Rather fast I know! Enjoy it! :)

Chapter 5

Complications

Pedro, Rafael and Blu were flying silently over the city around noon the next day. The gang had gathered a bird from every family they knew to search for Gwyn in trucks, airplanes, helicopters, and any other place imaginable. Eighteen hours later, and still, no one had found a trace of her whereabouts.

As they neared the beach, Rafael surveyed the ground below for a millionth time. He took a quick glance at Pedro and Blu, who were beginning to lag behind from exhaustion. He slowed and turned to them, asking, "You two okay?"

"Yeah, just tired." Pedro replied. Blu merely nodded in agreement as he was stared off across the sand, a look of confusion on his face.

Finally, he said, "Umm… is that Nico?"

Rafael and Pedro turned in the direction in which he was looking. Sure enough, on an isolated picnic table in the distance sat Nico, facing the water, his knees drawn up, and face in his wings. Without a word, Rafael led the way to the table. The three friends landed softly behind him, appreciating the rest and remaining silent. Rafael watched the waves crash onto the beach and listened to the soft breeze rushing by. Finally, he decided to make their presences known.

"Nico?" He murmured, reaching out a wing to his friend. At first, the canary didn't move. After a few moments, he slowly lifted his head out of his wings and rested his chin on a fist, still remaining silent. His friends could see how pale his face was, and how incredibly exhausted he looked. Taking a small step toward him, Rafael asked, "Are you alright?"

Nico exhaled a miniscule scoff and murmured, "Why would you even ask me that?"

Rafael winced; he didn't know why he asked Nico that. After a minute, he changed the subject, "The group has searched every plane and airport and the trucks nearby. Nobody has found anything, but we are still more than willing to keep looking."

Nico rubbed his eyes with his wing, sighed heavily and shook his head softly. Rafael did a double-take; that was the last thing he expected Nico to do!

"Are you giving up?" Rafael asked incredulously.

Nico stood and faced his friends, "What more can I do, Ralphy?"

Their eyes widened at his depressed expression and agonized tone; he continued, "We've looked everywhere…" With a sigh, he looked away and added, "She isn't here anymore…"

Pedro, having remained silent until now, spoke up reassuringly, "You don't know that, bro."

"He's right, Nico," Rafael added, "There's no guarantee that she's been taken out of Rio yet."

Nico ran a wing down his face, replying, "I don't know what else to do, guys… I don't want to stop looking, but I've looked everywhere you guys have at least three times…" Rafael knew that was true; for every round a bird made during the night, Nico made at least three… and everyone had made multiple rounds throughout the night and day…

Nico added in a murmur, "But I can't leave Sonora and the kids hanging anymore…" Then he choked out the painful reality, "I have to go home…" Rafael softly nodded. After a moment, Nico walked to the edge of the table; before taking off, he paused and said, "If you guys or the others want to keep looking, that's fine. You know where to find me…" His friends all nodded and watched as he slowly lifted off the table and headed for home.

I watched as Diego handed Selena a bowl of water, which she took gratefully. She sipped it calmly in her nest as he sat back on a stool beside her bed. He and I had taken her to Albert, who set the bones right in her wing (while Manny held her other wing for comfort) and wrapped it in a cast; afterwards, he allowed us to take her home, but he insisted she stay in bed for the next day or so. All the adrenaline from the night would surely wear her out.

After returning home, Diego helped his sister with whatever she needed. He got her water, kept her warm, made sure she didn't get too warm, helped her eat if she was hungry and whatever else was needed. She wasn't completely handicapped, but he feared for her, as did I, to the extent that he wouldn't let her do much on her own.

Now he sat on a stool beside her bed sleepily, trying to stay awake. Just a little while ago he had returned home from flying Manny home, just to make sure he got there ok. None of us had slept throughout the night, though, because of our worry for Gwyn. We had all holed up in the chick's room and stayed there all night wrapped up in each other's wings. Selena was drifting off, and so was Diego, so I stood, planted a kiss on each of their foreheads, and walked into the living room.

The rug was still bunched up and crooked from when Manny had fallen, and I bent over to take it outside and shake it. I stepped onto the front branch, and started to shake the dirt out of the rug, when I felt a presence behind me. I lay the rug on the branch and turned to see Nico there.

He was sickeningly pale, and he looked like he had just flown across the ocean. His gorgeous amber-brown eyes were bloodshot, but he didn't look at me directly, just walked into the hollow. My heart dropped. I picked up the rug and followed him in, placing the rug back in its spot as I did. After I smoothed out the last corner I stepped a little closer to him, but didn't get too close.

