Of Birds and Wolves

“Well, that was random,” Kaylee whispered with wide eyes to Lacey who in turn nodded.

“I heard the scientists say something about how we could be mutating on our own,” Leara pondered.

Out of the bushes, Bryce came back with dead rabbit in his hand. “Caught one,” he grinned.

While they prepared a fire, Lacey asked, “So what you’re saying is we have to wait for our special powers to come?”

“Though we know that Kaylee already got hers; she can talk really fast, so no one can understand her!” Pigeon laughed.

“Shut up, Pigeon,” Kaylee groaned.

Pigeon blew raspberries and mocked, “Shut up, Kaylee!” With no warning, Kaylee pounced on top of Pigeon. He pulled himself free as Kaylee chased him around the clearing.

Leara was able to get in between them and grabbed the collar of their shirts. “Now, let’s sit
down, relax, and enjoy the fact we have food without fighting.”

“But I can’t eat a bunny-rabbit,” Lacey cried with her lower lip sticking out.

This is going to be a long night… Leara thought, sighing.

Things seemed to go downhill as she guessed. Kiera had begun to pick on the already-crying Lacey, telling her she would burn her if she didn’t stop crying. Pigeon had gone to find some berries or any other food and came back covered in mud instead. One of his wings brushed against Kaylee, who yelled at him about getting her new clothes dirty. Instantly, she began chasing him again.

Bryce tried to get Kiera to leave Lacey alone. He attempted to lead Lacey away, but she gave a powerful kick that was meant for Kiera and connected with Bryce’s groin instead. As he was down in the dirt writhing in pain, Lacey and Kiera started arguing again.

Toronto, though, sat next to the fire with a steamed piece of rabbit that he nibbled on happily.

Finally chasing them down again, Leara was able to get Kaylee and Pigeon to sit on opposite sides of the fire peacefully. Until they began arguing on who got the bigger piece of rabbit.

Now it was Kiera who was chasing Lacey in circles as the seven-year old began bawling.

Bryce managed to crawl over to the fire and lay on the ground, muttering, “Ow” over and over.

“Alright, that’s enough you guys!” Leara yelled over the commotion. The flock all looked at her and then instantly began arguing again, blaming each other for angering Leara.

“Leara said that is enough!” Toronto shouted, scaring Leara. Just as he said that, everything seemed to slow down and everyone stopped arguing.

“I feel… Calm. Kind of tired. What did you do, Toronto?” Kaylee muttered sleepily.

Only shrugging his shoulders, he said coolly, “Leara wanted you guys to stop yelling, so I made you guys calm down.”

“Now you can feel and control emotions?” Pigeon asked, astonished. “Not fair…”

After they ate, Leara tried to get the younger ones to fall asleep. But they were still wound up and didn’t want to sleep.

“Can we play a game? I don’t know of any, but we can make one up,” Lacey pleaded with big eyes. Her eyes were not only big, but they almost shone and were watery. There was no way
Leara could say no to a face like that.

“How about we play hide-and-seek? You guys hide somewhere, like in a bush, a tree or something. Whoever the seeker is has to count to fifty and then tries to find everybody else. Once you’re found, you have to come back here and stay quiet. Got it?”

Lacey, Kaylee, and Pigeon all nodded in unison. “Who’ll be seeker?” Kaylee asked, excited.

“I will,” Leara said. “Everybody else can play if they want, too.” Giving Bryce and Kiera a look, they understood that they were pretty much being forced to play.

Tugging on her shirt, Toronto pleaded, “Can I seek with you? I don’t want to be alone.”

“As long as you promise not to cheat.”

Giving a silly grin, he nodded and closed his eyes, getting ready to count. As soon as Bryce saw both Toronto’s and Leara’s eyes closed, he ran off into the woods, signaling the others to hide.

Bryce found a large oak with branches big and high up enough for him to sit on and not be easily seen. Kiera found some brush where she curled into a ball. Kaylee had Lacey help bury her in a pile of dead leaves. Pigeon had found a bush next to a mud puddle, though he was finding it difficult to not jump into the mud and play in that instead.

But Lacey never found a spot. No one would let her hide with them. “Thirty-five… Thirty-six…” Leara’s voice rang through the woods. Lacey tried to hide with her sister, but she shooed her away, telling her to find her own spot.

A tall tree with a thick trunk was the best she could find. Lacey rested against the tree and covered her face with her hands. “If I can’t see them, they can’t see me…” she muttered to herself repeatedly, concentrating on not being seen.

“Fifty!” Leara shouted. “Ready or not, here we come!” The two ran into the woods and began searching. Kaylee was found first, but that was because she ran back to the makeshift camp screaming; a slug had crawled onto her while she was buried in the leaves. Pigeon had grown bored of hiding and turned to the mud pile instead. Leara’s sharp vision quickly saw Kiera’s brightly colored hair in the bushes. Right as she looked up, Bryce lost his balance and fell out of the great oak.

But Lacey was nowhere to be found. The whole flock searched everywhere for her, all over the woods three times over. Even Toronto couldn’t locate her.

“Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap…” Leara made sure to not cuss like a sailor in front of the younger ones as she paced back and forth in front of the fire.

Kaylee was the one freaking out the most. “Oh my gosh, where’s my sister? You didn’t find her yet? What happened to her? Poor Lacey! She must be so scared and cold. Why would she just disappear like that?” She rambled whatever was on her mind until she had to catch her breath.

Leara shook her head and placed her arm around Kaylee’s small, bony shoulders. “I don’t know, Kaylee. Toronto and I searched everywhere for her. There wasn’t a single trace…”

“Well,” Kiera started as she threw more sticks onto the fire. “What do we do now?”

Bryce spoke up as Leara opened her mouth. “Knowing Lacey, she probably remembers her way back here. Let’s wait a good ten minutes and if nothing turns up, we’ll go search again.”

Ten minutes went by, every second feeling like a minute by itself. Ten minutes turned to twenty and there was still no sign of Lacey.

“Alright, that’s it.” Leara pushed herself up off the ground. “Bryce, Toronto, you guys come with me. Kiera, you stay here and watch since the others are asleep…”

A rustle in the bushes caused all of the flock to snap their heads and stare around the camp. A figure burst through the bush and collided with Kaylee; into a bear hug.

“Lacey!” Leara sighed with relief. “What happened?”

“Oh, I had gotten kind of lost on my way back. Though I knew I won.” She gave a big cheesy smile.