First Flight (17 page)

“Bad man,”
Bright-tail said, flitting away and then throwing herself at the man’s face again.
“Very bad—”

“You bastard!” Jesse charged across the yard toward Kevin. “You fucking
bastard!
”

A sudden noise startled Sings-like-water and he flew straight up, as hard and as fast as he could go. Another of the thunderous sounds split the air and something stung his left wing. He didn’t stop, didn’t look back, not until his breathing grew harsh.

There was another person on the lawn. Sings-like-water pulled his wings in and plummeted, faster than he’d ever fallen before. When he hit Kevin’s head this time, his momentum was too great, and he slid right down the back of the man. He didn’t let it stop him, though, hopping around to stand between Kevin, his home, and his chosen one.

Jesse had stopped short when Kevin had fired. He started moving again as the gun dropped down to point at the grass, nearly stepping on Sings-like-water as they reached Kevin at almost the same time.

“Oh, fuck you.” Kevin jerked backward, barely avoiding Jesse’s grasp. He dug in his pocket with his left hand, scowling at the bird that was jumping at his knees. “Missed,” Kevin said, “damn.”

“Don’t you dare,” Jesse said, scrambling to put himself between Kevin and the raven. “I won’t let you do anything to Chris, ever.” His voice seemed thin and flat after the noise of the gunshots.

“You’re fucking crazy,” Kevin said, trying to get the action open with two more live shells in his hand. “Jesus, I can’t believe I didn’t know.”

“Go someplace safe,” Jesse said, as Sings-like-water squawked behind him. “Please, Chris.”

Sings-like-water didn’t want to abandon Jesse, not when Kevin was still standing right there.
“Danger,”
he said, expending the effort to get airborne once more. He kited between the two men, ignoring the pain in his wing as he made a grab at whatever Kevin held.

“Chris! It’s my turn,” Jesse said, grabbing the bird and turning away from Kevin just long enough to throw Sings-like-water toward the porch. “Let me prove it.”

Kevin had the stock tucked under his right arm, the barrels in his right hand, when Jesse turned around again. He pulled the first cartridge from the breech and promptly dropped both the live and spent rounds. “Dammit!”

Jesse didn’t wait. He just pulled his hand back and hit Kevin in the face as hard as he could. The gun fell to the grass as Kevin yelped, then did his best to tackle Jesse.

Perched on the gutter, Sings-like-water watched the two of them wrestle for a few moments. Jesse was protecting
him,
this time; was showing
him
that he had chosen well. Reassured by this, he took the opportunity to look for Bright-tail. He couldn’t see her, but she was so small that she could have hidden almost anywhere in the yard.

“Bright-tail?”

Nothing but Jesse and Kevin, swearing and grunting at one another. Sings-like-water glanced at them again, wondering if he should help, then looked up as sirens caught his attention. They seemed much louder than they were when they went by in traffic, and a green and white car pulled up on the lawn proper. Another parked behind Kevin’s car, and he dropped into the branches of the big lilac that grew at the front corner of the garage just in case.

Men emerged from the cars, pointing small black things toward the young men on the lawn. There was some confused shouting, then Kevin was picked up and carried away to one of the cars and one of the men went over to talk to Jesse.

Jesse got to his feet as the officer approached.

“Are you Jesse Swanson?”

“Yeah,” Jesse said, looking around the yard. “Have you seen a black bird anywhere?”

“No,” the officer said, giving him a strange look. “I’m Officer Foley. Can you tell me what happened?”

“Just a minute,” Jesse said, pushing past the officer. “Chris? Chris!” He looked around again and spotted something on the ground, in one of the flowerbeds. “Chris?”

It was too small to be Chris; there was too much white. Jesse stared stupidly at the remains of the magpie for a second or two before looking up again. Maybe he was using the wrong name? “Uh, Sings-like-water?”

It was safe, now; he could go to Jesse. Gathering himself, Sings-like-water launched himself from the lilac and flapped laboriously across the open ground. “Here!”

“Christopher, thank God,” Jesse said, holding his arms out. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

He didn’t bother trying to land on an arm or shoulder, he just sort of crashed into Jesse’s chest. It hardly mattered, because he was wrapped up in big arms and held close, just where he wanted to be. “Jesse.”

