16 |Past Arina POV|

It seemed like I misunderstood Master Carlisle, he didn't do anything evil. Yet. Did I mistake that evil gleam in his eyes? He held me in his hand and started to stroke on my feathers gently as if trying to soothe me. He walked around his room and found a thread, similar to the one he tied around my foot last time. Then I realized what he was trying to do. As he was circling the thread around my foot, I tried to struggle, but in vain.

I understood why he tied me to a some thread. If I caught a bird who was injured, I wouldn't want it flying around or worse flying out of the room. The tiny thread was just a mean to tie the bird down. At least it's not a cage. But as long as he held onto the other side of the thread, I could not escape. My mother warned me many times that I could only stay in my bird form for at most one day. Otherwise, repercussion might start to show. Furthermore, I could not just disappear! My roommates would realize!

Gazing at the tiny knot around my foot and then at the tiny thread that wound around Carlisle's index finger, I wonder if I could escape him. Just then someone knocked on the door, Carlisle's guard, Janus, came in with a tray of food. He placed it on the table and left without a word, closing the door behind him.

Carlisle kept holding me in his hand, to prevent me from moving my injured wing. He picked up some berries from the plate and held it in front of me.

"You must be hungry," he said with a small smile on his face. For some reason, I still had this intuition that he was planning something. That smile was not as harmless as it seemed. Something evil seemed to be lurking behind.

Was he planning to toy with me again? My guards went up. He must have noticed my hesitation to eat the food held by him.

"Are you not hungry?" he asked again.

Even if he was really toying with me, there's nothing I could do. In the end, I gave up. I was about to peck at the berries in front of me when he dropped them to the floor. Even though it looked like a mistake, I was very certain he did it on purpose.

"Opps. My bad." That foreboding smile was still hanging on his face. He leaned down and picked up the berries he dropped. He then placed the berries next to me again and said, "Do eat. You must be hungry. You lost so much blood."

I was a bird. I would eat anything even if it's dropped on the floor. Look at all the birds he fed near the lake! They ate seeds that were littered on the ground! If I refused to eat the food in front of me, I would look really weird. But I really didn't want to eat that. I could see the tiny dusts on the fruit. I wouldn't die eating them, but... Just eat them, Arina. Not getting exposed should be your top priority. And you should be glad he didn't bring out worms.

Closing my eyes, I pecked at the berries. They tasted good. Just ignore the dust, ignore the dust. After the berries, he also offered me some seeds. He no longer tried to toy with me. All throughout the feeding, he was messing with the feathers on top of my head. I tried to shake him off, but he just wouldn't stop. In the end, I gave up and slowly get used to it.

My small bird stomach was quite full after all the food. With the gentle stroking on my head and a full stomach, I started to doze off even though I kept telling myself not to. Stupid bird body!

When I jolted awake, it was night time already. I could not deduce the time, but it was dark outside. Carlisle was not in the room. It's the perfect time for me to escape. I really had to get back before Casey and Lily notified others to search for me. I gingerly moved my injured wing. As before, it's not that painful. Then I tried flapping my wing like I would during flying. The pain intensified, but it's bearable. Mirror Court was quite close to the living area of the head family. My wing should be able to handle that flight.

The problem now was the thread circling around my foot. The other end of it was tied to a paperweight. It's too heavy to be carried by my beak. Defeated, I looked around the room one last time. It's empty. The candles were out. It's really now or never. I tried to peck at the thread to untie the knot. After many minutes the knot finally loosed. Just then noise came from outside the door, I quickly slipped my foot out of the knot and flew out of the room.

I returned to my room with a nonchalant expression, even though I knew my roommates must be worried.

"Arina! Where did you go? We were so worried. It's way past dinner and we couldn't find you anywhere around the Court! We're about to notify Master Fu!" Casey exclaimed worriedly.

Pretending to be embarrassed, I said, "I fell asleep on a bench near the lake. That place is kind of secluded, surrounding by bushes."

"Told you Arina will be fine." Lily rolled her eyes at Casey. "Who's Arina? The good student! She never violates any rule."

I violated many rules today. I silently laughed at the irony of this situation. I opened the wardrobe and dug out the box holding bandages and ointment. The bandages fell off when I shifted back to my human form. I took a look at my wound. Luckily, it's not as bad as I thought. The paste Carlisle made still covered part of the wound. I was about to wipe them away when I thought better of it. In the end, I simply wrapped my wound with a new bandage then I went to bed.

The day for receiving mails soon arrived. Together with the silk handkerchief my mother bought for me came with a simple note.

'Arina, all is well at home. The blue finch on the willow back at home finally learns how to fly. Hope everything is well for you.'

I lowered my eyes and heaved a sigh. So it's time.