Amy woke up to the smell of coffee and toast with bacon. She rolled over to see Ty, who looked like a chef cooking breakfast.
"Wow. Special occasion?" Amy asked walking into the kitchen.
"Well I want you-I mean us to have a good breakfast before we go." Ty said flipping the bacon.
"Even if it's our last." Amy joked.
Ty laughed. "Good morning." He hugged her.
Amy sighed. "Good morning." She kissed him. "So I was thinking, maybe I could do some more training with Bear this morning before we get the trailer ready? We almost had it yesterday."
"Yeah. We don't have to leave till after lunch. Just please be careful, Amy." Ty said placing his hands on her shoulders.
"Ty I am always going to be fine. Besides it was my fault yesterday. I moved too quickly." Amy sat down.
"So he's freaking out when you pull the rope?" Ty asked setting the coffee cups on the table.
"Yeah. I think he doesn't like the feeling of pulling something."
"Well what if that something is moving?" Ty asked.
"What are you saying?" Amy placed her elbows onto the table.
"Well remember a while ago, I hooked that dummy cow up to the ATV while Caleb roped it? We could try the same thing." Ty suggested.
"Sounds like a plan. I'm ready to try something new with him anyways. Maybe if he gets this down, he'll be able to drag a non-moving dummy." Amy said.
"Alright we'll do it after breakfast then?" Ty asked.
"Absolutely." Amy smiled and cheered her coffee with Ty's.
"Thanks for dropping me off, Lisa." Georgie smiled getting out of her car.
"No problem, hunny. I'm just trying to help your mom with her super busy schedule." Lisa sighed.
Georgie didn't really think about how busy her moms schedule was. "Oh. Okay. Well, I gotta go!" Georgie ran towards the front of the reserve.
"Georgie! Over here!" Jade called her over.
"Oh hey!" Georgie gave her a hug.
"If this is considered credit, man I wonder what else could be. This is going to be awesome." Jade smiled.
"I was pretty excited to see this for credit. I'm glad Ty has cleared everything with Bob because if I didn't do this, I'd have to do science experiments all summer long." Georgie sighed.
"Oh good. You guys are here." Bob came walked up.
"Ready to work." Jade crossed her arms.
"We are just waiting for one more- oh there he is now." Bob said.
"I wonder who it is." Georgie whispered to Jade then turned around.
"Oh no..." Georgie gasped.
Jade eyed Georgie. It was Adam. Adam was the last student signed up.
"You guys know each other?" Bob asked.
"Sadl-"
"Uh yes! Yeah we do." Georgie interrupted Jade.
"Good then that means you can choose your own assignments together. I need llamas fed and skunks taken care of." Bob said.
"We'll take the llamas!" Jade said grabbing Georgie's arm.
"Okay then Adam you are with me and the skunks." Bob said.
"Great." Adam said.
"Okay so contact," Bob handed out radios. "These will keep everything right in place. Just hold down the button here to speak. Hello hello hello, and you just let go. And the message will go to all four talkies."
"Radios use radio frequencies from radio towers to keep in contact so they are more useful than cell phones in an emergency." Adam spewed.
"God..." Jade sighed.
"Okay! Let's get started." Bob said.
"You ready?" Ty called getting onto the ATV.
Amy nodded.
Ty started to laugh hysterically while he drove in circles.
"Ty speed up!" Amy called laughing at him. Bear was chasing up to the dummy. Every hoof that touched the ground sounded like a drum. A four beat drum, like a gallop. Once Amy was close enough, she through the rope on the horn point, getting it right on target.
"Okay I have it! Drop the dummy!" Amy said.
Ty pressed a release button on the atv which would have released a trailer but, in this case, a cow dummy.
Bear was dragging it for a while until he realized that he was pulling quite a bit of weight. He slid to an immediate stop. The stop surprised Amy and forced her body to lean over the saddle horn.
"You okay?" Ty drove up.
"Ugh, yeah. I'm fine. Man does he pack a punch." Amy sighed.
"I would love to go again for the... fifth, sixth time," Ty started while Amy laughed. "But we do have to go. The eagle is awaiting."
