On one cage, a gray hawk is lying on the floor and breathing steadily. There are feathers around the cage as if a fight had just happened but no one is in sight except for the sleeping hawk.
The hawk stirred and its feathers slowly shrank into its skin. It's beak shortened to form mouth and nose and the now bald hawk's body further moved.
In a few minutes, the hawk is gone and a naked Huan is lying on his stomach. There are purple and red bruises on his body and a small amount of blood is splattered on the floor.
On one side of the cage, a familiar looking glass container is set and the light inside it is now starting to flicker. Latini's dress fluttered as a click is heard somewhere in the room. On her hand, she now holds another glass container brimming with light. Taking the glass container from the cage, she placed the new container on its place and the cage lit up. The light from the container is slowly being chipped away while the bruises on Huan's body are starting to fade.
Satisfied, the couple checked the other cage where a low growl could be heard. A jet black wolf is down on its hind legs and an obvious trail of blood is behind it. It turned its head where the couple are walking and stared at it warily. The wolf tried to stand and fresh blood dripped from its body. A noticeable tear on its flesh cause it to shudder as it moved but it's alert eyes never faded.
Eder drew a deep breath and raised his one hand. A glass canister holding some kind of light inside flew to his stretched hand. Unlike the glowing light from the previous use of little Sasha and Huan, this container emits a faint glow of purple to almost reddish hue.
He took a step forward towards the cage and the wolf began to bark fiercely. There's still the wary look on its face and its eyes kept moving from left to right. Unable to see anything, it stopped barking and growled as it stepped back further into the cage.
Eder took the empty glass container from one side of the cage and the container broke. Latini hurried to replace it with another one containing a glowing light inside. The glass container on Eder's hand remained. When the cage lit up, the growling wolf felt the changes and jumped forward to attack the couple. The frame of the cage stirred and glowed brighter.
The wolf smacked into an unseen wall and was thrown back into the cage. When it landed, it tried to stand up again but the cage generated some kind of lightning that struck the injured wolf. Exhausted and bleeding, the wolf passed out. The cage stopped striking the wolf and we now see the handsome face of a young man riddled with scars all over his naked body. He curled his body to nurse the gaping wound on his abdomen.
Eder carefully placed the glass container with a purple glow in a drawer labelled 'Zari'. Next to it, other drawers were also neatly labelled: Tala, Huan and Sasha. He closed the drawer and the wall on the room looked the same again, as if there never were any drawers here before. He looked back and saw Latini check each cage before she held onto his stretched hand and they both walked towards the door. Light passed through their eyes and both heard a woman's voice say:
'Access granted!'
A click is heard and the door opened, the couple walked out of the room and outside the wooden wall. The hanging plants again neatly arranged on it.
Tala sat on a bench next to the wall holding a cup of coffee on her hands and taking a sip from it from time to time. She glanced at the couple that just got out of the hidden room. Her eyes looked worried but she did not utter a word. Latini pursed her lips and spoke.
"They're fine. Tomorrow, the second moon will be out and Zari will be of age. You're father and I will be with him. Look after Sasha." She held her eldest daughter's hand and squeezed it.
"Yes, Nana." She replied and continued to sip on her coffee as she stared at the waning moon in the sky. Tala raised her hand as if to touch it and golden scales appeared on her hand, she looked at her scale covered hand and sighed in exasperation.
"You'll get used to it," Latini chuckled as she touched Tala's scale-covered and the scales started to disappear. Tala looked at her mother gratefully and nodded.
"Baba, Sasha saw you." She got the attention of her parents when she spoke next.
"What do you mean?" Latini asked.
"She saw his soul." The couple looked shocked and rushed to sit down next to her, both eyes in shock. Tala continued to relay her conversation with their youngest family member.
'Mani, are there forests next to our town?'
'Well, everywhere is almost wild. I'd say there are forests somewhere.'
'Do you think tigers live in those forests?'
'I don't think there are still tigers around. Sasha, are you interested in tigers?'
'No, Mani! It's just that I think a tiger is living nearby.'
'What?'
'I saw. I saw a white tiger at the back of the car before Baba and I entered the house.'
'Sasha, there are no tigers here.'
'Well, I did run to Baba when I saw that tiger but it was gone. You think I was dreaming, Mani? Did I doze off in the car? Do you think?'
'Yeah. That's probably what happened. Go ahead and sleep now. So you can grow up fast, huh.'
'Uh-huh, alright. Goodnight, Mani.'
'Goodnight Sasha.'
The couple were silent for a long time and Tala waited for them patiently. Eder clenched his fist and Latini bit her lower lips in frustration.
"We can't help it. Tomorrow will be the new moon and the second moon would be out shortly. We just have to make sure Sasha does not get out of the house at that time." Eder finally spoke after contemplating what to do.
"Baba, that's not our main concern right now." Tala announced.
"How did Sasha do it? How did she see your soul? I mean, none of us could. How did she? I mean, she doesn't even know about us." She continued.
"When Sasha turned five three months ago, she never showed any changes on her body so we just assumed she doesn't have an active bloodline. But if she can see your soul..." Latini's voice trailed off as she looked at her husband for answers. Eder sighed.
"We need to test her out again. Tala, did she tell you how she saw my soul?" He inquired. Tala tried to recall her previous conversation with little Sasha before she responded.
"No. She said she saw the tiger before she entered the house."
"Did she do anything inside the car before she got out?" Latini asked her husband for which he chuckled at the memory.
"Sasha? Tch, she was busy glaring at me from the mirror. As. I. Talk." He suddenly stopped. His shocked face stared at the equally surprised look on his wife's face.