Wings 1

by Nuit du Loup

Author's note: There's no sex till the second chapter as the first is all plot, so please be patient

Stephanie wanted to die.

She didn't mean it as a sign of frustration like most people. She really wanted to die. She wanted the pain to end. Not emotional pain or depression. It was actual physical pain. Her body was filled with nothing but pain. She could think of almost nothing else anymore.

It started two weeks ago. At first it was nothing more than a sense of something like a strained back. It grew tremendously from that first day. Her mom had found her groaning in her bed, curled into a ball. She had of course been taken to a doctor to get looked at but they had no idea what was causing it. All they could see was an abnormal growth of muscle mass.

That mass grew daily. By the hour even at times. A great number of doctors had been brought into her room to look her over. Tests were done. No answers were found. Some whispered the dreaded word cancer when they thought she couldn't hear it. All they knew was that her body had gone absolutely crazy. It was building entirely new muscle groups and now bone that served no purpose.

They talked and theorized that it was some genetic abnormality causing it. They thought that since she was still a 15 year old girl and still in the growth changes of puberty; her body was taking the wrong directions now and was changing her into something else. It had gotten even freakier when one day, right in front of three doctors, that her hair, a long mane of brown, had turned jet black as if a computer artist had dragged his brush over it. Her parents could tell the doctors nothing of her origin since she had been adopted as an infant and no one knew her parentage.

Finally, at the end of the first week they had stopped coming to poke at her. By that time the pain was nearly unbearable. She had difficulty doing anything beyond crying and moaning. Even when she could slip into sleep she moaned. Her entire world became that haze of pain.

On Monday though, things had changed, but not for the better. She had awoken in her father's arms, being carried into the basement. His face had been a grim, silent mask. Once there she saw they had assembled the spare guest bed down there. Unceremoniously she was dumped onto it, given a pile of blankets, and then left there. She knew what they were doing. Her moans and cries were disturbing the others' sleep and she was making their lives miserable. They had banished her there.

They never came down to see her after that. They threw down bread and bottles of water, but never came down themselves. There was a bathroom down there so they never had to see her. That banishment had been the last straw. Her family had given up on her. She spent a whole week in that dark hell. The growth on her back had begun split a little as well and blood soaked into her sheets every once in awhile. She lay in them anyway. She knew she probably hadn't looked very human by that point.

In one moment of lucidity she made a decision. She would leave. She would get away from the people who had given her over to death. She wanted to die; it was true, but not alone like this. Not sitting there in her own filth in that dark basement. She knew would have died there soon too. She had barely been able to get the food and water into her mouth. The pain had made controlling her body almost too difficult a task.

Now she walked down a sidewalk. Very slowly, but she walked. She had left in the middle of the night and donned some sweatpants and a baggy shirt. Dressing had nearly taken an hour to accomplish. Now she shuffled along in the night. She didn't have a destination in mind; she just went on and on. Since pain nearly blinded her mind now she only instinctively reacted to stimuli, like stopping when a car passed in front of her. She wasn't aware of it, but she reacted anyway.

She walked like that for hours somehow. She knew it was hours since the sky began to lighten. She was in a neighborhood of expensive looking homes with large spacious yards by then. Walking on she somehow found herself standing in front of one of those houses. Nothing marked it from the others but she stopped her mechanical walking. She collapsed there on that house's lawn. Then the rain began.

It wasn't a heavy rain, just a light spring drizzle. It felt fantastic on her aching body. She turned her back upwards letting the cool water sooth her a little. Finally she was able to think. She was able to recognize that two people were approaching her, speaking to each other.

"Mom, she looks like she's hurt really bad!" said the first, somehow familiar voice.

"I can see that Amanda, we'll get her into the house and see what's wrong and call an ambulance if she needs it," said the second voice. This one she didn't know.

Hands grabbed and lifted her up. Pain lanced through her and nearly sent her unconscious. Only the strong desire to speak to these people kept her aware.

"Please," was the only thing she could rasp out.

"Mom, I know her!" said the familiar voice, a young girl. "She's Stephanie, a girl from my school; she's in a bunch of my classes. She hasn't been there in two weeks!"

"Looks like we might have to call the police then yoo," the second voice answered. This one was an older woman.

"Please," she tried again.

"Just hold on, we'll help you." The familiar voice sounded scared.

"Get some sheets so I can lay her on the couch," instructed the second voice in a firm tone.

Soon she found herself lying down again. Her eyes shot wide open when her back came in contact with the sheets. She hadn't been able to lie on her back for days and now found herself thrown on it.

"Mom, flip her over! It's her back that's hurting her," the young voice said sounding panicky.

The pain lessened back to its normal level once four hands turned her over onto her stomach. Before she closed her eyes, before unconsciousness took her, she finally saw the face of the younger of her would be rescuers. She knew the face. That was her last thought for a while as she blacked out.

