Panic overtook their faces, all of them, every one. Sienna resettled herself nervously. “So…” she began awkwardly. “What about all of you?”

The gold earring woman huffed as she turned to the side. “Prove it.”

“What in the…” started the woman in the leather jacket.

“There’s really no reason for – “

“Prove it!” demanded the gold earring woman, cutting off the scarfed woman. Everyone was silent. “Do you all know what this means for us if she’s a phoenix? If her mother’s a phoenix?!” She was seething with rage when the woman in the leather jacket gently placed her hand on her shoulder. She breathed deeply, then a little less deeply, then a little less deeply, until she was mostly breathing normally again. “I need you to prove it. I’m sorry, but if it’s true, we’re all in danger. Sairish let you feel her horn, so you know she’s a unicorn. Just, humor me and return the favor.”

Humor her? She touched someone’s horn, something she’d only ever heard about from her mother, through a covering on a stranger’s head, and this woman now wants her to reveal the most private part of herself to a whole room full of people. How could she ask such a thing? The woman began tapping her foot impatiently. People really did that? She shook her head, drew her hand up to her mouth with her curled fingers pressed up against her lips. How could she do what they were asking? Why should she? She began to grow angry. These were strangers in her house demanding of her who she is, and proof on top of that, right after her mother was kidnapped! What was wrong with them?! Shaking, she took a deep breath, and got up from her seat. With a quiet, trembling voice, she spoke.

“I’m going to need you all to leave my home now.” Oh chicken feathers. She had said it. She had said it out loud. What was wrong with her? She didn’t know these people? They could turn on her and attack her at any minute! And they knew her secret now! Oh no, no, no. She should have just done it. She should have just shown them. How bad could it be? At least they wouldn’t hurt her then, right?

“I apologize for Nefertari. Her kind aren’t exactly known for their tact, and you gave us all a bit of a scare when you mentioned that you were a phoenix.” The slender boy… “See, if your mother is also a phoenix, which, based on our understanding of your kind, she’d have to be, then that could potentially mean that all the world is in terrible danger.” He spoke so frankly. What he was saying was completely insane, but he said it as if he were listing off groceries to be picked up at market. “I’m Cornelius. I’m also a unicorn. I realize this may be a lot for you to take in. Would you like to be the one directing the conversation instead? Would that make you more comfortable?”

“You’re the ones who want something,” she grumbled. She was so scared a moment ago, but he was so nonchalant and clear that it was difficult even to be frightened around him.

“And you’re the one who has it.” How could he be so blunt? “So tell us what you need in order to feel comfortable enough to give us the information we need. After that, we’ll be on our way and you can go on back to your life as before.”

“I really can’t, you know.” Momma…She was gone now. They said they could bring her back, but there was no way she’d still be alive. Why would anyone take and keep a phoenix alive?

He blushed a bit but otherwise his facial expression changed little. “My apologies. That was insensitive of me.” He cleared his throat and walked away. Sienna watched him disappear out of her house. That was awkward.

Sairish leaned in towards Sienna who in turn blushed intensely. “Forgive him. He’s not good at the emotional stuff. Just the facts.” She sighed a bit. “But he really does want to help our mission, which is to stop the man who took your mother away from you. We will do everything in our power to bring her back to you as a part of that mission.”

“No one keeps phoenixes alive. Don’t you know that?” she asked in bitter exasperation.

Sairish smiled warmly, “Then why didn’t he kill her here?”

How could words that dark come out of this kind young woman with that warm and comforting smile still sticking to her lips? Sienna shuddered.

“See there?” she asked. “You hadn’t thought of that, had you?” she nodded with a small sense of victory. “We have been tracking Ryuunosuke for a while. He’s well known for killing people, not for taking them hostage. If he took your mother, it’s because he needed her alive. The fact that he’s never done this before has us both concerned and confused, even more so now that we know she’s a phoenix.”

Sienna nodded thoughtfully as the slender man known as Cornelius returned to the room. “I’ve changed my mind,” he stated bluntly.

