It took them two days to journey back. Not because the birds were slow, but because they didn't want to have a run-in with any more Boggans. So they took no chances. They flew below the treeline, scattered and hid at the first sound of grackles (even if it turned out they were just riderless crows), and set up camp well before dark, lighting no fires.
The closer they got back to the area, the more patrols they had to hide from. Luckily, Patamon served as an early warning system. "I'm coming with you, of course," he had stated bluntly two days ago. He declared this to Nod as the boy was checking Flitterbite's tack for any damage.
"Fine," he replied with a shrug. "Can I ask why though?" From the sound of it, it was like Patamon had been expecting opposition or something, not that Nod could stop a wind spirit from doing whatever it wanted.
"With Wanikiy still absent, you will need my help. And..."
Nod raised a brow. He had never heard Patamon sound hesitant before. "Yeah?"
The wind bird shifted and shimmered, like he was nervous. "I can't explain it, but my gut is telling me there's something waiting for me in Moonhaven."
"Your gut? You still have one?"
Not finding his joke very amusing, Patamon rumbled in warning and swept away. The wind spirit proved to be a useful addition to their fugitive gang. When a patrol approached, he whispered a warning in their ears, tickling them with little breezes. He told them what direction they came from and how many, and the teens would hide accordingly.
When Thryn asked why they couldn't 'spirit travel' as Ariel and Fara had done before the invasion, Patamon huffed. "I cannot transport all of you on my own. I'm sure you've noticed by now that I'm the only wind spirit still hanging around. The others went looking for Wanikiy. So, no, we must travel the old fashion way."
On the morning of the second day, they started recognizing the area, their homeland. The first familiar landmark they came upon was the wide meadow and a stout old tree. Bufo's racing tree. This was where they had first set out for refuge and now they came back to it, full circle.
"I've never seen this place so quiet," Nod murmured, like he didn't want to break the silence. The tree was usually bustling with crowds cheering, birds chirping and flying, but now there wasn't even the sound of cicadas. In any other setting, it would be peaceful but here it was just unnatural.
"We should keep to the trees and circle around," Ross pointed out, keeping his voice low. "Don't want to be spotted in the open."
"Too late for that I'm afraid."
All of them twisted in their saddles to face the voice behind them. Nod blanched in astonishment. It was the berry racer girl, holding a bow and arrow in firing position, aimed at them.
She glared ferociously like they had intruded on her territory.
"Hey, it's uh...what's-her-name from before," Nod stuttered out, then realized how stupid he just sounded. The others casted him odd looks and the berry girl choked indignantly.
"Great, it's you Nod," she growled. "And seriously? We've had rivalry for nature knows how long and you never bothered to learn my name?" She was nearly shouting at this point.
"She's got a point, Nod," M.K. leveled a hard look at her boyfriend.
"In my defense, I didn't take the rivalry as seriously as her, and was way more focused on other things. Speaking of focused..." he darted his eyes around, looking for the tell-tale sign of a sylph yet he couldn't find any. "Way to go at detecting her, Patamon!"
The berry girl looked momentarily stumped at how Nod was talking to nothing but she didn't lower her bow and decided to ignore it. "Whatever! State your business and give me a reason why I shouldn't shoot you."
"Um, we're not Boggans?" Mason sniped. "Actually, what you have before you are the last free Leafmen and women, so we're on your side."
"Oh, really? And how do I know you're not traitors trying to weasel out the Jinn in hiding?"
"Because, I'm here," Ariel stated calmly, her voice strong. She had been riding behind her mother with Mason, Catcall being the only bird strong enough to take three riders. Now she swung her legs over the bird's back and slid to the branch. No one, not even her mother, tried to stop her.
The berry girl's eyes widened in shock and she hastily dropped her arrow to point at the ground. A daft Jinn would recognize the white and green attire of their Queen.
"Y-your... Majesty," she gasped. "I didn't see you there, I-"
"It's okay," Ariel abruptly dropped her stern expression and smiled pleasantly. "I know I'm short but I'm just a late bloomer." The girl winked and chuckled at her own joke.
The berry girl was at a loss of what to say next but then another, younger voice called from the canopy. "Hey, Riley! Did you find something?"
Out from the leaves came another familiar character. It was the clover boy, Finch, whom Nod met on the day he raced Flit against Bufo's riders. The kid was still skinny as ever, wearing a dark green riding cloak, and his hand resting on the hilt of a knife strapped around his waste. At the sight of them however, his hand dropped away and he gaped like a fish out of water.