When she woke again and opened her eyes her pain had lessened a great deal. She had no idea why, but it had drawn down to a sharp throbbing instead of the all consuming level it had been at. She also found herself looking into the face of a startlingly pretty girl. She had an open face full of expression, filled now with concern and sadness. She had brown hair pulled into a ponytail that draped down her neck now as she bent over in her chair looking back at her. It was Amanda.

She knew Amanda. Steph was the de facto leader of a bunch of girls in her school who were considered part of the "popular" crowd. There were many such groups and hers had been one of them. She and her cronies hadn't treated Amanda very well at all. She never really remembered why they had targeted her. It had probably been a random choice at finding someone they could mock. She had thought it was what she was supposed to do. To take advantage over those below her was what her parents had taught her. All of that felt like complete crap right now.

She began to cry. She couldn't stop the tears that poured out. She had streams going down her face. She knew she was a terrible person now. All I took was to look into the eyes of her helper. This girl was so much a better person than she was. All she could do was hurt and make fun of this girl. Now this same girl was concerned for her well being.

"So...so...so sorry..." she finally gasped out. It had taken an effort to make her tongue work.

"Shh," was all Amanda said as she gently brushed a greasy stray hair out of her eyes.

"Why are you helping me?" she asked.

"Why not?"

"I'm such a terrible person. I've never done anything nice to you."

She saw Amanda shrug and smile at that. "Doesn't matter, I couldn't let you just lie there and die."

"But I want to die!" Steph cried out. "Please, there so much pain. I don't want to feel anymore."

"No," Amanda said calmly. "My mom and I will help you."

Amanda had told her the truth. Her mom came into the room and together the two of them rubbed something cold and soothing into her back. The pain dipped again. This time she slipped into actual sleep, not cold unconsciousness.

When again she opened her eyes there were others in the room. A police officer, someone that looked like a paramedic and an older woman wearing a thunderous expression. Amanda and her mother sat talking to these three.

"Ah you're awake!" the officer said seeing her open eyes.

The paramedic looking man came to her then and made her drink something. Water and something else that tasted a little odd. It was probably medicine of some kind.

"Why?" she managed to ask.

"We want to know what happened to you" The officer said with the angry older woman nodding in agreement. "Can you tell us?"

She did. It took a while and with many drinks of water but she got it all out. She told them everything of the last two weeks. When she was finally done everyone looked horrified. The cop and the woman looked at each other then practically ran from the house. The paramedic or maybe a doctor gave a packet of something to Amanda's mom. She nodded as if she understood what it was. More medicine maybe?

Amanda left with wet eyes to return with a glass bowl. She knelt down next to her and set the bowl on the chair, using it as a table as she drew a spoon out of her shirt pocket. It had probably been there so she could carry the bowl with both hands. She scooped out a spoonful of what now smelled like soup of some kind.

"They said you really need to eat something." Amanda said blowing on the hot liquid. "You're very malnourished. This is just tomato soup but it'll be easy on your stomach."

Amanda moved the spoon to her lips and she gladly slurped it up. For the last few days all she'd been able to eat in her near paralyzed state was bread slices. This was practically a feast. She couldn't believe how nice this girl was being to her after everything she'd done to her at school.

"Hey now, no more crying," Amanda tried to admonish with a cheerful voice. "If you can get better I'll accept your apology."

She nodded and sipped more soup, but she couldn't stop the tears. They sat like that for a while. The medical person had left but she hadn't noticed when. Amanda's mom just sat their watching them protectively. She saw that Amanda's mom looked just like an older more mature version of the younger girl. She thought Amanda would be lucky if she would still look great like that in her future. Neither Amanda nor her mother was very tall or voluptuous, but they both had a petite beauty to them, especially Amanda with her freckled cheeks.

About the time she had finished her bowl of soup the police officer returned looking grim.

"We got a warrant from a judge and went to the girl's house," he told Amanda's mom who had risen to meet the man. "It looks like her story was true. There was a huge bloody mess in the basement and papers in the house that said they'd hired doctors to look at the girl off the record. Both parents have been brought in for questioning. Human Services is willing to grant you temporary protective custody till something can be worked out since she seems to be safe here..."

She didn't know what else he said. She must have blacked out again. The next thing she knew she was surrounded by strange doctors and lying in a wheeled bed. She was still in the house though.

"...we can't give her any drugs. Not even painkillers. Her system is completely out of whack. Her body has gone crazy for some reason and is building unneeded muscles and bone in a thick, strange mass. The mobile x-ray machine couldn't penetrate the toughened skin on her back very well so we can't get a good look in it. Her hormones and nervous system are also seemingly in complete disarray. Nothing about her makes any kind of medical sense. For now she must stay here until we can rule out contagion as the cause."

She knew what they were saying. They thought some disease had done this to her. She wanted to tell them they were wrong but she was too tired to speak.

She felt a soft touch on her arm. Looking over a little she saw Amanda sitting next to her. For some reason that little bit of compassionate human contact, something she herself had completely lacked in her interaction with others comforted her enormously. This time she felt a little warm inside when she went under.