"Right. Okay I'll get the trailer ready. My dad dropped off his truck about an hour ago and took yours so we will take his. Lou is making lunch for us so I'll meet you in there in a bit." Amy said dismounting Bear.
"I'll help you." Ty said walking with Amy back to the barn.
It was about 12:30 pm. Ty and Amy had the trailer all hooked up and ready to go. They had just finished lunch and were ready to get into the road.
"Auntie Amy!" Katie came running out by the truck. "Here is a lunch box for you and uncle Ty to have a picnic!" Katie smiled.
"Well thank you katie." Amy smiled. "You know Lou, I don't think we'll have time for a picnic." Amy whispered.
"You never know. A picnic can come in handy on a super romantic ride like this." Lou joked.
"Lou I've told you. This is Ty's work only." Amy said.
"Ready?" Ty asked.
"Yeah I'm coming." Amy replied.
"Now you two drive safe." Jack kissed Amy on the forehead.
"We will." Ty replied.
"Hey will you guys want to be back in time for dinner?" Lou asked.
"Of course. Dinner will sound great once we are back on the road." Amy said getting into the truck.
"Alright we'll see you then!" Lou said.
"Bye love you guys!" Amy and Ty waved.
"Have fun!" Katie waved.
"I'm so glad we got the llamas instead of the skunks." Jade said feeding them hay.
"Yeah well I guess I feel kind of bad for Adam. I mean skunks? Really?" Georgie said.
"You, feel bad for Adam? I mean look at the guy! He always drives us insane."
"That is true. When ever he tutors me, he always tells me what to do. He always bosses me around and thinks he knows better than me. He's such a stuck up know it all." Georgie said not realizing her walkie was on "talk" mode.
"Yeah he's the worst." Jade agreed.
Adam heard everything. As he was helping Bob, he looked down to see the walkie flashing red which meant someone was talking.
"Hey man, are they talking about you?" Bob asked.
"No no no. It's um a different guy. Jades step brother...I think." Adam lied.
"As long as everything's cool." Bob said.
"Yep. Peachy."
"So this spot should be coming up really soon." Ty said holding up his phone GPS.
"Ty, it's so beautiful out here. I can't believe we haven't been here." Amy said admiring the scenery out her window.
"This is just the beginning. Wait till you see the trail route."
"Well I can't wait to see that eagle. I've never seen one in person." Amy said.
"Really?" Ty asked with a chuckle
"Oh don't go all vet ego on me." Amy nudged Ty.
"Hey," Ty pulled the truck over. "We're here."
Amy got out of the truck star struck. "Ty, this place is amazing!" Amy smiled.
"Hey don't say I never take you any place nice."
Amy rolled her eyes.
"Let's get the horses unloaded and be on our way." Ty said.
"Alright." Amy said opening the trailer back. "C'mon Bear." Amy kissed.
I'm glad we remembered to bring all three horses. That eagle needs to sit somewhere!" Ty laughed.
Amy laughed. "So this trail, are there any cliffs on the way?"
"Well bob drew out the safest, quickest route and I'm not seeing any so we should be good." Ty said mounting onto Harley.
"Alright. Just making sure." Amy said climbing onto Bear. "Ready?"
"Ready as we'll ever be! Just gotta...follow the map..." Ty said to himself.
As they trotted along the trail, a huge beautiful mountain was visible. Amy gasped in delight.
"Wow! I sort of regret telling Lou this won't be a romantic trip..." Amy said.
"Amy you know what's going to happen. We save the eagle then come home." Ty laughed.
"Not even a tiny bit?" Amy smiled.
"I bet we could squeeze some in." Ty said.
Amy laughed. "Man, all the years of school, training, and... it all leads to this. You know the first day you came I never expected you to save an eagle."
"I have to admit, I wouldn't have expected it either. I'm just glad we get to help the guy." Ty said holding out his map.
"Me too." Amy agreed.
"So how long do we have to feed these things?" Jade asked.
"Until these hay bales are gone." Georgie sighed.
"That's like...two more square bales! Geez do they even get fat?" Jade laughed.
"Well, just think. Before Bob brought them to the reserve, they barely ate anything."
"Aww. I can't even imagine." Jade said.
