Foster's face turned pale. He looked worriedly at Kara, confused when she continuously backed away from him. The blond boy with her looked spooked as well. "What are you talking about? My eyes are fine. I don't have my glasses, sure, but I can see out of them still."
"That's not what I mean." Kara pulled out her phone, and shakily started it up. She handed it to him quickly and then backed away some more. "Just look." Foster took it and did as his girlfriend asked. Ah, girlfriend! He still loved that. He wasn't sure what had happened. He'd blacked out for a while, but wasn't hurt or anything. Shaking away these thoughts, he looked at Kara's phone's screen. She'd opened it up to her camera. Foster didn't understand why until he narrowed his eyes to look more closely. Wait a minute. His eyes!
He shrieked, nearly dropping the phone. His eyes, once a pale blue color, were now a dark yellow, like a hawk's eyes.

Kara could almost laugh at the situation. She went to his aid soon enough, taking the phone back and crossing her arms over her chest. "Foster's eyes...they weren't like that before," she murmured to Toby. "What happened?"
Toby seemed to have recovered from his previous shock, and quickly answered her.
"You know how I was temporarily part tree? Well, your human friend is momentarily part griffin." He looked a little closer at him, his eyebrows going together as he thought of the situation. "At least, I think that's what this is. Even though I was changed too, I've never seen anything like this before." Meanwhile, Foster was panicking. He was pacing and rubbing his eyes, often pulling at his shirt from the awkwardness of the whole ordeal. "I'm a monster," he said aloud. His transformed eyes were wide and fearful as he turned to look at them both. "I'm a monster!"
Toby started to laugh. "No, you're not. If you carry on like that, though, you might start to act like one." He turned to Kara, at a loss for words. "Did you want to go help him?"
She nodded. Kara didn't entirely want to, considering she was just given a gift with amazing abilities, but Foster needed her. She couldn't leave him while he was like this. As fast as she could, she went to him and patted him on the back. "Foster, there's no need to worry. Toby's a fairy. He knows all about this kind of stuff." Foster stiffened against her arm. His expression turned to curiosity as he turned to look at the other boy. "Really? But..he doesn't have wings." Kara was puzzled then. "What? Yes, he does!"
"I do, but he can't see them because of the Veil." Toby smirked. "I'll fix that for you."
The boy waved his fingers, and something stirred in the air, something with a glittery sheen to it. Foster stepped back, and Toby extended his wings outwards a little. The Veil must've been taken off of him, Kara thought as she watched. Toby was laughing slightly, his shoulders shaking. "Oh, you humans. You're a riot." She watched as the golden boy moved to take her hand. He was more serious now. "Come on, Kara. You too...Foster, was it? We're going to a friend's place." Kara knew what he meant. Reena's house. She smiled and took his hand. Foster did too, but more reluctantly. "Are you sure you're up for it?" Kara wondered aloud. "I mean, you said that you weren't before." Toby nodded, shaking out his thin wings behind him. "Of course! Well, probably. Just try to hang on!" With that, Toby put one foot behind him and jumped up in the air, higher than any regular person could. His wings caught some sort of air pocket, and before either of them could blink, he was flying and carrying them both away with him. Foster was clinging to Toby's arm for dear life, and Kara couldn't hide her amusement. "We're...really high up," he choked out. "Yeah," Kara said as she beamed at him. "That's kind of the idea." Soon the couple fell silent as the world below them sped past. It was hard to ignore how beautiful it all was. Each tree they passed had such vibrant green leaves that you could almost forget that some of them had once been people. Almost. There was some strain in Toby's arms, but yet he still carried both Kara and Foster through the unknown, all the way to Reena's family's house.

Kara made sure to introduce Foster to Reena and her family. Kyle and Rowan were there at the time, so they met him, too. They were a bit uneasy about having another Flightless with them, but Kara assured them that he meant no harm. They removed their Veils at her request, and Foster looked like he might faint. He couldn't stop staring at them, fascinated at how they moved and worked. They each were clear and shimmery like crystalline glass. "Kara," he murmured as he turned to her. "Are we stuck here?" "Yeah." Kara looked away from him, unwilling to meet his gaze. Foster took her hand though, and sighed. "It's okay. I'm just glad you're alright." He ran his fingers across her palm, and then left, standing up to look out a nearby window. The pain from missing Foster should have gone with his return. It had, but now there was a new kind in its place. She missed her father now. Caleb was a good dad, she knew. He hadn't wanted her to come here due to the danger, but she hadn't listened. Tears gathered in her eyes, but she blinked them away and went to greet Reena's mom in the kitchen. "Hi, Mrs. Fern."