Her next moment of lucidity came when she felt hands on her, wet hands holding cloths. She opened her eyes and saw that Amanda and her mother were wiping her sweaty body clean. Neither grimaced or looked disgusted at what she must look like. In fact both looked like they were trying to be as careful of her back as they could. The cold water felt amazingly good and cut through the pain.

"Honey, can you get another bucket of clean water." Amanda's mom asked quietly.

Amanda nodded and left the room carrying a small purple bucket.

"I know who you are." Amanda's mom said softly. "My name is Lia if you don't know it already."

Lia paused to get more water on her cleaning cloth.

"I know that you are the one who has tormented my daughter at school." Lia's voice carried no hint of how she felt about that.

"I...I'm not...a good...person," she croaked out. "Don't...this. Should let...die."

Lia snorted. "Nonsense. I only brought that up to remind you that despite all that, my daughter was the one who insisted to the police and state official to let you stay here and not in some quarantine housing. She wants to help you despite everything you've done to her."

Steph felt tears burn in her eyes again, but not from pain this time. "Told you....I'm not...nice person...but...very...grateful."

"Good," Lia said in a more approving tone. "I hope you remember that gratitude when this is all over."

Amanda returned and saw them talking. She gave a small comforting smile that Steph thought looked perfect on that small, almost cute face. She felt Amanda move to bathe her back. She let out hiss as the water made contact then sighed at the numbing relief. She was amazed the girl could stand to touch her there but was heartily glad she did..

Lia lifted the blanket on her and moved to do her front. She was too tired to protest or feel embarrassment at her nudity. At one time not to long ago she had been proud of her small C cup breasts now on display. She didn't care about that at all tight now. She saw Amanda look over her exposed flesh but was to mentally out of it to pick up on it.

"Go back to sleep." Lia whispered in her ear. So she did, feeling a cooling damp cloth settle on her forehead.

Steph knew the nest time she woke that she'd been out for a much longer time than her past black outs. It was bright daylight now and she'd changed locations. Her wheeled bed had been trundle into a bedroom. A slight turn of her head showed her it was Amanda's room since the girl was lying in a bed next to her. She also felt a little different. The pain was now concentrated solely on her back now which felt huge and heavy even with her lying on her stomach. She also felt unnaturally stiff. As if she couldn't bend her spine at all.

Then she saw what had awakened her. It was another person in the room. The mystery person walked into her vision quietly as not to wake Amanda. She saw the person in front of her now was a little girl, maybe 12 or so. She figured this girl must be Amanda's sister or something since there was a strong resemblance to this cute freckled girl and the one lying in the bed.

She lay there watching the little girl look at her for while. Neither said a word until Steph felt a bit awkward.

"You're that mean girl from 'Manda's school." The girl said suddenly in a quiet fearful voice. "Why are you here? Are you gonna hurt 'manda again?"

Steph had to lick her lips before speaking; making sure her voice was low. "No...sister...is helping me. I hurt...very badly."

She saw skepticism on the girl's face. Then the girl approached her slowly. She stopped a foot away then reached out a pointed finger. "What is that on your...?"

Steph barely felt the finger touch her somewhere on her enormous humped back then she screamed. No it wasn't a scream, it was a shriek. It was like the worst of all the pain she'd felt so far concentrated onto that one spot. A warm wetness spilled down her side but that barely intruded into her blinded mind. All she could feel is pain and something moving inside the thing on her back. Amanda jolted awake.

"Holy crap Kari, what did you do?" Amanda cried as she threw herself out of the bed.

Kari immediately began crying. "I don know, I dunno,...I just touched her and she screamed. I didn't kill her did I?" the girl sounded genuinely afraid she done just that.

"Am...alright," Steph tried to sound confident. "Just really hurt...not dead."

Steph licked her lips. "Mirror.......Please."

Amanda immediately took her eyes off her crying sister and back to Steph. "Are you sure you want to see?"

Steph nodded fiercely. Amanda immediately moved out of her vision and a muffled noise came from somewhere behind her to the left. She tried to distract herself by talking to the little girl Kari. "Is...OK...not your fault. Not...dead."

Kari didn't look much mollified by her statements but she did stop crying. Amanda came back into view holding a four foot high rectangular mirror that must have been hanging on a wall. When she turned it toward her Steph couldn't breathe for a moment. Her back was enormous; it was as if she was pregnant and was carrying a baby in her back. It also looked like it was hard and tough, maybe dried out too. She stared and stared, she couldn't look away. Then it happened.

It was as if something tried to tear its way out of her back with one huge push. She screamed and kept on screaming as the pushing and tearing kept on. It was by far the worst she had felt so far and her body wouldn't let her black out this time. Amanda and her little sister looked on in frozen horror..

*****************************************************

Amanda was terrified. She stood next to her sister and couldn't think of anything she could do to help Stephanie. The hurt, deformed girl was thrashing and screaming at the top of her lungs. Her back bulged and throbbed as if something was trying to force its way out. It was like being in some terrible horror movie.

