Blu, Eduardo and Roberto flew quietly and swiftly through the trees toward the scarlet macaw territories. They were supposed to be on a "routine" visit, but Felipe had actually called them for a secret meeting to discuss something amiss. The messenger wasn't informed of much, and didn't know what it was about, but he stressed that Felipe wanted the meeting's content to be hidden from anyone else, other than Eduardo's most trusted. If possible, hide from the territory sentries, the messenger added.
The three snuck past a scarlet macaw patrol, and slinked through the undergrowth to reach Felipe's hollow. The usual guards were missing, and there was a forbidding aura radiating from it. Blu landed inside last, and was greeted by some whispering. Felipe noticed their arrival, and signaled for the meeting to pause.
"I'm glad that you can make it," he greeted, though with not much heart. His didn't seem like his usual self, and he seemed angry and frustrated about something. The blue macaws looked at each other in slight worry, fearing that something was terribly wrong.
"Eduardo, this issue is highly sensitive. The peace between us can be severed if this gets out," Felipe explained, gravely serious.
Eduardo nodded for him to continue.
"I'm sure you all know Andre," the scarlet macaw leader started. Blu's blank look betrayed him.
"There was a war between the two tribes before. A savage one. There were many casualties, but the Spix macaw tribe was still winning. That was until a young scarlet macaw named Andre turned the tide of the whole thing with a destructive attack right at our old home. Andre is celebrated in the scarlet macaw tribe, but many still hate him in our tribe," Eduardo explained in a somewhat neutral tone.
"Not anymore. He was killed," Felipe said simply.
"Killed?!" Eduardo asked, shocked.
"Is there any proof who did it?" Roberto asked.
Felipe glanced at him in suspicion, but decided that he wasn't trying to probe.
"The only thing I found as proof were blue feathers," Felipe murmured.
A deadly silence continued, and only the faint noises of rustling leaves could be heard.
"Get out of your room!" Tiago groaned, dragging Bia by her tail.
"Lemme sleep," Bia said, half yawning, and half heartedly trying to grab the floor, but to not much effect.
"Come on, you've never met the others before!" Tiago grunted as Bia grabbed onto something particularly sturdy.
"Oh you've got to be kidding me!" Tiago cried out, as he found that Bia was hugging a stack of books.
"Get out!" He pulled at Bia, but she wouldn't budge.
A noise, that sounded like a jaguar growling, echoed through the hollow as Tiago pushed the whole stack toward the entrance. Carla was still in the main room, staring at Bia's room in amusement. Soon, Bia dropped out of the entrance, one of the books following closely.
"Ow!" A book fell on Bia's head, knocking her awake.
"I should try that next time," Tiago said, somewhat triumphant, but mostly irritated, at finally hauling his sister out.
"Come on! They're waiting," Carla dragged Bia out, where a pair of kids stood, watching the show.
"Not used to waking up early?" One of them asked, and the other laughed when Bia responded with a yawn.
"No, just used to sleeping late," Bia corrected. She turned and shot her siblings a "Can I go now?" look, but Tiago and Carla weren't planning on letting her off the hook so easily.
"Meet Bia," Tiago introduced.
"Hi," she greeted back.
The group snickered again, though Bia couldn't really understand why.
"What's so funny?"
"Nice style," one of them pointed.
The rest started laughing again, as Bia felt her crest feathers with a wing. They were standing like little weeds, and she looked like a sort of living bush. She combed down her crest feathers into a neater arrangement with her wings, grumbling in embarrassment.
"I'm Bruno, this is Ana," the male introduced. "Nice to meet you."
As the group engaged in a hearty conversation, Tiago's feathers spiked a little, and his instincts started ringing. He felt like they were being...watched. He turned around, and to his worry, a bush rustled as he did so.
"Anybody home?"
Tiago was jolted from from his worries as Bruno tapped him.
"We're going to the nut groves, ya comin'?"
"Sure."
The invitation washed away his fears, and Tiago gladly followed as the rest headed for the grove. The group heard nothing as a mysterious figure tailed them.
"This is bad. This is terrible! " Blu was panicking in Eduardo's hollow, while the tribe chief was deep in thought. Roberto stood in one corner, not too sure about what to say.
