Chapter Three
Once back at the park, Surly, Andie and Buddy called an assembly for all the park residence to come to the old mill. Night had already fallen upon the city and the park and their pug friend Precious had already went home to Lana so she wouldn't worry and bid her friends good night. Once the assembly had began the animals quickly began bombarding Andie with question after question, asking her what had happened to her. Andie tried to answer as best as she could but the questions began to become so overwhelming that Surly, who was getting annoyed, raised two fingers up to his lips and let out a loud whistle that got everyone's attention.
"Will all of you please calm down!?" Surly shouted as he glared at all of the animals that stood within the mill. "Everyone will be explained once you give Andie some space to breathe!"
Everyone remained quiet for a while before Surly let out a sigh before looking at Andie nodded to her to let her take the floor. Andie gave Surly a grateful look before she cleared her throat and began to tell the animals her tale. The animals listened instantly on how Andie had been out for a walk when she was captured by a group of boys that wanted to turn her into squirrel stew. The animals gasped at that but they didn't say anything as they continued to listen to Andie's story. Andie then told them about how Noah arrived to save her and he helped her by telling the people who ran the orphanage about the boys holding her captive, giving them time out as punishment while asking them if he could take care of her before setting her free. That was when she found out that Noah had a gift to understand animals. She then got to the part about how Surly, Buddy and Precious found her and meet AJ and the dying dog asking them to take care of Noah to keep him safe from humans that want to use his gifts.
At the mention of the park community taking care of a young human child, they all stared at her with uncertainty and apprehensive feelings about the idea. That thought was easily voiced by Mole as he spoke up for all the animals in the mill.
"Uh... are you sure it's a good idea to bring a human, much less a human child, into Liberty park?" Mole questioned with a worried look on his face "I mean, it's never been tried before, you know... animals raising a human child."
"I know, but we can't just leave Noah there in the orphanage where a human adult will try to abuse his powers to talk to animals," Andie reasoned as she looked at all of the animals before her. "Noah is only a kid and we have to help him."
The park animals still looked a little unsure about the idea of raising a human in their park. Surly then took to the floor as he stared hard at the animals before him.
"Look, I know all of you are unsure about this, but Andie is right." Surly said "This kid, Noah, needs our help to protect him from humans that want to use him and incase some of you have forgotten, Andie and I had once been raised by a human a long time ago when we lost our parents. If it weren't for that Addison human then we wouldn't even be here among you guys right now. Now somebody needs our help and we have to act fast or else it might be too late."
The Animals of Liberty Park were silent for a moment before the Bruisers siblings spoke up first from the crowd.
"We're in." Jimmy said with a grin.
"Yeah," Johnny said with a nod of his head "After all, things were getting kind of boring around here. This could be fun!"
"Besides, we can't let you guys have all the fun when it comes to busting this kid out of the orphanage." Jamie added with a smirk.
"Then let us not hesitate!" Grayson said as he stepped in and took on a dramatic pose with a serious look on his face "A child is in need of our help and we mustn't ignore him. Who's up for another daring rescue!?"
Soon everyone began to agree to the plan in saving Noah from the orphanage. Surly and Andie stared at their friends in surprise before they turned to look at one another with smiles on their faces. Surly soon got down to the plan on how to get Noah out of the orphanage with everyone paying close attention to the details he was giving out, but unknown to the animals they were being watched by an all too familiar cardinal that was staring down intently at the group of animals with it's piercing black eyes. It listened in onto the conversation about the boy who was able to understand the language of animals. The cardinal then opened its wings again and flew away as it headed back to its master to tell him what it had learned from the Liberty Park animals and what they were up to.