Frank lead Jeannie out of the room and into the corridor. It was just the two of them now, and Jeannie felt as though this was the first time in ages that she could finally breathe. Yet she didn’t feel exactly safe, either. Jeannie could sense Frank’s cold gaze was aimed at her, even though he was trying to conceal it. She felt a chill go down her spine. Eyes as cold as those were never a good omen.

“Are you scared or excited?” Frank suddenly asked.

Jeannie felt puzzled by how blunt his questions always were.

“You can’t tell the difference?”

“There is no difference to tell, hatchling. In the end, one emotion leads to the other. They are connected. It’s just this annoying time delay that I cannot seem to figure out. How long until your fear turns into adrenaline? Do you know?”

Jeannie shrugged. Such a thought had never occurred to her before.

“Do you have any questions I can address on our way to the exit?” Frank suddenly asked.

Jeannie did have quite a few, but felt dumbstruck the moment she flapped her wings to ask any of them.

“Why does Cardiff burn plastic?” she finally asked.

“I have been told this is fun.”

Jeannie nodded thoughtfully.

“And what do you consider fun?”

“A waste of time,” Frank replied and hurried down the corridor. Jeannie tried to keep up, but he was incredibly fast. All she could think about was how to walk faster.

They exited the corridor in less than five minutes and went outside. Outside it was cold, Jeannie noted to herself, and felt her wings shiver a bit. The mild fog around them reminded her of her first day outside of her eggshell. When she saw the world as it was for the first time in her life: misty and sunny.

The branch they were on was quite busy: there were butterflies walking everywhere. A few of them would occasionally bump into each other and continue without bothering to apologize. Jeannie had never seen such a lively scene before. It was as if she had been teleported to another universe.

“Hatchling, tell me: what time is it?” Frank suddenly asked. He was staring at the officers walking around them in every direction. It was chaotic.

Jeannie glanced up at the sky.

“It’s 10,151C.”

“We’re still in the 10s? Good. We’ve got a bit of time before we reach the 20’s.”

Frank stood there indecisively for a few short seconds, then he turned his head to Jeannie. She didn’t expect him to do that. It was an unusual courtesy.

“Tell me, Jeannie. Is the sky still grey?”

Jeannie nodded.

“The sky is always grey.”

“So I thought,” Frank flapped and walked over to the edge of the branch.” Do let me know if it turns blue, will you?”

Jeannie nodded without flapping a single word.

“Just wait here, alright? I’ll be back soon. There are a few things I need to get done before we go to the human realm.”

Frank dived in the air and flew away without a good-bye. Of course, why would he say anything else to her? She knew he would be back very soon. The sky was awakening; the shades were changing. It was natural. Jeannie suddenly wondered whether she would have enough time to look for Bob. There was a real chance that he was somewhere here, just waiting to be found. Perhaps Jeannie would be lucky and would cross paths with someone who knew where Bob was. But even if she did have time, there was a chance Frank wouldn’t like it. He might even be furious.

Jeannie walked over to the edge of the branch. The ground underneath the tree was as cold as always and it made her knees feel weak. She glanced over to the branches above. There were quite a few officers gathered on one of them. They were having lively conversations, even though their workday probably wasn’t going to begin for a while. What reason could they have to just gather like that? It might be something simple, in which case she could just ask for Bob’s whereabouts. Jeannie estimated there were at least a dozen butterflies sitting on that branch. It was worth a shot.