Chapter 3:From Macaw To Human
As much as he wished for the power to stay the sunrise, as much as he wished for the ability to sleep for eternity, he knew neither was possible.
The precious light from the rising sphere of fire did not reach Blu, for its path had been blocked by the sleeping form of Ricardo. The warm spot that developed on Ricardo's back stirred him from sleep, and once he was sufficiently alert, he roused his two siblings.
The beam of photons now traveled through the hollow uninterrupted, striking Blu's head and warming it gently. The feeling soon grew uncomfortable, and he awoke himself groggily.
The blackness he had been suspended in due to his sleep was still present, since his right eye was still sealed shut from the injury. Half of his vision was a sea of nothingness.
A steady pain still persisted, sweeping over both sides of his head at regular intervals, and a small part of him wished he had never woken up.
A gentle series of taps upon his back grabbed his attention and he turned sluggishly around, only to meet the gazes of his children. They recoiled in shock, for the extent of his injuries were now revealed to them by the morning light.
Only adding to the agony of his blood-crusted right eye was the left side of his face, covered in sickly purple and black bruises.
His still-functioning eye blinked slowly, and he whispered, "It's truly terrible, isn't it? I don't know if it'll ever heal. My entire face is wracked with pain right now..."
"Did Mama... do this to you?"
"Yes, Vicente. She attacked me as I tried to bring her home, and she raked my eye... with her talons. As for the bruises, I did those myself. I was hurting so bad... I tried to knock myself out. It didn't work..."
He simply couldn't hold back the tears, and they dripped steadily down the side of his face, sparkling as they fell and exploded on the floor.
The three macaws fixed each other with bewildered and hurt expressions before scooting closer to their father and hugging him. They could sense his pain, and on the inside, they were suffering just as terribly as he.
For now, they were all he had, and just the same, he was all they had.
They snuggled tenderly against him to try and ease the crushing emotions he was undoubtedly drowning in. He carefully stepped from his nest and squeezed his three children together, wrapping his wings around them all.
"I am sorry, Papa. I know you are hurting so bad. I love you, and I hope I am helping you feel a little bit better."
He stared down at his daughter, sincerely moved by her caring words, and a faint smile graced his horrid face.
"Thank you, my sweet Esperanza. I love you so much. I do feel slightly better..."
He bent his head down and planted a kiss on the side of her face, causing one lone tear to erupt from the corner of her eye.
"What will you do now Papa?"
"I don't... I just don't know, Ricardo. I can't think about that. I don't want to think..."
"Do you want us to stay here with you?"
Blu let out a sigh as heavy as lead and replied, "I... yes, I do, Vicente. You three are the only things keeping me together. I didn't mean for you to... find out so soon. I didn't mean... to drag you into this..."
They all stared up and him, and their faces were damp from the tears they had shed.
"We'll stay here as long as you want, father. We'll do all we can to help you."
"I know you will. I love you all... more than my words could ever express. Never forget that."
"Never." they replied in unison.
He gave them all a loving kiss and withdrew from their embrace. He smiled slightly once again, and as he crept towards the edge of the hollow, his stomach issued a grave rumble.
"I am going... to get some food. Do you want to come with me?"
His two sons rushed in front of him, and Ricardo said, "You stay here, Papa. Vicente and I will go bring you some. You need to rest."
"Yeah, don't worry Papa. What do you want?" added his brother.
"Mangoes. Please bring me some mangoes."
The two brothers nodded and fled the hollow, fading into the glare of the blazing sun.
Esperanza ambled up beside him and began to massage his back with her wing.
"Why are my children so good to me?"
"Because you brought us three into the world. We love you, and we'll always help you. Right now, you need our help more than ever."
"How could I argue with that..."
The horror of his previous memories was temporarily subdued, and Blu found one tiny shred of happiness to cling to. His children would go to any lengths to guide him through this hellish period of his life, and for that, he was eternally thankful.
God knows what Blu would have done had they not been by his side; had he never created them. He would most likely not have been standing in that hollow; he would've most likely been dead.
Blu crouched down onto his belly and waited for his two sons to return, all the while being soothed by Esperanza's wing-strokes. Blu felt himself grow drowsy and his head droop down, but a staccato burst of wing flaps chased his fatigue away.
He perked himself up and watched as Vicente and Ricardo alighted in the hollow, each clutching a juicy mango with one of their feet.
"We didn't want to bring you more that you could eat, so here you go." said Ricardo.
