I felt my fingers uncurl at the thought, and I realized belatedly that I still had the blasted silver coin in my hand...and...
Little Iron!
I quickly dug into my dress's right pocket, and I trembled in relief when my fingers curved around something cold and solid.
Oh, thank God!
Little Iron was a magical partridge that came to life when fed with my blood. It was one of the rare few inventions of Perdix that existed to this day, and while most might only see it as an instrument for wielding power, to me Little Iron was so much more.
"Wakey-wakey, sweetie..."
I pressed my finger against the sharp tip of its beak, and Little Iron's metallic body turned warm against my flesh as it slowly came into life. After taking a nip of my blood, Little Iron spread its wings wide open and glanced up at me inquiringly.
"Can you take me to the owner of this coin?"
I brought the coin closer to my pet, and after taking a little sniff, Little Iron started hopping on my hand.
"Pretty please?"
I gave it another drop of my blood, but all Little Iron did was hop on my palm like it was training for a one-legged sack race.
"Do you need more blood?" I asked uncertainly. "Is that it?"
Little Iron shook its head.
"Come on, pet..."
Little Iron shook its wings, and it was almost like having a child of mine give me attitude.
"Seriously?"
The darn bird shook its wings again, and I wondered if perhaps even magical partridges also had to go through puberty, and that was why Little Iron was acting surprisingly uncooperative.
"Okay then..." I gave it the evil eye, just in case there was a possibility for magical creatures made of iron to feel fear. Or shame. The way things were now, I wouldn't be above shaming Little Iron into helping me out.
"How about we change the question?"
Little Iron nodded its metallic head right away, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Not sure if this was a technical glitch or confirmation that Little Iron's rebellious phase had begun, but at least we were getting somewhere.
I glanced back at Little Iron. Maybe my question was a little too specific earlier, and it had caused to Little Iron to feel pressured? I mean, Little Iron was just as trapped as I was, so maybe I should take it easy. Start with something a bit more general like...
"Is there any other scent you can detect from this coin?"
Little Iron quickly bobbed its head, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Does the scent belong to someone or something that can help us go back to our world?"
Another nod.
"Then...take me there?"
A MAHJONG PLACE.
I had seen one like it when I watched Crazy Rich Asians, but other than being a place where Asian Americans could execute power moves over, well, crazy rich Asians...I hadn't a clue about how this places worked, and I certainly had no idea either why Little Iron believed this was our ticket out.
But since Little Iron could never be wrong (or so it said according to Perdix's manual)—-
In we go then.
The mahjong place was a two-story building, with lots of doors and windows to let the evening breeze blow in for added ventilation. The place was also crawling with ghosts. Or maybe the correct term was flying, with everyone zipping this way and that as they cheered from one table to another. It was fascinating really, and I was already floating halfway towards a table labeled For Beginners when Little Iron suddenly squawking at my face brought me back to my senses.
Oh, shit.
I had almost forgotten we were here under duress, and we absolutely had no time to learn mahjong from ghosts.
Nuh-uh.
No time at all, Saoirse, so focus like a LOTUS, and ooh! That had quite the nice rhyme to it, and I made a mental note to tell Hadrian—-
SQUAWK!
Little Iron was making a racket right next to my ear now, and I threw my hands up in quick apology. "Okay, okay, I get it. I'm sorry I got distracted, I know we're running out of time, so yes, let's go to wherever—-hey!"
Little Iron suddenly snatched the coin from my fingers before flying off at neck-breaking speed.
Why was this bird in such a hurry?
The question raced through my mind as I went after Little Iron, and by the time I finally managed to catch up, we had gone up a spiral staircase and raced down a long, dark hallway that eventually opened to a balcony.
Everything around me was still black and white, and it was eerily fascinating and terrifying all at once. I couldn't even begin to imagine how it would feel to live a life that was entirely without color, and when I finally stepped out of the balcony and saw a monochromatic rainbow curved over the clouds—-
Strange.
This whole world was so impossibly strange—-