BITTER TRUTH
The doors opened with a deafening roar. Rose was at the top of the stairs and saw coming in... collector!
Yes, for now, he'd call it "Good morning father!" Mentally, at least until the truth has been clear!
"It's not a good day! Animals of a ton manage to hide like ants! And just because the men in my entourage are incapable!... Take the infrared camera, the sooner we catch them the better!" He said Derek screamed like a rag.
"You..." screamed at her daughter." go to the dungeons and make sure the animals are okay until I decide to put them back in the reserve!" His father said as he turned to get out. "They're going to stay..." he tried to ask Rose, only to be abruptly interrupted.. "They are too precious for them to die of cold in the dungeons! Lucky for them, because they won't get away with it! They will understand that defying my authority has nefarious consequences!" The collector said before he came out, almost running, out of the door.
Once he disappeared, the girl wasted no time and made her way to the dungeons.
From an early age she had feared those dark and cold places and had to admit that they still had a little fear, but if she wanted to maintain the relationship of trust with the collector, it was better to be seen obedient and submissive.
Once she arrived in front of a cell, she made her way closer and found herself retreating, frightened by a not at all cozy hiss.
"Tai! It's me, Rose!" He said he realized his close friend was wounded on a wing. "What happened to you?" She asked worriedly to trigger the lock and enter to medicate the numerous wounds on the bird's body. Being the collector's daughter had its advantages!
"The guards..." answered him before coughing. "Now I'm going throw them for the holidays!" She said the girl realized she absolutely had to call a vet. He took a wet towel and passed it as gently as possible on the visible wounds.
The peacock looked at her surprised and she reciprocated her gaze.
"Why do you want to help us?" Tai asked, "Why shouldn't I?" She asked, "I've always told you that you don't answer questions with other questions!" The amused peacock said, "Apparently I didn't learn my lesson!" She pointed it out.
"Rose... forgive us if we have been silent on your plans for so long... were just a pale illusion for something that doesn't exist!" Tai said as she sat sore on her bedding formed by some smelly blankets piled together.
"All right, you must have banged your head hard since you're saying nonsense!" She said, "We will no longer indre on frivolous dreams. Forgive us if we used you to get information for a getaway. It won't happen again, I promise!" He continued the peacock as he steeled on himself.
"Dreams tell us who we are! It took me so long to figure it out! You understood it! You didn't use me, but it showed the real reason I'm in the world: help you escape!" Rose said, stroking the peacock's long neck.
"Not... are you more angry?" He asked tai surprised by the girl's unexpected reaction.
"No. You're my family! As offensive as I may be, I could never hate you! You gave me everything... it's time to reciprocate!" She said before leaving the cell, "I'm going to send a doctor. Now I'm going to look for Kang and Shen and everyone else because I have to inform them of my decision!" She visibly excitedly explained the girl, before running deeper into that immense cave, towards her new goal.
He would have done it for his mother. She had acted against Derek and lost, it was time to even the score!
He would have made his empire collapse before his eyes without him being able to do anything!
Without losing sight of the main goal, that is to find out as much as possible about his past, even if he hoped little. Derek was a Master in completely erasing the existence of animals captured from the minds of anyone who crossed their fate. If by intimidation or directly eliminating the problem, no one would ever look for even one of his precious treasures!
So there was little hope of finding out more about her real family, but she wouldn't give up!
The next day at school, she would apologize to Sam, hoping that he would decide to join her again, both as a friend and as an ally. Even his friends, namely Beatrice and Caleb, almost ex-boyfriend since he was becoming an unbearable I know everything myself!
They could have become part of the team! And maybe even the little genius who had recruited Sam, but since he didn't know him and didn't trust strangers, that wasn't a certainty yet!
In short, the agenda was full and for the first time in his life, the goal was clear on the horizon!
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Shen awoke with a start, as if he had just made a terrible nightmare.
The agony he sensed came from every inch of his body forced him to slump on the straw. He became immobilized when he felt a presence next to him.
The doctor... or vet, as they called him, was treating him with cuts on his thigh. He had only seen it once, but once he knew who he was, he had not forgotten it. He decided to endure only because he wanted to heal as fast as possible to try to escape again!