“God, you’re okay, right?” Heedless of the people watching, forgetting they were on the front lawn, Jesse dropped to his knees and turned Chris’s face up toward his own. He kissed the top of his head, the side of his sharp black bill; there was a dazzling flash of light and—

“Jesse!” Chris twisted so he could put his arms around the other man. “Jesse, Jesse, look!”

“Chris?” Jesse blinked, trying to get his vision to clear. The fact that he was no longer holding a three-pound raven but rather supporting a hundred-thirty-plus human was more than enough proof, really, but he wanted to make sure. “I—you’re you!”

“I’m always me,” Chris said, and then he laughed. “My arm hurts.”

“Let me see,” Jesse said, still blinking. Chris held his left arm out, then pulled it up so he could peer at the back of his forearm. A half-dozen purplish-red spots, each sporting a small oozing of blood, stood out against his pale skin.

“Oh, that’s why.” He frowned, then looked up as Foley approached them. “I’m naked again.”

“He must have just missed you,” Jesse said, suddenly nauseous at the thought of how close he’d come to losing Chris. “I know. We should get you in the house and into at least some pants.”

“Excuse me, Mr. Swanson, but I really need to talk to you,” Foley said. “And where did this guy come from?”

“An egg,” Chris said, matter-of-factly. “I need clothes.”

“We need to get Chris inside and clean up his arm,” Jesse said, looking up at the officer. “Can I talk to you while we do that?”

“I’d really rather have your undivided attention,” Foley said, hooking his thumbs into his belt and pushing his elbows out as he leaned forward a little. “And I really don’t appreciate smart-mouths.”

“Chris can’t help it,” Jesse said, his eyebrows drawing together as the man loomed over them. “He’s, uh, a little different. Look, it’ll just take a couple of minutes. Come in, have a soda or something, sit on the couch for a second. Okay?”

Chris reacted to the overshadowing and the tone of the officer’s voice by getting up and leaning in, nose-to-nose with the other man. “You helped with Kevin and that is good. This is
my
nest and
my
Jesse and I
will
keep them both safe.”

“Chris,” Jesse said, clambering to his feet as well, “it’s okay. Come on, let’s all go inside, okay? We shouldn’t be standing around out here on the lawn where everyone can see us.”

“
A
ND
that’s the whole story. As for why he chose
now
, you’ll have to ask him,” Jesse said, sitting back with a sigh. Chris tightened his arms around him.

“Okay,” Foley said, making a few last notes. “I’m going to assume that you’re gonna want to press charges, so—”

“Jesse! Jesse, are you—Chris! Oh, thank God, you’re both safe,” Leanna said, dropping her things on the floor and running around the end of the couch.

“Hi, Mama,” Jesse said, pulling her down to sit between them. Chris moved his arm and put it around Leanna as well.

“My arm is hurt but not a lot and Kevin was in a car and went away,” Chris said, blinking as his words tumbled over one another, still not quite recovered from his time as a bird, “but we are safe.”

“Thank God,” she said, and kissed him on the cheek. Then she leaned over, kissed Jesse, and sniffled. “What happened?”

Chapter Twenty-Four

“
M
OM
, Dad, we have something to tell you. About Chris.” Jesse squeezed Chris’s hand, took a deep breath, and began. Desmond and Leanna were quiet, through their explanation of Chris’s origins, the transformation and deception, and then their apology for it.

“I don’t believe it,” Desmond said, crossing his arms. “You’re saying that Christopher is a
bird?
Only not really, because… because he loves you so much he turned into a human?”

“Yes,” Chris said, nodding at him. “Firstly I did not, because I didn’t know Jesse. But I wanted to, and then I lived here and worked and ate and played games and helped set the table and everything. When I was a raven this time, I started to forget words. But not Jesse.

“Flying was good, but he wasn’t there and it wasn’t as good. Food without him wasn’t as good. Sleeping
by
him, sleeping without him, sleeping wasn’t as good. That is how I love Jesse, he makes everything good
better
.” He smiled up at Jesse, adjusting his fingers so that they meshed with the taller man’s.

“I know it’s hard to believe.” Jesse shrugged. “But it’s true. And at least it’s not contagious or anything.”

Leanna blinked a couple of times, then rubbed her eyes. “Sorry,” she said, “it’s just—oh, I don’t care! Human or bird or whatever! You love my son and you’re both safe and it just doesn’t
matter
, does it?”