"Hi, dear." The frazzled mother fairy was cleaning a wooden countertop with a worn cloth. When Kara came over, she lifted her head and tied back her dark hair. "Is something wrong?"
"No, I just have a question. It's...kind of personal."
Melanie set down the cloth on a chair and nodded, crossing her arms. "That's fine. Ask away."
"What happened to Reena's dad? Do you miss him, or-" At that point, Kara's voice gave out due to Mrs. Fern's reaction. Her eyes became clouded, and she turned to look at her shoes. Kara became upset. "Oh no, I'm sorry! I shouldn't have asked."
"No, no...it's perfectly okay." Mrs. Fern sniffled and then shook her head, as if she were driving away unpleasant memories. "My children's father is...no longer with us. He was killed...back in the Beast Wars years ago, when we were both in our twenties." She trembled. "I miss him, Michael Fern, but it's been such a long time. I don't have any surviving pictures...the beasts took everything."
Melanie cried for a moment, then recovered and rubbed her face. "Why did you ask me that?"
Kara fixed her top and then just looked away again. "I don't know. I think I just wanted to see if anyone else could understand how I'm feeling. I really miss my dad."
Melanie's eyes widened. "Your dad? Was his name Caleb?"
"Yeah, actually." Kara moved her red hair aside and continued. "He's back in my world. He doesn't even know I left. Well, now he probably does." Her sides shook as tears came forth. "My boyfriend too...that's Foster, the boy you met today. I thought he was dead when he left me all alone." Her hands tightened into fists at her sides. "I don't know what to do. It's not safe here. Anything or anyone could come after me because of what I am. I want to go back, and bring Foster with me, but...how can we do that if I can't even make a Gateway to go back with? I've tried and tried, but...nothing works." Mrs. Fern's eyes took on a bright intensity as she spoke. She smiled slightly. "Kara, I know of a way to send you home. A Gifted fairy could make a Gateway, but you'd need them to agree to do it. All I will say is that as long as you live under my roof, you and your boyfriend will be safe here."
Kara lifted her head. She was so grateful for that that she didn't know what to say. "Thank you," she murmured at last. "Why are you so nice to me? I've never given you any reason to be."
Mrs. Fern smiled again. "Kara, I think that everyone should be treats with respect, regardless of who or what they are. That belief extends to Flightless, too." Her expression changed though, looking distant. "Hurricane is, in my mind at least, the only one that deserves all the hate he receives." Kara was interested now. "I've heard enough about this Hurricane guy to know he's bad news, but who is he, and what does he do that's so evil?" Mrs. Fern only sighed once more. "That, my dear, is a very long story that even the Gifted fairies don't  know completely. What every fairy knows is that he's a demise beast. He's the king of them, in fact-a self appointed king that will manipulate or hurt anyone that he deems fit."
Kara was thoughtful now. She tried to imagine this being, though she was still lacking some important info. "Okay, well, what does he look like?"
"He wears a dark suit. It's like one of your human tuxes, but it has a different collar with a diamond pattern across it. He has horns on the sides of his head that curl up at the ends. Not only that, but he wants to destroy this realm."
Kara was overwhelmed by this. She'd wanted to know about him, though, so she tried not to show her terror. "Oh. Um...how do you know all of this about Hurricane, anyway?"
Mrs. Fern looked uncomfortable. "I knew him once, but that was ages ago. The Veils and the Guardians have kept him away for a long time, but this can't go on forever. It's a fragile existence." The mother of three had her head in her hands, looking reluctant to speak. "I'd rather not say any more. If we can't do something soon, both this world and the human one will perish." Kara wasn't sure how to react. That word kept echoing in her mind. Perish, perish, perish... Are they really so scared of him that they won't do anything? she wondered. That's hard to believe. Kara started to move away, grabbing her jacket from where it lay on Mrs. Fern's coat hanger. "Well," she said, "you really can't live that way, Mrs. Fern. Someone has to do something soon. Thanks again." She opened the door to leave, descending down the rope ladder before Reena's mother could say anything to her. Kara wanted to go on a walk to clear her mind. She had to, because learning about this just made her angry. She zipped up her thick jacket and found herself feeling strangely happy. It still reminds me of home, she realized. I'd better take a really long walk.