The first thing Imani noticed when she regained consciousness was that she could move freely. The second was that it was very bright. Imani groaned in pain and sat up, noticing a silhouette of a man at what she assumed through the blinding light was the exit. “One of them is waking up!” the man shouted, his voice ringing in Imani’s ears like a huge cathedral bell, “It’s the strange one.” The light was starting to dim some and Imani could now distinguish colors, like the blue of the wall. A slightly larger man with green skin and blue around his shoulders stepped in and looked at Imani intently.
“Who are you?” He pressed, his thin, forked tongue tickling the tip of Imani’s nose as he spoke.
“Please don’t shout.” Imani grumbled covering her ears, “I am called Imani.” The snake-man turned to the man by the door and hissed,
“Why did you sssedate her?”
“S-S-Sorry sir, she was struggling when we brought their rafts in.”
“So? She’sss obviously not one of the Wraithsss. We know nothing of her physssiology, you could have killed her!”
“What’s a Wraith?” Imani asked.
“The people you were traveling with, we call them Wraiths.” The snake-tongued man said, losing the hissing in his voice as he made painstaking efforts to calm down.
“The others from my village? I am one of them.”
“I am not quite sure what you are, but you are most certainly not one of the Wraiths.” He smiled warmly and Imani realized he did not at all have the reptilian features she’d assumed he’d had.
“Must have hit my head.” Imani thought to herself. “Oh yeah, and this kind man tended my wound.” The man solemnly nodded as if Imani had said this out loud.
“You seem to be recovering.” He mused, “I’m Ravnos, where are you from?”
“The village to the west.” Imani replied sheepishly, enthralled by Ravnos’ politeness and charm.
“How long have you been among these people?” Ravnos asked as he gestured to the Wraiths tied up- no sitting at tables in the corner.
“All my life I think. I was born in the village. Don’t remember much bef-“ Imani stopped and whirled around suddenly. “They are tied up!!” she shouted.
“No, you’re feverish.” Ravnos calmly intoned, “They came looking for you and we invited them for dinner after letting them know you were safe.” Imani knew this was a lie. They would never seek out a lost person. After a few days they might realize she hadn’t been around to do her share of work and become irate but they’d not fear for her safety. “Just as good above or under” they’d say. She remembered them saying that when she asked what her father had been like, or where her friends had gone. But then again, her mom might have made them – yes, her mom had organized a search party to rescue her…No! Imani’s mother had been bed-ridden for years. Something is not right… “Get out of my head!” Imani shrieked at Ravnos.
“What?! You insssolent little…” Ravnos rose to his feet angrily, upset that anyone other than his own people could see through his subtle telepathic manipulation. His anger was interrupted, however, by a loud ripping sound. Thousands of tiny globes of light emerged from two shimmering fissures on either side of Imani’s back. The endless procession of light began swirling around Imani until there was so much luminosity that entire room was drowning in it. After a few seconds that seemed to last decades, the globes dimmed and Imani’s silhouette was faintly visible. The globes glowed bright and then coalesced into a pair of golden wings. The wings flashed intensely and then slowly transmuted to flesh and immaculate feathers. Imani unfurled her wings with such force that all present were knocked off their feet. Imani herself had changed. She had longer, slightly thinner limbs now and an aura of elegance about her, despite her tears. Although her wings were no longer made of light she had a soft glow surrounding her still. Imani slowly stood up, still crying but calmer now, and stretched her wings as best she could in the limited space. Imani’s face was so full of light and sorrow that her captors, for the first time in their lives, cried. They had never before seen such beauty nor felt such pity and they would never do so again. Before anyone else could recover from the awe-inspiring transformation, Imani left through the ceiling with a loud flap of her wings and a huge crash of shattered ceiling beams.
***