I waited patiently as he leaned up against the counter, his face in his wings. He looked so hopeless that I felt fear enveloping me; it was so cold that I started to shiver. After the agonizing silence going on for about a minute, I couldn't take it anymore, "Nico?" He turned his head towards me slowly, finally making eye contact. My blood froze, but I managed to croak out, "Where is my baby?"

The pain in Nico's eyes told me all I needed to know, making one of my wings fly to my mouth and the other over my heart. He closed his eyes and looked away barely managing to whisper hoarsely, "I don't know, Sonora."

"NO!" I didn't feel anything else than the pain in my chest. No, this wasn't pain like Phillip had inflicted upon me; it was deeper, harsher, and made me collapse into sobs. I fell to the floor my face buried in my wings wailing "No…no…no…no…"

"I'm so sorry, Sonny!" Immediately I felt him behind me and turned to sob into his chest. Nico buried his face in my shoulder and was also shaking from his own sobs. We sat there holding each other tightly, sobbing and crying on the floor of our beloved hollow, knowing full well, that we may never see our little girl ever again, and that our family would never be the same…

I had blearily heard the mechanical sounds of the plane throughout the whole flight, but now there was a different noise, and it sounded much closer. I stood from where I was huddled as close as I could be to Uncle Tadeo. His cage had been moved and placed next to mine, and I hadn't left his side. The bars on our cages were just wide enough that he could stick his wing through and was able to wrap it around me to keep me warm.

But now the coldness of the hold where we were hit me full force and I had to force myself not to shiver. I looked around to see that most of the birds were still alive and mostly awake. The noise I realized was coming from the wheels that were being lowered outside the plane, and suddenly we touched down. The entire metal prison jumped and we were all thrown around; I flew backwards and hit my head on the wall of my cage.

"What a lovely wake-up call…" Tadeo grumbled. I looked over at him and laughed. He was upside down in the corner of his cage with his wings spread out on either side of him, and his long, wispy, salmon colored tail feathers fell down over his face in a curtain that only showed his bright blue beak.

"Are you alright?" I gasped through my giggles.

"Of course, little one." He replied, and with a flourish of feathers he righted himself and walked back over to me. "Did you sleep well?"

"Well enough, I suppose." I replied. We stood there, trying not to think about what situation was, as the plane finally stopped. Two minutes later the hatch flew open and I groaned closing my eyes against the afternoon light. Then when my eyes finally adjusted, I nearly screamed and jumped back against the wall of the cage as the hated human came forward and grabbed my cage. I expected him to place my uncle's cage on top of mine as he had last time, but I really started freaking out when he didn't.

Thinking quickly I ran up to where his hands held the cage and pecked at his fingers as hard as I could. With a yelp I was dropped and a string of curses flew out of the man's mouth.

"Tadeo!" I screamed and reached out a wing for the only family I had left.

"Don't worry Doce! I'm coming!" He started fiddling with the lock to his cage, but when it didn't budge, he started ramming his shoulder against the cage wall, trying to get it to roll out of the plane.

"What the…?" Then there was another man, and he noticed our struggles to get back together. He walked over to Tadeo's cage and brought him over to me. We both calmed down, ever so slightly, and stepped as close together as we could get. "I'll take them both." The new man said handing a packet of bills to the hated man. "The canary will sell easy around here. She's a pretty little thing. And the bird of Paradise can go on the Black market for a lot." They shared a laugh and the cages were picked up and put in another van.

There was in fact a window in the van that I was able to look out of, and I gasped. There were no trees. Anywhere. All that I could see was buildings, buildings, and more buildings. I had never seen so many buildings, skyscrapers, cars or humans in my entire life! Rio had a lot of people and buildings, but whatever city this was, topped it. Everything was completely foreign to me; the humans all looked different from each other… other ethnicities I supposed… the buildings' architecture was different than those in Rio as well. I listened, but didn't hear any music playing anywhere, which made me even more sad. I knew instantly that we must be, unfortunately, far from Rio. My home was known for the cultural music that was played by random people throughout the whole city.

"Ugh…" I sighed and flopped down in the cage.

"What is it Gwyn?" Tadeo asked gently. His cage was a little below mine and he couldn't see out the window.

"There are no trees. Anywhere. And there are just buildings and cars and people everywhere else." I placed my face in my wings, "What are we going to do?"