"Nod! Flitterbite, you're back!" he cried happily, running at them. He threw his slim arms around the blue jay's broad neck, the bird cooing at the hug. "I missed you so much! I knew you'd be okay though since Nod's the best racer ever!"
"Aw, someone's got a fan," M.K. smirked. Nod blushed at all the attention as Finch let go of Flit and admiringly gazed up at his rolemodel. Then Riley cleared her throat, gaining the boy's attention. She gestured to Ariel and the boy's eyes could have popped out of his head if they got any wider.
"You're the Queen!" he blurted out. Ariel couldn't hold back the laughter at the sight of Finch's expression.
"I-I'm sorry!" she gasped between fits, holding her sides. "Your face is just..."
"Ariel," Fara warned. "That's no way for a Queen to greet someone!"
The young Queen drew in a big breath, trying her hardest to quell her giggles. She held out her hand to Finch. "Nice to meet you, Finch. I'm Ariel, Queen of the Forest."
A hand shake was not usually the way to say hello to royalty but Ariel didn't care. Finch hesitantly shook her hand, still amazed that she was standing in front of him like this. She was even prettier in person...
A light smack on the back of his head broke him out of his daze. "Hey, lucky clover, focus!" Riley reminded him.
He gave her a quick glare but returned his attention to the others, smiling widely. "Are you guys here to help us take back Moonhaven?" he asked excitedly, bouncing on his toes.
"You bet, kiddo," Nod replied easily. "It almost sounds like you have a plan to take them by storm yourself."
Finch grinned. "Naw, nothing like that, but we do have a base camp set up in Bufo's tree-"
"Finch!" Riley hissed. "What happened to keeping the hideout a secret?!"
The clover boy rolled his eyes. Wow, Nod thought. He's nothing like the timid kid I met last time.
"Oh come on, Ri, they're friends! So no need for the secrecy and suspicion."
Riley crossed her arms, looking for all the world, like an irritated older sister. "Maybe, but we can't just let anybody in without Bufo's permission-"
"Wait, what?" Nod interrupted, not sure he heard her correctly. "You can't be serious. Bufo is in charge of a rebel hideout? He's hiding people from the Boggans?"
"Of course!" Riley sniped. "It is his tree, genius!"
"Yeah he's hiding people," Finch said, casting a dark look in the direction of the tree. "For a price that is."
"For a price?" Ariel asked, stunned. Finch looked away guilty, not meaning to anger the Queen. "How much is he charging them?"
Both the berry girl and the clover boy shifted uncomfortably, neither wanting to answer the young ruler's question. Thryn didn't need an explanation.
"Bufo's most likely charging them enough to ensure that after the war's over, win or lose, they will have nothing." Riley nodded her head in affirmation. "Why am I not surprised?" Thryn continued. "Just like him to take advantage of desperate people."
"I don't like it either," Riley replied with a shrug. "But it's not like Bufo cares about my opinion anyway. You may want to find somewhere else to hide. Especially you, Nod. Bufo still remembers how you won that bet and took away his chances at big cash. And when you guys stole his birds. And-"
"Okay, I get it," Nod huffed. "I got a long Bufo rap sheet and he can hold a grudge. I'm not keen to have my face rearranged."
Riley twitched in annoyance. "I was also going to say he hasn't forgotten about the big, easy bounty attached to your arm." Her eyes darted down to his left arm which Nod had been keeping close to his side, hoping to keep attention away from the rose. "It's gotten way bigger than the last time I saw it."
Nod brought the rose around, not bothering to hide it anymore. "So you saw it too that day?" Finch was not acting amazed himself so he must have been among the crowds after that race and witnessed the rose's unveiling.
"Everyone who was there saw it, and you bet that they spread the news all over the forest. With the Boggans in control, they made it clear that whoever turns you in gets guaranteed safety and money."
"You're probably right then," Nod agreed softly. "We can't stop here." The boy's heart hurt a little when Finch's face fell in disappointment that he was trying to conceal. He only looked eleven and here he was hiding in fear and surrounded by war. Any rebels found would be killed on sight. The kid seem to really look up to him and he had a bond with Flit, yet here Nod was about to leave him alone again.
"We can't leave," Thyrn objected. Ross snorted and opened his mouth to argue but she cut him off before he could start. "If we want to start winning back our home then we need the people's help, but that can't happen if they're left outside, exposed to anything that can kill them. Bufo cannot be allowed to keep doing that!"
"I'm with Thyrn!" Lex agreed.
