From Low To High: Book 2
Chapter 8:

I woke up to the sound of swords clashing from outside, when I tried to sit up a pair of hands pushed me back down and the first thing that came out of my mouth was “hey what the?” but I saw it was the angel and relaxed. Remembering the events from last night I cover my head and ask the most important questions that needed a answer “who are you? Why are you here?” and I got a quick reply “I’m sebastian, your friend you can talk to” after he quoted me in a whispered voice so that nobody could hear I recognized his voice and shot up to a sitting position. I looked him in the eyes and saw the same bird I had bonded with over the past few months, i whispered “oh my god it is you” and he just smiled at me with a gentle gaze. After a few minutes of looking in each other’s eyes he turns his attention to Sam, Spek, Jax and Kye who were walking towards us with swords in hand. After they all surrounded us Sebastian stood up and the first thing I noticed was that he didn’t have any wings like before but I knew he was still my beloved bird I care so much about. The first one to speak is Sam but it wasn’t directed at me “So what is this all about mr.knight in shinning armor?” it was like he resented Sebastian or something and without thinking I jumped to my feet from the cott only to crumble to the ground with pain shooting through my legs, as soon as I hit the ground I heard swords hit the floor and was being picked up by someone but I was in so much pain I didn’t want to open my eyes so instead I wrapped my arms around the one who carried me and shoved my face into their chest for comfort. After a while of being carried I was able to open my eyes and was very surprised at the person holding me, I had to blink a few times to make sure I was right but of course it was Sam. I knew it was already late into the day and I needed to get out of here so I wiggled my way out of his arms and sat on the cott, when I reached for some bandages I was stopped by Spek’s hand as he said “what are you doing? And can you please explain who this guy is? He sat there the whole time not saying a word” I sighed at the last comment and started explaining “This is Sebastian he was a friend from grade school, yes I named my bird after him so don’t go berserk. He knew I was staying here and was on his way to see me because of what happened to my parents, he just happened to be nearby when I was plummeting from a tree” after that last part I went silent. I shook off the feeling of guilt about the lie but I had to do something, I started unwraveling the bandages on my feet to reveal my feet had been cut all over with dried blood making the old bandages crusty and stiff. I applied some cotton swabs and wrapped them in a new bandage, I started speaking again once I had finished “I need to get some things, i’m going into town” I stood up and the pain was a lot more manageable. I reached the door leaving them all in the factory behind me, I headed to the gravel road near the edge of the factory. Once I was walking for a while I started listing off what I needed “shoes for work, some new shirts, a couple pair of jeans and maybe a bite to eat” when I was finished with my list I had reached the center of town near the mall and realized I can’t go in without shoes! I just stood there thinking about what to do and just as I was about to give up someone covers my eyes saying “guess who?!” and I can already tell it is Jack the detective who visits the cafe. I quickly reply in a cheery voice “The person who is going to help me!?” and he removed his hands with a worried face right in front of mine, for some reason I jump back and wind up falling to the ground “ouch oh god, why did you stand so close?” when I commented he just chuckled and offered me a hand. I reached up and grabbed his hand but winced in pain because of my feet, that reminded me of the favor I was going to ask him so in a sweet very unlike me voice I spoke up “hey, do you think you could run inside and grab a pair of shoes for me? I seem to have misplaced mine” and I giggled a little because I was so out of character. To my surprise he gave me a big smile and said “of course, anything for a great friend” I told him my shoe size and I wanted tennis shoes with that I gave him the specifics he went inside the mall. After about thirty minutes I was starting to get worried so I peeked inside the window of the shoe store since it was near the entrance but I couldn’t get a good look at the shoes he was holding so I snorted and went back to the bench in frustration. I sat there for another ten minutes and waited patiently until I heard I large screech come from the sky and sure enough it was Sebastian landing on a nearby side walk in his bird form. He was quite large for a bird of any breed but he was a beautiful night sky black with the red feathers popping out of his chest. He slowly walked his cute bird legs over to me and climbed up my clothes to perch on my shoulder, after we sat there for a while I started speaking to him “How’d you escape?” he just cocked his head as if it was a hard question so I kept pestering him by poking his chest and messing with his wings and in return he poked my nose with his beak and started shaking his wings in my face “oh come on you play dirty! You cant slap me with your wing” and I can’t help but laugh already in a better mood. We teased each other for a while but were interrupted by a small cough at my side, I didn’t realize that Jack had been standing beside me. I quickly turn my attention to him and speak up “oh sorry, thank you so much! Hold on a second” I reach into my back pocket and grab a fifty dollar bill but Jack just forces my hand away with a calm demeanor and says “I got a few things, you can pay me back by joining me on a date tomorrow evening” after he finished speaking Sebastian started to make his way down my arm and used his talons to grab onto Jack’s shirt sleeve, Jack tries to break free from his grip starting to freak out and I can’t help but chuckle at his reaction and say “you really don’t like birds do you?” while pulling Sebastian away from him. Jack regains his composure and asks me one more time “will you go on a date with me?” I blush at his words but remember I have work