Jay watched as his father, Gale, went out to go blue-jay hunting. Blue Jays were wonderful pets and because Jay was named after those blue little birds, his parents had decided to catch him a jay for a present to celebrate his 10th birthday: The day he lost the title 'kid' and had to be called 'boy' instead. It was just a thing that their family had passed down every time a boy turned 10. 11 was when girls had to be called 'ladies' or 'girls' and were not allowed to be called 'kiddy.' That made the boys feel more grown and 'manly.' Ugh, thought Jay, why's this so complicated.

His father had left with a net and a cage, but when they found his body, he had only himself lying on a cloud, his spirit sucked out. They claimed that is was a blue jay attack, but when Jay went to examine the body, if he knew how, there were no peck marks or bruises or even scratches to indicate that blue jays had done it.

Blue jays were known to be smart, but to have the knowledge of how to suck a spirit out of a nature creature's soul was more than even the Lower Land sorcerers could do. Only water-nymphs could do that, but no water-nymph could touch or interact with another element's creature without having a shock, like a lightning strike, while they touched it. And if it was a nymph, there would be screams.

Jay wandered around the edge of his cloud, staring miserably at the sea. He missed his father, with his whole-hearted laugh and stern voice that could soothe his mother's angry fits. His death had not been an accident. It had something to do with Jay's eyes. Blue eyes. And his name. Jay. Like the prophecy 'Blue Jay.' And his cheeky behavior. And he couldn't even put 1+1+1+1+1+1+1 together. Was it 7? Yah. No wait. 6. 7. 6. 7. Gosh, he was stupid.

Would this be the end of his perfect dream? No father to have private conversations with, to laugh at his bad jokes, to calm down his mother? Heavens and Hell was this perfect haven ruined.