They nudged the two mangoes towards Blu and motioned for him to eat.
"Thank you once again. I hope it wasn't too much trouble."
"Of course not, and you're welcome." countered Vicente.
Blu grabbed one of the yellow-green blobs at his feet and lifted it to his beak. He took small bites, enjoying the flavor of the insides as they met his tongue. He was only marginally hungry, but he didn't want to disappoint Ricardo and Vicente.
Besides, he needed to keep his strength up. His life was already in shambles, and starving himself definitely wasn't going to make it any easier to pull through.
He consumed the first mango completely, but no matter how hard he tried, he didn't have the heart to eat the second. He offered it to Esperanza, but she refused calmly, saying she would get her own later. Ricardo and Vicente ended up sharing it, and the succulent fruit was gone within a minute.
Blu took a peek outside, and the sun was fairly high above the canopy, shining especially bright in the cloudless azure sky. It was as if the sun was burning more fiercely to try and console the Spix's Macaw, to chase away the despair and loss that had been rooted in his soul.
On any other day, he would have welcomed the golden rays with open wings, but today... that was impossible. There was just too much negativity festering inside him to allow any kind of respite.
Blu knew that today was going to be one of the longest days of his life. He wanted no contact with anyone – save for his children – and he was still too unsure about flying to even attempt to go anywhere. His offspring offered to guide him to a pond they had discovered and allow him to clean up, but he declined the offer.
He was not the bird who could just sit and brood, but the nightmares seemed eager take over his brain and force him to think about them nonstop.
He had few options as to how to deal with his current situation.
The last thing he wanted to do was confront Jewel and demand answers, and he knew he wasn't ready for a meeting of that magnitude.
He needed to get his feelings out to someone, anyone, who could understand and help him cope, and maybe even treat his wounds. His muddled mind could think of only two people who could assist him in that respect: Linda and Tulio.
Blu decided that she would be able to provide him with love and comfort on a level that even his flesh and blood offspring could not.
Spending the remainder of the day at the aviary was appealing to him, and the only feasible course of action at the moment.
With his tattered mind made up, he turned to his three little miracles and declared, "If you don't mind, I am going to fly over to the aviary and go see Linda and Tulio."
"Can we stay with you, or do you want us to leave?"
"I need some alone time, Vicente. I don't mean to hurt your feelings, but that is all I ask of you. Still, I will need your help to guide me there. Can you do that much?"
They all nodded and replied, "Sure, Papa. We understand."
"Love is knowing when someone needs to be held and being there for them, but love is also knowing when to give them space."
"You couldn't have said it any better, Esperanza."
He stroked her face tenderly with his wing, and she nuzzled into it like a newborn lamb would nuzzle its mother.
Blu let out a half-confident sigh and hesitantly glided from the hollow. He moved fast enough to keep himself from stalling, but no more.
Ricardo and Vicente flanked him on either side, and Esperanza flew a few feet ahead. They expertly functioned as his secondary vision, and he navigated the jungle with relative ease. Their warnings helped him avoid running into an errant vine or colliding with a hidden tree.
At long last, the sloped roof of the sanctuary building peeked above the surrounding foliage, and the ivory facade flashed between the gaps in the undergrowth. They drifted languidly around to the front of the imposing building and landed on the dusty road.
Blu faced his faithful helpers and said, "Thank you so much for helping me. I must admit, love can make birds do strange things..."
They smiled faintly, and Ricardo replied, "Love is quite powerful, father."
"Indeed it is, son. It's a miracle to love and be loved, but when that love is disregarded..."
He did not need to finish the sentence for his babies to understand the hidden meaning.
An image of Jewel flashed in his mind - and being as he was so near the aviary - he witnessed her angelic form drifting towards him in divine splendor, as she had on the day they first met.
The emotions took over once again, a reminder of what once was, and feeble tears trickled from his eye and plopped onto the desiccated ground. The vision erupted in illusionary flames – an exact replica of the agony ignited by Jewel slashing his face – and he nearly fainted from the trauma.
Oh Jewel... I want to come back to you... but how can I? You wronged me like no one deserves to be wronged. Our love is meaningless... a hollow bond... without substance. Why did you do this? If you can hear me... why? How do I move on? It's so hard to move on without you, but what else can I do?
"Father, are you okay?"
Vicente's pleading query tore him from his tragic musings, and he did his best to regain his composure.
