Blaire stepped back, shocked. “It’s you! From-” She stopped, realizing how stupid she would sound if she had said from my dream.

“From what?” he said, grinning. He leaned against the oak, arms folded.

“Uh. Nothing.” Blaire said, blushing. “What’s your name?”

“It’s Jakob. Your name is Blaire.” He said matter of factly.

“Uh huh.” She stuttered out. “How’d you know that?”

Jakob stood next to her. “Blaire, you can’t pretend you haven’t seen me before. You and I both know that’s not true.”

Blaire blushed, still not wanting to tell about the dream she had the night before. “No… I don’t think so.”

“And I think,” He said, his accent prominent, “that you are lying.”

She peered at him. “You aren’t from around here. I can tell by your accent.”

He smiled. “Brilliant observation Blaire. I’m from Russia. I’ve been searching for one of the four. Good way to change the subject, by the way.”

Blaire looked confused. “One of the four? Four what?”

“The four who have to save the world of course! You should know that.” He said, giving her a puzzled look. “Come on. Walk with me and I’ll explain more.”

Blaire considered it. He was a complete stranger, yet she felt she could trust him. But what if the feeling was false? She could be walking straight into a trap. Leaning against the tree, she looked at him.

He looked the same as in her dream, but now he was wearing a heavy coat and blue jeans. He looked like a normal sixteen year old New Yorker. Not scuzzy or scary or anything. She decided to go.

“Alright. But no funny stuff.” She said, and went to stand beside him. They started walking, randomly choosing paths through the park

“Okay. Why don’t you start by telling me everything you know so far.” Jakob said. “Then I can explain to you better.” He brushed his brown hair out of his eyes. Blaire’s own curly red hair was tied back in a bushy ponytail.

“Well, about three weeks ago, I began having this dream.” She began. “I was wandering through this very park, looking for something but every night finding nothing. The dream was at night, and it was really cold. I don’t understand what they were about. Then, last night, I had a different dream. I walked for awhile, and then I went to a tree like the one we were just at. I sat in the branches, and then…well...” she stopped, blushing again.

“And then I appeared?” he finished

“Yeah.” Blaire said, astonished. “How did you know?”

“Blaire, all four of us have these dreams. It’s our way of finding one another. I had the same dream, except I was flying over New York, looking for someone with the tell tale sparkle.”

“Yeah…”Blaire said, blushing more. “You also, kinda, had, well…wings. And you could fly.” Blaire thought for a moment about what he just told her. “What about a sparkle? You don’t shine or anything.” She thought this was a little weird

Jakob looked a little uncomfortable at this. He stepped a little closer to her. “Um. Well…you can’t see it yet.”

“Huh?” Blaire gave him a blank look.

Then, Jakob quickly leaned over and kissed her on the lips. Really fast.

“What the heck is wrong with you?!” Blaire stopped and punched Jakob in the stomach. He doubled over. “WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT? I thought I said no funny stuff!”

He looked up at her. “Do you see me differently now?” he wheezed.

Blaire stopped freaking out for a moment and looked at Jakob. Her heart skipped a beat. Or maybe four. On Jakob’s back, on his shoulder blades, were shimmering, translucent shadows of black wings.

Blaire was dumbfounded. “Huh? Wait, what are those?!” She backed away from him slowly, not trusting her eyes.

Jakob stood upright, his cheeks blushing tomato red. “Well.” He self consciously ran a hand over his hair. “To be able to see the wings, and fully use them, you have to…be kissed by a member of the opposite gender from one of the four. It’s the only way. Sorry Blaire, but I thought it was best gotten over with.” Still blushing furiously, he looked down at the concrete.

“Yeah. Okay.” Blaire looked around for some kind of projector, something to create the image that she was seeing. It had to be a trick. She continued backing away, going a little faster.

Jakob stood up, and seeing Blaire fleeing, backwards, he started towards her. “Wait,” he said, reaching out to her.

Blaire whipped around, starting to run. “No! There’s no way that’s real!”

The boy ran after her, and before she got far, he grabbed her arm. Blaire tried to whip her arm out of his grip, but it was like iron. He turned her around so that her face was only inches from his own. She could feel his breath against her face, see an eyelash just below his eye, and see serious dark gray eyes.

“I’m sorry if what I did upset you,” he said, slowly, “But it’s the only way. I don’t know of any other way to make you literally see what’s going on.” He let go of her gently, and Blaire let out a shake breath. She had seen it in his eyes. This was real. She shook her head.

“Okay” she said, letting out a huge sigh, her legs shaky from the major shock of what she had seen. “I’ll listen.”

“Good,” said Jakob, looking relieved. “I don’t know everything about this.” Jakob admitted. “I’m still in the dark about a lot of things. But some of the stuff is just…there. I don’t know how I know it, or why. It just is. Like I’ve known it my whole life.”

“Oh.” Blaire said. “I want to know why we have these things.” she tried to look at her back and saw the shadows of white wings splattered with gray and brown.

“I don’t know that.” Jakob confessed. “I have the feeling that I know only a very tiny bit about us four, Blaire.”

“Oh.” Blaire said. “Well, can we fly?” she tried to flap the shadowy wings but got no response.

