"I don't know," I admitted. "I was six when they took me out of that hall."
He grumbled in disappointment, but rubbed my shoulder kindly before raising his voice again. "We will not rush. We will not be hasty. We will give our newest citizen access to what she needs, because she is a Dragon. She was born a Dragon - she simply didn't know it. That is why she found us. That is why she will lead us to victory against our enemy!"
Once again, the crowd began to cheer and jeer, but it felt like there was more cheering than booing. It also seemed like everyone who'd come this morning had an opinion. One they wanted to scream back at me, even though I'd never make them out.
So Saveah leaned closer and said, "This isn't going to be easy."
I shook my head. "No, and it won't be fast. I also don't know how to get back in."
"But you will figure it out," Jerlis assured me from the other side. "You have to, Ayla. Somehow, we have to make sure the women down there know there's another option, because one of them might be my sister!"
I looked up and met his dark, demonic-looking eyes. "I'll figure it out," I swore. "I have to, because my friends are down there too. It isn't fair for me to be up here in Heaven and them to be stuck in Hell. I have to at least try."
"But this isn't Heaven," the Mayor countered.
I turned my eyes to all the people screaming at the top of their lungs, voicing their opinions without fear of punishment. Among them were men, women, and even children. All of them were yelling towards the stage.
"But that's where you're wrong," I said, not caring if anyone heard me. "This? It's what we all longed for."
"It's freedom," Rymar said from behind me. "It's not Heaven, Ayla. It's just freedom."
I shrugged. "To me, that feels like the same thing."
EpilogueCallah
The alert was spread quietly. When the soft tap came at my door, I was ready. Ms. Lawton poked her head in, her silver-and-gold hair pulled back much too tight, and her eyes landed on me.
"Up, Callah. The hunters are back, and they have wounded."
I nodded and threw off my blankets even as she closed the door and headed to the next room. Tying my pink-gold hair back in a tight braid, I then folded it on itself and tied it again. I would need to keep it out of my way so it wouldn't get bloody.
Then I changed out of my nightclothes and into a dress. It didn't take long, and once I looked properly presentable, I left my room and headed up the hall. Around me, other girls were doing the same, all of us walking quickly but refusing to run. Hurrying did not mean making a scene, after all.
Once I reached the next hall, I found a spot against the wall, clasped my hands and bowed my head to pray. But I didn't pray to our God. I prayed for hope, for strength, and maybe even that this time there would be a sign. Something to give me that hope and strength I needed so badly.
Meri still wasn't allowed out of her marital rooms. Gideon had done everything in his power to keep her away from me, making it clear he wanted no more bad influences on his wife's behavior. That was Ayla's fault, though. Not mine. At least in his eyes.
And now Mr. Cassidy used her as an example of the Devil's influence. He sneered about how she'd ignored the love of God. He raged about how she'd been so brazen and selfish as to assault her own husband! And when he talked about her, he yelled at every girl in the room, making it clear such behavior would never be tolerated again!
So I did pray, but not the way I was supposed to. I prayed for the bravery to do what my best friend had done. To end my life in a way I could control. And until then, I spent my days sneaking into the darkness of the forbidden hall and climbing high enough to find the gap that would give me access to the library.
Ms. Lawton hadn't stopped to wonder about why I'd suddenly become so obsessed with sewing better. She'd simply taught me how to manage the thread. Now, I was one of the best. Good enough that when she marched up the hall, stabbing her finger at the girls who would help in the infirmary, I wasn't shocked at all when she pointed at me first.
"Callah Atwood. You. You, you, and you."
She kept going, calling out more girls, but I'd already pushed away from the wall and was walking quickly towards the infirmary. Maybe this time Meri would be in there to help? She'd once been good at this, and our hunters needed all the help they could get.
When I stepped into the room, my feet froze.
There, lying on the bed right in front of me, was Jamison, but that wasn't what made me stop. It was yellow. Bright yellow feathers at the end of a dark arrow impaled in the man's shoulder. There was a matching one in his thigh.
"I got this one," I said, hurrying over to the medical cabinet for supplies.
Ethanol. I would need that to clean the wounds, and it would burn like the fires of Hell as I poured it on this man. Suture, clamps, and bandages. Once I had it all, I rushed back, wanting to make sure I pulled that arrow out, because I had to know. I needed to see it up close!
But Jamison was writhing. "The Phoenix!" he wailed. "It's the Phoenix, and the Wyvern was with her."
Her?
I tried to push Jamison onto his back, but he kept wanting to curl up on his side against the pain. "You have to lie back and let me help," I chided.
"The Phoenix," he said again. "It's another one, and she killed us. She killed so many of us. The Wyvern came to protect her!"
"Tobias!" I yelled, knowing he had to be in this mess somewhere.
He was the only man big enough and strong enough to hold Jamison down. He was also too stupid to be offended at a woman summoning him. If I was going to get this arrow out so I could see it, I needed Jamison to be still for a blessed moment!
"Callah," he said, making his way over.
"Hold him down," I ordered exactly the way Ayla once had.
"Oh, they're yellow," Tobias breathed. "We haven't seen yellow before, but there are a lot of gunshots."
That made me pause. "What?"
But it was Jamison who answered. "She took my gun. She turned it on us. She killed with an arrow and then a bullet. Her name is the Phoenix, she told me, and she's showing them how to fight us!"
"He's delirious," I decided, reaching for the shears to cut the leather armor away from the arrows stuck in his flesh.