"You always are," Ross grumbled, crossing his arms and looking away.
Thryn's lips curled in a familiar snarl, but surprisingly, Lex only looked at Ross sadly. "Please, Ross," she begged. "We're Leafmen, aren't we? We can't walk away from people in need."
Ross met her green-gold gaze with a hard blue stare. The others watched a battle of wills unfold as Ross's iron stubbornness tried not to give under Lex's pleading, hypnotic eyes. Finally, the boy let out a big sigh and his shoulders slumped in defeat.
"If we're going to do this, we'll have to be careful not to draw the Boggans' attention," he reminded them all sternly. The grasshopper girl beamed at him.
"Do what exactly?" Riley remarked scathingly. "You're just going to waltz in there, riding his stolen birds, and demand that he has to stop making a profit? Are you all daft?!"
"As crazy as it is," M.K. said. "We can't look the other way."
Jason spread his arms as if to say, 'what the hell, I'll jump.' "I don't even know who this guy is and I'm on board!"
Riley rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Nod, c'mon, even I think you wouldn't be this stupid! You and I both worked for him and you know what he's like! This is suicide!"
Nod had turned back, fixing his gaze on Bufo's tree across the meadow. "Yeah, it is. Confronting Bufo is a stupid plan."
The others stared, incredulous. Riley sighed in relief. "Thank you!"
"It be better if we spooked him out."
"...What?"
Nod faced them, grinning like a cat that caught the canary. "I got an idea. But since we're back on home turf, we can only proceed with our Queen's permission."
Everyone turned to Ariel, who started a bit at all the sudden attentiveness. Then she caught a sly twinkling in Nod's eye, promising mischief. She reflected his smile. "Give me a role in the master plan and an excuse to practice my combat magic and I'm in!"
"Ariel-"
"Oh please, mum, I'm a Queen! These are my people, and I can handle myself if you just-"
"I'm coming with you."
A beat of silence. "Really?"
Fara smiled. "Of course! You don't think that all the time we have spent in that tree, I've been twiddling my thumbs, do you? I got a few tricks up my sleeves and this Bufo sounds like a nasty character. I can't let you face him alone."
"Hopefully, if my plan works," Nod added. "He won't even know it's us. It involves Ariel's plant magic, Mason's specially crafted bombs, and our spirit guide. If he can quit being rude and finally introduce himself..."
"Apologies, but I do not enjoy flaunting my appearance to those I just met," Patamon retorted, shimmering into view above Nod's head. Riley jumped and scrambled to nock an arrow, pointing the weapon at the sylph in fright.
Finch, for his part, just stared in wonder, mouth dropping open again. "Wicked!"
Nod rubbed his hands in anticipation. "Now that that's settled, here's what we're going to do."
In his office, Bufo grimaced as he read the letter he had just received from Moonhaven.
Bufo,
You have been given orders concerning the use of your abode as a refuge camp. Lord Batlash is willing to turn a blind-eye to this illegal activity so long as no rebellion teachings or training undergo while you are in charge. More importantly, you are to contact us immediately if our person of interest decides to hide in your refuge camp. Don't bother sending us a message for any other reason.
The frog had to fight not to ball up and tear the paper into little bits. He hated receiving orders like he was a common lackey; that was his right to exercise! If he had thought that the Boggans would actually be bold enough to make a move on Moonhaven, then he would have warned the Queen ahead of time. At least she didn't try to move him around like a lousy chess piece!
Yes, Bufo was really regretting forging connections with Lord Batlash. At first, all the lout had wanted was information. Big or small, Bufo would sell. It was not like he had answers to sensitive questions, like what time do the sentries change or what the Queen's favorite beverage was. But Lord Batlash had never asked for anything like that anyway.
Now with the Boggans in control, his business was ruined! The Boggan hordes weren't interested in fixed bird races. His jockeys either quit or fled for their lives. Riley was the only one who stuck around for a reason Bufo didn't care about enough to ask. The worst part were the sudden floods of homeless Jinn on his front doorstep, begging for safe haven. He tried to drive them off at first but with his limited staff, not even his strongest henchmen could keep the desperate people back.
Like a shot, a brilliant idea came to him. His source of income was all but severed. So he started charging every refugee a fee for staying in his tree. Of course, many were outraged but all Bufo had to do was turn his back and say, 'pay to stay, or die before the next day!' It worked like a charm. Those that still refused stalked away to find somewhere else, but most were fighting to be first in line.
