Chapter Ten
Trapped, I thought to myself as I was forced to stay even longer in bird form. I was too afraid to change back for fear of what would happen to my body if I changed while trapped in the cage.
Will the cage break? Will the cage become infused with my body when I transform, the roof slats melding with my arms and neck, the bottom of the cage permanently resting on my hips, my legs sticking out from the bottom? Can I even will myself to change?
I started to hyperventilate, the narrow bars of the cage seeming to constrict around my feathered body.
Perhaps it’s better just to wait it out. I don’t think he’ll kill me. I wish Father was here. He’d know what to do.
The old Army blanket covering the cage kept the air stagnant, but in the bottom corner, if I turned and bent over just right I could spy a gap in the blanket. I stretched down to look out of the cage at the room I briefly glimpsed when Aidan hurried me inside.
I should have transformed as soon as that noose was around my ankle. But the tricky part with transforming was that sometimes animal intuition and desires take over and a bit of my Sidhe mind could give way to animal.
No wonder I was so drawn to that bracelet, I thought.
But there was something more to it than the fact that it was a sparkling piece of jewelry. It seemed oddly familiar to me—almost like the bracelet my mother used to wear at bedtime when she sang her soft ancient Sidhe songs, the bracelet tinkling like a tambourine in rhythm with the cadence of her alto voice.
Peeking under the blanket, I spied the worn wooden planks, and the edge of a metal mesh wastebasket. The room was bathed in colorless silvers of night.
Maybe I can get myself out of this cage.
I opened my wings as wide as I could in the cramped confines of the cage, batting them about furiously as I began to recklessly hop up and down.
The cage bobbled a bit.
I leapt to one side, desperately grabbing the sidebars with my talons, keeping myself aloft as I hurtled in the opposite direction. The cage tilted to the side and failed to topple over, but the blanket shifted in the commotion and I could see half of the exposed room.
Once again I shook the cage, jumping this way and that, darting from one side of the cage to the other to get it rocking.
One— Two— Three— Four— and plunk!
The world turned sideways for an instant, but as soon as the cage stopped moving, I jumped up, crow feet now resting on what was the side of the cage, talons tapping through to the office’s wooden floor. The door to the cage was still shut tight and none of the cage’s wooden slats were bent or broken enough for me to make an escape. I wished I had taken Onora’s advice and specialized in Transfigurine techniques – then I would just whip myself into a cockroach and be done with the whole mess. Unfortunately, my kind’s natural transformations are birds, and my family happened to align with the crow. Only those who chose to learn the art of morphing could master other animals.
I rocked the cage again, trying to roll it on its side, but the door’s lock was too large – like a stone placed in front of a wheel – and it refused to budge any further. Yet, now that I was a little further into the middle of the room, I could take inventory of my surroundings.
To the left was a door. Judging by the light seeping under the crack, it was the door that led to the hallway. Another smaller door for the closet. A small square window on the right wall —dim moonlight. A flimsy-looking couch on the same wall, which the cage now rested against on one side. I spun around and behind the cage was another wall and a safe, and finally a large oak computer desk.
I’ll just wait. He can’t keep me in here all night, and if he does, then I’ll start making some noise. He’ll either have to let me go or let his family know about me – they may be a little kinder about letting me go.
My feet flexed. The slats of the cage were uncomfortable for my talons to rest on for long periods of time. I wished I had a branch to hold onto – then just maybe I could feel some comfort. Dismayed, I looked around the room one more time, the light from outside barely illuminating the shadowy corners.
Is that—? I spied an odd-looking statue on top of a shelf near the window. My bird eyes adjusted to the changing light as I peered through the bars and across the room.
The furry paws and teeth came in to focus and I gasped, A squirrel!
I leapt back in the cage, tail feathers slamming against the prison. Suddenly, it seemed, all of the animals creeping in the corners came into view. I was surrounded by poor, lifeless creatures.
Maybe I’ll just become another one of them if I stick around long enough.
I was trapped. I tried to settle down, gently folding my wings, preparing to wait until I could come up with another plan of escape.
Maybe when Aidan comes back I can just slip out of the door or claw at him.
My mind drifted to various escape plans – realistic and absurd. I desperately tried to keep my eyes open, afraid if I fell asleep I would either transform back into Sidhe or wake up in bird form, unable to remember who or what I really was. Either scenario could not happen. But no matter how often I stretched my beak open or ruffled my feathers, I could not keep from drifting off.