"Me too. Poor guys." Georgie pet them.
"So," Jade started to change the subject. "You glad tutoring is over?"
"Actually about that," Georgie bit her lip. "I'm kinda doing it through the summer."
"What?! Georgie I thought you were done!" Jade stood up.
"I know I know it's just, I really wanted to come to this. Me and my mom made a deal; if I came to this clean up day I'd have to do more tutoring through the summer to get my marks through the roof." Georgie finished.
"Well that's quite a big sacrifice for some science cred." Jade said.
"Hey! as my friend, your supposed to tell me I made the right decision..." Georgie looked away.
"No, as your friend in supposed to keep you from doing things like this. You hate that guy!" Jade said.
"I do. But is he worth my grade? Yes. I just thought you'd sort of understand." Georgie said picking at grass.
"Georgie," Jade knelt down to meet Georgie's eyes. "Okay I get it. I really do. It's just it seems like you'll be complaining about him to me. All summer long." Jade laughed.
"No I wouldn't!" Georgie through crumpled up hay at Jade.
"Hey! That was so uncalled for. You asked for it." Jade picked Georgie up and threw her into a pile of hay as they both burst of laughter.
"It's...it's not funny!" Georgie said laughing as she removed hay from her hair.
"Okay. Bob said the nest should be visible from here." Ty took out his binoculars.
Amy scanned the area. They both looked from tree to tree.
"Wait, Ty look." Amy pointed to the ground under a tree.
"Rah...the nest fell. Alright I'm going to need your help." Ty dismounted.
Amy nodded dismounting as well.
"Can you hand me the gloves from Teddy's pack?" Ty asked walking closer to the nest on the ground.
"Yeah." Amy ran back then gave him the gloves.
"Okay. Easy. Easy now. Easy." Ty swooped in and grabbed the eagle. He quickly tucked the wings under his gloves so he couldn't get away. "There you go. Good boy."
"Did the nest falling hurt him?" Amy asked.
"Well, he might have a fractured bone in his Xenicibis. I'm going to take him back to the clinic just to make sure. C'mon big guy." Ty started to walk back to the horses then stopped. "Wanna hold him?" Ty turned around.
"Of course." Amy laughed holding out her arms.
"Okay. Easy. Easy boy. There you go." Ty let the bird into Amy's arms as she held him tightly.
"He's so amazing." Amy gasped.
"Yeah. He really is." Ty smiled.
"I still can't believe I'm holding an eagle!" Amy laughed.
"I wish we could hold him longer but it's going to get dark soon so I'll put him in his cage." Ty said taking the bird and placing it into the cage on Teddy's back.
"So we headed back?" Amy asked.
"Yep," Ty placed the blanket over the cage. "We have about a two hour ride ahead of us."
"Alright let's get going then." Amy mounted Bear.
It was about two hours since they rescued the eagle. They had brought Bear along just to see how he'd do back in the wild.
"You know I'm glad we brought Bear. He needed a change of scenery." Amy stroked Bear's mane.
"It was a good idea. He seems to be doing pretty well." Ty said.
"Just glad you're not throwing me." Amy whispered to Bear.
"Wait hold up a minute." Ty stopped Harley.
"What's wrong?" Amy stopped the two other horses.
"We should have been at the road by now. Let me check the map." Ty said as he dismounted. He searched through the pack to try to find the map but was buried.
The movements of all the papers shifting around spooked the eagle. He started hitting the sides of his cage. Teddy started to jump forwards and back freaking out the next two horses.
"Woah! Woah! Easy!" Amy yelled trying to control the horses.
Harley was pushing against Ty. As he gripped the saddle, Ty continuously was trying to ease his horse. "Woah woah bud! Easy! Woah- w-woahhhh!"
Ty was griping onto the saddle so he wouldn't fall off the cliff behind him. It wasn't enough. The horse was too strong and there was nothing Amy or Ty could have done. Right over the edge he fell bashing against multiple rocks along the way. Once he landed on a rock platform, he was motionless. Before Ty closed his eyes, it was like the whole world around him went out in darkness. The last thing he saw was his beautiful wife's face then all was black. Not knowing if he'd ever wake up again.
