Chapter 8

Canary Corner

After leaving the little tree, Sonny had suggested we go and take a look at the hollow she had been fixing up, and were now flying through the trees towards the waterfall. But wow! These last few hours had been the best couple hours in my entire life, and they proved my thoughts to be correct. I couldn't live without her.

Yup. My name is Nico. I wear a bottle cap on my head. I'm eighteen years old. I met the most amazing girl in the universe three weeks ago, and I found the love of my life in her. I looked over at her, at my Sonora, and smiled softly. I really do love her.

She hadn't stopped smiling since the kiss, and neither had I. I felt invincible, bullet-proof, like nothing could touch me. I had found my girl, and I would do anything for her.

"Whatcha starin' at?" Sonny asked as we banked around a bunch of vines.

"My girl." I replied and she blushed while rolling her eyes. Then her face brightened as we came to a sturdy tree with a canary sized hollow about three quarters of the way up the trunk.

"Here we are!" She squealed as we landed. "Welcome to Canary Corner." She hopped inside and I followed closely behind.

"Nice name." I commented.

"Thanks. Pedro helped me come up with it." Sonny replied and walked down a little hallway and into a room. "This is mine! This whole big room, this whole hollow is mine! No curfew, no rules, no nothing. Just me and my thoughts." She sighed and arranged a few flowering vines just outside the window.

"Wow. This is super cool." I agreed and stepped back into the big room.

"Thanks. And down here is a guest room," She smiled and lead me just a few steps further to another room, "Maybe you can stay the night sometime."

"I would love to." I smirked and she led me back to the big room, holding tightly to my wing. There was a little counter with bottle cap stools in front of it and a few chairs made out of sticks, moss, and twine in what appeared to be the living room. She had even made some curtains, and a tablecloth for a table she had made out of six larger bottle caps and some sticks and twine. "Aren't we a crafty one?" I commented.

"It needed some stuff, and my mom sure as heck wasn't going to loan me anything. She wants me to live with her until I die, and there is no way on all of Rio that's going to happen." She explained and drug a stool behind the counter so she could reach for something on a top shelf. I stepped up behind her and, after she grabbed her objective, I grabbed her waist and spun her off the stool so she landed in my wings. "Whew, you are a feisty one aren't you?" She smirked.

"You are the reason why." I kissed her quickly and set her down. She shook her head and blushed softly. "Whatcha got there?" I asked and looked at her wing.

"Oh, this is something mom and dad gave me on my sixteenth birthday," She opened her fist to show me a little clam shell. It was speckled brown, black and little dots of blue and purple on the cream colored top, then when turned upside down it was opalescent. A rainbow of hues danced across the inside of the shell as the sun hit it. "They told me that it's a reminder to never give up on love. That it's still out there even if I've been hurt." She looked up to me as she said this and her meadow green eyes glittered with glee.

"They were right." I pulled her into a hug and sighed happily.

"Thanks Nico, you're the absolute best." She said from where her head rested on my shoulder.

"No you're the best." I replied.

"Nooo. You're the best." She countered. And so we argued for a few more minutes until she finally threw her wings in the air and turned away. "Fine you win!"

"There we go." I punched her wing lightly and chuckled. Sh ejust rolled her eyes and hugged me again.

"Knock knock!" We heard a few birds land outside.

"Come in!" Sonny called and I wrapped a wing around her waist.

"There you two lovebirds are!" Pedro, Rafael, and a new bird I hadn't met walked in. He was a Raggiana Bird of Paradise and had a cocky smile on his blue beak.

"Tadeo! Where have you been bird?" Sonny ran up to him and he wrapped her in a hug.

"Oh you know me sunshine, I've been scouring all of Brazil for the legendary Kingdom Paradise. I'm getting closer you know." He spun her around and dipped her flirtatiously, and a little green monster jumped on my shoulder.

"Tadeo, I've told you multiple times;" Sonny rolled her eyes and spun out. "It can never work between us." She acted all dramatic and pretended to faint. I stepped forward and caught her, before she hit the floor.

"Eu sei que coisa doce (I know sweet thing {Portuguese})." He crooned and I glared at him. He took notice and walked around us, inspecting me thoroughly. "Who are you?" He asked feigning harshness.

"The name's Nico." I set Sonny back on her feet and extended a wing to shake.

"Ah. He's the bird you were telling me about; the one that hopes to take my place as Sonora's biggest fan." He whispered through his wing to Ralphy and Pedro who snickered at my blushing face.

"Yup this is him." Sonny joshed and pecked my cheek.

"Seems you've already passed me." He took my wing and shook it in a friendly manner. "You've won her heart." He murmured so only I could hear.

"I guess that's life." I shrugged with a smile as Sonora wrapped her wing around my waist.

"I say we celebrate; to The Branch!" Juan spread his wings valiantly and glided out the door.

"Woo hoo!" Pedro and Sonny cheered and followed him. I just stood there for a moment, still in a bit of a daze.

"Nico, you ok?" Ralphy asked as we stepped outside.

"I can seriously say that there has never been a day in my life that I have been more ok." I smiled. "This is the best day ever!" I cried and took off after Sonny.


Go figure Tadeo The Dreamer showed up. As soon as he graduated he flew off to the middle of the Amazon to find Kingdom Paradise. This is a place you hear about in fairytales; it's like that place humans call Atlantis. He may be a touch crazy, but he could still sing and dance like none other. He was also known for being a love song artist, therefore explaining why Pedro and Raphael had brought him along.

"So, how's your day goin'?" Pedro asked me as we flew.

"You have no idea how great my day has been!" I performed a happy body roll and laughed.

"I'm so glad you guys hit it off. I knew you would." The cardinal had a wide grin on his face as he said this. I blushed.

"Me too." I sighed. "You have always been like a brother for me Pedro, and thank you so much for everything!" I circled around him.

"No prob sista." He chuckled and smiled even bigger.

"So now you have to tell me something." I looked at him seriously.

"What?"

"Why does Nico live with you?" I had been really curios about that fact ever since it occurred to me that it was true.

"Aw man…" He rubbed the back of his neck and looked at the ground far below. "Sonny, you know I would tell you, but I can't. Nico swore me to secrecy. If you wanna know you're gonna have to talk to him about it." Pedro explained.

"Hmmm." I looked away. I guess I'll have to ask later. I decided as we landed at the end of the fruit market. Nico landed and took my wing in his as we walked into the club.

"You ok?" He asked, and I smiled up at him.

"Never better." I replied and pecked his cheek. "So you wanna sing or dance?" I asked feeling better about talking to him later.

"How about…" He paused and thought for a minute. But suddenly a spotlight shone directly on us and I had to cover my face with my wing so as to not go blind.

"Ah! There's my little sundrop!" That voice. That was the voice that betrayed me. The voice that I used to think I couldn't live without and now hated. I whirled to face the stage and saw Antonio standing there with a fake smile on his beak.


Ok I have to apologize for the shortness of the chapter. I had to make a little transition into the next chapter, and this was all I could do. so sorry it's short, and a little choppy, but here it is. XD Also: I changed Juan's name to Tadeo cause I thought it was cooler. Sorry if you were absolutly in love with the name Juan!