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“Hmm,” Kalistratos says softly, and he kisses my forehead. “It’s truly unbelievable.”
I reach across the bed and pick up the little wooden figurine, then kiss it. “This is you,” I say. “My phoenix.”
Kalistratos wraps his hands around mine holding the figurine, and he laughs. “You know… This isn’t a phoenix?”
“What? Seriously? What is it, then?”
“Chicken. A rooster.”
“No shit,” I say, laughing. “Oh my god. Well, it’s still you then. My flaming chicken.”
“I’m not a chicken.”
“Flaming cock.”
He snorts and I nuzzle into him, laughing to myself as I squeeze the carving against my chest. Chicken or phoenix, it’s precious, and I will never let it go.
There’s a kind of outdoor deck or terrace on the roof of the library where they are growing grapes out of large pots across a shaded canopy. The view is great, and I spend most of the next two days standing up there, just taking in the sights of the city around me.
The wind tugs at my tunic. It’s grown on me, like, a lot. I keep the figurine tucked away against my chest and my leather sling secured to my belt. My old clothes are folded in my room, and I haven’t touched them since I stripped them off for my first bath here. There are no mirrors here, at least not in the library, and when I look down at myself, I realize that there’s no way anyone can immediately tell I’m not from this place. When I first emerged from my room wearing my tunic, both Airos and Alyx did a double take.
It's weird to feel like maybe I belong here. The whole reason I was with Kalistratos to begin with was to get home, but now…? How can I think about leaving?
“I need answers,” I say softly as I cradle my belly. “Am I going to meet you soon?”
I can’t be sure, but I feel as though the pace of my pregnancy has slowed. Maybe it’s just because I finally have a moment to catch my breath. Melanion had a doctor come to look at me, and they confirmed what the old lion had suspected. I’m in my sixth month. It’s fucking crazy. It’s not even been a week.
But maybe time works differently here. I don’t know. Sometimes it feels like it’s been weeks since I found myself standing in that swamp.
“You’re up here again?” Kalistratos says, poking his head up from the stairwell.
He joins me at the railing and I lean against him, my shoulder against his. “Well, you guys say we can’t leave. I’ve gotta get fresh air somehow.”
“Too many eyes in this place,” he says. “Athenos is probably the most dangerous place for a Phoenikos to be.”
“You grew up here, didn’t you?”
“And the only reason why I survived is because I learned how to blend in. How to”—he holds up the figurine and smirks at me—“steal.”
“Hey.” I hold out my hand. “Give me back my chicken.”
He laughs and slaps it into my palm. “They’re servingdinner soon,” he says, kissing the side of my head and heading back to the stairs. “Come down.”
“Sure.”
I tuck the figurine back into my tunic and turn for the stairwell. I feel a low pulse through my body, like I’m sitting in a giant bell that just got struck by a rubber mallet. Vertigo. There is no stairwell, just a black doorway. I stare, frozen. The growl of a car’s engine emerges from the darkness, growing louder and louder until?—
“Tyler?”
I blink. Stairs. Kalistratos standing at the bottom.
“Tyler?” he says again. “Are you alright?”
Whatever it was I just saw is gone. My hand goes to my stomach. “Yeah, just hungry,” I say, and go to join him.
14
KALISTRATOS
