The Fray of Werebirds [Discontinued]

Chapter 6 - Questions

The knife froze in midair.

I tried to force it down further but my hand wouldn't budge. I squinted through my closed eyes and found a pair of golden eyes staring back at me. Only then did I realize that Sirena was clasping my wrists. Although the weapon was pointing directly towards her heart she showed no sign of alarm.

"Do you really think you could kill me?" her eyes twinkled in amusement.

I gritted my teeth, irritated by her calmness. Since my hands were occupied I attempted to thrash her with my legs. Before I got the chance to even poke her, Sirena bounced up briskly, jerking me down and burying my face in the earth.

Scowling, I got up and whipped the knife at her aimlessly. The girl only chortled and hopped gracefully, dodging every last one of my blows. Finally she seized my shoulders and pinned me against a tree in the blink of an eye, ending the game. It became clear to me how she could have beaten those thugs back in the auditorium.

I cursed when my knife dropped but understood that it would be futile to struggle and slumped back. I was confined like a prisoner in between her stretched out arms with nowhere to go. Even with my body pressed against the tree, I realized uneasily how incredibly close she was.

For a few moments she surveyed me in silence, her face blank. I blushed and tried to avoid her gaze until her sweet scent wafted into my nose. I couldn't help but let my eyes wander into hers. They were two shiny spheres of magical gold worth more than half of the world's fortune. I was so mesmerized that I might as well have spent the rest of my life lost in their glamour.

Sirena leaned in.

My heart skipped a beat.

The warmth of her breath cuddled my neck as she whispered, "Don't make me hurt you, Caleb."

She remembers my name, I thought giddily.

For a split second, waking up smack in the middle of a forest with a girl like her didn't seem like such a bad thing after all. Immediately after that thought crossed my mind, though, I snapped out of my daze, remembering what I was really dealing with: a beast with inhuman powers. I just didn't know what type of beast.

"What are you, Lady Sirena?" I asked respectfully, knowing that I was in a very difficult situation.

"I'm a werebird," Sirena told me, "I can transform into a bird of any size I wish, depending on the amount of energy I yield. My bird form can't last for more than an hour, though, maybe two hours at the most."

"So on the day of your piano performance you..."

"I shrank as small as a hummingbird to avoid being crushed," she continued, "Like I said, what happened on that day was planned. It was a stunt to trick my pursuers into thinking I had died. It was working perfectly until you interfered. Unfortunately those guys now know how you look like and, unless you have a death wish, I wouldn't recommend returning to your hometown. I may have been able to knock them out without an effort but I don't think you can. I advise you to stay with me until I've got this problem solved, and I will solve it eventually."

Although I hated to admit it, she was right. Once I began to regain my composure I realized that I would rather have her as a comrade than a foe. Beast or not, I had no choice but to stick with her and trust that she really does have a way to stop this whole "everyone wants to kill us" thing. However, there were still a few more questions on my mind.

"Why are they trying to kill you in the first place? Is it because you're a werebird?"

She shook her head, "The person behind this is a werebird too. It's a really long story, but this is enemy of mine has connections with all kinds of human gangs and outlaws. She bribes them with diamonds and jewelry and she would do anything just to make sure I don't return alive to our flock."

"There's a whole flock of you?" I was bemused.

Are they hot too? I almost asked, but held my tongue.

"Yes, now enough with the questions, we need to get going."

The werebird finally released me, which caused my knees to buckle. I picked myself off the ground gingerly, stretching my muscles.

"Wait! I've got one more question," I called after her as she started to walk away, "Why did you save me?"

Sirena stiffened and, without facing me, replied with a query of her own, "Do I seem that heartless to you?"

I couldn't find an answer to that, but she didn't seem to want one anyway.