“Well, good for you!” announced the bearded man. “My damn back is aching and I’m getting hungry. Whatever you’ve decided, can we take this conversation somewhere with food and maybe a bed? It’s getting dark for fuck’s sake!”

Sienna whipped her head around to look out the back windows. Her jaw fell open as she whimpered desperately. The chickens…They were definitely all gone. Her head fell down as if hung loose off a hinge. “What is it?” asked Sairish.

“My chickens…They’re definitely all gone…There’s probably only a few eggs. It took us so long to get that many chickens…”

Cornelius stepped in immediately. “I propose an exchange. Allow us to take you out for dinner, and, in return, allow us to spend the night here and gather intel from you.” He seemed incredibly twitchy despite how calmly he put his words. What had gotten under his skin?

“Hell yeah! I’m ready! Let’s go!” The bearded man stopped in his tracks and spun on his heel in a smooth, fluid motion. “I’m Dante by the way,” he said raising a brow at Sienna as he reached out his hand.

“Oh, right. We didn’t do all that did we?” asks Sairish. She points to the woman in the leather jacket. “That’s Niobe,” the woman waved with a big smile, “and that’s Nefertari.” The woman with the gold earrings was already frantically pushing buttons and swiping on something that seemed way too large to be a phone. “There,” she smiled. “Now, you’ve met everyone. Will you come to dinner with us?”

It was almost like some strange sort of date, hugging, then hand holding, then dinner. She sighed heavily. Her chickens were gone, something was probably already eating the eggs or would be shortly. What was she going to do? She nodded her head in defeat. These strange people were gonna take her away and murder her in an alley somewhere, but maybe they actually would feed her first.

They led her outside to a very nondescript, tan, minivan. It was the most boring car she’d ever seen. Then again, her dad’s beat up truck was the only vehicle she regularly took notice of. She was ushered in to the seat behind the driver and fidgeted uncomfortably almost as soon as she sat down. She hadn’t been in someone else’s car before, and her papa had had his truck for the last twenty years or more. The woman Neferari begrudgingly set down her very large probably a phone device and took the wheel in her hands. Sienna just turned and looked out the window. Her family never went out to eat. This whole day was beyond bizarre.

They drove around through the nearby city, following orders from Dante who was shouting excitedly from the back seat. She supposed they were leaving her to herself for the time, as no one disrupted her. They arrived at a strange building with what appeared to be Christmas lights all mixed up between the inner and outer window panes. She wondered if that was supposed to be some sort of mood setting. As they left, Sairish pulled out an ornate little bit of cloth, all reds and golds, and waved the others on. No one seemed to question it, so she didn’t either, and she joined them all again soon enough anyway. They waited by a stand until a young woman seated them. Dante looked beyond pleased at the choice of the restaurant.

“I love Italian food!” He appeared to glow in anticipation. He must really love food. The others looked over their menu and Cornelius reassured her that she was to get whatever she wanted. After they had placed their order and the server had excused herself, she asked everyone what they wanted to know, defeat clearly written across her face, but she was assured to rest for now, and to enjoy the dinner. This was an odd concept for her at this point, considering all that had previously followed in the evening. She tried to accept their strange hospitality. She tried to put her mother out of her mind. She tried to forget about her father’s recent passing. She tried to forget about all their precious lost chickens. She admittedly didn’t try very hard, but she tried. At the end of their dinner, she had eaten probably less than half of her food, more pushing it back and forth from side to side than actually finishing any of it. She listened to them joke and talk about various things but, despite attempts to include her, all she could really manage was a half-smile and a head nod. After dinner they headed back to her home again. “Hey, you really don’t gotta worry with us around. We’ll get your mom back. We’ll keep you safe. I bet you could even come with us, if you wanted.” Dante’s attempts to console her fell on deaf ears, but she expressed her gratitude nonetheless. Mostly, she was just grateful that someone wasn’t acting like nothing had happened.

