Page 42 of Hummingbird and Kraken

He loved the imagery of flowers growing wherever the maiden walked. But why had the storyteller been surprised when he picked up that pouch? Was it supposed to mean anything to him or was it just entertainment?

It made him think about how he’d imagined Geir earlier, with some magical powers that made the plants grow and the animals frolic. He hadn’t seen Geir do anything like that, though. And it had nothing to do with the first story where the brothers followed the sun and were made immortal.

He wanted to ask questions, but he got the sense that the storyteller wouldn’t answer.

“Thank you, Grandfather.” He said instead. “You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

The elder nodded his head and rose from the bench, waving goodbye to Declan and then through the window to John.

Declan rose as well, his mind still swimming, but without the immediate spike of fear and worry. He had no resources and no job. But he’d been poor before. He could make it work.

He trudged back down the driveway and out onto the highway, his mind lost in thought. He realized as he was halfway back that he hadn’t even tried to look for work once he’d seen the bank account.

Maybe tomorrow. He realized suddenly that tomorrow was Tuesday. His car would be fixed, and then what would happen?

He wanted with all of his being to just curl up into Geir’s arms and let everything float away. That’s what a Daddy was for. But Geir hadn’t agreed to it, and it wasn’t anything he could count on. Not in the long run, anyway. That wasn’t how this worked.

Maybe not in the short run, either. Geir still hadn’t really committed to anything beyond getting his car repaired.

At least when he got his car back he’d have his books.

He would stay positive. He just needed a moment to wallow in all of his anger and fear before he pulled himself back together.

He heard a car coming down the highway in front of him and stepped off the highway. The car slowed. It was a different vehicle from the one the overly friendly spikey-haired woman had driven earlier. The window started to roll down.

Seriously? What was it with these people? Were they that eager to do their good deed for the day?

He turned into the woods. He figured he’d stay parallel to the highway and walk just far enough past the trees that he could see the road, but drivers couldn’t see him.

That was pretty spy-like, right?

The car kept driving. Thank God.

The jolt of annoyance was enough to shake him out of his own thoughts. He’d done enough wallowing, he decided, and it wasn’t getting him anywhere. He should start making plans. Or maybe just see what happened. He knew he could make things work. He always did.

What he really wanted was Geir.

He stayed just inside the line of trees, even though the brambles scratched his bare legs. Something red fluttered in front of his vision, so close to his nose that he couldn’t even make it out. It resolved into a bird as it perched on a low branch in front of him. It was all red, except for a patch of black around its beak. And it had a serious punk rocker hairdo, the little tufts of feathers sticking up in a straight line at the back of his head.

Alright, he didn’t want to talk to any humans. Cute little punk-rocker birds he could maybe handle. This was kind of what he needed right now.

“Hey, nice to meet you,” he greeted it, not feeling even slightly silly. Either it was a shifter who could understand him, or it was a bird who he could pretend with. It wasn’t like there was anyone else around. “I like your hair. Or… feathers? Crest? Crown? At any rate, it’s pretty awesome.”

The bird inclined its head, then gave a series of rising whistles. Too-eet, too-eet, too-eet, too-eet.

“Are you supposed to make sure that I get back home safely? Or maybe stay out of trouble?”

The bird gave some cooing trills. Tee-doo-doo, tee-doo-doo, tee-doo-doo.

“So, um, does that mean you can take me back to the cabin? Or to Geir?”

The bird circled around his head, and then darted off to another tree limb a few feet away.

“Alright,” Declan said to himself. “Either you’re here to help me out, or I’m talking to a deranged bird with an unnatural affinity for humans. Ooh… or maybe you’re a sign from the gods or something. That would be exciting.”

The bird looked up at the sky. Either there was someone up there looking out for him, or the bird was rolling its eyes.

He looked at the road. He was pretty sure that, even if he just wandered into the woods he couldn’t get too lost. The road was on his left. The lake was on his right. As long as he didn’t pass either one of those and kept going forward, he’d eventually hit Geir’s driveway. If he got turned around, he’d be back where he started from.