Splendid Fall

Ch.26 One and the same

Chapter 26

"Joya will be staying with you until you are more familiar with the compound," Ira said as she led Birdie down the narrow halls packed with jinns.

Birdie looked around with amazement at all that was happening around her. There were children, families, soldiers, merchants, cooks, doctors. All packed into a small tiny building underground. The lights were bright, yet the whole place still felt a little claustrophobic to Birdie. The low ceilings seemed to loom over her like falling skies.

"They come here to seek help," Ira said when she noticed the way Birdie watched everyone. "Every single person here has been wronged by the feys one way or another."

"What do you do?" Birdie asked.

"Whatever we can," Ira's eyes scanned her dominion. "We don't have much resources and the feys of Pangea are much more powerful than the ones we had dealt with at home."

"I've noticed," Birdie said, looking at a young boy hiding in his mother's arms.

"What do you mean?" Ira asked.

"We had som-"

You tend to give away too much information.

Wren's words danced around Birdie's head. Her chest tightened as she peered up at Ira who waited for her to continue. Birdie couldn't explain why her lips were reluctant to speak. Maybe because she didn't want Ira to think Hayden or Heyder had anything to do with the fey fiasco they all had to deal with a few years back...and talking about them would only somehow bring up Noor. Birdie wasn't ready to see Ira's reaction to Noor.

"We had some lessons back on Earth about feys in school," Birdie lied, extremely grateful for her skills. "But the ones here seem to be different."

"They are," Ira said. "They are much colder. Sinister monsters."

Birdie remained quiet. She didn't think it was a good time to ask about Wren, even though her eyes bounced around looking for hints of the fey anywhere.

"Come along," Ira said, moving through the crowd.

Birdie followed the jinn until they arrived at the heavily guarded gates of the compound. The guards gave Ira a firm nod before continuing their duties. A few paused and stared at Birdie, wondering what their leader was doing standing next to a fey. Birdie knew that must have been what they were thinking. It was written all over their faces.

"When are we going to go get the key?" She asked to distract herself.

Ira took a deep breath, but her eyes stayed straight ahead, "I'll be sending my men to speak to the collector."

"You know him?"

"Not personally," Ira said. "Just through business."

"What kind of business?" Birdie felt her stomach knot.

"Elijah has no problems betraying his kind for hefty profit," Ira said. "He helps us get in and out of the city undetected."

Birdie remained silent.

"Why?" Ira asked. "Why are you interested in the kind of business I run?"

"The collector bought and sold me when I arrived in Pangea," Birdie said. "I hope that's not the kind of business you're involved in..."

Ira listened to Birdie's words carefully and peered into her silver eyes as if dissecting each word.

"We shouldn't ask questions to answers we do not know," she said after a long pause.