The ground is solid, nothing like the muddy trap outside, and the walls are narrow. Along with the soil scent there is something powdery, almost waxy about the smell around us. There is something familiar in the peculiar odor. It’s almost like being in my father’s study, near Lemon’s cage.
The walls begin growing wider and in the distance, I spot a light.
Iann stops and hovers the torch over Nico’s map.
“Does it show us what’s next?” He finds where the olden language is written and follows the route upwards, his finger freezing on the map.
“It’s the image of the bird.” Nico slowly pulls the map away.
In the dark I find Iann’s hand and squeeze it tight.
Deean, somewhere behind us starts laughing to himself. “Sorry, it’s not funny.” He lets a few loose snickers slip. “Do youremember that time when you were eleven and one landed on your shoulder?”
“Not the time,” Iann grumbles and continues walking.
Deean ignores his brother and continues telling us a story of how someone had gifted their parents lovebirds one year as an anniversary gift. The next day one bird had died, making the other one become quite sad. Little Iann wasn’t aware of the violence a lone lovebird could cause. Iann had opened its cage, and it immediately flew onto his shoulder. Confident he could touch it, the bird bit his finger and then his nose before it started flying around the room.
“Even shit on his head.” Deean is wrapped in the memory and laughs his way through the tunnel. “Poor Iann tried getting out of the room, but the door was stuck. The bird did him one good that day.”
I feel Iann sigh and move my other hand up his back in comfort, tracing familiar sculpted lines. I hold my laugh in, and it’s not from Iann’s fear but from the way Deean tells the story. It may seem cruel to others, but the way in which Deean recounts the experience is done in a way in which only your siblings can tease you. I know it well from Jaleese, who would certainly have stories of her own if she was here. Her and Deean would probably end up in a most-embarrassing-sibling-moment contest.
Approaching the light, everyone stops talking. We walk into the openness of a cavern, under a dome-shaped room with an enormous circle cut out in the ceiling that allows in sunlight.
There is a path from one side of the room to the other and several trees that stretch up to the top of the dome. Sitting in every tree are tiny, round shadows that I think are some sort of fruit at first, until we get closer. Then I realize, thousands of birds are sleeping in the trees.
Iann grips my hand, cutting off my circulation and crushing my bones. I pull away before he has a chance to break anything.
“Sorry,” he whispers unsteadily.
“We just have to make it to the other side and then we’ll be done.” I try comforting him but have no clue what awaits us once—or if—we make it through.
“No one move,” Chana warns as she passes the entrance and sees what lies inside the dome.
“Are those…” Nico quietly tries to fold the map.
“Picos.” Chana eases past Vera and Sky and looks more closely at the path. “They occupy some of the forests in Ethmay. One or two usually aren’t a problem but we’re looking at hundreds, if not thousands. They are particularly drawn to noise, so we need to move with silence. They are known to attack anything that disturbs them.”
Foxes are to remain unheard. With one deep inhale I take the first step onto the path. Iann tries grabbing my hand, but I pull it away and place a finger to my lips and give him a smile. He’s led the way most of this journey but in his fear—which I know is ever potent right now—it’s my turn.
The ground seems like any other dirt path and doesn’t make much sound as we walk on it. The closer we get to the trees, the more visible the birds become. Speckled among their black feathers are traces of yellow-and-orange, colors that scream caution. Their eyes remain closed and we take our time. Slowly but still steadily getting across the room. The exit is nearly within reach.
Almost there. I encourage myself to keep going. Unseen. Unheard. Untraceable. I repeat the rules over and over. Even if I have no desire to ever be a Fox, all the training had to have meant something. Every late-night watch, every poor soul I had to follow, or every gritty task ordered by the Queen, it all had to have been for something.
Just when I find my pace, my confidence is shattered by a metallic sound. My body goes rigid, and I instantly feel Iann lose all momentum behind me.
Looking back, I spot Benny gathering the lead pieces back into a metal tin, making more noise as he’s going at it.
Chana bends down, placing a hand on his, forcing him to stay quiet. She looks above us, and I follow her gaze. Every bird now perches with eyes open, peering in our direction. They begin making sounds, similar to the cries we heard earlier.
“Damnit, Benny,” Deean hisses. “What could you even be writing about at a time like this?”
Benny assures us it just slipped, but Chana pushes him forward before he can finish explaining. “GO!” she shouts.
The birds begin flying around, circling the space above us. Iann becomes paralyzed by the terror of it all, lost in the fear above him. It takes me a few times, but on the third tug he finally starts running with me.
“The parfa powder, Your Highness.” Sky stops running to shout at Deean. “Keep going,” he orders the rest of us.
The moment I have to look back, I see Deean and Sky struggling with a backpack. By the time we hit the other mouth of the cave, the birds make a final circle and then dive.
