Saving F.

Chapter 10

While Mena talked to Farida, Newt tried to quench his curiosity by observing any change in his tone and voice. Although Mena was relatively more calm than before, there were moments when he sounded agitated again. For long minutes, he continued to speak, with Farida interrupting him only a few times to ask questions. Throughout the conversation, she had the same sympathetic expression, which made Newt believe that Mena's story was not particularly a happy one.

But just as Newt's incredible patience was starting to fail him, the conversation finally came to an end. There was silence afterwards, but before it became too awkward, Farida had turned to Newt.

"It's a long story and not a pleasant one," she said, somewhat gravely, "but I think it has some of the information we need."

She told Newt the gist of everything Mena had just said. It turned out that years ago, he used to secretly work with Ibrahim. His job was to supply him with food for the creatures he'd been trafficking, without the knowledge of the owner of Cynopolis. According to him, Ibrahim did not want his name to be mentioned anywhere or known to anyone. He did his job in the shadows, so he tried to avoid bringing even the slightest attention to his existence.

At first, Mena had not been aware of that. He hadn't even known the name or the identity of the person he worked with, since he only dealt with his minions. But he had no problem, and hence asked no questions, as long as he didn't have to steal anything from the shop. When it came to that, Mena's conscience was at ease. Ibrahim paid the price of whatever he bought, just like any regular customer would do, in addition to some extra Galleons for Mena in return for secrecy. All seemed well.

However, after a while, things began to take a new turn. The owner of the shop had noticed that many goods were missing, even though the income of the shop hadn't diminished. To Mena's relief, she concluded that nothing had been stolen, yet she had addressed him directly and asked him to explain. Mena had no other choice but to lie and tell her that those goods were sold, but he must have forgotten to record them. The woman scolded him, saying that could cause her trouble with the Ministry's Finance Department, and at that moment Mena realized he could no longer help Ibrahim.

"You'd think it ends here," said Farida, throwing a glance at Mena's face. "But it only got worse. Next day, one of Makram's men came to him and asked for a large amount of supplies and food, because they were leaving Egypt. Mena refused, of course, and the man insisted for quite some time, but in the end decided to leave. An hour later he came back, asking Mena to accompany him to meet Makram. He told me he saw many creatures locked up there. But you should've heard how he described the man himself, Newt... how calm he was, yet how frightening."

"I can only imagine," Newt replied quietly, the image of Ibrahim's cruel eyes invading his memory.

"Makram explained to him politely what they need," Farida continued, drawing Newt's attention back to the story. "But then Mena explained why he couldn't.  But Makram insisted, and suddenly his politeness turned into threats. He said he knew that Mena was a Half-Wizard who can't protect himself, and that he knew everything about his family, and that Mena would pay the price. Out of fear, Mena couldn't help but agree to help him one last time, but as he left, he realized there was a way out. He went home to his family, took the first train to Alexandria and they stayed there for two weeks, hoping that Makram and his gang would have left Egypt by that time."

"And he was correct, wasn't he?" said Newt.

"Yes. He returned to Cairo, and none of these people came to him. Mena thought he wouldn't have to deal with them ever again, but one can't always get what one wishes for," she let out a deep sigh, "they came back asking for his help by threatening him, and here we are."