She had hoped that the doctors would be able to find something to save Steph but they were to late. How could they stop someone's body from tearing itself open like this? Blood and some other liquid were pouring out of cracks in Steph's skin now, if that tough hide on her back even was skin. She wished she could look away.

She held onto the quivering Kari, trying to hide the horrific scene from her little sister and wished she could make herself do the same. The weird growth had disturbed her since she first saw it, ever since she had seen Steph lying there on her lawn, her hair a strange jet black and with a huge hump on her back. This was so much worse than that had been.

Two days ago she'd just been sitting there watching TV with her mom, idly flipping channels when she saw the body on the lawn. At first she thought it was a homeless person passed out in the grass because of the baggy, dirty clothing. She and her mom had gone out and found Steph lying there instead.

After that it had been a whirlwind of doctors and police in and out of the house, all of them trying to help this girl who'd shown up so unexpectedly. They had finally chosen to keep Steph here; they were all quarantine in the house with her, even Kari who'd been asleep in her room for most of the initial stuff. Amanda felt confused about all of it but most of all whole situation stung her heart.

Steph had been an enemy; a beautiful tormentor who made her school life miserable with her friends in tow behind her. Every time they had spoken or had any contact it been horribly painful. Steph was in one of the popular circles and from that loftiness she had chosen Amanda as a target 2 years ago when they'd been in middle school. It had been only her that bothered Steph so much; none of her own friends received any notice, good or bad. Despite all that Amanda was captivated by her tormentor.

Maybe it was something wired wrong in her head but she had always admired Steph as much as she had dreaded her. Steph had always been a presence in the school. Everyone knew who she was and most of the boys all desired her. She walked the halls and classrooms with confidence and with a personality made others follow her. Not to long ago Amanda had admitted to herself that she had a huge crush on the more popular girl. It made no sense at all but that was just how it was.

She hadn't thought much about her sexuality at all till she realized she wanted Stephanie. She found the girl absolutely stunning in appearance. Steph was little more developed than most girls in their class including her and she thought that might be a part of what she found so attractive. She had also found that whenever she saw Steph, her eyes would linger and roam over that body. Earlier during the bathing she had been sorely pressed not to react when she saw the breasts she desired to touch bared to her.

Now that beautiful princess of a girl was lying in a trundle bed undergoing some horror she couldn't image. She couldn't understand how anyone could stand so much pain as Steph seemed to be going through. She felt so useless. She wanted to do something, anything. She didn't care if after this Steph went back to her tormenting ways, she just wanted the girl to be OK. She wanted to have the opportunity to someday express her feelings to her, even if she was turned away. That couldn't happen if she died.

She heard her mother enter the room and gasp. She there in a t-shirt and shorts staring in bewilderment. "What's happening to her? Dear God, she looks terrible."

She suddenly ran from the room screaming out, "Gotta call those doctors. Maybe they can do something."

Amanda held Kari to her chest tightly and just watched Steph writhe on the table, her new black hear flailing around. Suddenly she saw Steph's body give a great stiffening jolt. The streams of blood and mystery liquid became rivers as she saw something tear up through the middle of the fleshy hump. She absolutely knew this was gonna give her nightmares for years after this but she had to watch. She didn't even try to shield Kari's eyes either this time either.

That something became two such things. They looked pale, fleshy, and bony. There was a great squelching sound and Steph's back split open like smashed egg. Two large appendages rose up and out and pieces of broken hide slid to the floor in a disgusting mess of blood and liquids. The appendages were attached to what looked like a new pale version of her original back, as if the hump had been a shell covering her actual back to grow these things inside. The two thing spread out to their full lengths and she thought they looked familiar.

"Wings!" she heard Kari whisper quietly but sharply from below.

Amanda saw her sister was right. They looked like huge fleshy wings. Then as they watched that fleshy exterior began to flake off. Steph seemed to heave and shake, and then as if she was gaining some control over those things, she began to twitch them back and forth. More of the stuff sloughed off in sheets now. Then after it was all off and on the floor with the shell remnants, Steph lay there with an enormous pair of black feathered wings. The feathers looked to be coated in some sort of protective mucus but see could see the size of them underneath and was impressed.

Gasping for breath on the table Steph arched her back and spread the wings out fully. Amanda felt the slippery feathers brush her and Kari as the spans swept out and filled the room over their heads. The wing touched and then drooped down the walls as they ran out of space to fill out. Fully extended Amanda thought the wings to be almost 10 meters across from tip to tip seamed to be really bendable. They connected to Steph's back almost from shoulder to hip and the back itself now looked to be heavily muscled.

"Holy Crap!" Kari said, again the one to vocalize things.

Amanda didn't feel like saying anything about Kari's language.

"Steph," she found herself saying. "Are...Are you alright?"

********************************************

"Steph, Are...Are you alright?"