"I... I'm fine. There's so many questions I have that need answers, and Linda might be able to help me discover some of them. You three can fly back home now."
Blu waddled pitifully to the door, but Ricardo's voice stopped him.
"How will you get home? What if it's nighttime and we're not there to-"
"Relax, son. I will have Linda carry me home. I will be perfectly safe. You don't need to worry about me anymore today. You just go home and enjoy yourselves..."
"I love you, Papa."
"So do I."
"Me too."
"And I you, my amazing little miracles. I'll try to come by tomorrow..."
Three bursts of sound signaled that the three macaws had taken off, and small waves of dust swept past his feet.
Located near the foot of the door was a small plastic flap, a means of entry for Blu and his family that had been installed by Tulio. He forced his way past the flap, but when he was inside, his tail became pinched between the plastic and the lower edge of the hole.
Just what I need. More trouble. Just something else that happened to me that I didn't deserve...
He was perched on the rim of the square, and his tail was stuck straight out behind him. He pushed to try and get free, but the flap was unyielding. He wiggled from side to side, and he felt his tail inch forward, little by little.
He gave one last push, and he suddenly slipped free. Gravity took over, and before he could prepare himself to land on his feet, he met the ground. His wings and chest broke the fall, but his head jerked and clicked against the marble threshold.
His injured eye smacked against the floor, causing flakes of blood to fall away and send pain rippling throughout his body.
"Ouch! Oh God, that hurt! Linda, where are you?"
He got to his feet after hearing a door slam, and none other than Linda rushed up to him. Her smile twisted into a panicked frown upon observing Blu's condition, and she quickly jerked him up. She cradled him against her chest and dashed into the lab down the hall, where her husband was observing and taking notes on an injured Military Macaw.
"Tulio, Blu's been attacked by something! Come and look!"
He set the clipboard down rather abruptly and came to Linda's side. He adjusted his glasses and and shouted, "My God! Bring him over here so I can try to help him!"
He found an empty work area across the lab and donned latex gloves. Linda set Blu down on the cold linoleum and backed away to make room for Tulio. Now that he could focus more intently on Blu's condition, his mind was racing as to what had happened.
"His face is a disaster! Something cut his right eye, and there's dried blood everywhere. The other side is covered with bruises."
Knowing that the stale blood could be harboring infectious organisms, he grabbed a soft cloth and ran it under the nearby sink faucet.
"I need to clean your face, Blu. I'll try to be gentle..."
He gripped the macaw firmly with one hand and stroked the cloth over his head with the other. The macaw quivered in his grasp due to the discomfort, and Tulio allowed his wife to hold him instead, thinking it would help ease his struggles. It worked well enough to allow Tulio to remove all of the blood and see just how it had ended up there.
"Something cut into his eyelid, Linda! It looks like... claw marks. Why would he get into a fight with another bird? Unless..."
"Do you think... Jewel did this?"
"I can't say for sure, but that's what I'm thinking."
"Is he going to be okay?"
"The bruises should heal on their own, but his eyelid is sealed shut. I'll try to open it to see if the eyeball has suffered any damage."
Linda maintained her grip on Blu, and her husband placed his gloved fingers on his face. He slowly tried to peel the eyelid up, but Blu let out a deadly shriek and thrashed about. Linda, for fear of hurting him inadvertently, released her hands.
He attempted this two more times, but the macaw wouldn't stay still.
"There's not much I can do, Linda. I can disinfect the cuts and give him a gauze eye-patch, but he might be blind in that eye."
"Oh no. Why did this have to happen! My little Blu is is so much pain..."
"I can sedate him, if you want. It's the only way, Linda."
Blu apparently caught on to what he had said, and he backed desperately away across the counter.
"If that's what's best for him, go ahead. I just hope he won't hate us for this..."
He nodded, and after scrounging around in a cabinet, drew a small brown bottle out. He plucked a syringe from a drawer beneath the counter and drew some liquid from the bottle.
"Just grab him and hold him for a few more seconds, Linda. He'll be unconscious after a minute from the injection."
Blu found himself up against a window, and Tulio appeared like a mad scientist as he approached, with Linda just behind.
"No no no. I don't want to be messed with! Linda, don't do this!"
She fixed Blu with an apologetic gaze as she wrapped her hands around him. Blu, although distressed, would not dare bite his owner, and so he relaxed in her grasp, defeated.
A small prick in his back heralded the entrance of the needle and the injection of the medicine.
