The house, or lodging in whatever, was hard to find at first because it was built into a hill. We must have walked past it a good three time before Ryan noticed this. It was unclear where the smoke was coming from however, it was kinda of cloudy today so it blended in with the sky.

"Where's the hawk?" I asked, looking around.

"Falcon, peregrine to be exact. I don't know he's disappeared, and I don't like it."

Eryan was right, Peri didn't like a lot of things.

    "It looks safe to me." Eryan said, grabbing our wrists and pulling us forward.

    I was pushed towards to door to be the designated knocker. I gave three sharp knocks before we waited outside for something to happen.

    "It's probably just some sweet old hermit, I'm sure they're not dangerous at all." I shrugged.

    The door opened and I discovered I was wrong, oh so very wrong.

    Standing there with a curious and slightly annoyed expression was a young male who looked only just a few years older than we were. He had short, messy, auburn hair that clearly had not been brushed. Yet, bright blues eyes and -my heart skipped a beat- freckles covering the majority of his face.

My weakness.

"Can I...help you?" He asked, slowly.

I opened my mouth and too my horror found I couldn't speak. "Uh...er, erm. We uh..."

"We're traveling and are low on supplies. We spotted your lovely home and wondered if you could help us out, kind sir." Ryan injected for me.

He glanced at the two of us suspiciously. I took the time to notice how tall he was. Sweet Spirits.

"Uh...yeah sure. I can spare a little. Come on in and make yourselves comfy for a bit. I'm Jason by the way." He introduced, opening the door so we could walk in.

Inside? Like inside his house? I wasn't so sure about this but the girls were already ahead of me. I guess that meant I didn't have a choice.

"I was just making some lunch, if you guys want to stay for a bit I can throw on a little more meat." Jason offered quietly and somewhat adorably.

Finally Ryan seemed to pick up on all the "shifty" vibes I was swimming in. "That's okay sir, we have somewhere to be."

Eryan however was glancing outside the doorway, she turned around with a discontent look on her face. "Not anymore we do. It's started raining."

Wait. "We can surely keep walking in rain, right? We can't stay here for too long, right?"

"I don't mind." Jason shrugged, grinning slightly. "Honestly I haven't had company in like, two years, so it would be a nice change."

"It's coming down pretty hard." Eryan confirmed.

"Not to mention there have been flash floods and fires around this area before in storms." Jason continued. "Trees fall down a lot."

"We have a little time to stay." Peri sighed, probably as annoyed as I was uncomfortable.

"We can stay for just lunch, then we'll see what the weathers like." Ryan decided, sitting herself down at a small table in the room. "Your hospitality is much appreciated, Jason."

He smiled again, and I nearly had an aneurism. "Wonderful! I'll be right back with some food."

I realized I had been standing in the exact same spot in the room for the whole time. I sat myself stiffly down at table next to Ryan, and nervously drummed my fingers on the very attractive stranger's birch table.

Eryan shook her head, crinkling her nose. "Weird weather, at least we found this place before we got stuck in it."

"Yeah why is no one talking about that?" Ryan questioned. "Who is this kid? He looks about our age. What's he doing in the forest all the way out here, presumedly living by himself."

Eryan nodded. "Yeah I was thinking that too. Storm or no storm we split at the first sign of trouble."

"Agreed."

"Are you alright Criag?" Peri asked me suddenly, staring up at me from the table he had moved too.

"Me?" I blinked, feeling the heat rush to my face. "I'm perfectly fine, why wouldn't I be. In fact I don't think I've ever been any better. Seriously."

Peri gave me one of those dry sarcastic looks. Sure honey.

Of course this would happen, of course. A traveling caravan once passed by the Pack once and talked about their show, it was a skit they put together that I didn't really remember all that well except for the fact it had been super dramatic. That's how my life felt like right now. My life felt like a drama show.

The girls started chatting and I toned them out, observing the room immediate from the door. It was round, with a table parallel to the door, which had a window and was the only source of light. At least, besides the numerous candles places around the rim of the ceiling. It was nice lighting. There weren't weapons hanging all over the wall like in Eryan's house but there was a bow by the door. It looked big, and fancy.

