“You’ve never seen humans?” Jeannie couldn’t believe what the other guy had just flapped. She thought he was going to add something to that, but he suddenly fell silent.

There was a cold chill going through the entire branch. It was clear to Jeannie that the others weren’t happy about her presence even though they pretended not to care, and she wasn’t entirely sure why they let her stay in the first place. But Jeannie had a peculiar feeling that there was a very specific reason behind it. Jeannie sat patiently, waiting for someone to flap something. She could ask about Bob once everyone had calmed down.  

“So, you want to gamble?” one of the indifferent ones turned to her. Jeannie noticed a few officers were looking in her direction impatiently. She nodded her head.

“You have to add something to the prize pool first. Something valuable,” the same guy hinted and pointed to the middle of the circle. It contained a mountain of indescribable trash that Jeannie had never seen before: some red wires, a cell-phone, a broken glass bottle and a small tin can. The only thing that looked somewhat preserved was the tin can. Jeannie wondered if that was the actual prize they were all playing for. The other objects seemed useless. At least she couldn’t come up with a reason anyone would want them.

“I can offer you my boots,” Jeannie flapped.

The others seemed to be displeased.

“We all have boots. Give us something else!” one of the demanded.

Jeannie remembered the small fabric Bob had given her for good luck. She had no idea what it was for, and she didn’t want to lose it to this weird group; but a bit of luck was perhaps exactly what she needed now. She thrust her claw inside the pocket of her wingwear and searched for the tiny object. It was still there.

Jeannie decided to bet on her luck.

She took out the small fabric and placed it on top of the giant trash pile.

A few butterflies gasped; the one sitting right next to the pile almost choked.

“Hatchling… I thought you said you were going to the human realm?” Tom suddenly chimed in.

Jeannie tried to nod, but got interrupted by another officer before she could do anything.

“She’s a liar! And she is probably spying on us on behalf of the Buttermen!”

“A spy! A spy!” a few others joined.

“No, she’s not a spy. But she might be a witch!” Tom flapped.

“A witch! A witch!” the officers next to him stood up in horror.

Jeannie stared at them in confusion. Everyone was starting to feel even more uneasy than before. She felt a few hostile looks in her direction.

“Tell us, witch, how did you happen to become the owner of a sock?” Tom asked while staring at Jeannie with his cold, unforgiving eyes. She could pick up the unpleasant smell of self-righteousness from his direction. He appeared to be somewhat pleased by the fact that now everyone had sided with him in not wanting an outsider on the branch.

“A sock?” she just repeated dumbstruck.

“Not just any sock: do you see how many holes it has? This can only be a good-luck sock! Stolen from a human! From right under its feet!” Tom added and the others became increasingly nervous. Nobody could sit still at the sight of a stolen sock so close to them.

“The witch is trying to curse us!” an officer proclaimed. Jeannie noticed that everyone nodded.

She tried to think of a reasonable explanation that would keep things from escalating, but slowly realized nobody was interested in her story anymore; no good lie came to mind either. There was a strange aura in the air. Jeannie saw how everyone tossed their dice aside and slowly stood up. They were ready to fly away.  

“Take your sock and get lost!” one of the officers flapped at her.

Jeannie stared at him unbelievingly. A few officers grabbed her by the wings.

“Have you seen Bob?” was all she managed to flap while the others pushed her to the side. One of them kicked the sock off the branch. Jeannie watched it fall down from one branch to the next, eventually disappearing in the endless abyss that awaited quietly underneath.

One of the officers managed to push her to the very beginning of the branch and threw her a hostile look. Jeannie wanted to flap something, but she could barely move her wings.

“Don’t you dare tell anyone you were here, or else things will get ugly, witch…” The officer flapped and waited for her to leave. She saw how behind him the majority spread their wings and flew away without a warning.

Jeannie turned away and sank her toenails back into the bark. She could only think about Bob. Where was he? Why couldn’t she find him? It felt as though they were both somehow invisible to the world. But there was nothing she could do now.

Jeannie climbed down to the next branch, trying her best not to cry. The air was still cold, and she hated that. There was nothing more annoying than fighting back both tears and cold wind. She noticed the moons were about to disappear soon. The big moon was standing still right above her head and, a bit to the side, the small moon was floating aimlessly. Jeannie sighed. Every butterfly was fascinated by the legend of the two moons: two lovers who were destined to chase each other for eternity, but never be together. Jeannie didn’t particularly like this story, even though it felt somewhat comforting. Some things were out of anyone’s control.

She tried not to think about her bad luck with finding Bob and hurried down the tree. But there was yet another surprise waiting for Jeannie at the branch underneath. One she had completely forgotten about.

“I told you not to go anywhere,” Frank flapped the moment Jeannie stepped on the branch. She didn’t need to look at him to know he was angry.