- personal reference only -

Chapter 1 - Ayla

The girl's eyes burned into mine. No, not eyes - eye.

The other was nothing but an empty socket smeared with red. Slowly, her lips twisted up into a toothless smile and I shuddered. The bus engine shuddered with me, ready to take off, now that most passengers are aboard.

The one-eyed girl let out a cry and threw herself forwards. The cage she was kept in tumbled and bumped into a woman's dress. Lifting her skirts and letting out a cry of distaste, the woman shook her fist at the caged girl's keeper, who calmly walked forwards to drag the cage back. The young girl screamed and thrashed.

She looked younger than me - eleven perhaps, twelve at the most. Her creased eye and light hair told me that she was not from Tu, at least, not born in Tu.

"Keep your bitch with you!" the woman cried in Turion.

The bus driver began to shout for the woman to hurry up and to stop blocking the entrance. Then he screamed at the girl's owner to keep his objects to himself and not to disturb the 'beautiful lady over there'. The woman began to swear at him, and everyone else.

The passenger next to me sighed and carefully placed his newspaper on his lap. "Language," he tutted, looking at me above his tiny spectacles. "She doesn't speak like a lady, does she?"

Sparing a glance at me, he looked me up and down. "You a little lady, aren't you. A good girl." With that, he went back to his newspaper.

I beamed at the compliment but the smile immediately faded when the man began poking the girl hard with a stick. He looked to be from the West, with his blue eyes and strange pale hair. Although Centrali wouldn't admit it, they were the biggest human trade contributors.

The girl was trapped in something close to a canine kennel - big enough so she fitted, but small enough that her back was hunched from the lack of space. She must be a Fèiwù - the little girls and boys breed and born for their organs.

I wanted to help, but what could I do?

Divert your eyes, that's what Mama would say. Pretend that they don't exist and they won't come boundering after you. I'd been looking for too long.

In Tu, if you don't see something, then it isn't your problem. And it was so easy to overlook things.

Don't look. Don't hear. Don't feel. Something I'd been following for the past fourteen years of my life.

With my back straight and my hands folded delicately in my lap, I sat silently as the bus rumbled past one stop to another, where Uncle and Grandma would await me.

Excitement began to roar through me. Today was going to be perfect.

"Happy Birthday my darling Hui-Yue!" my uncle roared as he stepped into the bus.

Every pair of eyes turned to him.

Awe. Jealousy. Astonishment.

Those were all looks that always came with Chang Huang. He was the one to light up an party and people were drawn to him for reasons they themselves couldn't even explain.

And everyone was watching him come to me and envelope me in a hug. The smell of fresh tobacco and sesame oil teared me up and I hugged him tighter. All eyes were on us and I couldn't help but feel a little smug.

"Oi! Pay the fee!" the bus driver called.

"Ba!" My grandmother dragged herself up the stairs of the bus and raised her cane to give the driver a big whack of the head. 'Disrespect to your elders!"

In Tu, especially in the North like we were, the older one was, the more respect they obtained. And Grandma was the oldest you'll get from 'round here.