When they got back, she listlessly showed everyone places they could sleep. They each thanked her. “We’ll talk in the morning, okay? I realize we came on strong. I realize we were likely insensitive, and for that, I’m truly sorry. I just want to stop this man, okay? Can you understand that?” Cornelius seemed so earnest, but all she managed was a tired nod as she walked away from him. She slept alone in her room, wishing she had been more persistent about a lock in her teenage years.

                Sienna tucked away a strand of her wavy, strawberry blonde hair into the scarf that was tied around her neck. It was an unusual way to wear a girl’s hair. She had never seen anyone else do it before, but it was how she did it. All her hair was gathered at her neck and a thin, cream colored scarf was simply tied around her neck over her long hair. It had only been a few weeks since the death of her father. He, her mother, and she had lived her whole life in a log cabin up in the mountains in the Midwest of the United States of America. Her mother was outside gathering some eggs from their chickens when she heard her scream.

Instinctively she jolted inside their pantry cabinet. The shelves were receded awkwardly and she’d always hid there as a child. Her mother screamed again. Why was she screaming? What should she do?

“Hide, Sienna! Hide!”

She began to shake. Why was her mother yelling at her to hide? Why was she screaming? She didn’t hear her mother’s voice after that. All she heard was, what she supposed was the feeding bucket being overturned outside, the closing of a vehicle door, and said vehicle speeding away. She was still shaking. What had happened? Was her mother left dead outside? Was she hurt? Did she fight someone? All she could think about was coming across her mother’s dead body. She couldn’t handle that. What should she do? She didn’t know. She froze. How long had she been standing there? How long would she continue to stand there? Why couldn’t she move?! Her mother could be hurt and needing her and here she was in a kitchen pantry!

In a burst of what she hoped was courage, she thrust open the pantry door. “I’m coming momma!”

She didn’t move. Was she coming? She was still frozen! What the hell?! She reached out her left foot inch by inch as if she were testing the temperature of a lake for swimming. Once her left foot was flat on the kitchen floor outside the pantry, it was as if her frozen state had melted away. She felt like an idiot. The rest of her body followed, slinking along in shame behind her left foot until all of her was out of the pantry. She stood there, sighed, and tried to swallow her rising panic as she slowly walked over to the kitchen window that faced their back yard. The chicken fence was ripped apart. Only one chicken continued to peck inside its wrangled leftovers. She sighed. She couldn’t see anything. Maybe she was making too big a deal out of this. The vehicle drove off a while ago. It was probably safe to call out. She took in a breath to holler for her mother when she suddenly realized that there was no point. Wouldn’t her mother have come to find her? Wouldn’t her mother have called out to her when she was safe? Tears started streaming down her face as she fell to her knees on the kitchen floor. Her mother wasn’t there. There’s no way she was there. She’d have called to her. She would have. She would have definitely called for her.

Sienna repeated this sentiment over and over to herself until she cried herself into exhaustion, her body resting against the kitchen cabinets until she drifted to sleep.

“Heyo!” came a young man’s voice. “Are you okay in here?!” he shouted again. Sienna woke with a start, banging her head on the cabinet behind her. “Hey! Someone is in here! We’re in luck!” shouted the voice again. Sienna froze. She pressed her lips together tightly as tears streamed down her face. There was no time to hide. There was nowhere she could go.

“Hey there! Glad to see you’re okay!” A heavily bearded young man in a black leather jacket was smiling warmly at her. Was it a trick? “You can talk right? They didn’t like, fuck you up or some shit, did they?” She shook her head no slowly. She could feel her whole body shaking again. Without any warning she howled in agony and began wailing. Moments after another young man and four women joined him. There was a woman in a black leather jacket too. She punched the man who had found her in the shoulder.

