Now for the fourth in one week... that has to be a record! XD Once again, short but important.
Chapter 8
The Girls' Plan
I checked every trolley that I possibly could at least seventeen times. All I could find was a scraggly, mangled, deep blue down feather. The worst part was that the sky was turning orange, and the sun was tucking itself into bed over the ocean. It would be dark soon.
"Where else could they be?" I mumbled to myself.
"Sonny! Sonora Canary! Stop flying for half a second and let me talk to you!" Exasperated panting came from behind me. I slowed down my speed and Selena soared up alongside me and her squad from the F.N. stayed a little ways behind. "You know that when you're on the hunt, you are the hardest bird to catch up to?" She gasped.
"Sorry. I was in the zone. Have you found anything?" I asked excited.
"Actually yes. Can we please land though?"
"Oh right." We perched on a trolley.
"I know where Diego and Ali are." She explained. Her green feathers seemed to glow in the dying sunlight.
"REALLY? TAKE ME TO THEM!" I cried.
"Now Sonny, you know I can't do that."
"I don't care!" I thought for a moment. "I will follow you if you don't let me come with you."
"I knew you would say that." She sighed. "Maybe you should just join the force. Half of the cases we take have to do with you troublesome canaries." We laughed.
"Sadly, you're right. So can we go now?" I asked hovering above the chipped yellow paint on the trolley.
"Yeah. We're headed for the Parade." And off we went in the night.
"Come on Nora! We have to go to the parade!" I whined.
"Yeah mom. It's not fair!" Ellie helped.
"Now girls, I can't go against what Sonny said. We could get in big trouble." Our Aunt consoled.
"I'm not missing this." Selena crossed her wings and turned her back to the humming bird. My sister was always so sparky and confident in her decisions. She almost never second guessed herself. I wished that I could be like that; I was always so soft spoken, and nobird ever heard me.
"There's always next year." Nora said weakly. Ellie and Sel just rolled their eyes.
"Come on Gwyn." My sister grabbed my wing and pulled me to Ellie's room. Both were furious that they couldn't go to the parade.
"We can't be mad at Aunt Nora. It's not her fault." I said in a quiet voice.
"Of course we can! This is her fault!" The little hummer wailed.
"I can't believe mom's not back yet." The canary mumbled. "And where the heck are Diego and Raymond?"
"Well, I heard mom talking to…" I was cut off.
"You know you're right. We haven't seen them since this morning." Ellie agreed.
"Mom was saying something about…"
"Those slackers prolly got a leaf-cut and had to go to Dr. Alberts to get patched up." Sel sniggered.
"HEY!" I chirped.
"Don't get your feathers in a bunch, sheesh." The girls sighed.
"Well, you don't listen to me, so I have to get your attention somehow." I grumbled.
"You have our attention, what is it?"
"I heard mom talking to Nora for a second before she went back into town. She said something about a half-bald cockatoo and Officer Selena. Then Nora said something about a smugglers bird, and she looked terrified." As I explained the girls eyes got wider and wider.
"Oh no! You know what this means?" Ellie gasped.
"There's a dangerous bird flying around kidnapping innocent birds! What if that's where Diego and Ray are? What if they have mom too?" My sister said not stopping to breath.
"We have to get to the Toucan's nest, and check with Auntie Eva!"
"But what about your mom? Won't she worry?" I wondered aloud.
"Not if she doesn't know we're gone." A sly look came to Elena's face. "We'll take the safety vent." She walked to the center of the room and looked up. A hole just big enough for us to squeeze through went up through the trunk and out the back of the tree.
"Alright! Let's go then!" Sel leapt into the air and shot through the vent; Ellie right on her tail. I paused a moment to write Aunt Nora a note, in case she came looking for us, and followed.