"Don't worry, doce. We'll figure it out." He comforted and patted my foot. I looked down at him and saw that undying spark of hope in his eyes, which made me smile. I see why mom loves you so much; you have so much hope and happiness, no matter what. I thought. Mom always told us stories about Kingdom Paradise and Uncle Tadeo, and she always emphasized how hope could drive an army.

"Thanks Tadeo. You're the best!" I reached down through the bars and hugged him best I could. Then the truck screeched to a halt and the door was thrown open, and we were carried inside. The man placed Tadeo and I on the counter and used a strange tool to put a tight rubber band around Tadeo's beak. The first man must have told this one about what happened in Rio.

"Mmmmhmmmgmph!" He snarled best he could before the man opened the cage door and reached inside. Immediately he started pecking and clawing at the man's hand, but was backed up against the back wall. Then with his other hand the man held a needle and was moving towards my uncle's back…

"Tadeo, look out!" I cried but was too late. The man snapped his wrist and the pointed end of the needle pricked my uncle on his back. Suddenly my uncle started to sway and fell forwards, unconscious. "No!" I screamed and threw myself at my cage door.

"Shh! Little one! He's not dead!" He turned to me and opened my cage door and quickly grabbed me. "He's just sleeping so he doesn't hurt himself when I move you." Then he carried me away from my uncle and to a bigger cage. When he shut the door I threw myself at it again, trying to get back to Tadeo. Then the man left and shortly returned with my uncle. Gently he removed the rubber band and opened the door. I thought about flying out, but I couldn't leave family; so I sat there as he lay him on the floor of the cage.

"There's a good girl. Now all we have to do is wait until tomorrow and find you a nice new home." He said gently.

"I don't want a new home! I want to go home!" I screamed at him, but I knew it was no use; he didn't understand me. Then I sighed, sliding to the floor, my back to the wall, and my uncle's head at my feet. The cage was tall and there was some room for us to fly around in, but not much. A perch for me to sit or swing on, plenty of baubles and toys hung from the bars, even a mirror so we could stare at ourselves. I rolled my eyes; I was determined to not go crazy! I then pulled my knees up to my chest and sighe2d sadly. "I miss home…" I murmured feeling the shadow of sadness rolling in.

Then a flitting shadow caught my eye, and I shot my gaze up at the picture window outside the cage. A canary that looked similar to me, but had brown speckles on his wings, burnt brown wing tips, and a few white streaks throughout, was hovering outside. He had his wings wrapped around his teal-green eyes to block the sunlight and make it easier to look inside. All in all he wasn't hard to look at, but I wasn't thinking about that at the moment.

I raised an eyebrow in confusion at the boy. "What's he doing?" I thought. Suddenly, he made eye contact with me. We stared into each other's eyes for a few moments and then he smiled softly. Something suddenly distracted him, because he looked back and forth between me and someone else she couldn't see. He said something to his hidden companion, turned back to me and Tadeo and smiled again softly. He then raised a wing, saluted us and abruptly flew off.

"Wait!" I called instinctively, standing immediately, but of course I couldn't be heard. I finished my question just as he disappeared, "Where am I?"

"Yo, Ty! What's the rush, dude?" the Eastern Bluebird called after his fast-flying canary friend.

Tyler smiled, calling over his shoulder, "Relax Kirby! I just got a hot tip that a plane landed from South America about half an hour ago!"

The seventeen year old pumped his wings harder in his excitement, adding, "Who knows what exotic birds have been brought!"

Kirby flapped rapidly and finally caught up to his rocket of a friend, "Why is it such a big deal anyway? Since you've been reading online about South America, you've been going crazy!"

Tyler raised an eyebrow as he said, "You know how much I want to travel"

"If your parents will let you go, that is."

The canary frowned, "Thanks for the reminder." He sighed, "They can't keep me home forever; I'm seventeen. I have to leave the nest eventually. I won't be living with my parents until I'm thirty!"

"Or older," Kirby snorted.

Tyler rolled his eyes but smiled. Then his eyes lit up when he saw the pet store a few blocks down. "There it is! Come on!" He exclaimed, flapping harder to get there faster.

As he followed, Kirby grumbled under his breath, "Slow down! Geez, it isn't like the store is going anywhere."

Kirby landed on top of the "P" in the store's sign while Tyler fluttered in front of the window, looking inside.

"Hurry up, dude. We're both a couple of pretty dashing birds, so I'm sure this store keeper would love to throw us in a cage too." Kirby warned. He rolled his eyes when he realized his reckless friend wasn't paying attention. Tyler looked through the store window, observing the Brazilian birds that had just been put in their cages. They were so far away that he couldn't get a good look at them though, let alone be able to communicate with them.

