AN: Hope you like this chapter! As soon as I publish this, I'm also publishing a new story, so feel free to check that out!
Three Serpentine stood in a loose triangle, a fourth one lurking behind them. All of them were in the midst of changing from human-looking to snake-y, their faces lengthening, their noses flattening, their teeth turning to fangs, and their skin turning to scales. They laughed as they changed, like tracking down Jay and Nya was the greatest joke they'd ever heard.
Jay would've liked for it all to be one big joke, but he knew it wasn't. The only reason the Serpentine were laughing was that they were excited to rip him and Nya apart.
The fourth Serpentine stepped forward, in front of the other three. She raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms in front of her. "Hello, Jay, Nya."
"Hello, Skylor," Nya said casually, sounding entirely at ease.
Wait. Skylor? Like, Skylor, daughter of the whitecoat Chen, that Skylor? Jay took another look at the fourth Serpentine and his jaw dropped. "No way. Skylor?"
"That's my name, don't wear it out," the fourth Serpentine said breezily.
Jay's stomach churned. "Oh man. You were just a kid, just like us. And they changed you, just like they changed us."
"Not 'just' like," Skylor corrected. "They did it to help me, not to experiment on me, unlike you."
"...What kind of help would being turned into a snake-person give?" Jay wondered.
Skylor scowled. "Never mind that. Me being a Serpentine isn't the point here."
"Then what is?" Jay asked.
"The point is that we found you, and that you weren't the first ones," Skylor stated. "In fact, you're the last ones. We got Kai and Cole in your mountain house, and then we got Lloyd. Took 'em down. Easy-peasy, and just like that, your pathetic little 'flock' is no more. Or at least, it will be no more as soon as we're done here, as soon as we take care of you two like we did the others."
Forget churning, Jay's stomach was outright rebelling. Kai, Cole, Lloyd, all gone? It couldn't be true. It just couldn't be. Tears pressing at his eyes, Jay chanced a glance at Nya and saw that she was holding steady, staring at Skylor evenly, so Jay did the same, hoping that Skylor was lying, hoping against hope.
Skylor examined her fingernails. "So, are we going to do this the easy way, or are we doing this the hard way? We can make it quick, you know. No pain. Well. Minimal pain, I can't promise much more than that."
The other three Serpentine laughed again, elbowing each other with glee.
"What do you say, are you going to make it easy on us?" Skylor asked.
"Pinwheel," Nya said quietly.
Skylor frowned. "Say that again?"
"Cactus first," Jay breathed, trying to be brave like Nya was being, even though inwardly he was bawling over the idea of the rest of the flock being gone.
"What?" Skylor asked, her frown deepening.
"On go," Nya stated under her breath.
"Stop talking!" Skylor scowled, stepping forward and baring her fangs threateningly.
"Go!" Nya shouted, and Jay burst into action, barreling full-tilt into the first Serpentine, shoving him with every inch of strength Jay could muster so that the first Serpentine lurched back, right into a cactus.
Out of the corner of his eye, Jay could see Nya do the same thing to the second Serpentine. Both of the affected Serpentine started hissing and shrieking, the needles of the cacti taking residence in their scaly skin. Two of the Serpentine suitably distracted, Nya stepped back and held her hands out in front of her.
Jay leapt through the air, stretching his arms out for Nya. Nya grabbed him by the arms and pinwheeled him through the air, right toward Skylor and the third Serpentine. Jay kicked hard, feet connecting with the torsos of the two remaining Serpentine. Skylor and the other one fell back, gasping for air and grasping at their chests. Nya swung Jay around once more, picking up speed, then she let go, flinging him into the air. Jay snapped open his wings, soaring up into the sky and looking down, praying that he would see Nya opening her wings and taking a running start, about to follow him.
Instead, Jay saw Skylor and the other three Serpentine, including the two who had just been cacti-spiked, all swarming Nya. Nya went down under the force of their attacks, falling to one knee, then down on her stomach. The four Serpentine surrounded her, Skylor kneeling over Nya's torso, the other three circling Nya's body. Skylor pulled back a fist and pounded into the side of Nya's head.
"No!" Jay shrieked, beating his wings and swooping down toward Nya.
The three other Serpentine hissed and swiped their hands through the air, trying to claw Jay right out of the sky.
Jay rose again into the air, out of Serpentine reach and safe for the moment, unlike Nya, who Skylor was punching repeatedly. Desperate and unsure, Jay looked around wildly for something helpful, eyes running over the ground, the scrubby bushes, the cacti, the trashy bits of old newspapers and paint cans…
Oh! The paint cans!
But they were empty.
Or were they?
Jay would have to take a chance if Nya was ever going to get out of there. Swooping down behind the Serpentine, Jay scooped up several paint cans and raced over to Skylor. "Hey!"
Skylor paused in punching Nya and looked up… Right in time to get a face full of purple spray paint.
Sputtering and squinting, Skylor fell backwards off of Nya and onto the ground.
The other three Serpentine cringed back before rushing forward again, but it was too late. They had hesitated for a moment, and a moment had been all Nya needed to clamber off of the ground and open her wings.
Together, Jay and Nya took off at a run, racing away from the Serpentine, wings splayed and at the ready. They jumped into the air and took off, not stopping until they could hover far enough into the sky that the Serpentine would never be able to reach them.
Jay circled back over the Serpentine, watching Skylor climb to her feet. The purple of the paint dripped down over her torso, and she swiped at her face several times, trying to get enough paint away that she could open her eyes without getting some paint in them.
"You!" Skylor roared, then gagged as paint slid into her mouth. Spitting out a purple-y glob, Skylor hissed, "You. Your days are numbered, birdkid."
"Like yours aren't? Soon as the whitecoats get bored with you, you're through," Jay called down mockingly.
"Just you wait," Skylor said with a scowl. "Oh, just you wait."
"No thanks! Not a fan of waiting," Jay said cheerfully. "Okay, bye now!"
With that, he turned and rocketed away, Nya at his side. Now that the fight was over, Jay could breathe again. He took a deep breath, then let it out all in a rush, before he glanced over at Nya and winced. Oh, that was a black eye in the making for sure.
"Sorry you got hurt. I should've acted quicker," Jay stated.
Nya waved a hand. "Nah. It was just a fight. It'll be okay, it'll just take some time. Let's head home."
"But, but they said they got Kai and Cole. They got them from our house, it can't be safe to go back there," Jay said, voice wavering as he thought about the other birdkids being gone.
Nya shook her head. "I didn't mean that home. I don't think we can ever return to that home. I meant the home with the hawks."
"Oh," Jay said, his stomach twisting with sorrow and grief. "Yeah. Yeah, let's go home."