Aisha had already passed through the gate and was hovering to my left.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“Never mind,” she said. “This isn’t our destination. We go to The Tavern now.”
Before I could say another word, the sand disappeared beneath my feet and my vision blurred again. We arrived this time in the middle of a shadowy forest. Tall, thin trees surrounded us. It was almost pitch black, except for the few trickles of moonlight the canopy of leaves allowed through. In the distance, I could make out the sounds of some kind of settlement: a tide of voices, doors slamming, footsteps on stone, cutlery clattering.
I was about to open my mouth and ask where exactly we were now, but Aisha held a finger to her lips and shushed me. She slipped her hand into mine and pulled me forward. I let go of her hand in an instant, casting her a sharp sideways glance. Now that River was gone, I didn’t want this girl getting any ideas—though I was sure that her impish mind was already full of them. The last thing I needed was any kind of distraction due to this jinni’s stupid infatuation with me.
Aisha moved up ahead of me, apparently soured by my rejection of her hand-holding. I was happy to remain a few steps behind her.
It wasn’t long before the edge of the forest came into view. We reached the border and gazed downward at a bustling town. Directly beneath us was a square with a small fountain in the center and surrounded by small makeshift cottages. Their thatched rooftops spread out for quite some distance, and beyond all of it was a high wall.
“This is The Tavern’s town center,” Aisha said, her eyes fixed on the odd assortment of crowds milling about below. She pointed toward a scruffy-looking building with a sign hanging outside: The Blue Tavern. “That’s a pub and also a guesthouse. And I believe that’s the safest place for you to wait while I’m searching for Arron.”
“How long do you think you’ll be?” I asked.
Aisha shrugged. “There is really no way of saying. I’m hoping that he will be fairly easy to find in Aviary, and I won’t have to try to bribe—or more to the point, torture—the information out of somebody.”
My eyes traveled back to the crowd.
“You said that all kinds of creatures inhabit this island?” I asked.
“A variety,” Aisha said. “Not many live here permanently—most just come and go as they are on their travels… Let’s go.”
We moved down the slope leading from the forest to the square. Passing through the center of it, we headed straight for the pub. There were mostly vampires and werewolves surrounding us, though I also spotted an ogre and another bizarre-looking creature I’d never seen in my life. Its head was that of a woman, yet the rest of its short, stunted body was that of a feathery black bird. I thought at first that perhaps it was some kind of Hawk hybrid, but then Aisha followed my gaze and answered my curiosity.
“A harpy,” she muttered. “Best not to look them in the eye.”
A harpy. The creature caught my stare. Her sharp features contorted and her dark eyes narrowed as she glared at me. I looked away from the creature to notice how everyone in this square was gaping at Aisha as though she was an alien… which I guessed she kind of was. Most of them had likely never seen a jinni in their lives—confirming what Corrine had said about the creatures being practically legend even to many supernaturals.
Aisha’s gaze was set firmly ahead as we reached the pub. She pushed open the creaky door and held it open for me to step inside. The place was crowded and shrouded with smoke. Dusty tapestries hung down the walls and as I looked around the room, I spotted mostly vampires. Werewolves sat on their hind legs, their forelegs resting on the table surface as they tucked messily into bowls of stew. I also spotted what appeared to be witches huddled together around one table, sipping from steaming cups. Then there was an ogre who occupied an entire table to himself, digging into what looked like a ten-course meal. Thankfully, I couldn’t smell any humans.
Aisha led me to the bar counter where there was a line of one wolf and three vampires. She received many more stares, but she turned her back on all of them and fixed her focus on me. She looked quite unfazed by it all, perhaps even a little bored. I wondered how often she ventured outside of The Oasis—or if she ever did—but asking personal questions of her would only invite another unwanted advance.
Soon it was our turn. We moved up to the counter, on the other side of which was an apron-clad young male vampire with a closely shaved head. He rolled his sleeves up to his elbows as he gave us his attention.
Since we were standing right behind the counter, and there had been a crowd of people blocking his view when we entered, I realized that he hadn’t yet seen the bottom of Aisha. He glanced over her with little more than appreciation for her exotic looks before turning to me. I eyed the strange-looking menu briefly, despite the fact that my body was capable of only ingesting a single substance—a substance that I had to avoid at all costs. From the looks of it, it was a true mishmash of drinks and food. It appeared that they really did strive to cater to all sorts. Some of the names of dishes I couldn’t even pronounce.