Chapter 8
Heyder and Ali poured through Samara's journal as the family sat around looking at each other with anxious eyes. Birdie hovered by her mother as Hayden and Nora sat beside one another waiting for the jinns to say something.
After several long minutes that dragged on like torture, Heyder finally sighed and slammed the journal shut.
"I'm still reading," Ali complained, taking it back.
"Well?" Maya looked at her husband.
"The motherfuckers are on earth," Heyder ran a hand through his dark hair.
Birdie sat up straight and looked around the room with bright eyes, "Where? How do we find them?"
"I don't know yet," Heyder looked back down at the journal. "Ali, spread the news at court. Tell all the elders to gather."
"What? Why?" Birdie looked at her father.
"We have to find them?" Heyder paused. "Before they become a problem."
"We can start with the town hall," Ali said. "Shake up that old man and see what we can gather. Find the other guardians."
"Wait, stop," Birdie stood up. "Why are we speaking as if we're going to war?"
"Because we are, darling," Ali said.
"We just found them!" Birdie shrieked. "We don't even know if they're good or ba-"
"They're feys," Heyder's eyes darkened. "And we do not wait around for them to grow stronger."
"What about mom and Hayden?"
"That's different," Heyder shook his head.
"That's hypocritical," Birdie protested.
"These are feys," Heyder leaned forward on the desk. "Do you get that, love? They are not our friends. The suffering they have cost us for millions of years can not be forgotten or forgiven."
"But-" Birdie tried but Heyder wouldn't hear it.
"They raped our women, slaughtered our children," Ali's carefree nature vanished as he sat beside the desk looking down at the rings on his finger. "If we protested or stepped out of line, our loved ones would be hung at the city gates until their bodies rotted in the sun. The elders will tell you how they were hung from trees by their ankles until blood poured out of their nose and mouth."
Maya flinched in her seat, gripping the pillow beside her. Nora's eyes watched her as she quietly reached for Hayden's hand beside her.
"Birdie," Ali looked up at the young girl. "I know you want to meet these people. But baby, they are not interested in meeting you. Remember, even wounded beasts can pounce."
"And as far as your mom and Hayden are concerned," Heyder sighed. "The fey inhabiting them has given us no reason to drive it out. It protects your mother and it protects your brother. As long as it's on our side, we will protect it."
"But if there are more feys," Ali looked at Hayden briefly, making Nora's heart contract. "And they find out about Hayden...."
Birdie paled. The air was knocked out of her as she turned towards her brother.
"Maaz might be relentless," Heyder said, looking out the glass wall towards the woods. "But the feys will be merciless."
Along with Birdie, Nora began to shiver. She looked at Hayden as he sat staring at nothing in particular. Her head felt as if it weighed a ton, making her nauseous.