"Let him go now, honey. He'll be sleeping soon."
She drew her hands back and gave Blu one last pat on the head.
"I'll see you in a few hours, my big brave boy, and maybe you can tell me what happened."
Blu managed to nod a few times before a gooey blackness began to spread across what remained of his vision. His head swam as he lost consciousness, and he fell gently onto the counter.
Tulio worked diligently on the peaceful macaw, washing the cuts out with hydrogen peroxide and carefully drawing back the eyelid. Using a magnifying glass, he noted three furrows on the surface of the macaw's eye, and his worst fears were confirmed.
It was hard to say whether the eye would mend, but Tulio gave it a fifty-fifty chance.
Being as he didn't want to risk any secondary damage, he replaced the eyelid and taped it shut. After that, he taped a square of gauze over it and sent up a silent prayer along with Linda.
Tulio then surveyed the rest of Blu's body and did a vitals check, and his conclusions gave him a dash of hope. Blu had borne no additional damage, externally or internally, and since he had put Blu through a large dose of distress, did not give him the antidote to wake him.
He had carried the still form of Blu into the artificial jungle and nestled him comfortably in a tree hollow. As a final measure of repaying Blu for his actions, he lowered the lights and played a jungle sounds audio recording from the overhead speakers.
He fixed one of the cameras on the tree where Blu slept, and the two humans would periodically return to the control room to check if he had woken up yet.
Five hours following his examination, while Linda was on watch, she saw the electric blue pile of feathers writhe in the hollow and perch on the branch that lead up to it. Linda smiled gleefully and decided to watch her brave macaw for some time, before heading in there and trying to put the puzzle together...
Blu awoke to the sounds of the rain forest, and as he slowly cleared the fog from his vision, he noticed he had been napping in a hollow. It wasn't his own hollow, that he was sure of.
The second clue arose when he crawled drowsily from the hollow and peered out. The area was oddly dim, suffused with a cool yellow aura.
The rain forest ambiance continued to play, but Blu noticed that the sounds would repeat at regular intervals.
Hmmm. This hollow isn't shaped like mine, the sunlight should be significantly brighter, and the music keeps looping over and over. I bet Linda or Tulio dropped me off in the... artificial environment. I guess I should try to attract their attention...
He felt an odd stillness inside him, a surreal calm that was nestled in his soul. The agony and throbbing of his battered cranium was gone, and he believed Tulio had given him some medicine to help combat the pain.
Even now, his mind was slightly disorganized, and he almost lost his grip on the branch several times. He felt a nagging in the back of his mentality, reminding him of some sort of unfinished business.
What did Linda say before I went unconscious? She wanted me to... tell her... something. To tell her... what... happened. Yes, that's it! She wants to find out who did this... to me...
Blu's epiphany trailed off, and once again, a surge of raw, gut-wrenching emotion over took him. There she was again, the one who had given him someone to hold, given him purpose, and the one who had taken it all away.
Why was it that the entity he wanted so desperately to obliterate from his mind was always there to plague him with sorrow? Why was he forced to relive what his mate had done to him, how she had made him feel, when all he wanted to do was leave it all behind?
As the tears fell from his eye and fragmented down below on the cold floor, he knew why the memories of Jewel haunted him. He needed closure. He needed to confront her and decide how their future would unfold. He needed to know if she was truly sorry for her actions; if she didn't just apologize in the frenzy of the moment.
Until then, the stinging, crushing experiences would not be put to rest. An ultimatum had been issued for Blu, as well as Jewel, and it was up to them to mend their relationship. Blu was unaware of Jewel's physical and mental state, but surely it wasn't too different from his own.
One of these days, I'll have to... find her, if she doesn't find me first. We have to sort this out... for better or worse. Only then can we turn this damn catastrophe into something... less life-wrecking.
Blu let out a subdued squawk and waited for someone to arrive. The lights doubled in brightness, casting sharp shadows across the walls and floor. Faster than he had expected, Blu heard the creak of a door being opened, and then the thud as it slid shut.
He looked slowly around and spied Linda ambling towards him from the left, barely visible due to the screen of ferns in her path. She pushed the fake plants aside and stopped at the base of the tree, looking up at him with a mix of relief and sadness.
He noticed what looked like a small stack of paper tucked under her left arm. He climbed carefully down the trunk using the staircase of wooden pegs and perched on her arm.
