dot.

20: Wish

  "What was all that about?"

  After a rather patchwork apology, Tiro had exited the room and hadn't returned. Maybe Nimue really had ordered him to do it- honestly, it seemed like the sort of thing she would do.

  Dot shrugged and slumped back down into the nest. Felix had made it for him so that he would stop moping around about how he couldn't sleep upside down anymore, and although it was a very shabby excuse for a bed, the hybrid seemed to be pleased enough with it.

  He tugged on Felix's arm, a surefire sign that he wanted him to talk him to sleep again.

  "I'll tell you a story, alright?"

  Dot nodded, curling up again and closing his eyes.

  Felix yawned and leaned against a tree, stretching out his arms before continuing. "My mum used to tell me this story when I was little. I'm assuming you have no idea what Greece, gold, Gods or Kings are, so for everyone's sake Greece is a country, gold is a very expensive metal, Gods are... in this context, extremely powerful, all-knowing beings, and Kings are people that rule a country or a Kingdom. Makes sense?"

  He nodded and wrapped his wings around himself tightly, using them as a blanket. Although it was not ideal and he often woke up cramped and uncomfortable, this had become his default sleeping position since his injury.

  "So at the beginning of this story the King of Greece, called Midas, was a very greedy man. But he did a good deed, and so one of the Gods came down and granted him a wish."

  Felix looked down to check that Dot was still following before he went on with the story. "He wished that everything he touched would turn to gold, instantly. The God granted his wish and he ran about touching random objects, turning them all into gold. But then it all went a bit wrong. He couldn't eat, because whatever food he touched became solid gold. And then when he went to hug his daughter, she turned into a solid gold statue. He was horrified and begged the God to reverse his wish."

  "The God took pity on Midas and told him to bathe and take a pitcher of water from a nearby river and to pour it over the gold he had created. The King obeyed, and everything that had been gold was turned back. The moral of the story is that he stopped being greedy after this, or something, and so you shouldn't be greedy either. I dunno. After my mum told me the story we'd always talk about what wishes we could have, and what bad things might happen if we got them."

  "It's funny, because I always wished I could have great big wings and fly anywhere I wanted, like you have. I could never think of a proper drawback to that, but," he gestured to the lab with both arms, "I guess this is it."

  Dot was already asleep now, but Felix kept talking.

  "My mum is a doctor, the good kind, the ones that heal instead of hurting. But her work days are very long and so it was really nice when she was there to put my brother and I to bed."

  "She named my brother, my dad named me. They clearly have very different tastes in names- my brother got saddled with Leander, and I got plain old Felix. I like it though, I think it suits me. Dot suits you, too. Although it's a shame you weren't given the name by someone you love."

  "I know Tiro said that Nimue is never going to let me leave, but they must let me go at some point, right? My family will be worried sick. God, I miss them. I wonder what they're doing right now." He sniffed the inside of his shirt and wrinkled his face in disgust. "Before I go home though, I'm going to need to have a proper shower. Leander won't come within six feet of me like this, he hates bad smells. I'll never understand how you haven't had a shower for weeks and are still fresh."

  "Maybe I could find a way to take you with me when I leave. I wonder if you have a family we could find- or if not, you could just stay with mine. I'm sure they'd let you after I tell them about what goes on here. My mum likes to have things she can mother, so you'd be perfect."

  "I hope I get let out soon. I got paid before I came here for the experiment, and I think I finally have enough saved up to move out. It's getting a bit embarrassing that I still live at home, honestly. But housing is expensive, and my family isn't exactly well off."

  He moved a little bit a way from the tree so he could lay down and relax a bit. Life here was boring, mind-numbingly boring. Everyday was a repeat of the one before: same food, same people, same room. He honestly had no idea how Dot had managed to stay here for most of his life- he would have lost his mind. Felix had never thought it was possible to miss the feeling of the wind and sun so deeply. He'd give anything just to be able to sit outside at this point- even if it was in a rainstorm.

  Dot was sound asleep again, as if Tiro had never even visited. He was... a strange man. The idea of trying to murder a child​​ just because the woman you liked liked him better was baffling to Felix. Although, knowing how Nimue was, they were probably meant for each other.

  He watched Dot sleep for a little bit, making sure he didn't have any nightmares. Sometimes he'd lash out in the night and catch Felix with his claws, so he had to do his best to stay out of the hybrid's way.

  And although he would miss Dot, he couldn't help but dream about escaping- and not every plan involved taking the boy with him.