Amanda's voice cut through the weird fog on her thoughts. Steph felt like she'd just been pressed through some kinda of industrial press and squirted out. As her lucidity returned and the awareness of her body came back she realized she felt no pain at all anymore. The silence of her nerves almost felt eerie. Then she tried to move, and everything just felt wrong somehow. She lifted her head up and opened her eyes, then turned toward where Amanda's voice came from.

"I think I'm alright," she said amazed that her voice seemed to be back to normal without the strain from before. Then she saw Amanda and the huge arch of black, slick looking feathers that went over the girls to the wall. She followed it and realized it ran straight to her! "What the hell! Are these...mine?!"

Amanda nodded looking a bit stunned still. "Yeah, your hump thing split open and these unfurled out of it. You grew a huge set of black wings in there."

"Yeah!" Kari spoke up excitedly. "It was really gross looking but your back thing just like shattered with a squoosh and those popped out."

Despite her confusion Steph had to laugh at the young girl's attempt to help.

Concentrating a little she found she somehow already knew how to move her new appendages somewhat; maybe from some instinct kinda thing. With an effort of will she moved them back and forth in the air a little as she realized she could feel through them. She wondered if these are why she was in so much pain. Growing new limbs and nerves was an unpleasant process. Considering that what was attached to her now should be impossible, there probably weren't any cases to compare it to.

"Hey what happened, why did she stop..." Lia said as she came into the room and then halted when she saw everything. "Oh Christ in Heaven; what happened?!"

"Umm. Her back thing broke and wings came out." Amanda said a bit lamely.

"I can see THAT," Lia said in a stupefied voice. "But how? This should be impossible."

"Impossible," Amanda said "Even though we're... you know. That should be impossible to most people also. Maybe Steph is like that too."

Stephanie felt lost in the conversation. She had no idea what they were talking about.

"Umm...." She hesitated before asking her question. "Would it be possible to borrow a brush?"

Lia eyed her daughter with a considering look before answering. "What do you need a brush for?

"To clean this slimy stuff off my wings," she said. "It feels kinda gross now. It's cold too."

Lia thought for a moment. "Kari, could you get that hand brush from the broom closet and a bucket of water?"

"Yeah, be right back mom." Kari slipped out of the room and Steph heard her footsteps running off.

"We'll you made quite a mess," Lia said wryly as she picked her way through the horrid remnants on the floor and came to Steph's side. "Are you still in any pain?"

"No," Steph replied and shook her wings to demonstrate. "As soon as the last of the hump stuff broke off me it went away. "

Lia looked over her body curiously and Amanda came up to her mother's side to join her. Lia reached out tentatively and Steph gasped a little as she felt the warm finger touch the new sensitive skin that had been exposed and trace a roughly ovular line; the line where the hump had been. Then that finger went to the base of her wing on that side. When the finger traced the connecting point she giggled as it tickled her and caused her to bash both mother and daughter on the head with her still slick wing.

"Sorry," she said when they yelped in surprise at the wet contact. "That tickles when you touch there."

She let them look and explore a bit more. Steph didn't mind that she was lying on her stomach topless while Amanda and her mother explored her new appendages. They had already cleaned her off when she couldn't move so they'd already seen and touched her. There was nothing left to be modest about in that regard, and she was curious about things too.

"Hey Amanda, can you get the mirror again?"

"Sure." Amanda picked up the mirror from the bed were she'd dropped it when Steph had begun screaming again. Steph saw her new additions now. She saw the shiny black wings arcing out from her back; they were the same exact color her hair had changed to. She thought the wings looked kinda nice and would look even better once the slimy stuff was gotten off.

"It kinda makes you look like a black winged angel or something," Amanda said appraisingly.

"That's what I thought!" Kari said exuberantly as she came back with a big bucket sloshing with water and a 3 foot horizontal brush that looked to have been designed to sweep under furniture. Kari took both items to one side and set the bucket down so she could dip the brush head into it. "I'll start on your right one."

Doing just as she said. Kari took the brush to the wing tip against the wall.

"Wait Kari!" Lia said stopping the girl. "Let move to the garage to do that. We'll just make a bigger mess of the room if we do it here."

"Oh crap! I so sorry Amanda" Steph said as she surveyed the discarded skin and all the blood and other liquid all over the carpet. "I didn't mean to destroy your room."

Amanda just laughed, not the response Steph would have expected.

"Don't work about it; just make sure you help me clean it up."

"Uh sure, definitely, "Steph confirmed a bit numbly. She felt really bad that she'd done so much damage when all Amanda had done was volunteer her room. "Could you guys help me get down, I'm not sure how my balance is gonna be when I try to dismount with these things. "

All three girls moved and held onto her somewhere. Taking a deep breath she slowly drew her wings inward until they kinda folded in behind her like a dark cloak, she was careful not to knock anyone down with them. Their highest point while folded was a bit above her head and shoulders but she thought she could still make it through the door fine. The squishy feeling of the mucus felt really gross though. With that accomplished she very slowly slipped one leg off the side of the bed and set her weight on it.