Jakob laughed a little. “No. These wings are little more than shadows. And our bodies are way too heavy for flight. Over time though, as we meet the last two people, you will notice your body making changes to adapt to the new wings. You may not notice it at first. You might grow an inch or two taller, or lose a few pounds here and there. It’s because you bones are becoming lighter, sort of hollow like a birds. Just us two meeting and being around each other will help a lot.”

“Oh, wow. Okay.” Blaire managed, a little shocked. This boy, this Jakob, had just told her that soon, possibly, she would be able to fly

“You are surprised.” Jakob said.

“Well, duh. Of course.” Blaire retorted. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Jakob shrugged. “I don’t know. I thought you would know more, like I do.” He looked at the bright blue sky, veiled by wispy clouds.

Blaire sighed. “I don’t know anything besides what you told me. I’ve been puzzling over this all day.”

“Let me see.” Jakob said. He put his hands in his jeans pockets, and he grabbed something. “Oh. The prophecy.”

“Prophecy?” Blaire asked, seeming skeptical.

“Yes. Prophecy.” Jakob said. “It tells what we’re supposed to do, to an extent.”

“I see you’re a fan of sarcasm” Blaire said flatly.

They had come to a small ornamental pond, which was heated to keep the plant roots alive through the winter. On top was a statue of a little boy with a fishing rod, his head towards the sky. There were wooden benches all around the concrete circle. Blaire could imagine people sitting around in the summer, watching their kids run around the park or enjoying the green in a city of grays, browns, and blacks.

“Come over here.” Blaire said, pulling Jakob, who had his eyes on a sheet of notebook paper, which was worn and crumpled, to a cold bench. They sat down, both looking at it. On the paper, in neat, blocky handwriting, was a poem.
“One of a city without sleep
One from far across the deep
One rescued from wind and rain
And one who ends others pain
Will come together and shall meet
Where the statue stands to weep
All together you shall rise
To save the earth from its demise.


“One of from far across the deep…” Blaire said thoughtfully. “What deep? Like across the harbor?”

Jakob just looked at Blaire. “I don’t quite think that’s what they mean.” He said. “There are four lines, each describing “one”. It talks about four altogether, so that must mean the first four lines are clues to who we are.” He thought a minute then added, “Us four I mean.”

“Oh!” Blaire said. “I see.” She scrutinized the poem thoughtfully. “I would guess that I might be the one from the city that never sleeps?”

“Bingo.” Jakob said smiling. He looked down again, and frowned thoughtfully. “I’m not sure about the other two though. I haven’t gotten even a remote hint about who they may be.”

Blaire shook her head, still a bit unsure about all of this. “This is…” she struggled to find the right words. “Insane. It’s pure insanity. I can’t believe what’s going on right now. Someone must have put something in my food at lunch…it must be kicking in about now.” She shook her head, and made to get up. She was inwardly yelling at herself for getting caught up in crazy dreams.

Jakob grabbed her arm. “Blaire” he said softly. “I know you may be shocked and skeptical and disbelieving, but its all true.” His dark eyes bored into hers until she looked away, still unsure. “I didn’t believe it either, until these…things didn’t go away” He continued, sneaking a glance at his back.

Blaire slowly sat back down, shaking her head. “It’s hard to wrap your head around, you know? “

Jakob nodded. “Believe me, I know. It’s not easy to be the first one.” He looked at the sky, and saw that seemingly out of nowhere, low grey clouds had formed, blocking the barely-there winter sunlight . Blaire looked up too. “It might finally snow.” She said, sounding hopeful.

“It will.” Jakob assured her.

She looked curious. “How do you know?”

He smiled and held out his hand. “I just do.” And a tiny white flake fell into his hand, and instantly melted into a droplet of water.

Blaire leaned back against the bench and smiled happily at the sky. “So it’s finally, finally snowing.” The flakes started falling harder, and growing in size. Blaire put up her hood and stuffed her hands in her pockets.
Then she gasped. “Look! Look at the little statue above the pond!”

Jakob looked and his eyes widened. “All four shall meet…Where the statue stands to weep.” He recited, and he watched as the snowflakes melted on the little statue boy’s eyes and ran down his face in cold tears.

“That’s amazing. It’s true.” Blaire quietly said. Then she shivered as the icy wind drove stinging little flakes into her face.

“It is cold.” Jakob agreed, noticing the look on her face. “I am thinking it’s time for me to leave. You should head home too Blaire. Your mom is going to be worried.”

“Yeah I guess I should.” Blaire said. “Hey… Next time… If we want to meet up, lets meet in a semi warm place okay?”

“Sure.” Jakob replied.

“There’s a little pizza place not too far from here. It’s a pretty cool place. Good food, too. We can meet there if you want.” Blaire suggested.

Jakob smiled. “That works for me.” He got up and started walking. He then turned and gave her one of his grins. “See you soon Blaire.”

Blaire waved, and shoved her hands deep in her pockets. She silently headed towards her apartment, the snow still flying in a crazed dance as it made its way to the ground.

Blaire stuck her hand out in front of her, watching snowflakes land and melt. “Finally,” she said to herself. “Finally, we get some snow.”