Who is Magpie?

Trust was not something Kay gave easily, but she had had no choice in trusting Swan to deliver her message and give the help towards Magpie’s condition. She didn’t even have a way to confirm that she had held up her end of the bargain, so she just continued to hope. In the meantime she threw herself into her studies; her grandfather could not know how bothered she was by what he had done.

She had believed Magpie was the only one in the Garden that was sheltered, but as she gathered small bits of information here and there, she found they were all rather sheltered. Another group had been sent to start a fire, but found their target to have none of the typical things a front for something else would have, appearing to just be a thrift store as it claim. This was not the first nor the last of supposed ‘bad information’.

She had avoided everyone for a full day after Magpie left, too distraught to even hide it. She had lied to everyone about the reason, and bright and early the following day she returned to her regular activities, meeting Sparrow and Nightingale for lunch.

Telling them everything she new didn’t take as long as she thought, but she had left out some of the more treasonous elements. She knew nothing short of her grandfathers death would put her in a position of power now, and that he was planning something. Their training schedule had all but doubled and tasks outside of the Garden had nearly stopped.

Doctor Swan had been discovered missing after she had been gone for two days. Kay was baffled that it had taken so long, but she supposed with no one going out or getting injured, often fighting Magpie in training, the medical bay was pretty empty. She had laughed when she was asked if she had seen her.

“Not since I took Magpie to the garden.” She had told Bluejay. “Maybe they’re together now.”

“That’s not funny.” Bluejay had muttered, pulling her aside.

“Only because you hope Magpie is dead, and not Swan.” Kay returned, looking him up and down. “You look rested, must be nice not having to get up early for tea delivery anymore.”

His face remained in a firm scowl. “You know I only do as I’m told, just like anyone else.”

“Sometimes I wonder if we’re all given special tea.” Kay remarked to that. “She didn’t know, so why would we?”

“Because Fae are impervious to nearly all the plants we cultivate.” Bluejay replied responsively.

Kay looked incredulously. “And who told you that?”

The answer remained between them, unspoken, until Bluejay stalked away to continue asking about the good doctor. Kay returned to her room after that, needing a break from smiling and talking to others. Her thoughts now, brought back to Magpie, resurfaced her worries for her friend.

She had noticed content on the television dwindling slowly for a while, even before Magpie was sent away they received few news programs and the internet ran slower. It had been blamed on the wolven trying to limit the spread of information and keep people in the dark, but Kay wasn’t so easily convinced as rewards for taking on additional training and improving your scores increased. People got more frustrated with the wolven when pleasure trips like shopping or the movies were denied because ‘it was no longer safe for the Fae to be out in the town’.

Kay was suspicious of everything now, noticing how they limited their ability to collect information about the outside world over the bridge. But she didn’t want to be. As far as she was concerned the wolven still had her best friend and the Fae were her only chance to get her back.

She was sure Magpie had gotten in, but it wasn’t like the wolven would plaster that information publicly. Kay had to hope that they weren’t the kind of people that they thought they were, and that they would help her. She had figure out that Magpie couldn’t be human when she got sick in the garden, knowing it couldn’t have been drink. She had tested it herself.

That left a wolven, there was nothing else that lived anywhere near them, or even with enough popularity, for her to believe her grandfather had kidnapped and collared one. He had really treated Magpie like an attack dog, telling her what to do when. It was quite the risk to keep a secret wolven in a house full of those who hated them, and make her fight against them… but then again, he had made everyone dislike Magpie, and at the end of the day he was never worried about her safety.

It was enough of a hope that the wolven had kept her safe, awaiting some sort of trial, but that left an unknown timeline in the air. Kay knew her grandfather had a larger plan, and getting rid of Magpie was a piece of it, but he didn’t tell anyone more than a couple of things. Making everyone involved feel special by knowing a secret part, no one share any information.

Kay was determined to become a bigger part of this puzzle, gathering information anywhere she could, and making sure she took the top spot left by Magpie. She wasn’t sure how well it was working, until the morning she had snuck off to water Magpie’s plants and saw the RAV’s rolling up the driveway. The tinted windows were up, and they pulled into the parking garage at the front.

Shortly after she left, making sure no one saw where she had been, and was called for by her grandfather to the meeting room. This wouldn’t have been of any concern to her, if she hadn’t seen wolven in that room full of strangers.