When she didn't immediately fall on her face or feel dizzy she set the other leg down while keeping her hands on the bed so the majority of her weight was still on the piece of furniture. When she drew back and tried to stand normally she found herself automatically adjusting for the new weight and center of gravity.

"OK, I don't know where anything is so I'll have to be led there." She said once she was confident she could stay upright.

They helped her lean down and through the bedroom door and held he wings so she didn't scrap off slime on the door frame. Then she was maneuvered down a hall. They passed a bathroom and Lia thoughtfully grabbed a towel and draped it over Steph's neck to kind of cover her breasts a little and return a little bit of modesty. Steph saw a medical urinal canister next to the toilet and sincerely hoped Amanda hadn't been the one to use that on her. Feathered freak or no she was still a teenage girl and didn't want to consider such an embarrassing scene..

Finally after much difficulty they entered the mostly empty garage. Amanda went out a side door and came back in with a hose. Steph saw the drain in the floor and got the idea. She unfurled her wings fully again and presented their backside toward Amanda. She heard the squeak of the nozzle being turned then felt the cold water all over the length of her wings. The mucus stuff easily washed of and Kari used her brush to scrub any persistent spots. After about twenty minutes on both sides she was finally clean and feeling bit better.

"Thanks so much," she said while kneeling on the wet floor where'd she been for the last of the cleaning. "I've caused you so much trouble; especially you Amanda. I was horrible towards you everyday and now I show up here and make a mess of your life. You didn't deserve any of it and yet you helped me out even after my own parents abandoned me."

"Don't worry about it, you've already apologized enough. If you're willing to be my friend from now on I'll forgive you."

"Of course!" Steph said adamantly. "How could I not accept that after this?"

Kari just looked at them and then shrugged as if to accept what Amanda said as law. Lia though had something more say.

"It's a good thing you so willing to change your ways," She began. "I don't know how much you were aware for but you're gonna be here for a while."

Steph tried to remember. The past two weeks were such patchy morass of memories. Nothing seemed to be in order. Eventually she thought she had the right ones.

"You mean that officer saying that you have been given temporary protective custody of me or did you mean the doctor saying we all need to be quarantined inside?"

"Both actually," Lia said. "Since you parents were arrested and seeing that you were willing to let us help you and that my daughter knew who you were, the state asked me to take temporary guardianship of you. The quarantine will probably be lifted now that things seemed to be in some way resolved. It don't know how anyone will take a girl who's had grown a set of wings but it's definitely not caused by a disease"

"Did the police say anything about what the deal was with my parents?" she asked.

"A little," Lia said as if hesitant to tell bad news. "It seems that there was something fishy going on when you were adopted. The agency your parents used came up on a FBI black list. They had apparently done a number of inhumane things and didn't keep any records on the children they gave out. Your background before you were adopted is completely unknown and it seems your birth certificate and SSN are both fake."

"Why would they and my parents do something like that?!"

"No one knows and your parents aren't talking."

Steph digested the information. She had never really gotten along with her parents very well. She had always known she had been adopted. It was hard not to when she could see even as a child that her appearance was completely different from the rest of the family. She supposed it all didn't really matter too much beyond paperwork since she would have just been an infant when the dirty deed had been done. She was curious who her real parents were since she looked like this now but that was probably impossible to find out. She'd seen stuff like this on TV before though; they would just issue her a new ID from the government and probably put her in a foster home or some such. She didn't really care about that though; since her parents had abandoned her she didn't feel any remorse for leaving them.

She also didn't see it as a bad thing to live with Amanda and her family in the short term. Despite her past misdeeds, they were willing to forgive her. That touched her more than a little.

"I guess I'll just have to deal with it then." She said, trying to sound confident as she stood back and folded her wings back up. As they folded in she felt something catching still. It felt weird. A little hesitantly she spoke to Amanda. "Um, could you look at the base of my wings on my back; it feels like something is sticking there."

Amanda hesitated and blushed before she moved closer and then behind her. She's probably embarrassed that I asked her check out my ass. She thought. She felt something being grabbed and pulled on and then with a weird sticky noise whatever it was pulled free and she felt something new again back there.

"What is it?" Steph asked when Amanda didn't say anything..

"Well...It looks like the wings also came with a tail. Its right at the top of your butt and it was stuck between your wing bases. It's fuzzy looking and skinny with a spade like tip."

"A tail too!" Steph groaned. "What the hell am I supposed to be?"

She concentrated again and figured out how to move her third new appendage. When she swung it around she saw Amanda was right, it was covered in a soft black fur and had a bulbous round-pointed tip and was about 3 and a half feet long.. Feeling along it she came to its base where her tailbone would have been. "I just keep getting weirder."

"You know, you look a little like an erinyes from Greek myth," Lia said thoughtfully.

"I like the angel idea," Kari said enthusiastically. "She looks pretty."

"Thanks Kari but I don't really feel very angelic," Steph said ruefully.

"Well you sure seemed to have bounced back pretty quickly from how you were earlier." Lia noted. "Are you sure you're alright? You were just a screaming mess not to long ago but now your laughing and not freaking out that you some how grew wings and a tail."

