11) Escapé
Selected Listening: The Disappearing Boy- Green Day
Anastasia spent the rest of the day hugging her knees to her chest. The men brought her more fruit and some rice. She still felt hungry. Her stomach roared angrily at her, and her joints did look a bit thinner than they had when she entered the cell. Once the men left for the night, she looked over to her neighbor's food bowl and pointed to the grub.
"May I have one please?" She asked the demiguise. The demiguise looked up, nodded, and handed her the squirming, squishy thing. He once again demonstrated how to break the head off and suck out the guts. She closed her eyes and did the same, ignoring the slimy bulb slide down her throat. She drank the entire bowl of water leftover for her.
She fell asleep again.
The next day, she was awakened by a crowd of people walking in the main door, lead by the wizard in charge. He was talking about the demiguises, their prices and value. She could tell by the greedy smiles of the people passing by in expensive clothing. These people were not villagers.
The elites pointed at each demiguise in awe before arriving at the adolescent demiguise and herself. One of the customers offered a price for her neighbor. The head wizard shook his head and asked for more.
Her neighbor made sounds and began to panic, shrieking in an otherworldly howl. The other demiguises began shrieking too. One demiguise reached out to the smaller one with a sad wail. The smaller one recognized it and reached out too. There were tears in the little one's eyes. Maybe the larger one was its mother or father.
Anastasia had to get the demiguise out. She had to help them all escape. If only she could open the lock on the cage.
She focused her magical energy on the lock with all her heart.
The poacher's bargaining with the customer went on until they came to a deal, and then another of the crowd pointed to Anastasia and asked how much for her.
Fear struck her.
She heard a pop.
Her friend's cage swung open. The demiguise sprang out of its cage making all sorts of horrible screams. They buyers, some of which were wizards, threw spells as the demiguise ran rampant around the room, avoiding everyone's shots. One of the spells hit Anastasia's cage.
It fell to the ground.
The door fell off the hinges.
Bruised, but stable, Anastasia jumped from her cage, grabbed the hand of the demiguise, and ran for both of their lives.
It wasn't difficult to find the stairway up to the exit. The two ran into the town market where she and Newt had come before.
"I know where we are!" She said excitedly.
She ran quickly down the path, the demiguise, invisible, but running beside her. She reached outside the market and ran all the way to an alley to hide. Her demiguise friend blocked her from view of the street so they were completely camouflaged. She took deep breaths to calm her racing heart.
"I know you probably don't understand. But I can help you…if you want. I just need to talk to my friend, and he can help us free your family. But you shouldn't go back on your own. They'll catch you."
The animal looked at her confusedly.
When she was certain the poachers were no longer looking for them, Anastasia signaled to the demiguise to follow behind her. She reached the door of Nainai and Yeye and knocked quickly.
Nainai opened the door and screamed in surprise.
"Anastasia!" Newt yelled from inside the house and rushed forward to hug her. Surprised at his show of affection, she hugged him back, but he quickly pulled away. "Where have you been? Your father floo'd saying you'd been held for ransom? He's on his way now!"
"Yeah, I know! Let us inside. They're chasing us."
Newt stepped aside and Anastasia held the door open for a moment. She couldn't tell if her friend had come in or not. She eventually closed the door.
"Us?" Newt asked. Anastasia sighed.
"There was a younger demigusie who escaped with me. They're all being held in a warehouse and they're going to be sold to a bunch of rich obnoxious people." She said quickly. Nainai asked what she was saying. Newt finally took his wand out, pointed it at Anastasia's throat and said the translation spell. She instantly started speaking Chinese, although in her head it still sounded like English. She explained it all again.
"We have to go save them!" She emphasized.
Newt frowned.
"We? There's no we in this anymore. Your grandfather is on his way to come get you. He will arrive tomorrow evening and you will go home."
"But you have to let me help!" She said. "I'm the only one who knows where they are."
"Yes, and you will tell me. After I drop you off with Albus, you will be out of my business once and for all. And then I will go save the demiguises on my own."
"By then it will be too late!" She said. "The bidders are here now. They're negotiating now."
Newt scoffed and sat down, wiping his hair back.
"Why not let her help?" Nainai asked. "She's the one who found them, let her help." Yeye looked up from his journaling, observed the conversation, then went back to journaling without a word.
"It's too dangerous. She's already been in enough danger." Newt said.