“Not to me,” Jesse said, despite the fact he was pretty sure it was a rhetorical question.

“Maybe?” Chris glanced at Desmond, who was still frowning mightily, his arms crossed.

Jesse looked at him, as did Leanna. After a minute, he blinked and looked back. “What?”

“Does it matter?” Jesse said.

“Huh? I guess not. It’s not like he’s a vampire or something really stupid. No, I was just thinking that explained some things, that’s all,” Desmond said, waving a hand. “It’s hard to swallow, sure, but what the hell. It’s not like he’s a murderer.”

“That’s crows,” Chris said, his lips and eyebrows quirking the way they did when he knew he was being silly.

Jesse rolled his eyes and nudged him. “I shouldn’t have loaned you
An Exultation of Larks
,” he said.

“Crows, larks, ravens, we’re all—oh!” Chris looked around, his amusement gone, tugging his hand free of Jesse’s. “Oh, did anyone see Bright-tail?”

“Who?” Desmond stopped chewing on his thumbnail, his pensive expression replaced by confusion.

“Bright-tail. She’s not very big,” he held his hands up, as if presenting a grapefruit, “and she’s kind of weird but everyone knows magpies are weird. She was helping me when Kevin was here and I don’t remember seeing her after the big noise.” Chris touched his bandaged arm.

“Magpie?” Jesse remembered the poor gory bird lying on the ground. “I think, um, I think I saw her.”

“Where is she? Is she okay?” Chris didn’t like the look on Jesse’s face at all. “What’s wrong?”

“Chris….” Jesse put his arm around his shoulders. “I’m really sorry, but I think Kevin hurt her. Very, very badly, and I think she, um, died.”

“How do you know?” He crossed his arms and hunched up. “Maybe you’re wrong.”

“Maybe I am,” Jesse said, letting go of the other man and heading for the junk drawer. A moment later, he checked to see if the flashlight worked (it did), and walked back to Chris. “Come on. I think she’s out front.”

Chris followed him out to where the broken little body lay, kneeling down to look at her. Jesse was not wrong, as much as Chris wished he was. “Yes. Bright-tail is food, now.”

There was something horrible about the calm acceptance of the bird’s death, and something very much Chris about it too. Jesse wasn’t sure what he could say, if anything, so he stuck with the tried and true. “I’m sorry.”

“I am too, because she should not be food now. Kevin is not a hawk or an eagle and this is not her nest and she helped me anyhow,” Chris said, touching her head. “I didn’t ask her to. We should tell the police.”

“I don’t know if they can help, but I know how to find out. Do you want to bury her?”

“No, not unless you were saving her to eat later,” Chris said, glancing up at Jesse. It seemed rather unlike him.

“No!” Jesse took a breath. “Um, no. I don’t want to eat her. Uh, is it important that she be, um, eaten?”

“Bright-tail would eat you,” Chris said, looking up at him again.

“I suppose so,” Jesse said, finding the factual statement decidedly less than comforting. He didn’t think it was right to just leave her body lying there, at the moment, and so he tried to figure out what they could do. “You know, there’s an old shoebox in the garage. Let’s put her in that, and then in the morning we’ll go out by the creek and leave her there. Would that be okay?”

“I think she would like that, yes,” Chris said.

“H
M
,”
Jesse said, rereading his findings.

“What?” Chris yawned. “Come get in bed with me now, please.”

“This says that the only time it’s legal to hunt magpies is if they’re preying on crops, livestock, or ornamental trees.” Jesse smiled, the expression somewhat grim. “Which means that Kevin has just added a new charge to the list he’s already facing.”

“Okay,” Chris said, patting the blankets beside him. “Sleep now.”

“I’m coming, funny bird,” Jesse said, turning off his monitor. “Keep your shirt on.”

“Not
wearing
a shirt,” Chris grumbled, but he held up the blankets for Jesse anyhow. As Jesse settled under them, he nodded. “Good. Now I can sleep.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

“H
I
, T
ANNER
,”
Jesse said, keeping his voice low.

“G’morning, Jesse. What’s up?”

“I need the day off. Uh, Chris is back, so he’ll need the day off, too.”

“While I’m glad to hear that, I’m afraid I can’t give you time off
just
so you can get reacquainted with—”

“I have to go to the police station,” Jesse said, his voice flat. “And so does Chris.”