Chapter 12_Pay him a visit

Slowly, she approached the door where Gizem and Calliope's breathing was emanating from. Now, their scent was conspicuous too. For some reason, she couldn't help but feel unsettled as if there was something uncomfortable behind the closed door.

Fender's strange act earlier too had raised her curiosity because she knew him. He was acting all sardonic and he wasn't doing it for no reason.

Now, she had her palms out and ready to grab the door's handle but she hesitated at first. She shook her head and shook off the unsettling feeling before pushing open the door.

She squeezed a corner of her face when she saw the two. Nothing unnatural was going on but with the look on Gizem and Calliope's faces and how their eyes darted, she knew something was up. She wanted to voice out her suspicion but decided to save it for later, now was not the time for that.

" Farris wants everybody " she said to them, her hand still on the door knob.

Calliope rolled her eyes " Again? Don't tell me something is wrong again. We only just got here" she let out and Rune shrugged.

" Being an original means something is always up Calliope. You have been living on the run all your life, I'm sure being with the Nature family is the safest you've been"

Calliope started walking towards the door " I have maintained a low profile and had managed to escape the wild's eyes except for that damn day when they caught up with me and you guys saved me. My life has been violent ever since" she started.

Gizem chuckled from behind " Trust me Calliope since the wild has discovered you, you might have been dead now if you were not with us. The wild would never leave you alone, they found you already and that means death"

Calliope stopped in her tracks and turned to the Gizem who was also walking towards the door now " Well, I am glad to be here, you know that. I met you mio amato.. And Rune too" she turned to Rune now and smiled.

The way Calliope told Gizem she was glad she met her and also called her beloved in her dialect sounded awkward to Rune but again, she decided to shrug it away. " Whatever, let's go. Farris would be mad and I want none of Fender's teasings" she pleaded with her best friend and twin sister.

"Yes, sister. You are right, the rat gets on my nerves all the time. Please let's proceed to the meeting point" Gizem replied her in her usual old-fashioned way of speaking.

Sometimes Rune wondered what to think of her. A male or a female because in originality she was a male cat but her physical features were that of a female.

Calliope crossed her hand around Rune's shoulders " By the way, where have you been these past few minutes? I looked for you" she said to her.

" Watering the flowers. Amadio wouldn't leave me alone so I had to go do it" Rune answered her as they walked down to the sitting room while Gizem trailed behind quietly.

Unlike Rune, she was a little quieter but also more vicious.

Calliope's Italian accent filled the whole corridor as they neared the stairs " Arggh, that darn goat can go tend to his plants himself. He shouldn't bother you, you're.." she paused as if realizing she was going to say something wrong.

Silence followed and the air was awkward between them. Rune knew she wanted to say she was ill but that does not disturb her, being reminded she was ill. It was the reality but Calliope still found it hard to say because she was avoiding things that would make Rune sad.

" You called them plants too. Little difference between you and the man" Rune chuckled and she meant it. Calliope seemed to not get along with everyone too well and Rune always found it entertaining to point out to Calliope her similarities with the people she thought she was so different from.

Calliope looked down at her as though she was spouting gibberish " what man?" she frowned but it was Farris's voice that welcomed her.

" Seven heads waiting for three but all three of you chose to keep us waiting because of your girly talks" he said sternly and Rune wanted to remind him there was nothing girly about them and that they were all as old as time.

" Sorry Farris, we are here now" she heard Gizem say and she decided to settle for peace.

August groaned from behind " Oh Farris leave the girls, they are here now just talk already!" he fumed and Vilda, his partner in crime added seasoning to the sauce.

" Say what creature we have to look out for and kill now, we have a lot to do" he rolled his head along with his eyes.

" Lots of things to do, like women and fun?" Luna chirped in sarcastically.

Farris had enough of their insolences and he threw his hands angrily in the air " Enough already! We have a more pressing issue right now. Bring it" he motioned to Rune who in turn handed the paper drawing over to him and the eyes of the others followed them. The others were clueless and wondered what it was the two people were handing over to themselves.

"Here" Farris announced and held the paper out for the others to see.

