Jay opened his eyes to the sun glaring right at him through the cave opening. Sighing, he sat up, covering his eyes from the brightness. "Nya, did Lloyd get here yet?"
No response.
"Is Lloyd still on his way?" Jay asked instead.
No response.
Uncovering his eyes, Jay looked around.
Now, not only was there no response, there was no Nya. She was gone. Zane, Lloyd, now Nya, all gone. Gone!
Wide awake now, Jay began to panic. Where was she? Had Serpentine came and kidnapped her? Had she rolled too far in her sleep and rolled right out of the cave and off the edge of the cliff to her death? Had she just decided to stop waiting and try to rescue Zane on her own? There were too many options, none of them good.
Jay crawled to the edge of the cave and peered down warily. He didn't see a Serpentine encampment down there, and he didn't see Nya's broken body down there either. Looking back into the cave, he saw that her bag was still there, so she probably hadn't gone on alone.
Stumped, Jay flopped back and stared up at the sky. A group of hawks were circling, pinwheeling easily through the air. All of the hawks looked so powerful. Most of the hawks clustered together as they made tight turns. Some of the hawks swooped down now and then to feed their babies.
One of the hawks was Nya.
Jay almost wept with relief. Standing and narrowly avoiding banging his head on the cave ceiling at the last second by stooping over, he launched himself out of the cave and into the air. He spread his wings and began gliding up toward the hawks and Nya.
The hawks spread out as he approached, giving him considering looks, like they weren't sure if he was friend, foe, or food. Eventually they seemed to conclude he was a friend, because they let him join them in the sky.
Jay swooped over to Nya.
"Good morning," Nya said.
"I'm hungry," Jay said.
Nya smirked. "Okay. I found a town nearby. Let's go."
Tilting herself, she headed away, and Jay followed gratefully. Soon, they were soaring over a little highway, the sides of it spotted with various stores.
Nya pointed a finger down toward a fast food shop. "See them?"
Jay looked and saw a little dot of a person. They appeared to be chucking bags into a large Dumpster. "Yeah."
"They're getting rid of yesterday's food, I bet," Nya said.
Jay lit up. "Oh! So there'll be plenty to pick from for us!"
Jay and Nya waited several minutes for the person to go inside, then several more to make sure the person wasn't returning to the Dumpster, then together, they swooped down to land next to the Dumpster.
Nya opened the lid, peering in and announcing, "Jackpot. Want a burger?"
Jay grimaced. "Watching the hawks take apart those poor little animals made me lose my meat appetite. But that's a salad, there, and look, there's some pies! Myrtleberry, cobblerberry, even apple, perfect!"
Tucking their jackets into their pants, they packed away food between their shirts and their jackets in the area that created. Within five minutes, they were up and away again, beating their wings carefully so as not to jostle their precious cargo too much.
Food made everything better, made the world seem kinder, made situations brighter, Jay realized, licking his fingers after he finished eating. He leaned back against the cave wall and stared out the opening at the hawks still swooping around.
Nya swallowed the last bit of her hamburger (her sixth or seventh, Jay thought) and spoke. "I'm pretty sure how they move is how they communicate. How they tell each other where to go to get food or where to stay away from because of predators. I can't tell how yet, but I'm pretty sure. Maybe we could learn it while we wait."
"...How much longer do you think we'll have to wait?" Jay asked, because if he had to wait for Lloyd, then no way did he have enough patience left over to wait before asking Nya.
Nya tilted her head to one side, considering the question. "I don't know. Lloyd should've been here by now. Since he isn't, that means something stopped him. Something big."
Feeling queasy, Jay swallowed hard. Something big meant something bad. "Oh."
"We'll have to go back, circle around, try to find him," Nya continued. "Maybe we can find him, and maybe we can help him. Or maybe we just use up some time we would've spent waiting here. Either way it's a good idea."
She stood, walking to the edge of the cave before looking back and raising her eyebrows. "You coming?"
"Oh! Right now? Like, right now right now?" Jay blurted, jumping up. "Yeah! Of course! Let's go!"
Nya nodded once, turning back around. Then she was up and away, riding on the air currents back toward where they'd come from.
Jay ran at the edge of the cave and jumped out after her, yelling, "Geronimo!"
He didn't know what it meant, but it felt good.