"Well I can't take them off me so there's no real sense in freaking out about them, their part of my body," Steph told her firmly. "And I feel fine. You guys have really helped me out. I thought I wanted to die a little bit ago but I seem to be OK thanks to you."

Turning around she faced Amanda seriously. "I really am very sorry was such a bitch to you. Thank you."

She paused, and then cocked her head slightly before she asked the question that had been nagging at her. "Hey Amanda, can I ask you a weird question?"

"Uh..sure. What is it?"

"I can't really remember it very well, but could you tell me why I started making fun of you? Not that I've stopped to think about it I can't think of any reason why I did it other than just being an all around bitch to people."

Amanda looked at her with as shocked pensive expression.

"You mean you id all that to her without any reason at all?!" Lia sounded really angry now.

"I had a reason in the beginning but I can't remember it. I was just wondering what it was since I can't think of why I would start doing since I know that Amanda has always been a nice person at school."

"I know why." Amanda sounded a bit afraid.

"Look, I promise not to make fun of you or torment you in any way. I just want to know why I started picking on you. I won't use it against you again."

Amanda mumbled something unintelligible.

"What?"

"It was when you found out that I liked girls." This time Amanda was clearer, but she sounded like she was expecting a blow.

Lia gave Steph a sharp piercing look.

"Holy crap! That's why I did it? I really was a complete bitch!" Steph paused as the reminder jostled something loose. She remembered it all now. It made feel like crap. When she went on it was in a more dead sounding voice. "That's right I remember now."

"You do?" Amanda asked tentatively. "Does this mean you aren't going to hate me again?"

"Oh hell no!" Steph said fiercely. "That would make me a huge fucking hypocrite again."

"Hypocrite?" Amanda sounded confused. "What do you mean by "again"?"

"What I meant was that I'm the same as you. I can remember now. Everyone found out you like girls and gave you a tough time. I was the same way as you but since I feared to receive the same treatment as you I joined them instead and then kept it up. It was all my own selfish fear that started it all then it was my stupid pride that kept it going even after I forgot the cause for my actions."

"Wait, wait, wait; what do you mean the same as her, are you saying you're a lesbian too and just didn't want to be ostracized with her?" Lia asked sounding a bit angry still.

"Yeah, pretty much. Like I said I haven't been a very nice person."

"But I've seen you with boyfriends and stuff." Amanda stated sounding a bit stunned.

"They were all to keep up appearances and to maintain my reputation. I wasn't attracted to any of them and certainly didn't like any of them. That's why they changed so often, they would end up annoying me or get annoyed themselves when I didn't let them feel me up and we'd split."

"Am I the only one who kept mocking you for that thus year? I don't remember anyone else but me messing with you."

"No, you were the only one. I thought me being a lesbian just really bothered you, I had no idea you'd forgotten about that."

"Well, that's certainly makes me an idiot." Steph said sighing. "Feel free to give me a good punch to the face or yank on the tail. It seems I really deserve it."

"I can't do that!" Amanda sounded mortified. "I just always wanted to at least be friends with you. I've actually always admired your confidence despite the fact that you seemed to hate me."

"Well thanks I think," Steph responded since she really didn't know why she felt warm from such a simple compliment. "Since you won't hit me, then I'll get started on your room. I really trashed it so just let me take car of it."

Lia smirked at this and handed her the cleaning bucket they used on her wings. "Here ya go, have at it. Trash bags are there by the door to the house. "

Steph wanted to laugh but satisfied herself with a small smile. It would take much more it seemed to earn forgiveness from the mother.

Careful not to bump things with her still unfamiliar wings she did as instructed, grabbed trash bag and bucket, and went back to Amanda's room only stopping once to refill the bucket in the bathroom sink with clean water. Kari, still a bit worked up from the excitement tried to help by getting her some carpet cleaner. Once back in the room she went to the far side of the mess to work her way toward the door. Now that she could see it again it really grossed her out that all the stuff on the floor had been in and on her back.

As she cleaned and scrubbed and dumped pieces of hump in the trash bag Amanda watched and laughed from the door. The laughing was because Kari kept trying to impress her older sister by helping out but only seemed to make things worse. Stephanie had to clean up three separate water spills due to that. She didn't mid though, she thought Kari was kinda cute, not as much as Amanda yet, but still cute.

When she was finally done she felt exhausted. Kari went to dump the last bucket of grungy, bloody water and Steph handed the full trash bag to Lia. "You should give that to the doctors when they show up again. They'll probably be ecstatic to have freak chunks to research with."

"You're not a freak," Amanda said. "Not at all!"

"A little fervent, but it's nice to know you thinks so." Steph said appreciatively. "But what else would you call a girl who at the age of 15 suddenly grew wings and a tail."

"Remember what I said earlier about looking like an erinyes earlier?" Lia asked thoughtfully while absently taking the bag. "Maybe you aren't human, or fully human, like us. I thought it was just coincidence that you collapsed on out lawn but maybe it wasn't."

