“Having a decent vocabulary isn’t a bad thing,” Teddy said defensively. “Maybe you don’t read books, but I do.”
The boy laughed off the insult, laying his cheek on his knee, staring up at him through his lashes and making Teddy breathless. “No books. I talk to animals instead. They’re much more interesting.”
“Can you understand them?” Teddy asked curiously.
“Of course,” he said proudly, like that was a known fact and not incredibly rare.
“That’s…cool.” Teddy said awkwardly, catching himself before saying “fascinating.” The boy smiled like he’d noticed. “I think you’re definitely part bird instead of part cursebreaker.”
The elated smile the boy gave him would be ingrained in Teddy’s mind for the rest of his life.
“Really?” he said hopefully, with a touch of insecurity that he had been masking until now. And Teddy understood in that moment that this boy was desperate to create his own identity outside of the confines of his birthright. He wanted to behim, not the mark on his eye.
Teddy boldly took his arm and turned it over, pretending to inspect it and not freak out over the fact that his skin was warmand soft. There was a small scar along the underside of his wrist that was slightly pink, and Teddy wondered where he’d got it.
“Definitely a little bird,” Teddy murmured, face burning but keeping his cool. “The feathers will come through any day now.”
“As soon as they do I’ll fly away from here,” the boy said with excitement.
Teddy couldn’t help but smile at it, even as his heart hurt a little at the idea of this little bird being gone.
“Maybe I’ll come with you,” he said, spontaneously and feeling like an idiot, but his heart was thumping like it didn’t want anything else.
“Bears don’t fly,” the boy teased.
Teddy felt a rush of disappointment and looked away. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“But teddy bears are easy to carry.”
Teddy snapped his head around. “Even for little birds?”
He nodded, eyes sparkling. “When my feathers grow in I’ll fly us both out of here, Teddy Bear.”
“Promise, Little Bird?”
A small finger looped around his pinkie. “Promise.”
The sky cracked with thunder in the next second, as if it had heard them, and Teddy glanced up. He watched as the world split open with a bright, jagged flash of anger, bringing wind and rain in an instant and wrecking the calm, cool night.
“He’s coming,” Teddy said, feeling that looming shadow closing in.
“Who?” his little bird asked, confused.
The tree rocked and water lashed at their skin. He clutched his little bird tighter. “You need to fly away, now!”
“Teddy, what are you talking about? Who’s coming?”
“Damir,” a sinister voice called, the word echoing all around them.
He began to shake, terrified.
“Teddy? Talk to me. Who’s chasing you?” the boy asked, heedless of the rain drenching his clothes and hair.
“I can’t hide from him. I thought I could, but he always finds me,” Teddy said, defeated.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are.”
“Stay with me,” his little bird said. “We can hide together.”