He had planned to gather enough cash to make a getaway. Take his most trusted lackeys, make off in the middle of the night for somewhere else, and restart his business there. Just distance himself from the problem and wash his hands of the whole affair. However, now Batlash (what a stupid name), had it in his head that he worked for him. The frog couldn't up and leave like he had been planning, unless he wanted Boggan hordes chasing him down. Running a business means that you yourself can't be on the run.
Bufo pushed the note aside and steepled his fingers. Alright, he would just have to adapt. The 'person of interest', aka Nod, still had a huge reward on his rose. If the kid was stupid enough to try and hide in Bufo's tree, then that money would be enough to get him out of here in the Boggan lord's good graces. Although, he doubted Nod would even come within ten feet of this place. In the meantime, he would continue charging the Jinn housing fees. If the boy was caught by someone else, Bufo would hear about it and then take his cue to leave. That way, Batlash would have no reason to come after him. He would have what he wanted.
Satisfied that he had a plan set up, Bufo unlocked a cabinet behind his desk and helped himself to his personal stash of drinks. Pouring some in a small glass and taking a swig of the strong, burning liquid, the frog relaxed back in his chair, content that everything would work out.
That relaxed content ended when one of his cronies slammed through his office door without so much as a polite knock.
The frog managed to keep himself from jumping out of his seat but he couldn't hold back his anger. His eyes glinted dangerously at the foolish Jinn. "What in the hell is wrong with you?!" he nearly kept himself from screaming.
The Jinn, whatever his name was, blanched when he realized what he had done. "Boss! I-I'm sorry, I forgot-"
Bufo cut him off; he hated stammering and babbling, it grated on his nerves. "It better be important so out with it!"
The Jinn straightened and gulped visibly, trying to regain control of his voice pitch. "I was told to come get you, there's something strange going on in the lounge..."
Really? Was that all?! The frog's anger mounted so high, he didn't realize that he was squeezing the glass too hard before he heard a crack. Glancing down, he saw that his hand was now holding a small pile of shards. Amazingly, he didn't get cut.
Throwing the glass shards aside, Bufo carefully wiped his hand on his jacket and stalked past the pale Jinn to go down to the lounge. "Clean up that mess before I get back."
Taking the stairs two at a time, he entered the spacious lounge, the biggest private room in the tree. It was at the bar to his left that he had made that bet with Nod and Thryn about two weeks ago. Just thinking about any of those teenagers made his blood pressure mount. Presently, his men, including his bodyguards, the moth and scorpion fly, were grouped together around the center card table. They shifted nervously, their eyes searching the room around them like they expected something to jump out of the corners. Honestly, he hired these guys for their iron nerves, hulking bodies, and extensive guts. Why were they acting like little kids at the campfire hearing ghost stories?
"Well?" he asked, none too kindly to his moth bodyguard.
"Everything was normal," the moth Jinn reported, to his credit, evenly and calmly, though he did not stop looking around the room. "And we were on break getting a drink, until we started to hear this laughing...and then one guys said he heard whispering...then something crashed over there."
Bufo followed his pointing finger. On a table near the wall once perched a very expensive, valuable vase of obsidian with a relief forest motif that Bufo had to break a few bones to get a hold of. Now it was lying on the floor, broken into chunky pieces. The frog felt a vein pop in his head.
"Who's the idiot that I'm going to have to kill?" He kept his tone soft, something that scared his lackeys even more.
"No one broke it, sir!" the moth affirmed, sweating a little now. "We swear, it just fell all the sudden. And we kept hearing the whispers and laughter coming all around us!"
"Oh, really? I don't hear any whispers or laughter."
"They stopped now for some reason. We're trying to figure out where they came from!"
Bufo was so close to socking the moth in the jaw for his stupidity. Hell, why not? Reinforcement of authority was essential with these men. However, just as he was balling his fist to hand out a right hook, he heard a...slither.
The men tensed, alert and fearful. Bufo sneered and took a look around the lounge. "How pathetic!" he scoffed. "There's nothing-"
A low, menacing cackle filled the air, coming from nowhere and everywhere at once. It was followed by a hiss, a whisper, then all three at once, mingling together through the room. Bufo tried not to let his alarm show; okay, so maybe there was something wrong here. But there was no way this was a ghost.
The hissing, whispering, and laughing continued on but softer now. Bufo took this as his cue to say something. "Who ever is pulling this little prank clearly doesn't know who he's messing with!" he shouted gruffly. "If you're smart, then beat it before I find you! If you're an idiot, then we'll put you out of you're misery."