"That's right! I have been in danger. For the past…how many days have I been gone?" Ana asked in a panic, realizing she didn't know.
"Five." Newt said in exhaustion.
"For the past five days I have lived with almost no food, no place to sleep other than a cage, and no place to pee! I had a knife held to my throat, was used as a threat against the Ministry of Magic, and I was almost sold to a man of questionable intentions. Worst of all, had to eat a maggot. And if you don't let me take those men down with my bare hands, Newt Scamander, trust me I will take you down." She tried to sound very confident as she pointed her finger between his eyes, but she was very scared to have possibly angered him further.
Right at that moment, the demiguise appeared right next to Anastasia, also pointing directly at Newt with a single curved talon. Newt yelped and scrambled so that his feet were up on the chair with him. He stared at the demiguise in amazement.
The elder man crossed his eyes at both of their fingers.
"You rescued this one?" He said. "An adolescent demiguise? These are the rarest. Their coats worth the most." He said, observing the silky silver fur of the animal. Anastasia looked beside her and smiled.
"This is my cellmate. I've decided to name him Archibald. Get it? It's ironic because he has a bunch of hair." She said with a grin.
Newt sighed again.
"Fine…fine you can help, but we will eat first. You are shaking." He said and grabbed her trembling arm. She hadn't even noticed.
"Yes, yes." Nainai said. "Come to the kitchen, I will cook a big meal." The old woman the arms of the little girl and the little demiguise and swept them into the kitchen.
Nainai stuffed Anastasia full with dumplings, roasted meats, steamed vegetables and more while Newt ventured into the forest and brought back eucalyptus leaves and other fruits for Archibald to eat. Anastasia ate alongside her friend until she couldn't hold her eyes open any longer, and she crawled to her cot where she had a long nap.
She awoke after a few hours to find Nainai working on a weaving. The old woman pointed to Newt's suitcase on the floor, and Anastasia climbed down the ladder to find the magizooligist feeding the moon calves. Archibald waddled behind him in curiosity.
"You're awake. Good. Now…I suppose let's get this poacher business settled once and for all." Newt said nervously.
They decided on a plan. Archibald would hide Anastasia at the front door. They would wait until the poachers left for the evening and slip in behind him. From there they would find the keys, go down to the cage room, and release the demiguises to Newt, who would be waiting upstairs to guide them into the forest.
"Good. This is a good plan. It's going to work." Newt decided, looking at their hastily sketched map in his notebook.
"This is not going to work." Newt said as they peeked around a building to find the warehouse more heavily guarded than before.
"Course it will." Anastasia said determinedly. "It won't take but an hour, maximum."
"How do you figure?" Newt asked.
"I've done a lot of sneaking in my life. The one thing I'm very good at is disappearing."
Before Newt could protest again, Anastasia latched onto Archibald's back. The demiguise turned invisible and walked into the street. Anastasia held her breath, hoping the guards wouldn't notice her on the other side of the large creature. They didn't react. Good sign. Archibald found a place to stand near the door, right next to a guard leaning against the building.
An ounce of trepidation flooded Anastasia's courage. If they were caught again, she would surely be killed, or immediately sold to the highest bidder, with Archibald trapped to be skinned. She tried not to think about that too much and swallowed.
It had to be done. They had to break everyone out. They had to make it out alive.
The door opened. One of the men exited, wiping his brow. Archibald crouched down on all fours, and Anastasia crawled under him. Archibald's hair hung over the space she hid. They skidded through the door and into the main chamber. It smelled of iron and dirt and death. The room was filled with chairs and people.
The auction was happening, now.
Cages lined the back of the warehouse wall. The demiguises inside had given up, lying limp in their cages. A small platform sat at the front of the room, where a larger demiguise was being auctioned off. The men would roll each cage onto the platform with a dolly, and then roll it back to the back when the animal was purchased.
Anastasia tugged on the fur under Archibald's left arm to guide him in the direction of the line of cages. The auction was exactly the distraction they needed.
They crept to the first cell. Archibald used his long talon to fiddle with the lock, until it clicked. They opened it slightly, but not all the way. The demiguise looked up sadly. Anastasia peeked out from Archibald's fur and showed her hand as a stop sign.
"Wait." She whispered as quietly as she could. "Wait until we've done them all." Then she ducked under Archibald's fur again. The guards looked up but went back to watching the auction.