“Your big, goofy beard is scaring her!” she shouted as Sienna began to quiet her cries. A girl with a scarf wrapped around her head knelt down and began hugging her. Sienna felt awkward having this strange girl’s arms wrapped around her, but she couldn’t deny her. She had never been hugged by anyone besides momma and papa before. She had never even had anyone else in their house before! That is, unless Maybelle the chicken counted. She supposed it did not.

“Who are all you people?” she choked out as she moved away from the girl who had been holding her. “Why are you here?!”

A pale young man stepped forward. He wore an awfully thick hat for this warm time of the year and was much lankier than the others. He knelt down in front of Sienna. “We know the man who ordered the capture of your mother. We want to help.” She couldn’t help herself. She began wailing and crying again as now the fourth person in her entire life leaned in to hold her close. She felt somehow thicker in his thin arms as her warm tears stung down her face and into his neck. She had never been so intimately close with another human being and it was terribly awkward and uncomfortable. It wasn’t anything like it looked between momma and papa. It wasn’t loving or tender or joyous. It was making the ache in her heart wrench even deeper. It made her feel like she was thousands of miles away from any other living being. It made her abundantly aware of the fact that she’d never see her parents ever again.

He held her the whole time. He never moved until she was done. The others ended up walking away out of her view. She was alone with him. Here she was alone with some boy who held her while she cried about her parents, some boy she had never met. She couldn’t get over the absurdity and awkwardness of it all. Once she had composed herself enough to not be in hysterics, she jerked away from him. It was too much.

“It’s okay. We’re here to help. We just need to ask you a few questions.”

“Help?! Help what! I know how to feed myself, garden, make clothes, run a home. I can survive just fine here!” she protested.

The young man blinked awkwardly. “I didn’t mean that. We’re here to help get your mother back,” he explained.

She stopped. She began to shake again. Her head was swimming. Get her mother back? From mysterious people who fought and took her away from her? What was he talking about? Fear took her over. She stood up sharply and backed away in panic. “You people are crazy!” she shouted. Without her realizing it, she had knocked over her tea cup in her terror. It crashed to the floor, the now cold tea inside spilling in every direction, slowly filling the crevices this way and that way between the tiling.

The young man didn’t falter. Despite his thin stature, he easily stood steady before her. “We’re not asking that you come with us. We just want some information so that we can better infiltrate Ryuunosuke’s defenses. Do you think you can do that?”

“Ree – oon – oh – skay?” she stammered slowly. She had never heard a name like that. It couldn’t have been American, and there was no way it was Italian like her father was. Her vision began to blur as panic and terror swirled together into a strange numb sort of fear inside of her.

“Can you tell us why he’d want to – “

She didn’t hear anymore after that. She passed out.

“Maybe that wasn’t the best way to go about it.”

“We’re closer than we’ve ever been.”

“Hush. You’ll scare the poor girl! I think she’s waking.”

Sienna raised up her head slowly from…the couch. She was definitely on the couch now. Who put her there?

“I put you on the couch,” came the bearded man’s voice. Ah. That explains it. As she leaned up a cold washcloth fell from her forehead into her lap. Where did that come from?

“Yeah? Well I got you the washcloth, so there!” came a woman’s voice. Ah. Alright then. She slowly opened her eyes and looked about the room.

“There are so many people in my house,” she wondered aloud.

“Really? This is so many?” came the same woman’s voice.

“Quiet, you!” came another’s.

Suddenly she remembered her mother, but she was far too exhausted to panic any further. “You’re…going to save my mother?”

Without missing a beat the woman with the scarf wrapped around her head knelt in front of her again, just like before. “Definitely.”

“Why?”

“It’s our duty.”

“Why?”

“Because we chose it as such.”

“What?” Her head was spinning again. She was so confused.

“I think you better lie back down, sweetie.” The scarfed woman lied her back down. “Listen, I realize this is a lot to take in and that we’re clearly a nuisance to you, but we need your help. Your mother was taken by a very bad man who has killed many people, some of whom we once held dear, but to our knowledge, he’s never taken anyone like this before. We need to know why. It might help us take him down, but it will certainly help us get her back for you.”