"This is a delicate situation. We need to handle it carefully," Eduardo murmured, still pondering. He didn't send anybody to attack anyone, and the idea of a hateful blue Spix macaw was rather worrying. Who in the right state of mind would shatter a peace they tried so hard to achieve?
It didn't make sense. None of it made sense.
B
"Oh my god. What have I done," Bia groaned, knocking her head against a trunk.
"It isn't that bad... Is it?" Bruno asked.
"Oh it is bad. And I agreed to it," Bia said neutrally, as if accepting her fate.
"You've done it before, you can do it again," Carla comforted. In the groves, the kids met Aline and Daniel (Crash and Dash's parents), and long story short, Bia agreed to look after the twins every few days, just to avoid saying that the twins were unbearable.
"What could they possibly have done that makes it that bad?" Ana asked.
"They are hyper active, nearly my size each, annoying, and hmm... What else... Ah, yes. Uncontrollable."
"That was simply so awkward," Tiago chuckled, referring to the conversation Bia had with Daniel.
"That's so funny, I forgot to laugh," Bia said sarcastically.
"Guys? Did you see that?" Carla interrupted, pointing into a dense cluster of leaves. A flash of blue was seen, as if reacting to Carla's statement.
"There's someone over there!" Tiago hissed, shooting after the bird. The rest started to follow, but stopped when they noticed that Tiago had lost the culprit.
"Where did he go?" Tiago looked around in frustration, trying to relocate his target.
"That was...creepy," Ana murmured, already put on edge.
"I wonder who that was," Bia wondered.
"Maybe we're all just a little edgy. It might have been a butterfly or something," Bruno persuaded. The group agreed for the time being.
"I have never seen a blue butterfly here," Bia frowned. She had spent a whole day looking for the insects before, and was peeved to know that there was probably another species she didn't find in the area.
"Maybe we should go back," Ana suggested, already facing home.
"Yes, let's do that."
Everyone soon began the journey back, and Bia, who left last, peered around the trees uncertainly before going along with them. Her feathers spiked a little as she felt a tingle in her gut. The stranger was probably watching them again.
"How was your day?" Blu asked with a mask of cheerfulness.
"It was fine," Tiago replied, biting into a fruit, making a soft squelch as he did.
"How was yours?" Carla asked.
"It has been a strange day," Blu replied, still trying to keep his worrying away from his family.
"Same," Bia replied. She peered out of the hollow, expecting something. Blu couldn't help but notice just how edgy his kids were.
"How long is Mom going to be with Aunt Mimi?" Carla asked, changing the subject.
"Till tonight. They seemed to have a lot to discuss when I left," Blu recalled.
The kids soon scoffed down their food again, Tiago had scheduled a meet up in a few minutes. Everyone except Bia agreed to be there. She simply wanted some time to finish a book before joining the rest. Tiago and Carla rushed off, already a little late. Blu soon made an exit as well, for a 'chat with Popop and Roberto'.
The silence was ideal to Bia, and she briefly pushed the paranoia of the morning to a corner of her mind, and flipped open a thick book. She was about done, just a chapter left.
Crack
Bia looked up, interrupted by the sound of a crunched twig. Her heart froze briefly, and she tensed up, staring at her room entrance. A feeling of fear churned in her gut as she watched, waiting silently for another sound.
Crack
It was like someone got off a twig they stepped on, albeit very carefully to try and avoid making noise. Bia edged back, but realized, to her dismay, that she was as good as trapped. Her eyes fixed on the only way into her room, refusing to look anywhere else.
Another noise broke the silence. The sound of wings flapping. The culprit had escaped, and vanished. Bia slowly moved out, and peered around the hollow. There was nobody in sight, much to her relief. She looked back uneasily. No way she could enjoy her story with someone spying on her that way. With a sigh, she stroked down her spiked feathers and went to meet up with the rest, only to find them just outside the tree.
"I'm telling you! I saw some random guy sneak out of my hollow!" Carla seemed to be calm despite her statement. The conversation was cut short as Bia flew out.
"Bia, did you see someone in the hollow?" Bruno asked, still staring at the surroundings for any kind of clue.
