"Ruby! Wait!" Dyral called as he ran to catch up to her.

Ruby grimaced and walked faster. The sooner she got away from him, the better. As she went, she thought back to the last time anyone had tried to get her attention; the last time she had heard that same line.

"Ruby! Wait!" It was Kenan, again. He'd been following her for the past 3 days asking her if she would talk to Marigold for her. He was the fifth of her best friend's suitors in the past 2 months. All five of them had called on Mari, found her rather cold, and then turned to Ruby knowing she and Mari were rather close. Had been. Her former friend had accused her of stealing her men and ditched her; In the middle of the town square, just like Jack, Liana, David, and Michelle. Ruby was not going to chance it happening again.

No doubt, Dyral was exactly like that. Pretend to be your friend until someone better comes up. No, worse, he was a noble as well, and boy did he live up to it. Still, he was different. For one he was cute, that said more than any of the men at the village. She could not trust him.

He finally caught up to her, "You've not even been in the forest 24 hours yet you've already angered a witch, broken who knows how many spells, got a spell put on yourself, and modified it. If you think I'm going to let you wander around in here causing more havoc, you've lost your mind. Or maybe you just didn't have one to begin with!"

Ruby-Rose eyed him as she would a mosquito. She could not let herself fall for him. He would break her heart, stomp on the pieces and probably brag about it. Her stomach however, continued fluttering. "Sound's like I'm bad luck, and it seems like you've had enough of that wolf-boy. Maybe you should go back to your little castle and leave me alone." Why had she said that?

Dyral eyed her quizzically, where had that come from? He had no time to ponder, for at that moment, the first rays on red sunset pierced the trees. It split into all the different shades of red and swirled together in a long pointed spear. Before Dyral could move, it lunged forward like a streak of lightning and plunged directly into Ruby's heart. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened in an expression of utter surprise. Then, she vanished in a swirl of red fire.

After standing frozen for a moment, he sprinted forward to where she had been. As the magic cleared, all that was left was a small ball of red feathers. Then it moved. Kneeling, Dyral started to poke it with one finger then, thought better of it and used a stick. It whirled and snapped at him. The wolfman tripped over his feet backing up. When he sat up, Dyral found himself looking at small, bright red, furious sparrow. His mouth opened and closed a few times before a sound finally emerged. "Ruby?"

The bird replied with an earsplitting shriek and began to hop around in circles flapping madly. Dyral knelt and held out a hand. The transformed Ruby eyed it for a second before climbing on.

Stupid spell, stupid witch, stupid wolf…

Dyral jumped, almost dropping the bird. She squawked and dug her talons into his hand.

Was she talking in his head? There it was again:

..almost drop me! Stupid boy!

"Ruby, I can hear you!"

How can he hear me? I'm not talking...I can't talk; I'm a stupid bird!

"Not out loud, in my head." Dyral stared at her, astonished.

In his head? Great, I'm stuck with a stupid wolf-man who hears voices…

Dyral scowled, "I am not a crazy wolf-man."

Really…wait, you heard that? Ahhhhh! You can hear my thoughts! You're a witch like my grandmother. Wait no, a wizard! Wait no! You are my grandmother! In disguise! Help HEELLP! she began to flail wildly with her wings.

"Ow!" Dyral cried rubbing his temples with his free hand. Stop yelling! I'm not a wizard, and I'm not your grandmother. This is just probably one of the after effect's of the spell." He looked thoughtful for a moment. That moment quickly passed. "If I read it right, that should wear off after a few day's and you'll just be a bird." He looked at her and added. "A rather unusual colorthough."

From the distance, a woman screamed.

AN: Bad cliffhanger. I'll think of a better one next time.