Chapter 53
Chapter Fifty-Three
The elipags dropped them off at the base of the treehouse, lingering for a moment to use their tusks to snap Sierra’s ankle chains before they disappeared silently into the forest. Aislan climbed up first, followed by Sierra, who could now climb on her own, and Braan came up last, struggling a bit as his injured hands had not yet healed.
Once they were all through the hole in the deck, they collapsed against the side of the house.
The same bird Sierra had seen before tilted its head at them curiously from its spot on the balcony railing.
“Is that bird always there?” Sierra asked once her breathing had calmed.
Yes.
The word floated through as Aislan looked over to see the bird she was talking about. “No, but I think Aodhan might give it snacks sometimes, so it does visit frequently.”
Sierra didn’t mention the conflicting answers and wondered what snack the bird could possibly want, but she knew once she figured it out, she would definitely give it one.
All the snacks.
The bird blinked as the words came through. Sierra made a mental promise that she would get it something as soon as she could.
Aislan was the first to stand, holding out a hand to help Braan. His hands had stopped bleeding, but they were still red and puffy where the tusk of the elipag had hurt his wrist trying to free him. “If we ever do that again, I’m requesting to be imprisoned on the exterior wall,” he joked.
Sierra rolled her eyes as Aislan twisted the knob of the door and let them into the cabin. “It’s not locked?” she asked curiously.
“It is,” Aislan corrected her. “The doorknobs are spelled to only allow Aodhan and I. You couldn’t come here without one of us, unless we hired a Fae locksmith to respell them.”
Sierra raised her eyebrows. She wanted to ask more about the powers these Fae locksmiths had, but realized they were all exhausted and now wasn’t the time.
Sierra made her way over to the sitting area, collapsing on the couch. All of this running and transforming and being imprisoned was taxing. She wished it would just slow down a bit, but she knew that until they found Aodhan, it wouldn’t.
As she thought his name, she jumped up from the couch and ran over to the main bedroom, twisting the door open. Only the empty bed greeted her. She mentally chastised herself. If Aodhan had been here, he would have already come out to greet them.
“He’s not here,” Aislan explained, as if Sierra couldn’t have already deduced that herself. “Otherwise, the rope wouldn’t have been down. Especially if he was hiding out.”
Sierra knew he was right, and now she was feeling pretty dumb that she had hoped he would be here.
“Don’t worry, we will find him. But first, we need to find out what happened to Kaye.”
Sierra’s hand flew to her mouth as she realized she had forgotten all about her during their escape. What had become of the human woman?
“I’m going to do some dream reading and see if I can get any information.” Braan said as he sank into a chair at the table.
Sierra glanced outside to notice the setting sun. Time flies during escape attempts, she supposed.
“I’ll take a look around the forest,” Aislan volunteered. “Sierra, why don’t you see if the bird on the porch knows anything.”
Sierra nodded, heading to the kitchen. “Let me get it a snack. I promised I would.”
The small kitchen didn’t hold much, and Sierra figured that without a fridge, they probably consumed a lot of dry foods. She pulled open the curtain to reveal some baking supplies sparsely occupying the shelf behind it. Unfortunately, she didn’t have that kind of time.
“There should be some dry fruit over there.” Aislan pointed as he headed toward the door.
Sierra found a small sack of unidentifiable dried fruit leaning on the countertop. She shook some out in her hand, tossing it in her own mouth, before shaking out a second handful for the bird. As she headed to the door, she watched as Braan grabbed some for himself as well.
Back on the porch, Sierra couldn’t help but glance around at the rest of Teach Crann as the setting sun cast beautiful shades of pink and yellow all around them.
The bird was impatient, however, and it quickly flapped its wings, taking off a few feet only to settle on Sierra’s shoulder, dipping its head down to nudge at her closed fist.
Mine.
Sierra opened her hand, allowing the bird access to the dried fruits, which it ate one at a time in quick succession.
As soon as it was finished, Sierra focused her mind on her question about Aodhan, referring to him both by name and as the man of the house, in case names weren’t a thing in bird speak.
We hear rumors.
“What rumors?” Sierra asked quietly, afraid to hear the answer.
The bird seemed to hesitate, maybe looking for a way to say it, or maybe not having a word for it at all. When the answer finally came, it was just two words.
Snake human.