Ella’s POV
“Do you hear that sound?” Kevin asked, his voice sounding excited.
I strained my ears, trying to hear what he was talking about but I couldn’t pick up on any sounds.
“I can also hear it.” Liam said.
I frowned, wondering why I couldn’t hear it.
“What can you hear?” I asked.
They gave me a look like they couldn’t believe I didn’t hear what they were saying.
“I can hear people. It seems like a market.” Kevin said.
“I hope that is true.” I said, excited about the prospect of meeting someone else apart from those with me. It wasn’t that I was tired of seeing their faces but it would be refreshing to see someone else and interact with them.
We continued walking till we got to an intersection and my eyes widened at the sight of the people there. There were a lot of people here and they were strange.
“Look at them, mummy.” Nathan pointed at the people. “They are strange.”
I smiled as I ran my hand through his hair. I couldn’t agree more with him. They were strange here. I almost laughed at the man walking in front of us. He had a big head that was shaped like a box and his mouth was shaped like a snout that made his face look as hard as a card.
“See that woman, mum.” Neo said, pointing at a petite woman walking by.
She looked so little I felt Neo could pick in his hand and twist her around to play with her like a doll. I cautioned Neo to stop pointing at the people so they wouldn’t see us and think that we are rude. Until we have assessed how this place was, I didn’t think it was wise for us to get attention for now.
There were normal people here too who looked like human but more than half of the people here weren’t looking normal. I didn’t doubt that this intersection was a place where strange creatures and bold humans who could face them interact. I guessed we would get to the portal that led to the human world soon.
“What do you think of this place?” I said to Kevin, turning to him.
He nodded. “I think we are closer to the human world than we were. This is a world between the two worlds.”
“That is a pawn shop.” Liam said, pointing at a shop nearby.
“We should sell some of the things we have so we can get the currency of the human world.” Kevin said. “I’m sure this place would be familiar with it.”
“I have some gold here with me that we can pawn.” I said.
“I also have some fun with me.” Kevin said.
I smirked. “I don’t think you have gold as much as I do since you packed in a hurry. I packed with intention.”
He chuckled. “Let’s see what you have.”
Both Liam and Kevin gasped with widened eyes as I unzipped the bag I had with me and they saw the gold I had packed and intended to sell so I could survive in the human world.
“If I didn’t know how much gold we have in the kingdom, I would have thought that you have packed the whole kingdom.”
“I couldn’t have packed the whole kingdom.” I chuckled.
“Let’s see how much it is worth here.”
“Good afternoon.” I greeted as I got to the pawn shop.
The red-haired man with blue and green eyes smiled at me and I swallowed as I saw his face. I tried not to think about his eyes because I was afraid that I might be rude if I twitch my eyebrows or curl my lips. I knew he would have gotten enough looks with his eyes and I didn’t want to creep him out. I doubted though that he got weird looks from anyone here as I had seen that everyone here was as strange as he was.
With everyone that I had seen here, I didn’t think that anyone would find a man with different shades of eyes strange. The humans here seemed to know what this place was about before they came here to make business so I had to comport myself to blend in.
The last thing I needed was to give myself away that I was new here.
“Good afternoon. What do you want?” He replied.
“I need to sell something.”
“What do you have?”
I brought out the gold from the bag and showed him. He smiled, his eyes bulging as he picked the gold up. He checked the earrings and necklaces one by one. I kept a smile to myself at his reaction. He hadn’t even seen everything that I had with him and I could already tell that he was impressed.
What if he sees everything that I have with me?
He picked a magnifying glass and checked the gold. He glanced at me. “Where did you see this?” He asked, careful with his tone so he wouldn’t sound accusing.
“It belongs to me.” I said.
“Are you a wolf?”
I nodded with shock all over my face. I didn’t know that people around here knew about our pack. “I am.”
He bowed. “You must be of a high rank there. This is pure gold of immense value. I would give you a huge pile of money for it.”
“Thank you.” I replied.
“Safe journey.” He said after he had counted a huge pile of money into a bag and gave it to me.
I arched my eyebrows at him, wondering what he meant.
He chuckled at the expression on my face. “Aren’t you going to the human world? Your kind don’t come here unless they are traveling to the human world either for business or for sightseeing. All the humans you see here know that and that is why you see them here. This is like a black market for the human world.”
I nodded at him, grateful for his chattiness as I picked the bag of money that I had gotten in exchange for the gold and moved to join the others. I hoped that I could get the same good deal with the exchange of gold when we are done with this money and we need more.
“Have you gotten the money?” Kevin asked as soon I joined them.
“I got a good deal with it.” I said, shaking the money in the bag.
“Good of you.” Kevin smiled at me. “Let’s go.”