"I don't know why either; I just finally stopped walking in my zombie mode and here I was," Steph said. "What was that about you not being human too?"

"We're not," Lia said holding out her empty hand palm upwards. There was a little flash and a candle-like flame hovered over her palm. "We are something else too."

"Hmmm," was all Steph said in response.

"What do you mean by "Hmmm"", Lia said sounding disappointed. "I just conjured flame out of nowhere and that's your response is just that?"

"I am impressed," Stephanie said trying to placate her. "But my weirdness meter is already maxed out for the day. Plus it isn't too surprising since none of you really freaked too much at my wings and tail. You just helped me right away with no qualms. If I did all that in front of someone else I think the response would have been much different. Maybe I just somehow instinctively to come to a house with people like you guys. Maybe it was like you just said and wasn't a coincidence at all."

Kari broke the mood by yawning loudly from the door.

"Let's continue this later. Let's get some sleep since all of you look barely awake." Lia suggested. "We can continue in the morning and get things straightened out with the doctors too since Stephanie seems to be alright now."

"You can share my bed," Amanda offered. "We didn't get to clean the trundle bed yet."

"Sure, if you don't mind." Steph answered appreciating the offer.

"Well then, I'm going to bed then, you get going too Kari." Lia and Kari followed those words and left Amanda and Stephanie alone.

Amanda went to her big oak dresser and pulled out two pairs of loose sleep shorts, panties and a shirt. She apologized when she handed Steph one of the pair of shorts and panties.

"Sorry, are you alright sleeping with just these?" She got a little red in the face. "I can find a blanket or something if you want to cover up top."

Steph realized she had been topless the whole time without noticing it! She hadn't thought anything of it since all three of the family had seen her like this already and there had been so much else to concern herself with. Now though she couldn't help but blush a bit at her exposed state.

"Well (cough) it can't be helped. I can't help being like this, there's no way you'll have a shirt made for a winged girl. I'll try not to poke your eyes out." She said smirking, then gesturing at her hard nipples in the cold air, trying to make light of the moment and put Amanda more at ease again. Instead she saw the girl look at her appreciatively instead. Amanda looked like she enjoyed what she saw.

Holy damn, she thinks I'm hot! Steph thought when she remembered about the lesbian conversation in the garage. With that in mind she looked Amanda over once again in a different light. Amanda was certainly a pretty girl. Not beautiful, more cute than anything else. She had a petite mousy look to her with tan skin, a brown ponytail, freckled face, and small pert breasts. She wondered why she'd never really noticed how the girl looked before. Now she would be sleeping in the same bed as her. She almost wished she hadn't noticed.

"Don't worry about it," She continued. "I have to sleep on my sides or stomach anyway, and it's not like I haven't been showing you everything I've got anyway. Plus you and your mom gave me that bath."

"Not everything," Amanda mumbled absently before catching herself and blushing furiously.

"Do you really find me that attractive, even with the new additions Amanda?" she asked curiously.

Amanda jerked as if she'd been goosed at being caught. "Um...well...yes. I've always liked how you looked. The black hair and other stuff makes you look different but not any worse. I'm sorry if I was staring."

Steph laughed, but then regretted it immediately when Amanda flinched and looked down. "Sorry, I wasn't laughing at you, really. It's just that I've been topless around you since you bathed me yesterday. You've already seen me naked for hours by now so there's no way I'm gonna be upset if you look at me now. Plus you even had your hands on me yesterday. I'm actually kind of appreciative that you still think I look good now that I've changed so much. I can't help but see myself as something of a monster now so hearing that is kind of a comfort."

Amanda just smiled shyly then said she was gonna change and left for the bathroom to do so. Once she was gone Steph slipped her sweatpants and dirty underwear off both of which were still damp from her hosing down earlier. She slipped the new underwear on; they were a bit snug, and then the shorts and sat on the bed. When Amanda returned wearing her own sleep attire, Steph took her turn using the facilities, and then came back to see Amanda pulling back the sheets.

Amanda climbed into the bed and Steph very carefully did the same on the opposite side. She rolled onto the mattress flaring her wings straight up toward the ceiling to keep them out of the way so she could lie flat on her stomach. Once they were both set she relaxed and let her wings lie as gravity would have them. They splayed out a little and her left one went on top of Amanda's chest.

"Sorry," she said "They seem to want to spread out a bit when I relax them while lying down."

"It doesn't bother me if it's just on my chest like that, besides your wing kinda has a nice smell, kinda spicy like cinnamon or something. "

"That's kinda weird," Steph said absently while getting herself comfortable, "Just poke me awake if you need me to get it out your face or something, I'm the guest in your bed so I should adjust to you."

"Sure, but it seems fine," Amanda yawned.

That was all the assurance Stephanie really need so she snuggled down and closed her eyes while Amanda flicked off the light next to the bed and engulfed the room in darkness. After everything that had happened Steph let herself slip into the returning embrace of pain free sleep.