Even if the wounded pride burned more than the wounds inflicted on him, Shen decided to put all the escape plans in front of him, especially since with the Master, a vengeance would be almost impossible...
"They all need treatment. The most serious is the green peacock with the broken wing, but the others, with the right antibiotics, should recover in twenty days!" He said the doctor addressed a mysterious, remarkably low figure, who concealed his appearance with a cloak pulled up above his head.
The stranger nodded and entered Shen's cell.
The peacock would have attacked him if he had been in force, but at the time, he felt he could not move even a muscle and taking a look around he saw that his neighbors were also in the same condition. Mei on one side and Hua on the other.
"Hello Shen..." began to speak the intruder... who had something familiar!
"Rose?" He asked Shen while lying down "Yes!" She answered by taking off her cloak. "What are you doing here?" He asked i look at the peacock "I made my choice! The only one I wouldn't regret!" She said. Shen peered down at her and at the end of that study she explained, "I'm going to help you get away!" He confessed to her.
"Why?" He always suspiciously asked him, "Because you are my family! I made a mistake with you and I want to make it right!" Rose said.
"But... your father..." "He's not my father!" She screamed the angry girl just to scare the rumble that was there for the whole cave.
Did you fight? He asked Shen. It would have been much easier to clear things up if the relationship with the father had returned as ever!
"No!" She said, "No, he's not my father" she Repeats, "I understood that! But why did you choose to cheat on him like that? You Weren't in the process of seeking your approval?" He asked sarcastic voice the peacock.
He was being a real rat, but he couldn't do anything about it! The last words that you had made him burn again as salt on an open wound!
"Can't you hear? He's not my real father! He kidnapped me from my home, so betrayal is the price he has to pay for what he did to me!" He answered the girl with unnatural tranquility.
All right! No, wait! What? Now it was Shen that was shocked!
Rose could not hold back a sips in front of the peacock's bewildered face.
Shen had a slightly open beak and one eyebrows higher than the other, his head was tilted to one side, and his eyes transpired.
The peacock recovered quite quickly and after looking around he said , "Do you know who I am?" He cautiously asked, "Yes!" He admitted the girl "Were you there?" He asked Shen, "Where and when?" She asked, "In the city of Gong Ming inside the Tower of the Sacred Flame!" He said, "Yes! Fa and I know who you really are. But i've been asking you for a long time, why did you tell everyone you were a mercenary?" Rose asked happy to take away this doubt.
"If Derek..." Shen began to answer to stop suddenly. He was going to say, "If Derek had found out who I really was, he could have used me to blackmail my parents..." but if Rose knew it then maybe...
"... does your father know who I am?" He asked alarmedly, "No! I mean, you drank your story! If I had told him that you are the Prince of Gong Men he would surely have razed the city, to make sure that no one would try to find you or free you in the future," she replied.
"No? Then why did your father threaten my parents to catch me?" Suspiciously asked the peacock "He threatened the rulers of that city, we did not think I was their son and heir! He was sure to force you into obedience, but this kinship of yours discovered it, sharing it with me, but I didn't do the same with the collector," Rose explained.
"Why didn't you tell the others?" Asked Shen not yet convinced "Why didn't you? It wasn't me who was supposed to talk about you, it was you! I respected your choice! My father... the collector never treated me with respect, but he educated me properly!" Rose said, piqued in pride.
"It was better than I thought! Of course, being treated like a commoner turned my life upside down, but I really started to live. No kind of privilege and no one who felt compelled to bring me respect! I have discovered that I can be a guide and a sincere friend even without my title and i honestly do not think I want to go back to life before once out!" He confessed to the peacock, "In addition, a Prince begs, threatens him, shows reverence or fear, and lies to him! I wanted to escape from the beginning, pretending to be a mercenary was the best solution in order to win the true and sincere trust of others!"
"I'd like to see you as Prince!" Rose said. Shen looked at her confused "Intimidating and regal! Everyone who lowers their heads when you pass! That's crazy!" Said the girl with dreamy eyes. The peacock looked up at the sky, sometimes he forgot that the girl was only fourteen years old.