Just as he was about to turn away, he noticed a pretty little canary with meadow green eyes sitting on the floor of a large cage in front of the window. She was staring up at him curiously, and at her feet lay a Raggiana Bird of Paradise, who looked like he was sleeping. He read the expression in her eyes though: sadness, pain, hopelessness... In that simple five second interval of staring into her eyes, Tyler knew one thing: he was going to get her out. A small smile crept onto his beak as a plan began to form in his mind...

"Ty!"

His head snapped to his left when Kirby's voice suddenly rang out above him. He looked at him questioningly with a half scowl.

"Dude, you're deaf!" Kirby sighed exhaustedly. "We need to get outta here, man."

"Oh, would you just relax-" Tyler replied calmly as he looked back at the captured girl.

"No, I won't relax! We shouldn't be here!" Kirby growled. Running a wing through his blue feathers, he added, "I'm leavin' in about ten seconds whether you're comin' or not."

Tyler rolled his eyes, "Fine." He again looked back at the girl; he gently smiled, threw her a salute and flew after his friend. Out of the corner of his eye however, he thought he saw her reach out to him.

Don't worry, He thought, wishing he had telepathic powers, I'll get you out of there tonight.

Diego walked out of his room early the next morning quietly, knowing his family was still asleep. For the first time since Gwyn was smuggled two nights before, he was hungry, so he moseyed into the kitchen area in search of food. He was pleasantly surprised to see his mom already up and wide awake.

Upon hearing footsteps, she looked up from the table. "You're up early," She commented with a small smile.

Her only son nodded as he grabbed a piece of papaya and started slicing it. "Haven't eaten anything in three days… figured it might be a good time to start." She smiled a little bigger as he sat down. He merely stared at his plate, and his crest was a disheveled mess: a rare occurrence. Then again it was five a.m.…

He looked up at her and held up the plate toward her. She smiled and took a piece, and mother and son quietly ate the fruit for the next few minutes. Once the plate was empty, Diego glanced toward his parents' room, and asked quietly, "How's dad?"

Sonny looked down at the table, but replied softly, "He's alright." After a moment, she added, "He's actually on the back porch…he couldn't sleep."

Diego paused, and then asked, "What about you?"

His mom's eyes met his, and after another pause, she sighed, "I'm okay. I'm actually going out with Eva, Nora, Patty and Josie today to look around some more-"

"Is it even worth the time?" Diego asked quietly.

Sonora raised her eyebrows a tad and then replied, "I don't know if she is in Rio or not, Diego. But if she is, we need to find her."

"Dad has been looking non-stop for the past two days, mom." Diego said quietly. Making eye contact, he added, "How could she possibly still be here?"

Sonny sighed a little at his sad expression. Scooching closer to him, she held out her wings and he welcomed the hug. Through his tousled feathers, she murmured, "We need to have faith that everything will be okay, Diego." Then she half laughed and asked, "What did your dad always say when you were little?"

Diego sat up and smiled a little with a sniff, "As long as you can still sing, nothing is so bad."

His mom nodded. After planting a kiss on his forehead, she said, "We're going to be okay. Gwyn is shy, but she's smart. Wherever she is, she'll hold on to that. We just need to have faith too. Okay?" Diego nodded as a soft knock came from the door. Sonny got up and opened the door to reveal her search party. She smiled, "Come on in, girls." They complied, but stood in the doorway. Sonny retrieved her necklace from her and Nico's room, and upon returning, asked, "Do you girls want some food before we go?"

All shook their heads, Nora replying, "No but thanks; we ate before we came."

Sonny smiled and walked to the back door, "I'll be right back." As she stepped out onto the back porch, her shoulders slumped and her aching heart tore. Nico sat there staring down at the forest floor hopelessly. "Nico?" She asked quietly. Slowly he turned his head to face her, but no smile crept to his beak. Just sadness and despair were in his eyes.

"Hey sunshine." He murmured.

"I'm going out with the girls to have another look around, ok? I'll be back tonight." She walked over to him and placed a wing on his shoulder. "I love you Nico, and this isn't your fault." He hung his head again and couldn't bring himself to look at her. Sonora sighed, removed his bottle cap, placed a kiss on the top of his head, replaced the hat, and walked back inside.

"I'm sorry Sonny…" She barely heard him whisper, and had to resist the urge to run back to him and cry her eyes out all over again. She entered the hollow and paused in front of her son, thinking. Finally she said, "Diego, I need you to do something for me. Or well… try anyway." Diego raised his eyebrows, and she continued, "Can you see if you can get your dad to eat something? Like you, he hasn't eaten anything at all…" She tapered off.