The noise abruptly stopped, the silence thick. Bufo could hear his men breathing heavily behind him. The silence elevated Bufo's confidence; perhaps the would-be joker decided to run while he still had legs.
The bar behind them exploded. The lackeys screamed and dove for cover behind tables and sofas. The moth bodyguard tackled Bufo, shielding him with his enormous body. Bufo croaked in a very undignified manner as the breath was knocked out of him. A funny smelling smoke filled his nostrils and burned his eyes. As the noise faded, he shoved the moth off him and staggered to his feet. The bar was a complete mess, but strangely, not destroyed. Bufo saw no signs of scorch marks and the only thing that had been torn to pieces were the various glasses and gourds of liquor that was kept on the back shelf. Wonderful, even more things that needed to be paid for repairs and replacements!
The rest of the Jinn got back up, wiping their streaming eyes and coughing. The hissing, whispering, and cackling came up again. Startled, they all huddled closer together, Bufo having to fight his anger and panic down. The lanterns on their wall posts suddenly lost the glow of the special plant inside them. The lounge was not plunged into pitch blackness, but it did get dimmer, making it harder to see into the darkest corners.
"Boss, what the hell is going on here?!" one Jinn shouted, near hysterics.
"It's just a stupid prank!" he kept affirming. "Just find the guy who's doing this, now!"
Quite suddenly, the whisper started speaking coherently. "You still doubt my power? Is my vengeance not manifesting before you?"
Wildly whipping their eyes about to find the source of the voice, Bufo nearly croaked again. This still had to be a prank!
The hissing joined the whisper. "Fools. Don't you know a warning when you see one?"
The laughter joined, giggling in mad glee. "Run!"
As if the word was the signal at the start of a race, three of his lackeys bolted for the door like rabbits. Bufo screeched in fury, demanding they come back or be gutted like fish. Only one stopped in his tracks and returned to the huddle; the other two were gone like the wind.
Another explosion, this time on the center table. A bright light blinded them for a few seconds, a loud bang cracking in their ears. Bufo blinked away spots and saw that a thick smoke was seeping across the floor...scratch that. It was a fog, for it did not burn their eyes nor dissipate easily. It grew thicker and wider until a cloud of impenetrable gray covered the floor up to their knees.
"To hell with this!" a mushroom Jinn shouted. "I'm getting out of here!"
"Stand your ground, you lily-liveried coward!" Bufo ordered but the Jinn ignored him and ran for the same door. The only men left now were his bodyguards and two pinecone Jinn.
"How much more generous can we be?" the hiss came again.
The whisper sounded almost sympathetic. "We gave you plenty of opportunities to flee with your lives..."
"But we've run out of time," the laugh said joyfully. "Now suffer the wrath of those you've done wrong!"
"What?!" Now Bufo could not hide his mounting terror.
"Boss! The floor's moving!"
And he indeed feel the shifting beneath his soles. Then he remembered that spanning the center of the lounge was the hide of an adult King snake, an expensive decoration he bought off a hunter, now hidden below the dense fog. It wasn't the floor that was moving, it was the polished, scaly skin.
Even as he realized this, the snakeskin was swept from under his feet, sending him and his men falling to the ground with high-pitched yelps. Rising from the fog with a life of it's own was the black hide of the King snake. The head lifted slowly, the hollow eye sockets glaring back at them unmercifully. The skin hung limply like a cloak but the thing was definitely alive!
More loud bangs went off around them. The hissing, whisper, and laughter danced around them in a crescendo. The resurrected snake coiled and swayed, ready to strike.
"A stain on our tree!" The hiss snarled.
"It is time to go now, whether it be outside or to hell," the whisper murmured.
"The fun's over!" the laugh giggled. "Don't come back!"
"Get out."
"Get out."
"Get out."
Then all three at once roared, "GET OUT!"
The lounge was empty before anything more could say, "Boo!"
Only when all was quiet and assured that Bufo and his cronies were far away, and not coming back, did the snake hide slip limply off its temporary skeleton of thick, twisted vines. The fog dissipated, revealing that vines had slithered under the snake skin to act and move like a real snake, wearing the scales like a suit. The lanterns hesitantly began to glow again. The owners of the hissing, whispering, and laughter emerged from their hiding places.
Nod pumped the air in triumph, giving an evil cackle, as he came from behind the sofa farthest from the center. "Told you guys it would work!" The laughter.
Thryn rolled her eyes to the heavens but she was smiling widely She had hid in a storage closet near the bar. "It's not like we doubted you!" The whispering.
