Chapter 23_ She found him

Vidal's POV

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Now that Farris had left with the others to get a healer, his patience was diminished and he wanted to interrogate the old woman as fast as he could to clear up his doubts.

The others shouldn't know, they must never find out. For some reason, this incident was unsettling him and causing him distress. The faster he finds out if the old woman was what they assumed she was, the more his doubts would be cleared and his mind at ease that the ugly incident he had almost forgotten wasn't back to haunt him.

" Let's go," he said to August and the others Farris had grouped with him and walked out of the gates impatiently.

He knew August must be wondering what it was that was making him this worked up even though he was trying hard to not be obvious but there was almost nothing he could do about it. Later, when they ask questions, he would blame it all on being paranoid that the wild had discovered them.

If at all the others didn't question him, August surely would. He was his brother now and he felt bad for having a hidden secret kept away from them.

When they got to the building of Old Mrs. John's house, they climbed the stairs instead of taking the lift. It was no stress for their Original selves as they jumped from below the staircase to the floor they wanted to visit, grateful for the absence of humans on the stairs. August was a pigeon so, he could not jump like them but the speed at which he climbed the stairs was synonymous with them who jumped.

" I will listen out for the voice of an old woman" Gizem said to them when they were at a loss for the room the old woman could possibly occupy after using their common sense to locate her floor because they knew where her window was.

Gizem was leading them past door after door while they took her lead. Not that Vidal couldn't listen out himself but he was too worked up to even think straight so when Gizem said she would do it, he did not protest and show off his sharp ears as he used to.

He saw August's shocked short glance when he had not queried Gizem and knew there would be a lot of questions answering for him later.

" This one," Gizem said to them in a whisper.

August was about to place his hands on the doorknob to open the door without knocking when Calliope slapped it away.

" She is an old woman, we can't scare her. At least knock" she interjected, also in a whisper but August shot her a disapproving look.

" She wasn't scared when she brought the poisoned fried chicken, was she?" he spat, not bothering to whisper at all.

There was a thing about Calliope and August. Calliope was the female original bird while August was the male original Pigeon. Pigeons are Columbidae. Which means they are a family of birds consisting of birds and doves so the others considered the both of them to be the male and female original birds but they wouldn't have any of it and would always disagree about almost everything.

Gizem, being the impatient person that she was tried to open the door but it was locked from the inside.

" Gizem!" Calliope cautioned, displeased that her closest friend, or whatever they were because he was starting to doubt those two did not stand with her motion.

But the door was locked so they need no further debate. They have to knock.

When it looked as though Calliope was going to continue scolding Gizem and August, Vidal took to knocking on the door himself even though he had said to himself not to be the one to knock to reduce the other's rising suspicion.

" Coming..!" a voice said from inside the apartment.

Did the old woman possess such a tiny voice that sounded like a kid's or she has gotten company?

They all exchanged glances but before they could utter any word, the door flung open, and a little girl of about five years of age had her half-grown teeth with a loose incisor opened widely and smiling at them.

" Lucy! I told you to not get the door so fast and wait for the grown-ups to check for whoever is by the door before opening it!" a more older voice shrieked and scolded from the inside and soon, a young brunette in her early thirties joined the girl with one hand on her waist as she stares at them with inquiring eyes.

Vidal and the others were just too stunned to talk. They were expecting an old lonely woman, not a young woman and a five-year-old to attend to them.

" Sorry, she is my daughter but seems to have a mind of her own and does not listen to any word I say. She is just too excited to receive visitors regardless of whatever time it is" she sighed then brought a palm over her mouth. " Oh, sorry. Silly me, I am talking too much again. Please how may I help you?" she inquired and dimmed her eyes at them.

Vidal had to shake away his shock and speak. The more he delayed this, the higher his panic. " We seek Old Mrs...." he trailed away " What's her name again?" he asked the others.

" John, Old Mrs. John. I believe that's what the neighborhood calls my mother" the brunette provided.

She was the old woman's daughter? Good, he was beginning to think that they were on the wrong door but now that he knew they weren't, he could continue with more confidence than previously.

" Yes, Old Mrs. John" he repeated.

The old woman's daughter seemed to be impatient now and wanted to know what they seek her mother for. " Yes, why?" she frowned.

Vidal was now unsure of going straight to the point or not but when he remembered how much he was staking, he settled for the latter. " She came to offer us some fried chicken about an hour ago now, our friend is sick from eating her chicken so we are here to call into question what she has added to the fried chicken she came to offer us as a neighborly act that made our friend sick" he rushed as if the words were hot on his tongue.

" What are you talking about?" the brunette blurted out, her second hand now on her waist, her face now hard and unsmiling. " I and my siblings have come to pay our monthly visit to my mother and she hasn't set her feet outside of the house today. My siblings can all testify too" she had a suspicious look in her eyes and now called out to someone from inside the apartment. " David!" she fumed. " What absurdity is this?!"

Oh no, Vidal panicked now. His nightmare was happening right in his face. His guess was right, she found him.