One by one, they did the same. Opening the locks, leaving the doors barely cracked, and moving onto the next.
On the final cage, Archibald struggled. The locked jingled a second, but he finally made it click. Anastasia ducked out to tell the demiguise to wait.
A guard stood over her with a leering snarl.
"Run!" She shouted, alarming everyone in the warehouse. The freed demiguises jumped out from their cages, shouting in hollow yelps as they trampled the room. The crowd scattered, and magic folk blasted spells here and there. Demiguises escaped out the door with the auction crowd. Anastasia ran for the door. She tripped.
"Arghh!" She yelled as the hard cement skinned her knee. One of the guards grabbed Anastasia by the collar and dragged her back.
"You, again!" And then a string of curse words she didn't know existed.
Most of the demiguises escaped the room before they could be collected, but two were dragged back and slammed into cages. The wizard boss, in a furied rage, tied Anastasia to a chair.
"You cost me a fortune in gold!" He shouted. With one hand he pulled her pigtails back. With the other, he held his wand to her throat, pressing into the scab where his knife had been the day before. "How do you expect to repay that?"
Anastasia heard herself wimper. The man pressed the wand deeper into her neck wound. She held her breath to keep from crying out.
Even though she considered the risk, she did not expect to be caught again. She expected to run out with the others, be free to go home, and to go to school. She thought about Fred and George and the Malfoy boy. She thought about Minerva and Ollivander and Madame Pomfrey. She thought about all the strange people her grandfather had introduced her to over the years. And of course, her grandfather, whom she would never see again.
This was it. She thought. She never would be remembered.
The door slammed open.
The shadow of Albus Dumbledore stood in the doorway.
"Grandfather!" She yelled. In one fell swoop of his wand, the men landed petrified on the ground. The rest of the demiguises' cages sprang open, and they rushed out of the building. Her ropes fell around the chair, and her grandfather rushed to secure her in a tight embrace. She hugged him around his neck and allowed herself to cry.
Anastasia fell asleep on the couch beside Albus in the old couple's house. Morning greeted her gently with a cup of Nainai's warm porridge breakfast. Her grandfather was already speaking sprightly to the old couple and Newt about his new knitting project for a kettle cozy. Anastasia settled at the table next to him and stared contently down into the porridge bowl, thankful to be alive.
"Good morning, my child." Grandfather said happily. "Let me see." He put his fingertips under her chin and tipped her head to examine the red and deep purple mark in the side of her throat. He raised his wand and used a healing spell. She felt the skin turn soft again, and the aching went away, but when she reached up to touch the spot, there was a bump of raised skin.
"That wizard used a cursed knife. It will leave a scar." He said simply. Anastasia nodded in acceptance. She had never been afraid of scars. Her grandfather told her so many stories of his own adventures that came from scars, as well as those of aurors who ended up with scars a plenty. If anything, she was proud of her scar. But receiving it was an experience she didn't want to repeat.
After breakfast, Newt went up to the mountains to see if he could find the demiguises. Anastasia helped Nainai with her weavings, while Albus and Yeye discussed wand making. Albus decided he and Anastasia would leave for home the next day via a complex international floo system. Although her original punishment had been to make an invisibility cloak for herself, Albus thought it was lesson enough to understand the demiguises' plight and assist them in escaping. Because of her, the head poacher and his men were arrested, and the demiguises would be safe on their mountain once again.
Before dinner, around the time the sun crept onto the horizon, casting a golden glow over the village, Newt returned from his journey.
"Didn't see heads or tails." He said. "It's as if they completely vanished this time…they may have migrated up to another mountain, thinking it was safer."
A strange, scratching knock sounded at the door. Newt drew his wand and opened the door a creak.
"Hello?" He said looking around the empty road. Albus and Anastasia rose from their seats and looked out from behind him.
As the sun fell below the mountain peaks and the pale moonlight grew stronger, the holographic mirage of seven demiguises shimmered in the path. Each of the animals had removed a bulk of hair and laid it in front of themselves. They pushed their smaller piles together before the smallest demiguise, creating an even bigger pile. Archibald grinned proudly.
The pile of fur glinted in the infant moonlight, a stack of silky, glimmering hay. The creatures knelt, bowing their heads before the wizards.
"It is a gift." Newt said. Albus returned the gesture in a low bow. Anastasia and Newt followed suit.
The demiguises turned, ran down the path, and vanished into the forest.