The only other ting in the room besides the table was a small shelf of various plants and a  branch of sorts that curled around the room. I though it was for decoration until I spotted the ginormous falcon perched on one end.

The falcon stared at me with two different colored eyes. One blue, and one a vibrant orange. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Until I was suddenly snapped out of my thoughts.

"...seriously Craig you look you're about to explode, are you sure nothing's up?" Eryan asked, staring at me with her jaded green eyes.

Should I tell them? Nah. At least not for a few years. Yeah that's a good plan, wait a few years. I'm a genius.

"I'm fine, honestly." I try to say as earnestly as possible, Eryan seems to be buying but Kosmos darn it Ryan isn't.

She's snacking on the rest of our dried mangos while giving me a quizzical look. I been to sweat mentally. I am determined to keep this horse locked up in it's barn however.

Jason jump scares me by returning suddenly, with a few wood plates. He serves us simply cooked meat with some fruit, it's simple but better than what we had been eating for the last few days.

"How did you guys get out this far anyway?" He asked, once we've all eaten a bit.

"We're going to Zestos. Our parents are there waiting for us." Eryan's slips out so easily I have to stop and look at her. "We were gonna take the bus but we got lost."

I mean of course it's a lot more complicated than that, but we're it gonna stay here for more than a few hours tops right? He doesn't need to know everything.

He slams a hand to his forehead suddenly. "Oh sorry, I don't think I ever got your names, how awkward."

"I'm Eryan."

"Ryan."

I pray I don't mess this up. "C-Craig."

I'm doomed, maybe with some luck Kosmos will send a tree to fall on me to put me out of my misery.

"Those are nice names." He says, as if he isn't sure how to keep the conversation going.

"So Jason, this is a pretty nice place." Ryan inquires, getting all 'interrogatory'.

He nodded, brown curled bouncing around. "Yeah, I found it here a wile ago. I don't know who the original owners were but they're long gone."

"How long have you been out here?" Eryan asks sincerely.

He shrugs. "About two years. Since I turned fifteen. I had uh, a family skirmish."

I would admit I was hanging on his every word, but I've already thrown away what dignity I have.

"So I assume you have a familiar." Ryan continued.

She was the bad cop, she only cared about finding out why this teenager was living alone in the woods. Eryan was actually sincerely trying to make friends with him. I was was falling harder than I'd like to admit.

"Oh yeah, his name is Lafayette." Jason beckoned for the perched falcon and Lafayette glided across the room to land on his outstretched forearm.

Lafayette screeched something. Peri instantly started muttering under his breath, something about raptors and washing their mouths. I'm sure Ryan had spotted the talons on that thing and her back straightened, suddenly interested.

"Oh yeah, we saw him flying around on the way over." She nodded.

"What about you? Craig was it?" He asked suddenly pointing to me.

I think I might have squeaked upon being singed out. "Uh...wh-what about me?"

"I like your hair." He nodded.

I felt my whole face go red and was suddenly extremely thankful for my darker skin, despite the blotches. "Th-thanks."

I needed to pull it together, honestly.

"I was gonna ask what your familiars were, any other birds here?"

Peri looked light he had a spotlight on him all of a sudden. He bounced onto the table and away from blending into my should. Jason's eyes (bright blue sapphires for eyes) lit up.

"Whoa, I've never seen parrots like you outside the Capitol, then again I've only been there once." He marvled, leaning forward.

He said hi to Lucy and Oratio as well. It was kind of strange, watching him interact, knowing that the only compnay he might have had for a while was his familar. Then I didn't want to seem like I was obviously staring I just, sweet spirits I had never crushed on a boy like this before, ever. No wait, hold up, this wasn't a crush. I refuse to call it that. You've just met him Craig for goodness sake. He is cute though, my brain whispered back. I told it to shut up.

Then I realized Peri was looking at me funny. I blinked at him in confusion.

    "You know I'm bound to you right?" He said slowly.

    "Yeah..." I said quietly enough so everyone could keep talking above me.

    "Which means I can pick on your feelings if I need to..." He continued, following that up with a haughty smirk.

    I felt myself blush again. "Uh-"

    "So you like him?"

    "I do NOT." I screeched persistently.

    The three other humans (not to mention their familiars too) gave me a concerned glance.

