New World

Chapter Seven

The planting turned out to be the very next day. Savi was quite disgruntled to hear that half the people invited to the planting hadn't even realized that Will existed. But the entire Council was going to be there, since it was Sophie involved. The very special Moonlark who'd saved the world countless times. And Keefe, she added as an afterthought.

She had told Cerulean the dates and the time, but she'd also said it was fine if he was too busy to come. She'd barely known him for over a week, anyway. Although they had been growing a little closer the past few days, and Cerulean had even dared to invite her over the day of the planting, so that they could go to the planting together afterwards. His grandmother hadn't been too pleased, but she couldn't say that homework was more important than going to mourn someone's death. All she had to say was that Cerulean barely knew Savi at all and it wasn't wise to be making friends with girls, which had Savi giggling away and Cerulean's face turning crimson.

Cerulean's house was within walking distance of Willowtree, so Savi didn't use the Leapmaster to get to his house. They were practically neighbors, anyway. She just took the ten-minute walk to Falcon Cove and stopped the moment she saw his house.

An aviary might've been a better word. The entire place had falcons swooping all around, and she even spotted some eagles. She was pretty sure this wasn't their natural habitat. But his house had to be some sort of wildlife haven for animals in the Forbidden Cities. She was pretty sure Sophie had mentioned falcons before, but she'd never seen one in the Lost Cities.

"This place is amazing," Savi breathed. She was surprised by how tame the falcons were. One even dared to fly right in front of her, and it landed on a perch a few meters away, watching her with intelligent eyes.

"You really think so? Most people think Granny's gaga for wanting to rescue birds from the Forbidden Cities." Cerulean's voice sounded from behind Savi, and she looked around, a smile lighting up her face when she saw her friend.

"No, it's amazing! It reminds me of Havenfield," Savi admitted, reaching out to stroke the falcon in front of her.

It didn't even move, merely watching her closely as she stroked its feathers.

"Oh, careful," Cerulean said. "You're lucky you got Gray – he's like, the tamest one here. Watch out for the others. Most of them don't like being stroked."

"But... Gray's okay with it?" Savi asked.

"Yeah. Like I said, Gray's tame. He grew up here, and we managed to hone out his killing instincts. The others were rescued, and they grew up in the Forbidden Cities where they had to fight for survival, so I suppose it's harder for them to break old habits." Cerulean reached out and stroked Gray as well. The falcon moved slightly closer to Cerulean. "Gray's kind of my bestie. I mean, I didn't have any other friends, before..."

Before you.

That was probably what he intended to say, and Savi was pretty sure her ears had just gone scarlet. Not that she was embarrassed to be his friend, but his first friend?

"So... I suppose you live somewhere around here?" Savi asked.

Cerulean laughed. "You think we live where the birds poop? Nah. You just have to walk through the aviary to get to the house. See that tree over there? That's the entrance."

"Cool," Savi breathed.

The two of them walked to the tree and Cerulean swiped at the bark. A screen appeared. "Facial recognition," he told Savi as he looked directly at a hole in the bark which Savi assumed was a camera. "Granny had a Technopath make it."