We don't make it very far once we get down to the main floor, but not because security catches us or anything crazy. It's just that this overwhelming feeling of exhaustion takes hold of me as I drag along behind Asa's energetic, weird little self and I can't keep up with him.

"I'm homeschooled, but I was thinking that I could sign up for classes with you once you're feeling better!" Asa bounces around as we walk toward the cafeteria in hopes of finding something decent to eat. "Wouldn't that be amazing?" He grins, "Everyone would be so jealous! Especially since you're a football player and, like, so cool?"

I stop walking and he turns when he sees that I'm not following him.

"Asa, I'm not exactly in the best shape to play football. In fact, I'm kind of shit at doing anything right now," I admit, and I watch his face fall a little. "My leg's really messed up, and I'm still missing a foot. Kicking around a ball's literally the last thing on my mind."

"Oh," Asa replies softly as if the extent of my injury hits him all at once, "I'm sorry. Sometimes I just get really excited about things and my mouth moves faster than my brain and I say dumb stuff! And my mom tells me to count to three before I say anything, but I forget because I'm literally an air-head and I--"

I walk over to him and put my hand over his mouth, silencing him. 

"Mmf!" His eyes pop open wide and his fingers automatically come up to hold onto my hand, but he makes no move to pull them free. Instead, he seems to calm as he stares up at me, his eyes shining with what I could only describe as astonishment. He was like this weird little anime character come to life, glitter in those owl eyes.

"Don't apologize for being yourself," I tell him, and I shrug, "The world's already full of cardboard cutouts pretending to be people with their mouths taped shut."

Asa stares a little longer, then I drop my hand, effectively releasing the beast. "You have huge hands," He informs me snappily, "Also, you talk like you're on the Oprah Show. I kind of like it. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside."

I roll my eyes, scoff, then hobble past him. "Come on, let's go grab some food, bird-boy." 

"Micha! Wait!" Asa whines and he darts after me, "Can we do it again? Pretty please with a dead mousey on top!?"

I quickly make my way into the cafeteria, which had like two old people eating green trays full of bland-looking slop. The whole place was just one big generic cafeteria, white with green stripes. Plastic picnic tables with metal chairs. There was one perk to it, though, and those were the vending machines over by the left wall.

"Do you have a dollar or a credit card? The hospital took all my stuff," I tell Asa once I hobble over and he catches up to me, bouncing from foot to foot when he sees the turkey sandwiches and juice boxes secured behind the sleek glass windows.

"Maybe!" He replies and takes out a bright pink wallet with a cartoon goat embroidered on the side. "I get an allowance for doing my chores, but I had to buy Goaty some food a few days ago."

"Goaty?" My lip curls a little, "Who the hell is that?"

Asa unfurls his wallet and a literal poof of dust explodes out when he flips it open.

I groan and bang my head against the window of the vending machine, my stomach rumbling and churning so loudly that I swear the whole two people in the cafeteria could hear it. 

"Wait," Asa says, brightening, "I have an idea."

I didn't know it then, but when Asa Moon had an idea, they tended to not go so well and this was one of those instances where we get in way over our heads.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" I ask him a while later when he's hanging onto my shoulder as an owl and we're both standing in front of the vending machines again like idiots. "Aren't people going to wonder why a fucking barn owl is wandering around a hospital cafeteria?"

"Kee-yak!" Asa screeches stubbornly, and he flies down to the slot in the vending machine.

I exhale, use one of my crutches to prop it open for him, then watch him flap over to the door and hang on. A second later, he hops inside and I hear a bunch of banging around before his head pops up on the other side of the glass and rotates around curiously.

Shit.

Asa uses his beak and claws to climb up the metal shelves and begins pulling down packages of cookies in quick succession. And me being his designated lookout, uses my body to shield him from view.

This turns out to be a huge mistake.

I see this guy walk in wearing camo pants and a torn-up tank top, which normally wouldn't have been a big deal. The thing was, the cafeteria had emptied out by now, and I was the only one standing there. So we lock eyes in seconds and he starts to come over.

"Asa!" I hiss, "Hurry the hell up!"

Asa bangs around in the vending machine in response, and I hear him screech a few times.

"Hey," Buzzcut growls as he comes over, "Are you the guy who got into a car accident a week ago with my little brother? Michael or whatever?"

I try to stay calm despite the fact that this guy was simultaneously pretty and scary as hell. Somehow, I knew that if he found out what Asa and I were doing, he wouldn't be too happy about it.

"Nah," I reply casually, my back pressed to the glass, "You're mistaking me for someone else, dude. I don't know your brother or about an accident."

The vending machine beeps behind me, then there's a crashing sound and I turn in time to see the claw locking onto Asa and throwing him down the chute. A second later, he explodes out of the door at the bottom in a flurry of feathers and candy bars before sliding across the floor.

Buzzcut and I stare down at Asa when he skids to a stop in front of his brother's Converse, beak open, his wings spread out in unadulterated panic.

"Wow," Buzzcut rubs his chin, a sneer on his lips, "Mom and dad are going to eat this up."