Thank you! Said Shen at the end. For what? She asked for lost.
"You kept the secret to my true identity and you saved countless lives" He explained the peacock. From the beginning he had despised her, but now she could see who she was. Brave, strong and loyal, perhaps, besides a valuable ally, could also become a friend... perhaps.
Not all humans were ruthless and cruel and Rose and Sam were confirmed!
The girl seemed to make the extent of her actions and smiled at that moment.
This time we'll be united and together we ll get out of here! He said Rose before she ran out of the cell almost jumping out of joy.
"You're not going to trust her, right?" A voice made the peacock real. Hua was awake! LWhy not? She's a prisoner just like us!" He answered Shen.
"He turned our backs on us once! He'll do it again! " Says the owl. "We'll see! He must win his trust and demonstrate good capacity for having it in the future." He replied the peacock. Right after he decided to tastel the ground, "Did you hear the conversation?" He asked for concern "No, just his final exclamation. And I didn't like it at all!" He answered Hua.
Shen threw a small sigh of relief. He didn't know when he was going to tell the truth, but he was aware that the moment present wasn't the best.
But the new attitude of Hua made him realize that such action by humans had undermined many. That was a problem. They had to work together to get the plan to work! Eventually decided to reflect on these problems once he was able to implement the plan instead of a malicious as he was at the moment!
"Now repossessing! First we heal from the wounds, the sooner we get out of this prison" Shen said putting his head under the wing.
"Are you still going to try and escape?" Hua asked the outdated "From bankruptcies to be lecturing and next time we will not be unprepared in front of the guards!" The peacock answered before he fell asleep.
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The collector was out and probably would stay there until he had taken it until the last escaped animal. It was about his reputation, although Rose could bet that such news would never be leaked to the ears of the reserve's wealthy visitors. Fear and distrust were insidious and they did not go away as easily as they came!
The euphoria of a few moments before all went away as soon as Rose set foot in his father's studio. Kang had welcomed her with his arms... open wings showing her how much she loved her and had been like a tender caress on her wounded heart.
She still hadn't even mentioned the escape plans, but the girl was sure that in the conditions in which the animals were at the time, they could not even think of running away! A smile crossed her face as she thought of her father's wrath at the guards as soon as he found out what they had done!
Even just ruining the goods would have sent the collector into a frenzy, little but safe!
The problem was that she trembled with fear at the thought of what "le" would do! It was true that the guards had brutally beaten and tortured the animals before they were put under her responsibility, but Rose was certain that her father would be angry with her even so that he could vent his frustrations. It had always been like this and it would never change! He could only hope that he could catch some animals, so as to dilute, even a small, his wrath...
More than once he had tried to imitate his father's harsh character. The big voice, the eyes full of anger and security, but above all, frosty as the ice age of millions of years before!
Unfortunately it had not worked and his lecture had been greeted with a shrug by the guards, so he would have thought about putting them back in line!
In her heart, the girl hoped that the collector would be able to take back all the animals that had escaped, so that they could come up with a good plan all together! Searching for those who had managed to escape would put them in further danger as well as delaying their actual departure from the human world!
In addition, the higher their number, the more likely they were to stand up to the large number of guards in the palace and reserve.
Thinking about the present and not the future and impending satisfactions, Rose turned on her father's computer and began to browse through the various documents.
He had decided to look in the most unlikely place sure that he had left any trace. Who would have dared to touch his computer? Your daughter! Or rather, the girl he kidnapped!
Associated with her name were numerous videos of her in the company of animals, surveillance recordings or videos she had made when the "zero technology" rule did not yet exist. Lucky the animals didn't ask questions about the strange objects he was carrying with them!
The flash of genius came to her when she typed "Isabella" on the keyboard.
Few photos appeared on the screen revealing a disappointment since many were the ones she owned...
She tried to try everything and went to the e-mail folder and once she typed her mother's name many emails appeared in front of her.
As he read, letter after letter, he felt the terror gripping it and the anger piling up, like a volcano preparing to erupt!
That computer was showing her a horrible truth!