A Heart's Thoughts

Day 43

Felicia barged into the living room, where Matthew and Annabelle were busy discussing something. They both looked up to see a confused and slightly bewildered Felicia standing in the doorway.

She focused her gaze on Anthony, who was cooking in the adjacent kitchen, "uh, Anthony, remember that bird thing you asked me to hide for you?"

Anthony mouthed 'bird thing...' softly before realizing what she was talking about.

"Oh, the phoenix! Gosh, I almost forgot about that poor thing. What's with it?"

"Yeah, that phoenix. It, uh, disappeared?"

Anthony gave her a confused look and spoke hesitantly, "are you asking me?"

Felicia shook her head, looking annoyed with herself, "no-no, I'm not asking you. The phoenix disappeared. I gave it food and water just yesterday, but when I tried to do so today, it wasn't there. I'm very sure I didn't bring it back to the material world, so I have no clue where it is."

Anthony put the knife he was holding down. "And you're 100% sure you didn't accidentally free it?"

Felicia nodded.

Anthony sighed, "well, we can't do much about its disappearance if that's the case. It didn't belong in this world, to begin with. Maybe this is for the best."

Felicia shook her head, "but wasn't that bird supposed to be our secret weapon or something? Aren't phoenixes insanely powerful creatures?"

Anthony nodded as he crossed his arms and looked to the ground, "yeah, they are. It really is a shame it just disappeared like that. I wonder why."

Annabelle chimed in, "you said the phoenix didn't belong in our world, right? So, wouldn't Clover be our best bet to ask why it randomly disappeared?"

"I heard my name?" Clover said as she walked into the room. She grabbed a piece of dried banana and sat on a chair next to Annabelle.

"What's up?"

Anthony briefly explained the situation, and when he finished speaking, Clover hummed softly as she crossed her arms.

"Now, this is an interesting matter you've brought up. I'm pretty sure I know where your phoenix friend came from. Only problem is, I saw that timeline get destroyed about three years ago. That was before we even had those hidden compartments in our rooms installed, so it definitely didn't lodge itself inside our wall before then."

"So how and when did it get here?" Anthony asked.

Clover shrugged, "I have no clue, but it is quite interesting. I wonder if we'll notice a change somehow now that the phoenix is gone."

Anthony wanted to comment but stopped when he heard static in his earpiece. He stiffened and focused on the sound when a voice finally came through. It was Julian.

"Guys, I was walking through town with Jack when I went inside a shop to use their toilet, but when I came back, Jack was gone. He wasn't wearing his earpiece either."

Anthony immediately walked into the hallway and yelled, "everyone come down, it's an emergency! Put your earpieces in!"

It took less than a minute for everyone to gather in the room.

Anthony spoke again, "Julian, where are you right now? We'll come to you."

They heard rustling, "uhm, we were walking in a bit of an unknown part of town. It's quite far from the marketplace. I lost him when I went into a small bakery."

"Does anyone know a small bakery around town?" Cecilia asked.

Jude shook his head, "I only know that one near the marketplace, but Julian just said they're far away from there."