Chapter 3

Annalaya woke up screaming.

There was a man looming over her. A man! A man in her tree house.

The only one ever allowed in here was her sparrow friend.

Where was he?

Events of yesterday had been all forgotten in her sleeplike state.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my TREE?!" Annalaya cried, jumping out of her makeshift bed and ramming herself on accident in the back as she hit the back wall of the tree house.

The man's eyebrows scrunched in confusion. "It's Galian." He stepped toward her, making her shriek.

"No closer—wait… what? Galian?" Annalaya felt her mouth go slack.

Memories of yesterday and what had happened flooded her head, and she slipped down the wall into a stunned sitting position as she stared up at the man called Galian.

And then Annalaya did something she hadn't done in years.

She laughed hysterically. She didn't know her reason whether it be relief or fright but it felt so good.

Galian stood there and watched with a shocked expression on his face.

"I'm so sorry, Galian," Annalaya hiccupped as she got up from the floor. She finally stopped laughing and now she looked almost sad.

"We have to find a way to reverse what happened to you so you can be a bird again. We must start today," she announced.

Galian nodded and watched as his tree girl walked around the small tree house over and over in circles.

He was getting dizzy just watching her. If she would only stop…

"Annalaya."

She stopped and turned to stare at him, like she just now realized she was walking around in circles. She felt her face go red.

"You should sit down," Galian suggested, gesturing toward her bed.

Annalaya sighed and plopped down.

A thought came to her. "Where did you sleep last night?"

"On the floor, over there." Galian pointed to the floor a few feet away from her bed.

"That couldn't be comfortable." Annalaya frowned.

"No, I prefer my branch outside of this place," Galian said.

Guilt ate the tree girl up inside once again for wishing her sparrow friend were a human like her.

"There's something off about that stream," Annalaya mused.

"No doubt." Galian sat down on the bed beside her.

Annalaya stared at him when she thought he wasn't aware. She finally was getting a good look at her sparrow friend turned human. There wasn't anything bird-like about him now. Except maybe his hair that looked like it might be made out of and feel like brown feathers. He had honey brown eyes and lightly tanned skin. The sparrow made a beautiful human. If she was honest with herself she would have to say that he took her breath away. He was wearing all brown. Fitting for a sparrow man. She found it funny how his feathers had turned into clothes. They were between the quality of a peasant and a rich man's. His clothes were better than hers.

She had made all of her clothes out of leaves that she sewed. It was a hard task, and they tore up very easy but she couldn't bear killing a deer or any other animal for its skin. She even refused to kill for food. Her diet consisted of vegetation and fish. She had once tried a worm offered to her by Galian. She at once spit the offending thing out of her mouth.

Galian laughed as much as a sparrow could. Annalaya had glared at him as she washed her mouth out with water.

"What are you staring at?" Galian nudged Annalaya out of her thoughts. She had been caught staring at him!

She quickly snapped her attention away from him and looked toward the entrance of the tree house. A blush burning her face.

Galian had a small smirk on his face. "Liking the view?"

Annalaya turned her eyes back to him. "What… whatever do you mean?" she tripped over her words in embarrassment.

"Annalaya, I knew you were studying me."

Annalaya sucked in a breath and held it. So he knew… "It's so strange…" she mused.

"What is strange?" Galian asked curiously.

"Seeing you." Annalaya didn't look at him. She didn't want him to see through her and know that liked him as a human and wanted him to stay that way. That she was glad he had changed from sparrow to man. Annalaya had never felt this happy and complete in a long time.

"What are your plans on figuring out how to turn me back into a bird?" came the dreaded question.

Annalaya took a deep breath. "We go to the village and find some questions."

Galian's mouth nearly dropped open.

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