~4~

"Kree!" I felt Greyfeather's beak rub against my cheek. "Kree!"
"What d'you want, Greyfeather? It's midnight- oh. It's time to meet Blackfire, right?" Greyfeather hopped off me and over to the table where Chris and I kept our stuff. She grabbed my Creature Pod in her beak. I hopped out of my hammock and grabbed the device. "Thanks!" Holding out my arm made the bird hop on to it, and I quickly scribbled down a note telling Chris that "I went out for a walk with Greyfeather- she kept waking me up." I placed the note in my hammock.
"Okay. Let's go see Blackfire."
As we stepped out into the cold night air, I heard a twig crack. I looked over to the falcon upon my shoulder.
"Kree," she called softly. I saw a head pop up out of the tall grass.
"You came," Blackfire said. She padded her way over to me.
"Of course I did." The leopard looked at Greyfeather, and asked "Did you get them to stay?"
"Yes." Blackfire nodded, content.
"Let's go up in a tree- I'd feel better there." When we got to the base of the nearest tree, Greyfeather bounced back off my arm and onto a branch. Blackfire jumped into the tree with great ease.
"Ugh, why am I the only one who has to CLIMB the tree?" I muttered.
"Need help?" Blackfire called.
"No, I'm fine."
I reached for another branch.
"How did you get your little group to stay here, anyway?" the leopard asked when I reached the top of the tree.
"Greyfeather did a stunt and hurt her wing," I replied.
"Good. I knew the falcon would come up with a way to help. Anyways- the reason I need your help is because of poachers. It used to be they had reasons for poaching. Now, they just kill animals for fun." I stiffened, and immediately, a horrible feeling came over me. It was like I couldn't breathe.
"WHAT? For FUN?" Blackfire narrowed her eyes and nodded gravely. "This is horrible..."
"Yes. I believe it's time to reveal myself to your friends. Go back and get your brother. I'll be waiting in the long grass for you." Greyfeather hopped back on my shoulder as I jumped out of the tree. I looked back to the leopard. With a nod from her I ran back to the Tortuga and my room. When I got there, I saw Chris still asleep, so I took my previously-written note and crumpled it, then dumped it into the wastepaper basket, then went over to Chris and shook him awake.
"Chris! Chris, wake up. I wanna show you something." Chris rolled over.
"Can'- YAWN!- can' it wai' 'till m'rnin'...?" Translation: Can't it wait until morning?.
"No. This can't wait," I answered. I grabbed his hammock and unceremoniously dumped him out of it.
"OW! Martin! What was that for?" Chris whisper-yelled, repeating my words from earlier that morning.
"No time to explain- just come with me!" I said, helping him up.
"Oh, FINE." I led the way out of the Tortuga over to where Blackfire told me to meet her.
"Martin, can you tell me where we're headed?" Chris asked.
"Blackfire, we're here," I called out, rather than answering him. Blackfire came out of the grass and turn around, back to the tree. Chris and I followed behind her. When we got to the tree Blackfire was already climbing up the branches.
"Martin, what's going on?" Chris asked me again.
"Just climb." We saw Blackfire washing her paw at the time that we got to her. "Chris, meet Blackfire. Blackfire, Chris." Blackfire looked at me, and I gave her a small nod. "You may wanna hold on to a branch, Chris- just trust me bro," I warned.
"Of course I trust you." He grabbed a branch next to him. Blackfire turned her head to him, cleared her throat... and spoke.
"Chris, I need your help."
Like I before him, my brother nearly fell out of the tree.
"What the...? How is that...? Martin? Did you..?" Ah. I should've expected Chris would be unable to form a complete sentence.
"It's a long story, but yes: I knew."
"Um... okay. How can we help?" Chris looked like he was in some strange dream.
"I want to teach the poachers a lesson." I shared a look with my brother. Blackfire continued. "I heard pitiful noises coming from one of the tents the poachers had. It sounded as though they were from lion cubs. They seemed starved. They didn't even have the strength to form WORDS." I was shocked into speechlessness. Chris looked like his dream had become a nightmare. After what felt like forever, I came to my senses.
"And where do we come in..?"
Blackfire looked from me to Chris.
"That is for you to decide." She jumped down to a lower branch and looked back at us. "I will help you tell your friends." With that, she slunk away, into the deep darkness. Chris and I jumped out of the tree and followed Blackfire in silence. When the leopard stopped, she was right outside the Tortuga. She said nothing to us, just flicked her tail, as though she were irritated with us. I sat down with Chris.
"So. How do we go about doing this?" I asked, breaking the silence.
"Do what?" Chris replied.
"Tell the team about Blackfire, of course."
"Well, I could go in, and you could tell them in the morning," Blackfire suggested.
"Naah, they'd wonder about how a leopard got in. How about you just wait out here?" Chris agreed with my sentiment, saying "I heard that Aviva was coming out early to hang-glide again."
"Okay, then. I'll stay in the open, where she can see me," Blackfire said, curling up. When she was fast asleep, I noticed something- where had Greyfeather gone? When I asked Chris, he shrugged.
"I don't know- she was sitting on Blackfire's shoulder, last I checked."
"Kree!" My head popped up from the bush I was searching through.
"Hey- that sounded like Greyfeather! Quick, inside the Tortuga!" Chris and I ran into the machine to see Greyfeather hopping around in our room.
"Let's see if we can get some sleep," I decided. Chris shook his head.
"Sleep? I can't even think about sleeping- I feel too much like an owl."
I picked up Greyfeather and put the bird on her little tree perch before taking a look at the clock.
"Wow- it's six in the morning! We were out there for a long time!"
"I completely agree- let's eat breakfast." Without waiting for a response, Chris walked to the kitchen.