She walked over to the gently flowing river and sat down on a nearby log, stretching her feet across the azure river and resting them on the opposite bank. She then set Blu down on the ground next to her right leg.
"I apologize for for what happened back there, but it needed to be done. Are you feeling okay?"
"Not really. You'll see why in a minute. I need the paper..."
He waddled underneath her bent legs and tugged a sheet of paper loose with his beak. He carried it back to his former spot and placed it on the ground.
"Are you okay with telling me what happened? If you're not ready, I won't force you."
He squawked defiantly and made a writing motion with his foot.
"You have to know. I have to get it out. I need your help..."
"Okay then, here's a pencil."
She drew a pencil from her pocket and handed it to him.
He gazed down at the paper studiously and scribbled the events of the previous day.
As he wrote, Linda noticed wet spots forming on the paper, and she immediately grew tense with concern.
"It's okay, Blu, I'm right here. If you have to cry, just cry..."
She gave him a tender pat on his back, and he paused momentarily. Once her hand drew back, he resumed writing.
He didn't want to leave out any details, no matter how strange they sounded, so once his task was completed, he had used nearly all of the page.
He dropped the pencil with a click and stepped aside, motioning for Linda to pick up the paper. She raised the sheet closer to her face and read it carefully.
In the lab, you guessed correctly. Jewel was the one who did this to me. Well, she was the one who blinded me, but I'll explain the bruises later. We went to the city yesterday to spend the evening together, just me and her. We went to a gathering consisting of dozens of other birds and talked.
Jewel became thirsty, so she went and got something to drink. She wanted to drink... liquor, but at first, I wouldn't let her. She got mad at me, so I had to give in. By the time we decided to leave, Jewel was pretty sufficiently inebriated, and she couldn't keep her beak shut!
I wanted to get her home as fast as possible, where I knew she would be safe. She was too out of it to fly, so we ended up walking home. It took us a long time to find the sanctuary, but we made it that far without any problems. I used the stars to guide us home, since I had no clue where we were.
I found the clearing after awhile, but when I tried to convince Jewel to come, she wouldn't. She couldn't even think straight, so she said that our home was somewhere else. I tried my best to get her to listen, but it only infuriated her.
She pushed me down twice and then head-butted me. Just to make sure I wouldn't follow her, she scratched my face, my eye included. She vanished into the jungle, and I was hurting so bad, I tried to knock myself out by hitting my head against a tree, which only gave me bruises.
I decided to go after her, and I searched the jungle for about two hours. I didn't find her, so I just gave up and started to go home. However, I heard weird sounds coming from a banana tree, so I investigated their origins. That's when I found her, but she wasn't alone.
She was... with another bird. She was... mating with that bird. She was so drunk, she thought that bird was me. I tried to leave, but I just couldn't. She came to her senses and tried to explain, but I was... too crushed to listen. I... left her and went back home.
She... cheated on me, Linda. CHEATED ON ME! I don't know... what to do! I need your help! I am so torn up inside. I don't know how to pick up the pieces. I loved her to death... but I'm not so sure about that anymore.
Do I try to get back together with her, or do I forget about her and move on? I still have my three kids, so at least I can live for them...
Linda dropped the paper in her hand – and the paper buried under her arm - in astonishment and snatched Blu up immediately after.
She cradled Blu gently in her arms and said, "I am so sorry, Blu! I can't imagine how you must be feeling right now! I know you think that your world has ended, but it hasn't. I will always be here for you, to help you through the bad times that life sends our way. I don't know much about cheating, but I do have some advice for you."
Blu peeked at her with his one good eye and blinked. He let out a soft squawk and nudged her arm with his head.
"Please tell me..."
"If you really, truly love her, go back to her. Do your best to help her fix the mistakes she made. If she decides that she would rather live on her own after all that... then let her. By then, you've done all you can, and the rest is up to her. Like you said, you have three children that still need their father. Don't abandon them, Blu. You have me, Tulio, and Fernando to live for as well. Just be the strong macaw I know you are and let God do the rest. One way or another, He will guide you out of this. And us humans will be there every step of the way to help. Don't ever forget that."
"I won't, Linda. I promise. I'll take your advice..."
He raised his right foot in the air, and he and Linda gently conducted their "handshake."
"That's my big, brave boy. I know you are sad, and I know you miss her, but we'll work this out. But for now, where do you want to go? Are you hungry?"
Blu pointed with his wing in the direction of the hollow, then patted his belly with the same wing.