“For me?” she paused as the woman nodded. “Reyounusskee?” she guessed.

“Ryuunosuke. Right,” she responded. “Now, why would he want your mother?”

She couldn’t tell these people something like that. She’d die. No. She’d literally die! Well sure, they’d laugh at her first, but then they’d kill her in an instance! With some hesitancy, she shook her head no. No one was going to kill her in her own house…or at all for that matter!

“Ah just tell us what you are, you rotten girl you!” A darker skinned woman with fantastical gold earrings snapped at her. “You don’t have a secret to keep anymore, do you understand? So what are you?”

“What am I?” she asked. Even she could hear the fear trembling in her voice.

“Good lord, woman! You’re going to scare her stupid!” snapped the bearded man back at her. Sienna was shaking again. Damn it. “Look, here. Whatchya got? You ain’t got a horn on ya, or we’d know, les you were off the grid – well fuck. Of course you’re off the grid!” he laughed.

A horn…He couldn’t mean.

“Well she isn’t one of my kind!” snapped the gold earring woman again.

“Kind?” she asked out loud without really thinking about it.

“Good lord, she is not one of my kind,” repeated the gold earring woman as the leather jacket woman punched her in the arm.

The woman in the scarf leaned forward and took Sienna’s hand in hers. First strangers, then two hugs, and now she was holding someone’s hand. Did people really touch each other this much? She moved Sienna’s hand to her forehead and placed her fingertips there on her scarf covered head.

“You’re…You’re…You’re…” stammered poor, confused, Sienna.

The scarf woman nodded and the rest of the group made various nods and the like at her as she looked around the room.

“Oh…” she breathed. “So you aren’t here to kill me?”

“No. We know that persecution all too well. If you tell us what you are, we might be able to help.” She shook her head. “We will be able to help,” she assured. “My name is Sairish. What is yours?”

“I’m Sienna, and I’m a phoenix.”

At breakfast the following morning, Sienna began taking mental notes of everyone in her head. She hadn’t met other kinds before like herself, and it was actually pretty fascinating to learn about them. Sairish and Cornelius were unicorns, but they were from completely different parts of the world, Sairish being from the middle east and Cornelius being from northern Europe. Nefetari was a sphinx from Egypt and Niobe was a basilisk from Greece. And Dante, Dante was perhaps the strangest of all. He was a chupacabra from Mexico. She wasn’t entirely sure what a chupacabra was, but she made a note in her notebook to research them at the library after they had all gone. In learning about them, they asked about her as well. She told them how her father was from Italy, and was born a phoenix but had his feather taken away at birth. Her mother, as they expected, was a phoenix as well, but she still had her feather.

“So how exactly does this…feather, work?” asked Niobe. Sienna blushed.

“Basically, each phoenix kind has a feather still attached to their body. It’s deeply rooted, but it can appear anywhere. My father’s was on his right knee. Had he been able to keep it, he likely wouldn’t have ever been able to wear shorts, which really isn’t that big of a catastrophe. We have to keep them hidden, you see.”

“But how do they…work?” Niobe asked again.

“Oh…right. Sorry. Well, once you pluck a feather from a phoenix, they don’t die, but they lose their immortal life. They will revert to a natural human life span. If you burn that feather, its ashes can be mixed with the ashes of someone lost, in order to bring them back to life. Once you have a phoenix’s feather, there’s really no use of them to you anymore, so many, once their feathers are stolen, are killed.”

“But your father wasn’t killed? Right? I mean, he lived a full life with you here, didn’t he?” asked Dante.

“Yes,” she smiled softly. “He lived to a ripe, old age for a human, and I’m grateful for that.”

“So the question becomes, why would someone want to keep a phoenix alive after taking their feather? I mean, leaving a phoenix alive is one thing, but Ryuunosuke is clearly keeping her alive, and that’s a pretty big distinction. Because of this, I’d like to ask, was your father left alive, or kept alive?”

