I tensed, ready to run as part of the shadows peeled away. The shape was familiar, but I didn’t let down my guard, feeling my pizza slice slowly start to slide off the plate.

Her face came into the choppy light from the pizzeria. I readjusted my plate to keep my pizza slice, and took a step back. She stared at me, looking grim.

Something about her posture was all wrong. Her… wings (if they were anything more than a vague costume piece) hung low to the ground. The tips of the feathers brushed against the grit on the pavement as she took a few more steps.

A police car raced by on the road, probably going to help the search for those men.

“Uh… hi,” I managed. With an awkward nod, I pointed out the empty spot of curb next to me.

She looked down at it. Time passed as the insects continued their chirping. It seemed this was a difficult decision for her, but in the end she sat on the curb and I settled next to her, again mindful of my pizza slices. We wouldn’t be having another fallen soldier tonight, I’d make sure of that.

Her gaze lingered on the ground. She was a quiet type. Awkward, maybe. I wasn’t quite sure yet.

I proffered the extra cheese slice to her.

She blinked at it.

“They gave me a free one. I don’t need it,” I explained.

This was another difficult decision for her. But in the end she took it and sniffed at it.

“What… is this?” she asked.

I paused, a stretch of cheese hanging between my mouth and the slice.

“Pizza?” I offered. “Have you not had… pizza?”

She shook her head.

“Okay.”

I stared at the grease slowly dripping off my slice. 

She took a cautious bite, then nodded.  “Mmhmm,” she agreed. “Pizza.”

We ate in the quiet for a bit.

“So… how’d you know about that girl?” I asked.

She angled her head to look at me while struggling with the cheese stretch. She swallowed before answering. “I followed them quite a while…”

“Followed them? Like, in a car?” I hadn’t seen her car.

She shook her head. Then her eyes turned upwards toward the sky. The stars weren’t visible tonight, but I understood the intention.

Still, it was hard to believe and I found myself swallowing down the last of my crust. “May I look at your back?” I asked.

Her look was frightened. The shift and shuffle of feather on feather was audible as she shrank away.

“I don’t have to,” I filled in quickly. “If you’re not comfortable.”

“It’s okay,” she said. She shifted to turn her back to me.

I found myself staring directly at those wing-shapes that I’d seen earlier. They looked incredibly realistic. I didn’t find myself thinking she was crazy.

But how? I reached out and gently picked up a couple of the shafts to feel them in my hands. They were definitely real and felt natural. The surrounding feathers trembled at my touch until I released them.

“So…” I swallowed. “Who are you?”

“I’m Ashley.” she said.

“Right. I’m Destiny,” I explained. “My friends call me Dez though.”

“...My friends call me Ash,” she said.

She turned her back away from me, staring once again at the mostly-eaten pizza slice.

“Do you normally chase down criminals in the middle of the night?” I asked.

“Not exactly. I just heard them and I couldn’t do nothing.”

“That’s brave of you.” I didn’t think I’d be able to take that kind of initiative, much less if it wasn’t somebody I knew

She stared at the ground some more. 

“You tried to help those people, too. Even if you knew they were bad people,” Ash pointed out.

“Well… I mean, I was just doing what I could. But had I known…” Maybe I should keep my mouth shut.

“I think you're a good person,” she told me.

We were quiet again. She finished the last of the pizza slice.

“Where’re you from?” I asked.

“Hmmm…” she stood and looked up at the sky and pointed west-ish. 

“Uh…”

“I actually need some help,” she said. She didn’t turn back to look at me and again her posture shrank into itself.

“Are you lost?” I asked.

She shook her head. “No. I just can’t…” Her wings shifted, and I saw what she meant. A bunch of her feathers were ruffled in a painful-looking way. And the joint was getting held at an unnatural angle.

“Oh, you’re hurt,” I realized. I stood and came up behind her. She pulled away, light on her feet, and faced me. 

“Do you… need to go to a doctor?” I asked. “Or… a vet…?”

She shook her head vigorously. “I’ll heal,” she said. “I just need to get home.”

“Oh, you need a ride,” I realized. “Yeah, I think I can do that. How far is it?”

“An hour or so by flight,” Ash explained. She carved a path in the air with her finger. “By car it’ll be quite a bit longer.”

I felt bad but I shook my head. “That’s too far,” I said. “To go this late at least.”

She looked disappointed. 

“Listen, I can give you a place to sleep for the night,” I told her. “And drive you in the morning, are you okay with that?”

She frowned, but nodded in the end. “I suppose that’s fine.”

“Okay, if you ever want to leave you can just say the word and I’ll drive you… away from people. I imagine you don’t like to be around a lot of people when you’ve got… …”

She nodded, stoically.

I brought her back to my car. I wasn’t sure how I’d give her a bed to sleep, but I was determined to help her how I could.

It would also be nice to not be alone after witnessing what I had tonight.