Firebird

Chapter 12

Beckett

The weeks started flying by and before I knew it, we'd all been there nearly three months. I kept thinking about what happened with Dain and how I had felt extremely jealous when he held her hand. The fact that he was on a date with her. I tried to shake the feelings and just be the friend she needed. 
Kyla and some of the handlers had been helping me with Drake. We managed to get him flying but he couldn't stay in the air long yet. Tanwen would cheat and put her snout under him to help keep him up. We wanted him to do this on his own. He'd tripled in size since he was born and could blow tiny fire balls. I would never say this out loud but he was so cute.
Today was Kyla's birthday and her father was throwing her a party. She grumbled about it every time I asked. Claiming it was full of fake people who just wanted to kiss ass. When I knocked on her door this morning, she wasn't in her room. I didn't think she went through the secret door, so I decided to head downstairs to see if anyone had seen her.
And that's how I ended up here, looking at the back of her head. She was crouched, peaking around the door leading to the kitchen.
"What are you doing?" I asked. She squeaked and jumped up, hitting me a couple times.
"Shhh." She whispered. "Stealth mission. You in?"
"What are you talking about?" I whispered back, trying not to laugh.
"There's so many desserts just sitting there." She said, face serious. "If I'm fast, I can just run straight through there and grab something."
"Why don't you just use magic?" I asked.
"Yeah I've tried that before. I could use wind but they would feel it and snatch the food back." She explained. "Are you in or not?"
"This is dumb." I rolled my eyes. "But I'm in. It is your birthday."
"So how do you wanna play this?" She asked. "I've been caught loads of times. So give me something."
"How about you go in and start talking to the cooks, distract them." I said. "I'll come in behind and snatch something. Anything you prefer?"
"Cake please." She beamed. I laughed a little. She said nothing else and ran straight into the kitchen. I could hear her talking to the cooks about what they were preparing. The head cook telling her she wasn't sneaking off with food this time. I smiled and slipped in.
The kitchen was busy and I spied a cake on the counter. No one was looking at me as I grabbed the cake and started to go back out the door. One of the cooks stopped dead at me and looked at the cake. I held up a finger to my lips and then pointed at Kyla. The cook looked at her, then back at me. She smiled and shook her head. She said nothing but stepped aside and waved me through. Once I was out the door, Kyla ran out.
"Run!" She yelled and took off. I chased after her hearing the head cook yelling at us down the hallway. We laughed all the way up to the roof. I couldn't stop admiring her like this. Young and wild. So full of life. We spent an hour up there, enjoying the cake, before heading back down to get ready for the party. I told her I'd come get her from her room in awhile. She threw her arms around me and thanked me for the cake. Once back in my room, it took awhile for my heart to stop pounding.