On seeing the image of the white cat well drawn on paper, the others hissed and fumed " Yayyy" Vidal mockingly exclaimed and anyone present would be able to tell he was being sarcastic " Dear old Farris has drawn Rune in her primary form. It's so pressing and urgent, yayy" he hissed at the end and made to drag August out with him.

"I did not draw this" Farris pointed out and he halted.

" The boy next door did" Rune added " It feel from his hand when I caught him staring at me" she said more to every one of them now.

" What?!"

" What boy?"

" He must be one of the wild!"

" Are we in danger already?!" were the exclamation from the others with Calliope saying the last sentence.

Gizem, who had not exclaimed along with the others finally talked " He must know something but let's not rush into judgment. I think it's too soon to be discovered by the wild" she said thoughtfully causing the others to tense down a bit.

" Yeah, the way it is too soon to discover there was a boy next door. We only just moved about eight hours ago!" Luna hollered.

Farris sighed loudly. The situation was tense now and it was his job as the leader to be rational and calm the others down. " There could be many possibilities but as Gizem said, let's not jump into judgment" he started " Any suggestions on what to do in this situation?" he tabled the question to all of the others.

That was his style of leading. He would never take any decision without inquiring about the opinion of the others.

" What else? Let's pay him a visit!" Amadio said for the first time since the discussion.

Farris paused and turned to the others to see their reaction to Amadio's suggestion and when he saw they were all silent and seemed to be thoughtful and unsure, " I think we need to pay him a visit then since no one has a better suggestion..?" he said but his tone was that of a person asking a question indirectly.

"Yes, but we have to do it wisely. There could be a possibility we might be wrong about him and it would be risky if we found out he did not know anything and we have carelessly revealed ourselves" Luna added her opinion and Farris nodded.

There wasn't much leading to do. These people were originals and leaders on their own.

Rune weighed all the suggestions and she thought it was cool. However, there was one thing she wondered about " I don't think we should pay him a visit. I think we should find a way to ask him" she said out loud and the others all turned to her.

" Ask him, how?" August asked her and she wondered why he was asking her directly. They were all just chirping in their suggestions.

He was right though, how do they ask him?

.

The sitting room was silent now except for the noises of car horns coming from outside but that was distant too. The tension in the air was returning now until Calliope broke the silence.

" We could use this" she announced and they all gazed at her to find her pointing at the paper that was still in Farris's hand.

None of them got her point or what she was insinuating " Don't keep us handing birdie, just tell us the whole detail!" August fumed.

Birdie?

Rune wished she could laugh right now but the situation was too serious to laugh out. If not, the others might even suspect her knowing something too.

Trust was a very hard and expensive thing for them. It was not their fault though, living for years and as old as time has taught them a lot. One of which was not putting your trust in no one, it gives way to disappointment and disappointments makes the heart ache. An aching heart is not good for one's existence and good health.

Calliope shook her head vigorously. She was not the type to let things slide " What in the world man?! I thought you liked ladies, at least speak to them with respect" she fumed.

" Would you please just explain more on your suggestion?!" Farris groaned out, he might die anytime soon and it would be death by the numerous ranting he always had to listen to and settle day by day.

" Maybe he doesn't see you as a woman because you liked to hang out with cats" Fender interjected while tossing his fingers towards Rune and Gizem.

" You might want to keep your rotten mouth shut!" Rune fired back at him and before he could reply her, Luna had called them all to order like a mother scolding her kids.

"Silence you all! Let's be serious when it's time to be serious. Someone next door might be one of wild and we might have been discovered before we even got a chance to start a new life here!" she made her voice sound as serious as or could be and Amadio grinned.

He was proud of his woman.

" Good" she added when everyone had gone silent. " Now Calliope, to you" she threw out her hands as if ushering Calliope to a stage.

Calliope in return collected the paper from Farris and scanned her eyes around as if searching for something.

The others were looking on at her in wonder.

She fumbled with the boxes and finally cried out in joy " Ahh..!" she beamed as she brought out something from one of the boxes.

It was a pen.

Rune watched her as she scribbled on it some words.

What was the original bird up to now? Rune wondered.