my ears to pop. Now I could hear anything within a thousand feet. I concentrated on the voices about six stories below me.
    "What's your problem, man?" a male voice said. Awww, boy drama. A grin spread on my lips. Then the next voice drifted up and smacked that grin right off my face.
    "That dream."
    The voice sent fire roaring through my veins. But, it didn't burn. It warmed my cold skin and sank deep into my heart, making it hum like a baby hummingbird's wings. My eyes snapped open and I lost my concentration. My breathing was ragged and I heard a pounding in my ears. My heartbeat. I had not heard that sound in nearly a hundred years.
    I clasped my hands over my heart, feeling it's soft pounding against my rib cage. My breathing slowed and the beating stopped.