Ross grunted as he crawled from the behind the bar table, though he had been a safe distance when the glasses and alcohol exploded. "Well, there was some doubts, but yeah, we pulled it off." The hissing.
Each of the three voices carried a wooden horn in their hands. It was the same horn that the race commentator shouted into as he relayed the race to the crowd. Finch had helped them acquire the horns from the commentator's locker, the boy informing them that their were extras in case one was damaged. The horns were perfect in amplifying their voices if they shouted into them, but that would have given away their positions instantly.
A shimmer and breath of wind. Patamon materialized in front of them. "You're plan worked. Impressive, if not a little risky and flawed."
"I guess I'll take that as a compliment," Nod shrugged. "But we couldn't have done it without you."
It was Patamon that gave their voices the real effect they needed. Nod, Thryn, and Ross kept their words low to their tones, and Patamon used his powers to make them louder and more widespread. When the sylph wasn't maintaining his bird form, he had no body and was everywhere in the air, or could be in more than one place at once. He had channeled himself through the horns simultaneously, carrying the hissing, whispering, and laughter with him to make the sounds come from everywhere.
"You can come out now, Ariel!" Nod called out.
A section of the wooden wall peeled back. The Queen had created her own hidden room behind there. It was from that position she controlled the vines to reanimate the snake skin, and it was her plants that initially knocked over the obsidian vase. That had actually been an accident but she wasn't going to cry over it. From behind her emerged the rest of their party that had no part in the plan and had remained hidden with Ariel.
M.K. surveyed the damage of the lounge, smirking at the destruction. "I wish I had my camera. From the sounds of it, Bufo must have looked pretty freaked out."
Nod couldn't hold back the chuckle. "I've never heard him so scared! A priceless moment no one will ever see again."
"Um, guys, I think you're forgetting someone," Lex reminded them.
"Yeah, can I come down now?"
Mason was hanging off the giant chandelier that dominated the center of the high ceiling. From that vantage point, he was able to throw down the bangers and bombs that had caused much of the carnage. It was a stun grenade that destroyed the bar, a smoke bomb that released the fog, and various firecrackers to add to the noise.
Ariel sent a vine up that gently wrapped around Mason's waist and set him on the floor. The boy wiped his hands and smiled satisfyingly as he glanced around at the work of his bombs.
"When you first told as that you make bombs as a hobby, I admit, I was a little scared," Jason said. "And after seeing what you can do today...I still am."
Mason cackled, bumping fists with the blonde. "Hey, if you're interested, I would be delighted to show you how to make some. Same goes for all of you."
"I think Ariel has enough to be learning already, thank you," Fara replied crisply, noticing the excited gleam in her daughter's eyes at the prospect of making a bomb.
Riley and Finch walked in, the clover boy gaping at the aftermath of the and even Riley couldn't hide how impressed she was.
"Well, you actually pulled it off," Riley said. "We saw Bufo and his goons hightailing it to the trees. They weren't heading in the direction of Moonhaven, so we have nothing to worry about on that front."
"Does this mean you're on our side?" Nod asked, raising an eyebrow.
The berry girl bit her lip pensively, then nodded. "All I want is to be able to walk through my home without worrying about getting killed. If you guys are crazy enough to kick Bufo out and live, then I guess we have a fighting chance."
Nod smiled brightly. "Thanks for the faith."
"The Boggans better watch out now!" Finch declared.
"I need to see the refugees," Ariel said. "They need their Queen. Where are they staying?"
"Bufo was keeping them hemmed in the roosts with the birds," Riley replied. "Here, I'll take you."
Fara and Ariel left to follow Riley and Finch to the Jinn. Lex, Mason, and Ross went to fetch their birds and the supplies from where they left them. Nod, Jason, M.K., and Thryn stayed in the lounge, Patamon swirling around them.
"Now what?" Thryn asked.
"Kill the leader, free the Leafmen, get the rose off me," Nod declared. "And take back our home."
if you guys are curious about the title of this chapter, i got it from this book called David and Goliath: Misfits, Underdogs, and the art of battling giants. its a really good nonfiction about how different people and/or groups have triumphed throughout history even though they're opponents or circumstances should have defeated them. one chapter is on the civil rights movement in Alabama, and how Martin Luther King Jr. and his followers used trickery and misdirection to win the campaign in the extremely racist city of Birmingham. The quote goes, "The trickster is not a trickster by nature but by necessity." check it out if you're interested, its a good read.
anyway, please review! :)