Diego nodded and smirked, "Any specific time?

Sonora gave him a motherly look, "No, he's not a baby." Diego laughed a little as his mom tousled his feathers, but he quickly dodged.

"Mom, not the Crest!" He whined.

"What crest?" His Aunt Nora asked with a knowing smile.

Diego frowned and reached up to discover his beautiful crest's destruction. His eyes widened like saucers and he yelped. "See ya ladies!" He called, buzzing to his room.

The three mothers laughed, watching him quickly disappear. "Well, that was a first."

As they left, Diego frantically fixed his crest. A whopping twenty minutes later, it was back to its beautiful glory. He smiled at it, gave himself a thumbs-up and wink in the mirror, and then went to check on Selena. He smiled at her sleeping form. Her wing was thankfully healing well, and hopefully in the next month she'd be able to get back out and fly. He walked over and pulled the blanket over her bare shoulders, and went back to the kitchen.

Diego looked around, trying to figure out what his dad might want to eat. He spied some leftover orange, one of his dad's favorite fruits, so he sliced it up and put it on a plate. Walking to the back door, he took a deep breath and stepped into the dawn light.

He saw his dad sitting on the back branch calmly, looking at the forest floor with unmoving eyes. The normal spark in his eyes was gone, making Diego want to cower back into the confines of the hollow. But he remembered the fruit, so he swallowed thickly and approached his dad gently. "Dad?"

After a moment, Nico blinked and confusedly faced his son. With still no expression, he turned back toward the forest, but croaked, "Hey kiddo." He frowned and cleared his throat, not realizing how groggy his voice had been.

Diego frowned a little at how tired his dad sounded and looked. The day before, he and some other birds had taken the entire day to, again, search for Gwyn. He had returned late that night again empty-winged. Sonora had then made her exhausted and sleep-deprived mate go to bed, but apparently he hadn't stayed there very long. Nico's eyes were now totslly blood shot from exhaustion and lack of sleep.

Diego stepped closer and sat next to his dad; once comfortable, he held the plate toward Nico in the hopes he would accept it. Nico looked at it and then at his son's hopeful face. Nico looked away, but he had to smile and laugh a little under his breath.

"What?" Diego inquired.

Nico shrugged, "Your mom made you bring that out here didn't she?"

Diego smiled a little, "Yeah… but it doesn't matter who brought it really. You should eat it."

Nico looked at his son with a playful smirk, "Aren't we a little bossy today?"

Diego put on a serious face, "Someone's gotta make you eat." Nico rolled his eyes and shook his head, but took the plate. He took a bite of orange, suddenly realizing how starving he really was. Diego smiled and watched a few birds fly by, thankful that his dad was seemingly coming out of his stupor. When Nico had come home from searching for Gwyn, he hadn't really said much. A few minutes later, Nico's plate was empty and he set it between them. They sat there silently for another few minutes before Diego asked uneasily, "Where do you think she is?"

Nico's frown returned. He slowly took a deep breath and avoided eye contact, but replied quietly, "Not here."

Diego bit his lip, unsure what else to say. Nico continued, "If we're lucky, she's in the States."

Now Diego looked up and asked, "Why?"

Nico shrugged, "Then maybe she can at least be a pet or something, as awful as that sounds." They shivered, "Being a pet wouldn't be easy, but from what Blu has said, any pet could easily get out after a while. They become so accustomed to opening cages and stuff, learning how the humans' stuff works and all that." He shrugged again, "I think that would be one of the better scenarios for her to be in."

Diego nodded. Then he asked, "And if she's not in the States?"

Nico sighed a little and pushed his bottle cap off his forehead, "I don't know." Then there was a rush of feathers to their right and both looked up to see…Tico. He looked exhausted and scared.

"Tico…What are you doing here?" Nico managed to snap out of his melancholy for a moment.

"You've got to help me. My dad's been taken." Both of the canary's beaks fell open and, of course, at that very moment the girls decided to fly back by on their way to search the beach.

Sonny looked over at her home, expecting to see her mate sitting alone on the back branch, but instead she saw Tico and her son there as well. "What in the world?" She murmured and sored over to them. Nico and Diego's beaks were still agape, so she turned to her nephew. "Tico? Do you need…?"

"Please help me!" He fell to his knees in exhaustion, and in sadness, "My dad's gone."