tomorrow and feel guilty. I pause for a moment and reply “can you wait til I get off work?” he gives me a big smile and hands me a couple bags, two of them have shoes but one of them has a dress of some sort. I quickly shoot my eyes at him but he starts walking away saying “I will pick you up at seven from the cafe, don’t forget to wear that!” I can’t stop blushing and sure enough Sebastian starts to make loud cawing sounds directly in my ear “hey! Stop it! What’s that for Sebastian!?” he shuts his beak and sits quietly while I make my way back to the factory. About half way there Sebastian flies off into some trees but returns in his human form with a glare that could kill, I am stuck in place as he marches toward me from the tree line. All I could do was watch him approach me from the distance, once he reached me I was free from my paralyzed state but only to be picked up in Sebastians strong arms. I quietly rested in his arms and felt myself drift to sleep in a matter of minutes, while I was laying there I heard the sound of leaves crunching and the wind blowing, I was very relaxed and calm for once. When I woke up I was sitting at my large tree I always go to and relax, I slowly look around and see Sebastain leaning on a tree across from me. I could sense he was upset but I had no clue why so I just looked at him puzzled, when he understood how I felt he came and sat next to me with a sigh. Before talking he laid his head on my shoulder “I don’t want you to go on a date with him” I wasn’t sure how to respond to that comment to I just sat there while he continued speaking his mind “ya’know you have others who want to be there for you… They don’t just see you as a friend, some of them want to be with you… in the line of work your doing you shouldn’t be so open with him” while he was talking he made very good points but I still wasn’t sure about my friends wanting to be more than friends. I let out a sigh and hug Sebastian from the side but before I know what’s happening Sebastain is holding me by the waist and we slide into a laying down position, all I could do was let him hold me.

I was finally let go of and Sebastian had tears in his eyes as he said “please don’t chose Jack… he isn’t right for you” I couldn’t say anything to him so I just nodded and we made our way back to the factory. When we entered the only person there was Jax, the two of them just look at each other not saying a word until Jax holds up a key “we got your apartment finalized” I was so excited to hear those words I jumped into Jax’s arms and hugged him as tight as I could, in return he hugged me back and whispered into my ear “everyone is waiting for you to arrive” I look up at Jax and give a big smile. I finally let go of him and he hands me the key to my apartment and I jump with glee just thinking about having my own place, after I calmed down me and Jax turned to Sebastian and he understood he wasn’t invited by the others so he just raised his hands and walked out the door. After Sebastian left we got into Jax’s car and drove to the apartment I would call home, when we got to our parking spot I saw the apartments were very upscale and immediately felt out of place. Jax must have noticed because he put his hand on my shoulder and gave me a light smile, with that we got out of the car and walked up to the front door but before we could the door swung open and Spek grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me inside to the living room. When I saw everyone in the gigantic living room with a large ceiling and nice furniture I gasped and dropped to the floor crying. Everyone surrounded me and crouched down to my level, Sam’s blood red hair was dangling in his face when he touched my shoulder and said “this is your home now, we all care about you so don’t even think about declining it… that and we already signed the lease” then he chuckled. Sam was still touching my shoulder to comfort me and before I knew what I was doing I flung myself forward giving Sam a bear hug and we wound up toppling over back to the plush carpet floor. When I stopped crying I opened my eyes and everyone was now standing so I let go of Sam and stood up too. I decided I would give everyone a huge hug all at once so I said “guys I have a secret to tell you…” just then they all leaned in and I snatched them up in my arms while they were surprised. After our family hug Spek left the living room and I was curious so I followed close behind, after we turned out of the living room there was a dinning room with a large rectangle table with chairs all around it “ooh yay we can all eat together!” when I said that Spek just laughed and we kept walking. We left the dinning room and entered a enormous kitchen with high end equipment, next Spek went to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of wine and we headed back to the living room where everyone was waiting. While we were pouring our drinks I eyed Kye and shot him a dirty glare, he quickly avoided my gaze and picked up a glass of wine. As soon as he put the glass to his mouth I put my hand on his lips so he couldn’t drink, just then everyone was looking at me like I was crazy so I started talking in a adult voice “He’s only twenty he can’t drink yet” they all rolled their eyes in sync “what? He isn’t old enough!” when I was done with that I felt something warm and wet on my hand and screamed “oh my god what!?” and I quickly pulled my hand away from Kye’s mouth. Kye just smiled a wicked grin and drank the wine anyway so I continued ranting “You can’t just drink alcohol! Your too young! What are you doing?! Stop drinking!” he drank it all while I was talking. Everyone was enjoying their drinks and I put on a sour face, I finally decided to pick up my own wine and drink but when I finished the glass I remembered I really don’t hold alcohol very well. When I looked up at everyone my thoughts were hazy so I said the first thought on my mind “I don’t do alcohol well guys” my voice was odd when I talked. I was staring off into space and started to wobble, Kye held me up and brought to the couch. I grabbed onto his waist because I thought I was going to fall but he wound up falling on the couch too we both puffed a breath when we fell and I started hickuping while laying on his lap.