Chapter 11

Almost Freedom

"Sonora!" Both Pedro and I shouted. Without hesitation, we shot into the air.

"You can't follow them!" Rupert strided over with the crane on his wing; he was glad to be back with her, I could tell, and it only made me want to fly after that blue so and so much more.

"He'll kill her whether we follow or not!" I replied and turned back to the tunnel I saw Phillip and my girl disappear into. I flew further, but noticed no one was following me.

"We have to try and stop him!" Pedro agreed, but stayed where he was.

"He said move a feather." The black monkey we had talked to earlier said, and looked to the troop smiled and the rest of his troopmirrored his expression.

"We can follow him!" Cheek shouted triumphantly.

"I would love to be the first to catch that feather brain! Let's go!" The prince screeched, and the entirety of the monkey colony cheered, and was gone through the tunnels in mere seconds.

"I'm going with them." The crane decided spontaneously.

"Tia; you're wounded and starving. Come home." Rupert pleaded similar to how I had with Sonny earlier.

"No Rupert," She stayed his wings as he moved to hug her, but she pecked his cheek kindly as recompense, "I love you, but Sonora is the whole reason any of this happened," She gestured to the birds all around, and a few of the girls that had been reunited with loved ones, "We would have starved if she hadn't encouraged us to dig a little deeper into our hope. I'm going." Then she stepped over to where I was hovering.

"Me too!" The rest of the girls agreed as one, and joined Tia and I; all except for Nora.

Pedro looked around eagerly, hoping to see her fly over to us, but she didn't come. Then I spotted a heap of feathers in a dark corner, "Uhh, bro…" I pointed in the direction of the hummer who was still out cold.

"No!" My brother gasped, and I, sadly, knew exactly how he felt. He dove over to her, and I could almost hear his heart breaking. Gently he swept a feather over her tiny face and his face brightened. I landed by him, curious. "She's alive!" He turned to me with beaming smile.

"Of course she is bro." I patted him on the back, and felt happy for him.

"I'll take her to Albert's." Pedro informed the rest of us, then turned back to me and gave me a man-hug. "Go get our Sonny back." He murmured and stepped back.

"Thanks Pedro." I replied and put on a look of pure determination. "I will if it kills me."

"Alright, but I'd prefer that you don't." He joked and turned back to the hummer. He hovered over Nora's unconscious body, gently grabbed her under her wings, lifter her off the floor, and nodded.

I smiled again and leapt into the air. "This is the time we've all been waiting for," I called to the assembled birds, "Now is the time we free the jungle of Phillip's tyrannical reign! Now is the time we fight for everything he stole from us! Now is the time we save Sonora in thanks for the hope she brought us!" This aroused boisterous cheers.

"For Sonny!" The cockatiel cried, totally spontaneously, vaulting into the air next to me. I smiled brightly at her and she blushed madly.

"For Sonny!" Everybird cheered and followed the cockatiel and I up the vents. She was on my tail, and together we entered a smaller hollow.

"Well this is weird…" I murmured.

"This is Phillip's hollow." She replied, and stepped over to a bottle of strong smelling stuff.

"Wait,…whatever your name is…!" I gasped and pulled her back, before she could whiff it.

"Lattie," She giggled, "Lattie Tiel."

"Oh," I smiled and realized I was holding her wing. I quickly dropped it and blushed, "That's a pretty name."

There was a few more moments of awkward silence until Lattie cleared her throat, and spoke, "Well, what is this stuff?"

"Oh yeah," I ruffled my feathers, and snapped back into reality, "It's chloroform. It'll knock you out and then some." I rubbed my head remembering the headache I had after waking up in the club. "I wonder why Phillip has it…"

"He knocks Jewel out every time he comes down to the chamber. This has to be the stuff." Realization hit me like a ton of bricks when I saw a ripped up rag, and could smell the chloroform from where I stood.

"We need to go!" I dragged her out the door and out into the sky. Quickly we caught up to Tia and she smiled.

"This way! Follow the monkeys!" Tia took the lead between Lattie and I and followed the trail of simians that had started thin, just a few scouts left to hold the place, but as they got deeper into the jungle there were more and more. Soon the roar of an enormous waterfall could be heard.


Phillip dragged me through the trees with maniac grace. I was truly surprised that he could still fly with all of his missing feathers, and inwardly smiled at the fact that I had removed most of them. Then I returned to fighting for air as his grip was so tight; this was also making the chord from my necklace chafe against my neck and rip my little feathers out. I could barely hear the waterfall even though I could feel the spray. "You remember what I told you?" Phillip crooned over the roar of the water, and jerked me closer to his face.

"What? That I was going to die in that stinking tree?" I rasped.

"Well, that," He shrugged, and lowered his talon again, "Along with the fact that I am going to make Nico watch you die, slowly." He then landed on a rock above the highest fall. With a grunt he threw me down, and I slid across the slick, mossy surface gasping for precious air. Around the macaw's leg was the white cloth; he untied the knot and held it in his talons. In flight I figured out that it was soaked in chloroform, and considering my past experiences with that nasty stuff, I wasn't about to let him touch me with it.

"What do you think you can possibly gain by killing me?" I was desperate and saw no way to escape this bird by flying. I was too weak and the jungle was too far away. I was trapped.

"I can finally have my revenge." The deformed face of my captor stepped closer, and I stepped back. As I did, my foot slipped on the edge and I fluttered a bit to keep from falling into the murderous current of the river.

"Revenge for what?" I gasped, from the pain, "A high school girl? Everyone has had their heart broken." I said gently. I felt like I was talking to a bipolar child; he could snap at any moment. "I more than once have had mine broken; and come to think of it, it was all your fault." I growled, sick of this walking on pins and needles.

"You don't understand," The macaw's face became wistful, "Selena loved me and Nico bewitched her." Phillip raised the cloth to end me. I scowled at him, at the mention of my sunbeam doing anything wrong. Then realized that I was about to walk into The Light. Nico, I want you to know you are the love of my life, and I'm sorry we never got the chance to have chicks together! I thought, and closed my eyes.

"I never loved you!" A strong, lyrical voice called from above us. I snapped my eyes open, and we looked up in shock to see the iridescent green wings and bright, ruby red chest of an angelic quetzal shoot towards us. Talons poised for a kill, she landed between Phillip and I.

"Se…Sel…Selena?" Phillip whispered, and nearly dropped the cloth.

She didn't answer his question, but continued with her words, and glared at him, "I never loved you because you tried to trap me like you did all these other innocent birds. Look at yourself Phillip!" She gestured to his thinned feathers, and wounded body, "You're half bald, completely crazy, and are a convicted murderer!" She sighed exasperatedly, "This is a new low." Selena was also in a protective stance in front of me; her wings still spread half way and her feathers standing on end.

"I know you loved me. Why else would you tell me so?" Phillip asked still in shock.

"I told you to try and make you go away. Until I met Nico I was too scared to tell you off. He saved my life." She hissed stepping closer to the deformed macaw. "Ever since high school I've been chasing criminals all over South America, trying to be half the agent my father was. Somehow every time I caught a smugglers bird they told me that they worked for you."

"You're a F.N.?" Phillip's jaw hit the slippery rock. This gorgeous bird was a well-trained, highly intelligent, crime fighter? You did hear my prayers!

"Yes." She snarled, and visibly tensed, "I knew you'd go crazy at one point, I just didn't think it would take me this long to find you again." Selena over-emphasized the last word and jumped off the rock, soaring towards him with outstretched talons.