Wings and Wolves

the classrooms, the noise of their conversations echoing off the high ceilings and glossy floors. Cecelia dodged dancers stretching against the wa

ld not be the first money-making scheme that she had talked Lia into joining, and the last time the audition for "entert

than a normal pub and posher. Leather couches and chandeliers sort of deal. They only open Friday

Lia was

er head towards the man lean

raight teeth. He reminded her of a movie star, with his clean-cut good looks and golden

ite wall. Her eyes were drawn back to him however, and she slid

t her looking at him. Vain, she thought, and with good reason. He would be popular around the dance academy, with both

ris sent him a flirtatious smile.

raised his eyebrows in i

e,” Lia commented trying to focus on the cork board, but the blonde man was

et for a boyfriend. What she needed was a regular source of income. There were adverts of every descripti

“Oh my god, Lia. He is such a man. Like, a proper grown up.

ar

ther notices with complete disregard for whatever they were advertising. She tore off the first phone number tear-awa

rm through Lia's. “We have

ely sure it is n

ain, the golden pull of him irresistable. There was something, she thought, so familiar about his face. Perhaps her initial impression had been correct

e academy, dodging through pedestrian traffic, onto the sidewalk, the swell of traffi

rner onto the street. They ran, giggling and breathless to the bus stop, ar

emy who caught his bus by first name. He bought tickets for his granddaughters whenever he could get them, and his familiarity with the dancers

lew him

ps, until there was a space near the back doors. She an

gang or something?” Lia s

house and had watched from her window as Paris exchanged lingering kisses with her boyfr

d. His leather jacket had hugged broad shoulders and lean waist, and bunched on the muscles of his arms. She had returned to bed once Paris had not-so-qui

ris was laughing. “Or something for cars. I do not know. The

between the guard for the seats behind and the door's opening passage, the track worn s

d by the aging occupants, and the young families saw more appeal in new build estates than the ramshackle houses in need of renovation and new life. As a result, the

ad been in the family for generations, passed down fro

er Lia had been the only survivor of the c

ng up to this point, but the fees of her dance academy were starting to chip away at its capital, and the

part time job with a regular paycheck, and she needed to let out the third bedroom to supplement it, thoug

treet, and Lia swore: “Ear

ard towards her, almost unbalancing her onto the street. If she had wondered if the fairy was

blood

k it off, the pain putting her beyond car

ed. “It would have bee

s she faked putting her earring back in

Paris c

ere did yo

ng mall. Exclusive men's club means men with money,” she made the money symbol with her fingers and thumbs. “What every wannabe dan

reepy china-dolls in the hallway, the same faded curtains, and threadbare carpets. The same pictures o

r was gone, after all. Her ghost still wandered the halls, phasing between moments of coherency where she would int

most people's grandparents did, Lia would not b

d was always baffled by Lia's wish to c

t in the kitchen, before drawing straws for the shower. Paris had an unerring ability to

to the kitchen table amongst the rubble of her life - chap sticks, tissues, small change, mints that had escaped their container, r

ghost paused by the table to observe. “All hiss and attitud

ng with it?”

her grandmother was in one of her coherent moods. “Pop him in

thrived here, despite Lia's best efforts to care for them, the leaves shining in the bright light that spilled through the

f dried apple it at it. She hoped for the best as she returned to the kitchen in o

ore brief. Under Paris' direction, she pulled her dark ha

d her to put on black underwear, and a suspender belt to hold up the thigh h

,” Paris

pper-gram, her dress hidden by her coat, and the fishnet stockings and black high heels on full display. She was begi

the money.

out, the male laughter and cat calls filling the chamber of the bus with sound and causing other passengers to look up from

ng Lia glad to be inside the bus despi

id, “that after a few weeks

very week?” Lia

it, Lia,” Paris said. “The men at this

…” Lia caught

opped and they stepped off

of wet tarmac. The darkness was cut with the bright artificial ligh

s, and the wound down windows of cars doing rings of the city streets so

e air as they huddled together for warmth, their voices bright and excited, and their high heels clip-c

his way closer to the unwary girls at the tail of one of the queues that had curled around into the alleyway be

tretched out hi

a snapped, star

recoiled, babbling as he scurried down the alleyway, d

ia explained

in a rising cho

prob

is said in admiration. “Y

p. “Are we far? I am freezing.” She huddled her jac

t f

but lost in her scarf, was trying to get passers by to accept a

he girls as they passed her

the black and white photo of a laug

her?” The woman

t it into her pocket. “But I will keep

hetically grateful for so litt

ris murmured as they walked away.

shru

ats scattering into the shelter of the shadows as they made their way to a solid door, it's chipped surface showi

g the walls with the music from the club pulsing around them like a

standing racks queued to the right, holding a variety of costumes. A door to the left opened into a small

Paris reached out her

warmer than outside, but only just, and her skin crawled

coats onto a rack and flicked through th

French maid's dre

in quality, the material holding an acrylic sheen and the tulle netting coarse, the

stband to hold the dress to the garter belt, before tying the white apron around her waist. “If you pin it to the garter, it'll stop it riding up so much," she advised. "Don't look at

ist to her garter belt, and arranging the bodice so that her breasts and the top edge

g, and it is yours. If Elior likes you, that is. And he had better like y

e bodice was scooped indecently low, but it was hardly worse than any other costume she wore as a dance

urse and touched

,” she said with a giggle and pulled o

ostume that I have worn,” Lia

. “Let's go. Remember, tables are numbered left to right, starting in the back booth

and put the drinks onto the table. We don't take

t louder. She pushed open the door and they stepped out into a large room filled with tables and chesterfield couches arranged around a central stage, curr

ome straight from work, their ties and attitudes loosened, and those whose business did not require su

ust sliding a tray onto the glossy surface. “You are late,”

t and handing the tray to Lia. “Table four.

, their arms over the back of the armchairs they sat on and their long legs sprawled out in the type of confident,

t the Other in their eyes reflected back golden in the darkness. She checked the

to offload

the man to her right did not have