Anna Peregrine--The Conference of the Birds

Chapter Seven

We would all leave in the Americans' helicopter, and there was enough room for all of us. We waited until the vehicle was ready to leave. Balenciaga had kept the police at bay somehow, most likely with a memory-wipe. LaMothe had been pacing whilst Mum and Isabel tended to Ellery. I stood by them, ready to help as they requested.

Hugh was nearing hysteria, and Emma and Enoch were trying to keep him calm. Emma was hugging him, comforting him, and Jacob, not really fitting in anywhere, had left us alone.

As I sat next to my fellow Ymbrynes, I let myself fall out of reality, letting my thoughts go to Fiona, Noor, and the Prophecy of the Seven.

And then there was a voice.

Nice to see you again.

I flinched. The voice was singsongy, and so gentle, yet venomous, and so familiar. I looked around, but there was no one new.

So. Are you excited?

I laid my head against the tree we were under as lip smacks and vowels stretching filled my head. There were sounds of satisfaction.

Mm-mmm, that's better. I could get used to this again . . .

"Who's there?" I asked, quickly standing up, making Mum and Isabel look up at me.

"Anna, are you alright?" Mum asked.

I looked down at her and blinked, "Yeah. Sorry, I'm fine. I think I just . . . fell asleep. Uh, excuse me for a moment."

I quickly walked away, leaving everyone behind me as I walked through the trees. As I walked, there was nothing in my head. A gust of wind wrapped around my legs, blowing my skirt up as I stumbled sideways, catching myself on a tree.

There's a new world coming, and it's going to be so beautiful–

"Who are you?" I asked.

Just an old friend.

"And what does that mean?" I asked as I looked around, hoping that someone was actually out here, and that I wasn't going crazy.

Ev'ry land on earth will sink, and reek and wallow in stench and stink, of rotted trunks of beast and man, and vegetation crisped on land.

I looked around the tree that I had caught myself on and almost screamed at the sight. There was a body with a sheet on top of it. I slowly approached it and lifted a corner of it to see the face of a young man with half his head caved in.

"Just an old friend," the voice said, now coming from the body's bloody mouth. "But I'll be back soon . . ."

"Hey!"

I quickly looked to see Enoch pulling on my arm. I looked back to where the body was to find it was gone.

"Where'd you go? We're leaving!" Enoch said before pulling me away.

* * * * *

Two minutes later we were in the air and in our seats with headsets muffling the roaring of the blades. Ellery was laying across the laps of LaMouthe and his bodyguard and the rest of us were in the back. Balenciaga and Isabel had assumed bird form so we'd all fit, and were perched near the pilot, scanning the sky ahead.

I was still freaked out by what had happened to me. What had I seen? A vision? A hallucination?

No. It was my uncle.

Damn it, Caul had gotten into my head and was quoting the prophecy. Why couldn't he leave his family alone?

Hugh was having an absolute meltdown, and Emma, Enoch, and Jacob were trying to calm him down.