I sat huddled in the corner, under my uncle's slack wing, sadly. Tadeo still hadn't woken up, but I could tell that the drug was wearing off, because he stirred every once and a while and I heard him murmur some things. Since our capture, I had managed to keep myself together and not cry. But finally all of my homesickness and fear spilled over and I couldn't help but cry for a whole hour. The water works finally ran dry, and the sobs stopped shuddering through my body, and now I only rubbed my tired, wet eyes sleepily.

I thought of my family, now, and how they were coping with our disappearance. Selena was probably crying her eyes out, not only because we were close, despite our opposite personalities, but because her wing was broken. She had to be in a lot of pain outwardly and inwardly. Diego was probably staring off into space, trying to figure out a solution. He was rational just like dad and he always tried to think of some way to make a situation better. I sighed when I thought of how sad he would be when he would realize that nothing he could ever do would help our family.

Then pictures of mom came to my mind…I sniffed and sighed. I hoped she was ok. Mom was level headed, but when it came to dad or us, there was no hesitation, just immediate action. Like two year ago at Carnival, she had made them all go home and had gone out herself to find Diego, and the cockatoo… Btu how was she reacting now, that I was gone, and she had no way to find me? I could only pray that she was ok.

And dad…here come the stupid tears again… I was wings-down daddy's girl. Sel and Diego were always a bit more independent then myself, so I got the chance to spend more time with my parents, mainly my dad. All I wanted to do was to sit in his lap, and cry my heart out into his shoulder while he just whispered soft gibberish to me, trying to get me to calm down. But I would never get to do that ever again…

I choked on a sob again and buried my face in my knees, hugging them tightly. I just wanted to shut out the whole world because mine had officially ended…

"Are you okay?" A boy's voice quietly asked from in front of me. I jerked my head up and my eyes flew open. Just outside the cage door was the boy that was at the window earlier that afternoon. He looked back and forth between my uncle and I sympathetically. I didn't have words, everything was just too confusing, but when he stepped closer, I scooted further under Tadeo's wing and tried my best to choke back my tears.

"Hey, it's okay." He said in a gentle voice. "I'm going to get you out of here."

I curiously watched him as he jumped up onto the lock and began to pick it. I noticed the certain way he turned his talon in the hole, and a few slight grunts later, the lock snapped open; he pulled it off and dropped it to the floor as he simultaneously swung the door open and looked at me expectantly. I cocked my head to the side and stared at him.

He looked around nervously, apparently checking for the human. Then he sighed slightly and stepped inside the cage. I gasped and tried to burrow my way into Tadeo's feathers. My wing slipped, though, and I fell into him. With a grunt, my uncle's eyes finally opened.

"What? Where?" He gasped and took a moment to wake up. Then he noticed the boy and bristled. "Who are you?!" He growled.

The boy stopped and now looked terrified. Somehow, then, my voice found me. "I think he's trying to help…" I murmured and stepped out from under the bird of paradise's wing. I knew my mom would be brave, so I decided to think like her.

"TY!" A voice called from further back in the building.

"Oh no…" The boy snapped his gaze towards the back door. I could see a shadow moving across the wall, and it was not a bird. "Ok, listen, both of you," The boy turned back to us, "Can you fly?"

"Of course!" Tadeo snarled. I merely nodded.

"Ok I need you to follow me and be as quiet and careful as you can if you want to get out of here."

"Lead the way." I stepped out of the hated cage, followed by my uncle and then the boy. Quickly he flew up to the rafters and hid in the shadows. I was a little wobbly from lack of food, water, and actual sleep, but I managed a very un-steady flight up to the rafters. Tadeo was malnourished as well, but he was a bigger bird and was able to fly normally.

"Do you need help sobrinha doce (sweet neice)?" Tadeo crooned when I finally got to the top rafter.

"Not yet." I panted and slouched against his wing.

"Ok, the human is going to come through that door, and we're gonna fly out and through the open window in the back. Got it?" The boy asked.

"I'll not take another order from one such as you," Tadeo was still being incredibly protective, "Until I at least know your name." The boy appeared shocked, but shrugged.

"I'm Tyler." He smiled as we relaxed a bit, then motioned for silence as the door creaked open. "Ok here we go." As the human came through the door, leaving it ajar, Tyler sored silently off the rafter and paused at the opening, looking back at us.

"Get on my back doce." Tadeo instructed, and I complied. I knew I couldn't fly too quietly right now and knew he was right. As soon as I was situated he silently dropped off the rafter and we sored past the boy and out the open window. We were FREE!