“Let me change you back,” I pleaded.
She pecked at my hand, knocking the talon to the ground.
“Stop it,” I cried out when her beak drew blood. When I lifted the talon a second time, she did it again. “Don’t you want me to change you?”
She took hold of a lock of my hair and jerked my head sideways toward the door.
“That hurts.” I leaped up, but she was already shooting down the hall. When I didn’t follow straightaway, she flew back and tugged my sleeve.
“All right, all right.”
Lifting Issig’s cage, I hurried after Zosa. My head pounded. But soon the tight corridor gave way to a world of white paper. We’d come out inside the aviary.
The place was a disaster. Birds still flapped inside. Plants were down, crumpled and trodden. There were great cracks in the aviary glass high above like someone had tried to smash it with furniture. A large chunk had fallen away. Another could fall at any moment.
Frigga cowered near the wall shooing birds out the door with a paper frond. We both froze at a cracking noise.
I looked up. More cracks snaked downward. Glass groaned and popped, and sounds poured in from the lobby: guests screaming, chirping, workers shouting. Shattering.
The dragonfly glass was coming down.
“Get back!” I lifted Issig’s cage and ran with it to the center of the aviary. Frigga followed. We huddled together the same moment a large piece of glass fell, crunching against a paper tree near where we’d just stood.
“Is it really Issig?” Frigga stared at the cage, tears sliding down her face.
“It is. We have to get him out.” I looked around. “Where’s Hellas?”
She pointed to the lobby. “The ma?tre was out there with Yrsa. Hellas . . . He went to speak with him.”
“What happened?”
More tears tumbled down her cheeks.
“Tell me.”
“He never came back.”
“Do they know you’re here?”
She shook her head. “Hellas didn’t even know I was here until he walked in. But I couldn’t just leave the birds.”
Zosa swooped down and landed on my shoulder. When Frigga reached for her, my sister hopped toward my ear.
“That bird knows you,” Frigga said.
I ruffled Zosa’s golden feathers. “She does.”
I didn’t know what to do. If we stayed in the aviary and the glass came down, we’d die, but if we went out in the lobby, we’d wish we had. If Alastair were out there, he’d probably seize Issig as soon as he saw us. If I could get to the ledger before Alastair took Issig away, before he came near me with his inkwell, we could all have our lives back.
But I didn’t know how. The how seemed impossible.
Keep your sister safe, I could hear Maman say. Then I heard other voices—everyone’s voices—shouting and scolding and begging me to help.
Zosa regarded me solemnly. “What would you have me do?” I looked around, my eyes snagging on something. “What’s that?” I pointed.
Frigga turned and took in the shelf heaped with junk. “Aviary supplies.”
Beside it was the metal laundry cart Béatrice had stocked.
“I think I know how to get Issig out, but I need both of you to do as I say,” I said to Zosa and Frigga, then I took off toward the wall of supplies, my sister flying close behind.
* * *
My hands shook as I walked beside Frigga while she pushed the laundry cart into the ravaged lobby. Suitcases were flung about, clothes spilled, chairs broken. A few guests still rushed out the door, while a small group huddled under the remains of the red piano. Near them, weightless feathers from inside a room pillow curled up an entire wall, while flecks of blood spotted the white marble.
Sido’s hand clamped down on my shoulder. “Been looking for you. We know you turned Issig into a bird. Now where is he?”
Someone must have found what was left of Des Rêves and put it together.
I nudged my chin at the cage on top of the cart. Luckily, Frigga had known where canvas was kept. We’d wrapped a length around the bars, hiding the bird inside.
Sido rattled it with his free hand. “Doesn’t weigh much.”
“What do you expect? It’s a bird. Now where’s the ma?tre?”
“Everyone’s inside waiting for you to show up.” He motioned to the salon. My stomach did a little flip at everyone. “You’ll stay here,” he said to Frigga.
Her hands tightened on the cart handle. She met my eyes and a look passed between us. Sido grunted and shoved me forward.