“My father was left alive.” She wasn’t comfortable sharing more with them than that.

“I see,” Cornelius continued. “And do you have any reason to believe that anyone would have a purpose in keeping a phoenix alive?”

“I’m guessing he knows something I don’t. That’s not too unusual.” She knew how she meant that. She knew how it sounded. She didn’t care.

“Hmm…Is there anything else you can tell us about the attack?”

“I’ve told you everything.” She had.

Cornelius thought quietly to himself for a moment, the others watching in anticipation.

“Well, Guru?” Dante started. “What’s our next step? Don’t tell me we don’t have a next step.” He seemed angry but patient about his anger. It was clear that it wasn’t directed at Cornelius, at least to Sienna, but Cornelius immediately apologized anyway. “We still don’t know where the bastard is, do we?” he asked disappointedly.

“No. We do not.” Cornelius head sunk low.

“So you have no idea how to save my mother then, do you?” Sienna asked sadly.

“No, I do not.” Cornelius reluctantly admitted.

The others seemed nervous and uncomfortable at his response. “I don’t mind if you all stay here a bit longer. Figure out what you need, what information or whatever. I don’t want to send you off with no real direction.” At this point, she was hesitant to send them off at all. She had no chickens, probably no eggs, and just a small garden to get by on, now without her mother. She certainly could manage on her own, but she was beginning to admit to herself just how scary and lonesome that would be.

“Corn boy. Let me talk to you a min?” Cornelius nodded and followed Dante out of the room.

“Want me to show you a video game?” Nefertari asked. “You’ve seen ‘em before, right?”

“Of course I have!” Of course she hadn’t. Nefertari pulled out her very large phone which turned out not to be a phone at all. She called it a tablet. She turned on a game whose purpose was to slice through falling fruit with a sword. It was simple enough and she followed Nefertari’s instructions and played the game.

Just as she was beginning to play, Sairish came in the door. “You were right by the way. Not a chicken or egg left in sight. I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah…” She had figured. In looking up to answer her she had missed her first go at the game. Nefertari admonished her for not paying attention and she began again. Really though, clearly her chickens were far more important than some silly game. Her reflexes weren’t quite at the level of Neferari’s but she exhibited fundamental understanding of the game, which seemed to please her instructor. Niobe watched them carefully the whole time, commenting on how she could never play that “blasted” game, how she didn’t have the attention span or the patience, or some other various quality she felt like she needed to play.

Just then, the two boys came back into the room. “Sienna,” started Cornelius, but he didn’t get to finish.

“You’re coming with us!” shouted Dante as he grabbed her by the hand. Let’s go! Right now! I’m hungry!” Before she knew it she was being pulled behind him as she headed out the door of the home she had always grown up in. She resisted only from the suddenness of it all, but she was a little excited to go along with them. She wouldn’t have to tend the garden and buy chickens again by herself. She wouldn’t have to mourn her parents’ loss by herself. She’d have others with her. That could be nice, she thought. She followed along with them, taking her seat as she did the night before. Apparently they were off to lunch, but Nefertari proposed another plan. Instead, they would go grocery shopping. They would live, study, and worth together from Sienna’s home as a base until they had new insight on where to go to stop Ryuunosuke and save her mother. Everyone agreed except Dante, to which Nefertari conceded to going out to lunch beforehand, which placated his wildness and subsequently quieted him down.

They ate out again, this time at a different restaurant that slew together poorly made burgers with very salty fries. She ate her food gratefully, wondering what they all did to get ahold of enough money to take them all out like this again, though she thought it polite not to ask. Afterwards they went to Sienna’s preferred local market and bought up enough groceries for the week. They left Sienna in charge of the grocery list but Dante ended up assisting her with his pleas for various things. She was amused whenever expressed fondness or confusion for another. He was very polite however and immediately agreed to try anything new that Sienna was interested in buying. Eventually, the lot of them all returned home, put up the groceries, and finally settled down into awkward silence in Sienna’s living room. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.