Scritch-a-scratch. Scritch-a-scratch.
My eyes darted open, pupils dilating to see who was approaching. It came from the door from which I could still spy light spilling from the bottom into the dark room. A shadowy figure shuffled back and forth, in and out of the scarce light.
Scritch-a-scratch. Scritch-a-scratch. Scratch. Scratch.
“Hello?” I whispered, and suddenly the sound stopped. “Hello?” I tried again, but no answer.
Better try something a little more natural, I thought.
Click-clack-clack-click. My beak snapped its familiar rhythm, the only one I knew to make.
Scrit-a-scrit-a-scrit— It quickly approached, the sound growing with each passing second.
And then it was there on the other side of the cage, staring in at me with its pink eyes creepily glowing, its tiny nose and whiskers twitching in response.
Great, how do I talk to a rat?
I hopped up and down to get his attention, rocking back and forth, and moving my head from side to side, but the rat didn’t respond. He simply sniffed around the cage, searching for food.
Suddenly a crack of light emerged from the doorway as the door slowly swung inward, a pudgy pink face poking into the room.
“Dwaaaaayne?” the boy called, his voice unsure of the dark. “Dwayne?” He tried to peer around the room without turning on the lights, merely using the hall light as his only illumination.
Then his eyes rested on me. I tried to sit perfectly still, hoping he didn’t see me and would just leave.
Fallon. I would recognize him anywhere.
Luck was definitely not on my side. He flipped on the light, and in bound the chubby boy I first saw at the gas station not so long ago.
“Coooool!” he beamed down at me, squatting down to get a better look.
Dwayne raced over and leapt up on Fallon’s bulging thigh, quickly ascending to his shoulder.
“What should we do with it?” he excitedly asked his companion. “Keep it in my room? I could put him in your cage since you aren’t using it anyway. It might be a little bigger than this one.”
Fallon carefully inspected the cage, slowly lifting it upright and eyeballing me with a crazed look. He scratched his already mussed up hair.
If he gets me in the other cage, I may never have another opportunity to get out. I padded back and forth, nervous as I contemplated what I should do next. Part of my mind was becoming fuzzy from being transformed for so long. If I stayed changed for too long, I may never be able to make the decision to escape or change back.
Fallon’s eyes grew wide. “I know!”
That look was too evil.
I shook as Fallon raced down the hallway, cage suspended between his arms, jouncing along. He crashed int
o the kitchen, sweat gleaming off his forehead. Everyone at the table looked up in sudden silence, frozen in time—Quinn in mid-gulp of his beer, Mom mid-spoonful of peas, and Dad mid-dabbing his mouth with a napkin. A young girl, who I assumed was his sister, merely shrieked at the sight of me. Aidan’s face lost all color, his mouth agape, but it quickly turned into a quiet rage.
“Look what I found in Aid’s room!” Fallon squealed with delight, prancing up to the table with the cage in hand.
I tried to keep hold as best I could and managed to avoid bashing my head on the cage.
Their mom turned to Aidan and sharply asked, “What?”
Aidan tried to brush it off. “I don’t know what he’s talking about. He’s the animal lover, not me.” He jabbed another piece of meatloaf with his fork and shoveled it in his mouth. “Be-shides,” he mumbled between bites, “i’s juss a s’upid birr.”
“It’s not just a stupid bird.” A blonde woman in a long broomstick skirt glided from the table, gently snatching the cage from Fallon’s chubby fingers.
“Heyyyy, Aunt Holly!” he began his protest but was silenced by the woman’s upraised index finger.
“What it needs,” she softly spoke, “is to be out where it belongs. If you don’t mind?” She indicated the door to outside.
Aidan scowled. Their dad shrugged. Fallon stood with his mouth open, ready to protest, but nothing came out.
In a moment, Holly was outside and quickened her steps. Once within the woods she set the cage on an abandoned log and stood back, staring at me with squinted grey eyes. She leaned forward, hands resting on her knees.
Quietly she addressed me, her face much more serious. “You’re lucky I found you. But you better stay away from here because next time you may not be so fortunate. You understand?” She turned her head to the side. “I mean it!” Her finger jabbed in the air at me.
I cawed. It was all I could do – placating the crazy woman.
“Very well,” she said.
The cage door sprung open, and I hopped out of the narrow doorway. I turned once and caught a final glimpse of Holly staring at me with a hint of disdain. It sent a chill through me. I didn’t wait any longer to leap into the air and soar over Winchester Lake’s moonlit waters.