Page 45 of Phoenix's Fire

"So no one hurt you, right?" I asked. "Not the people in the compound, or the ones on the way here, or even the Dragons before I got there?"

"Not like Mr. Cassidy said," she assured me. "They grabbed me hard and pulled me around, but I think they may have been trying to help."

"Okay, good." That was what I'd thought. "That means you're safe now. You just worry about the baby, okay?"

"I don't want to," she breathed. "Ayla, what if I can't do this?"

"But you can't stop it now," I countered. "It'll be okay, though. We'll make sure nothing happens. That's why Jeera and Brielle are hosting you. They both know all about pregnancy and birth. They help."

"So they're like midwives?"

I rocked my head from side to side. "More. They don't just catch the baby. They know how to help you. How to make it hurt less, how to turn the baby, and how to stop all the bad things. They also don't mind talking about it. You can ask them everything and they will gladly explain."

"About having a baby?" Meri sounded like she was convinced I'd lost my mind. "That's improper!"

"Not here," I promised. "Here, it's considered knowledge, and women are allowed to have as much as men. We can read for fun. We can make our own decisions. We're finally allowed to do all the things we always dreamed of, Meri."

"I'm still scared," she admitted.

"I know," I said gently. "I do know, Meri, because I was scared enough to stab Mr. Saunders with a fork. But it'll be okay."

"How can you be sure?" she shot back.

"Because I've learned a lot since I got here. Meri, it's not all good."

"I knew it!" she hissed.

I lifted a hand the way so many Dragons did, begging her to let me explain. "Most things are good here. Compared to our lives in the compound, it's amazing. But, um, the Moles make problems here too."

"What? How? And why do you call the Righteous 'Moles?'"

"Because they aren't righteous!" I snapped, wincing even as the words came out. "Sorry." I waited for her to nod, then tried to explain gently. "They do bad things, Meri. Very bad ones. See, that's why you didn't end up in quarantine - want to know why?"

"Why?"

"Because those women aren't like us. They come from here. The Moles capture them and take them back. They say they speak the Devil's tongue, but it's just Vestrian. They talk about the evil inside them, but it's just bravery and confusion. It's so bright here that those women are blind in the compound. They're forced to learn English, and then made to marry a man and have his children. It's rape, Meri!"

"No..." she breathed. "No, that can't be possible! We'd know!"

"I didn't know, and my mother was a Dragon. Meri, I have a sister here. Her name is Saveah, and her mother was Tiesha.Mymother! Tiesha was abducted, thought to be dead, but she was in quarantine. The elders keep worrying about bloodlines, right? So why can't the children from quarantined mothers marry each other? Why aren't those meneveron our lists? I wasn't related to all of them, so why weren't they on my list?"

"Because of the Devil's corruption," Meri shot back, citing the rules we'd all been taught.

I just looked at her, waiting for her to think it through. "But the Devil isn't up here."

After a very long pause she asked, "So your mother was a Dragon?"

I nodded slowly. "She was. Now I'm a Dragon. If you want, you can become one as well."

"But I'm not half Dragon!"

"You're still a person, and that means they'll give you a chance. You just have to prove you're not like the men. That you're not a Mole, Meri, because Moles have hurt many people here."

"What if you're wrong?" she tried.

"I'm not." I gave her a long look, letting her see the seriousness on my face. "My mother always talked about a magical place where we could be free. She called it..." And I tried my best to mimic the Dragon accent in English. "...Lorsa." The "s" was soft and nearly skipped over. "When I collected my inheritance from her, I got two things. One was a drawing of the city entrance. The same one you came through, but years and years ago, so the buildings were different. The other?"

I leaned in and showed her the ring on the chain around my neck. It was small and tight on me now, but the tiny snake engraved on it was still visible.