"You want to go back into the hollow and have something to eat?"
Blu slowly nodded his head in response.
"Okay then, I'll put you back up there and bring you some food."
Linda stood up and walked the few feet back to the mock tree with Blu perched on her wrist. She stretched her arm out completely, and Blu was close enough to the hollow to grab on with his beak and climb into it.
He turned around and watch Linda disappear past the ferns. The gentle *click* of the door shutting signaled that she had left.
Blu waited patiently for her to return, his mind reeling from the melancholy he felt dancing around in there.
He was rejoicing in the fact that he had finally released his secrets and found a way to mend his heart. On the other hand, he was going to have to gather the courage to seek Jewel out and be the one that initiated the mending.
He knew it was going to be a trial by fire, and he would have to prepare himself for it.
Minutes later, Linda returned with a small ladder and set it down at the base of the tree. After making sure it was rooted firmly and wouldn't slip, she left the room. On her second entry, she brought with her a paper towel filled with something – the towel was poking out in several places, as if a jagged object was bundled inside it – and a small plastic cup with a straw dunked in it.
She steadily climbed the ladder and was now at eye level with Blu.
"I brought you some crackers and mango juice. I know you hardly ever use straws, but I don't want you knocking the cup over in here. You won't find sleeping in a pool of mango juice very comfortable."
He scooted back and gave her enough space to set the towel and cup down.
"Just call me if you need me, okay?"
"No problem, Linda. Bye."
"Bye, Blu..."
She vanished from sight and retrieved the pencil, paper, and ladder before leaving the room.
Maybe... just maybe... everything will turn out alright. Maybe, with my help, Jewel will truly confess that what she did was so horribly wrong, and perhaps I'll still love her. I can somehow feel that she still loves me. We'll meet again and sort this all out...
Blu dragged the towel away from the entrance and peeled it open, revealing a random pile of crackers. He slowly slid the cup back by pushing on it, and once he was situated, he ate and drank in mellow silence.
The lights had been dimmed once more - by Linda, he presumed – and the repetitive music had been silenced. The crackers filled his belly nicely, and the mango juice left a delicious aftertaste in his beak.
The medicine Tulio had administered several hours prior had worn off, and a fairly strong headache came rushing back. Blu did his best to fall asleep, and after ten minutes of tossing and turning, he finally succumbed.
His dreams led him on a journey that recapped every single moment of his life with Jewel, up until the day before tragedy occurred:
The adventure they had while trying to escape from the smugglers and remove the chain. The day Jewel's wing had healed and Blu had taught her to fly again. The unbridled joy of seeing his thee beautiful chicks being born. The day they had traveled to a hidden waterfall north of the city for their first anniversary. And lastly, only one day prior, when he and Jewel had told each other "I love you."
The dream terminated in a flash of light, and Blu fell into a virtual hurricane of longing. His emotions were pushed aside, and his mind cried out for her.
He was desperate to be near her, to feel her, to kiss her. He was dying to hear her heartbeat, look into her eyes, smell her delicious aroma.
He battled the urge to flee the aviary and scour the jungle until he dropped from exhaustion. He slowly reined that urge in, for he knew that in his compromised state, he possessed no chance of finding her.
His inability would lead to exhaustion, and that exhaustion would lead to his untimely death at the hands of a predator.
He would seek Jewel out in time, but that time was not now. Now was the time to contemplate how he would orchestrate their reunion, and how to deal with whatever emotions and actions that followed.
He stored these points in his head as he slept.
His mind needed to rest and recover, as did his body, so he shut down his mind and cast himself even deeper into a featureless, blank snooze.
A soft grunting and scraping sound wound its way into Blu's sleeping brain, causing him to be pulled from his sleep. He gazed around, and the cup and towel were no longer cluttering the hollow. He deduced that Linda must have removed them and the noise had awoken him, but that theory was soon discarded.
In the frightening silence of the man-made jungle, Blu heard the unmistakable *whoosh, whoosh* of wings churning the air. One minute the rushing sound would increase in volume, and the next minute it would fade away, as if the entity was engaged in a search for something... or someone.
Blu grew very disturbed and tensed his body, awaiting for whatever creature was out there to approach him. A figure landed on the protruding branch just outside the hollow, silhouetted by the dusky light streaming in behind it.
As its distorted shadow fell upon him, a single sorrow-laced word cracked the silence: "Blu?"