The Robinhood

A Robinhood? (6)

It turned out that breakfast was simply a few granola bars, delicious, but somewhat normal for Annabelle.

After clearing the table again, Annabelle found herself able to move again. The first thing she decided to do was to talk to Violet.

She found Violet's cage behind a shelf in the dining room, but it was empty. Had Violet escaped? Annabelle walked outside, looking for the beautiful purple bird. Annabelle scanned the skies, but it was only filled with clouds.

Annabelle wished she knew where she was. Then she could just run away to the nearest human civilization and get back to her old life...

"Hey!" a tweet came from a branch of a nearby tree, and a purple parakeet flew down to land on Annabelle's outstretched arm. "What are you doing?" the bird asked, cocking it's brilliant head.

"Looking for you, actually," Annabelle responded in a series of chirps which made Annabelle start. "Wait a minute, am I talking in bird?" she asked, bewildered.

Annabelle could have sworn that the parakeet was smiling at her.

"So you are a Being, at least partly," Violet sang softly.

"What do you mean I'm part Being? My parents are both human! And alive, for that matter!" she exclaimed in bird, unnerved and defensive.

Unlike Miranda, Violet wasn't quick to anger.

"Well, speaking bird is what Beings do best," chirruped the bird gently.

Annabelle felt comforted by Violet's presence.

"I don't even know what's happening to me anymore," Annabelle said softly, closing her eyes. When she opened them again, Violet was looking at her in a concerned sort of way.

"I don't know if this will help, but I can tell you about the Beings," Violet twittered softly. Annabelle simply nodded and walked over to a nearby gingerbread bench. Sitting down gently, she leaned back and moved the arm the Violet was perched on in front of her.

"A very long time ago, before humans even existed, the Earth had a very different dominate race. These human -like creatures simply appeared one day, and they made no move, unlike humans, to spread and conquer. All these peaceful creatures-later called Beings-lived in one area in the center of Africa.

Now, no Being alive remembers the day of the first bird, but it appeared, much like the Beings, one completely normal day. The birds, having been created in the land of Beings, soon found that Beings and birds were simply meant to be together. The birds gave their feathers to the Beings, and in turn, the Beings gave the birds food, water, and shelter. They lived together in harmony, each supporting the other, until each learned the others language.

Because of the fact that the two species were so intertwined, bird language was taught to Being children at nearly the same time as Being language, until one generation, where bird speech was simply part of their instincts.

When those days came, the Beings learned that those feathers, once used for jewelry, had deep magic inside of them. Using this magic is what made Beings able to survive what came next.

Though the Beings continued to grow and thrive, a new species was growing steadily stronger-humans. Tensions began to grow between the bird lovers and the hunters. Finally, a human killed a Being. Enraged, the Beings declared war on the humans, and being older and wiser than humans, the Beings won. But they knew that the humans would grow more and more powerful, an eventually be able to conquer them.

So the Beings fled what had been their home for more than a thousand years, and moved from Africa to Asia, and when the humans followed, they went to Europe, then to the Americas. When the humans began to arrive, they knew there was no where else for them to run, save for the moon, but they knew that sooner or later that humans would catch them there as well.

So those Beings decided that they needed a place that humans could never penetrate. The oldest Beings, who knew the most about the feather's magic, began to undertake a complex magical spell, and once they had finished, they had created a place in southern Canada that no human could penetrate; but all good things come with a price. Those Beings became birds, and forever so," Violet finished softly. Annabelle gazed at the parakeet for a few more seconds before speaking-in bird, she realized-to her.

"But I don't understand. Why was Miranda in the tree in the first place if Beings hate humans?"

"The land of the Beings is not the only place has birds, is it not?" Violet twittered, amused.

"Oh," Annabelle said, feeling a little stupid. "Miranda said earlier that I was a.. a... something," she started, "Do you know what she thought I was?" she asked curiously. "She said I would be 'captured like all the others.'"

Miranda looked at her sadly.

"I can't tell you. It would only put you at risk from the-"

"Violet! Where are- oh there you are..." Miranda had stormed out of the house, her pink eyes fiery. "I hate it when I can't find you," she told Violet softly as Violet fluttered over to her. Violet rubber her hand with her head and twittered something to soft for Annabelle to hear. Suddenly Miranda looked up and locked eyes with Annabelle. "Violet tells me that you want to know what I suspect you are," she said, not blinking.

Her mouth suddenly dry, she swallowed hard and nodded.

"I think you are a Robinhood,"