    "Hehe." I shrunk a little deeper into my seat. "Sorry about that, simple disagreement here."

    I patted Peri lightly. His face said adorable by his eyes hissed blackmail. Sweet Spirits. Scratch that, Nasty spirits, misbehaving, emotion snooping spirits.

    "Has the rain let up at all? Or is it still raging out there?" Ryan asked, also throwing me a weird look. She knew I liked guys, but I wondered if she knew.

    The lightning decided to answer that one, by letting a sharp crackling noose and thundering from up ahead. The door rattled on it's hinges. I knew what the answer was but I was desperately hoping it wasn't so.

    Jason shook his head. "I don't think so. I've storms like this before, It'll most likely clear up in the morning..."

    Don't say it.

    "...you'll probably have to stay the night."

    Take me into your sweet embrace, death.

I must have made some sort of chocking noise because I got another look from Ryan. Thank Kosmos the other two seemed oblivious.

"I don't really have that many rooms besides mine, the kitchen, and this room." Jason started thoughtfully. "But I do have a lot of blankets and pillows."

"No that's fine, we'll be fine in here." I assure him.

"If you insist." He nodded at me, I let myself be happy I didn't stutter, he disappeared for a moment to presumedly fetch our pillows.

"For a weirdo who lives out in the middle of nowhere, he's a good houseguest." Eryan observed, nodding honestly.

"I still don't trust him." Ryan put forth. "I mean sure he's been nice, but if he tries to stab us in our sleep tonight, he's gonna have to go through me."

"What do you think about him? Trust him or no?" Eryan asks.

Kosmos, where do I start. I probably do anything he asked. "Uh, er. I mean he seems p-pretty. Pretty nice I mean."

"You're stuttering." Peri yells at me from a perch, he's got the smirky tone of voice.

"Shut up." I shot back at him.

I panicked for a seconds, wondering if Jason's falcon could have possibly overheard our conversation. I hope to Kosmos and back he didn't. That would be the end of me.

"Pillows!" Jason says excitedly, returning full of happy energy. He has a big handful of them, and toss them our across the wood floor at us.

"Dude, these are serious sleep wear, where did you get them?" Ryan asks, picking on up.

Jason shrugged again. "Everything here is as I found it. I have no idea, they're pretty cool thought aren't they?"

They pillows are embroidered. I pick up one with a blue butterfly because it reminds me of Percy. I wish I could see her again, she was really nice. I probably wouldn't though, I mean she was queen of all Zoo. I had just gotten lucky the first time.

"Why are you guys in such a hurry to leave anyway?" He asked, perches on the corner of a bench on his toes.

"We told you, our parents-"

"I'm going to be quite frank with you, I don't really believe that." Jason interrupts.

The three of us fall silent for a bit.

"I mean, look at you guys. You two are an entirely different race," he says, pointing to me and Ryan,"and you've got a mammal familiar."

I mean the skin thing should have been obvious, but he was right, families  tended to stay within their five animal kingdoms, Ryan and I's parent for sure had bird familiars. Eyan's, wherever they were, for sure had mammal familiars.

"So what are you three really up too?" He finished.

"We're looking for my friend who's been kidnapped, we have a time limit." I don't really know what happened, it just kinda slipped out. I found the cuter boys were the less of filter I had, I mean at least I didn't stutter.

"Craig!" Ryan and Eryan squawked at me, go ahead I deserved it.

"Now that's actually more believable." Jason nodded, I tried not to let myself feel happy for that small moment of validation.

The sooner we get out of here and away form this boy, the better. It's having a serious effect on my ability to function. Not to mention all the blood in my body is permanently stuck in my cheeks.

"Are you guy's all settled then?" He asked, after we had taken a bit to forgive out blankets and pillows.

It had gotten late pretty fast. I didn't care, I was exhausted. If I couldn't have death, sleep was the next best thing. 

"Yes. You can go." Ryan shooed him.

    He smiled. I remembered this is the first company he's had in years and my heart did a little flip flop again. Sleep, think sleep.

    I don't even remember saying goodnight.

________________

Craig "can't catch me gay thoughts" Ainwir is my aesthetic fight me

I feel like I shouldn't have to say this but biphobia will be deleted and blocked, thank you