Page 23 of Phoenix's Fire

"What if she doesn't?" Ayla asked too quickly.

Zasen simply canted his head. "Then we lose nothing. But you have shown me how much women know. Not what I wanted, but more than any of us expected. The problem is the food. If the Moles aren't killing us, what will the women eat? If they are killing us, how many up here will die? We have to stop this, Ayla."

"We've been killing them!" she shot back.

"And how many more will come?" he asked. "Waiting to defend ourselves doesn't work. It has never worked, but everything we've tried has failed worse. So many people havedied, Ayla. This - the knowledge you and Meri have - is our best chance of trying something new."

Sure, his tone was gentle, but his words weren't. Then again, Ayla worked best with that. Zasen put the responsibility on her, then accepted her decision. He was fair with her, but he did push. What kept surprising me was how well Ayla responded to it. She burned down the old, embraced the new, and was remaking herself, just like the phoenix she'd picked as her sign.

Now we just had to ignite her inner fire.

"Look," I said, taking over, "Meri needs to know what happens. You have to tell her, Ayla, because they will come back."

"I know," she mumbled.

Kanik reached over to rub her shoulder. The girl glanced his way, their eyes met, and she visibly relaxed. She also held his gaze just a moment too long. Maybe there was something there? If not, she was giving Kanik all the wrong signals and probably didn't mean to. I'd have to talk to him about that later.

For now, I needed to make her see this logically. "Your mother was a Dragon." I looked over, waiting for her eyes to leave Kanik.

When her gaze landed on me, it was powerful. Her blue was not the same as the new girl's. It was bright, the same color as a perfect day's sky. Blue, but not soft. No, there was a strength in her eyes that shouldn't be there. It didn't match the gentle nature she so often tried to use as a shield.

"I know," she said, a hint of pride in those words. "My mother was the Serpent."

"Mhm," I agreed. "Who was Meri's mother?"

"No, her parents were Righteous." She paused, making a little noise of disgust. "I mean Moles. Both were Moles. That's why she moved in with me and Callah. She stayed with her mother until she was ten, so while Callah and I were used to being in our own room with only Ms. Lawton to care for us, Meri missed her parents. She was older, but new to the wing."

"Okay," I said, not quite sure what that was about. "So her mother was born down there?"

"Yes."

"But yours wasn't," I said again. "She was stolen from here. What if they want to steal Meri back? She won't even know they do that."

"And she may have heard things as a child," Zasen added. "What if she knows how to get into the compound, Ayla? What if she has the solution to freeing Callah? What if the Moles come here to hunt and she's shot because she wasn'twarned to stay inside? What if they steal her baby because it's a girl? What if, what if, what if? There are so many reasons to find out what she knows, and none to ignore this! That girl could be the answer to stopping this carnage!"

"But she's scared!" Ayla snapped, raising her voice at him. "Don't you get that? They told her you will eat her. She doesn't have a clue that they were eating you! She can't take it, Zasen. Meri is gentle. She's kind. She's been hurt by Gideon, and I do not want to make it worse!"

Kanik replied in a calm and soothing voice. "You have to."

"No!"

"You do," I agreed. "Not now. Not even tomorrow. You can talk to her about it, but you have to start telling her. You have to find out what she knows. Ayla, we didn't tell you. We thought we could wait, and then we shoved you in a closet with a child."

"But I protected him," she insisted.

"You did," I agreed.

"And you were amazing," Zasen praised.

"But," I said, flicking a finger at Zasen to let him know I had this, "killing the hunters isn't enough. We have to stop them from hunting us. We have to try something new, Ayla, and she is that thing."

"What if she's not?" she asked.

I shrugged. "Then we will try something else. But we have totry.Just like you have to try to make her understand. This is the cruel reality we live in. We can't ignore it. Zasen needs to know about the compound. Meri might know things you don't. Maybe Callah told her something, or maybe things changed after you left. The only way we'll know for sure is if you ask her."

"Me?" Her eyes jumped between the three of us.

"You," Kanik told her, reaching out to lightly touch her arm. "We trust you, Ayla, and you know Meri. This is a lot of responsibility, but you can do it."