"No, but I think I heard someone," Bia replied. While she felt like she was slowly going into a panic, everyone else seemed calm, much to her annoyance.
"Well, we have good news," Tiago said. "Carla believes that the stalker is a kid around our age. At least we won't be harmed or something."
"But the bad news is, only she got a brief glimpse of the culprit, so it may or may not be true," Ana continued.
"Why would anyone, let alone some kid, follow us everywhere?" Bia crossed her wings, clearly irritated by the whole thing. It was like an annoying thorn stuck in her privacy.
"I can't even enjoy a book without that creepy feeling that someone's watching me!"
"Well, maybe we should setup some kind of trap. It is probably just a kid after all," Tiago suggested, eyes already lighting up at the word 'trap'.
"And how do you plan to do that?"
Carla grumbled as she flew alone through the grove. The plan was literally for the rest to hide in Blu and Jewel's room, and for Carla to fly a round through the groves and head back, to pick up the stalker. When he attempted to enter, there would be multiple traps awaiting him, including everyone else. She reached the middle, picked a nut, and acted natural as she cracked it open. She peered around, and much to her annoyance, she didn't have the creepy feeling. It was like it didn't exist. She chewed slowly on the nut, looking blankly in a direction, before tossing the shell aside and heading back. Still no sign of the stalker.
Back at the hollow, where everyone was huddled, and waiting, Tiago peered patiently out of the room entrance, expecting Carla to be back any minute. Everyone else sat in silence, anticipating the results.
Some fluttering revealed that Carla had returned. She walked casually to her room, and went inside. Some silent humming echoed through the hollow, as she plugged in her earphones and turned on her iPod. Still nothing.
"Okay this is getting ridiculous," Bia grumbled softly. They had been encamped for nearly an hour, and there was still no sign of the stalker.
"Maybe he heard us discussing the plan," Ana whispered.
"Uh oh," Tiago muttered.
"What?"
"Everyone out! Mom's back!"
Sure enough Jewel was close to the hollow. The kids shot out, and Bruno hid in Tiago's room, while Ana hid behind Bia's stack of books.
"Hi Mom," Tiago greeted innocently as Jewel landed at the entrance. Jewel peered around, looking out of anything out of place.
"You sound guilty. What did you do this time?" Jewel sighed as she asked.
"I didn't do anything," Tiago whined, stopping his innocent tone.
"Just like the time you sounded that horn," Jewel crossed her wings, staring in slight amusement.
"I said it before, that wasn't me," Tiago rolled his eyes.
"I'll take your word for it. For now," Jewel smiled.
"Where's Bia?" She asked, noting the humming from Carla's room.
"She's reading."
"What are you doing home?"
"Nothing."
"Okay then, I hope it stays that way," Jewel opened her wings, prepared to leave again.
"Wait, did you come back just to check on us?"
Jewel looked back as she replied.
"Yes. Try not to destroy the hollow."
With that, Jewel left, looking for Blu and Eduardo. Tiago sighed in relief, and coaxed out Bruno and Ana.
"That was close," Bruno commented, looking out of the hollow.
"Indeed," Ana agreed. She let out a sneeze, then rubbed her nose, sniffing.
"What are those things in Bia's room? They're so dusty..." She complained.
"They are books," Bia replied, perched on her room entrance. "What now? It seems like our little trap failed."
"If it's just a kid, why don't we just ignore him?" Bruno suggested. After all, it wasn't all that dangerous if they were indeed dealing with a kid from their tribe.
"I can't. He snuck into this hollow to peek at me!" Bia said crossly, irritated that Bruno could say such a thing.
"Maybe we can try the same thing, but with Bia?" Tiago suggested.
"What's the difference?" Ana asked, skeptical about the success of the plan.
"Well, the kid got the closest to Bia isn't it? Maybe he's only stalking Bia," Tiago explained.
"Thanks for putting my mind at ease," Bia groaned. "There should be doors in this hollow as well. It's the only thing I'd want from our old house in Rio."
"Just get on with it! We only have a few hours left in the day," Tiago shooed. Bia grumbled as she stretched out her wings, and took flight. She had to circle the groves, just like Carla had. And this time, the stalker would hopefully follow.
