NO ORDINARY OWL (14 page)

A big bubble of a sob was building up in her throat, and in a minute it was going to gush out really loud. She swallowed.
Don’t
. Hunching her knees to her chest, she swung her glance back and forth in the goggles. Everything was shades of green and deeper green. Trees, trees, trees. Trees had been getting in her way this whole project.

On the last sweep—as she lifted her hand to yank off the goggles and toss them down—a glow of red eyes froze her solid. Low to the ground. A wolf? Too low. The dull red gaze moved in and out, about the distance of two Byrons lying down end to end. It was headed toward her. A shiver rushed down her spine. What was it? When she heard a chirp, she let out the breath she didn’t realize she had been holding. A small critter, a chipmunk or mouse or squirrel. Nothing to be afraid of.

Snap!

A chippy would never snap a branch. The six feet of the S.A.V.E. Squad girls, including a spinning Sunny, would never make a single
snap
sound. Esther oh so carefully pushed the goggles into the bush, parting the branches with her face.

I’ve got him
was the first triumphant thought.
Wait till the girls see me bring back that Awful Person
.

Immediately following that thought came the what-ifs. What if she grabbed him and he got away? Without the girls to help her—what if he yanked free of her death grip and disappeared into the woods? Nobody would believe she’d really had him. The girls would though, wouldn’t they? Her prickly, angry words that had singed them all throughout this mission made her want to cry and punch something. What if they were sick of her being bossy and prickly? What if they
didn’t
believe her?

A shadowy, lighter green figure with white streaks near the feet—must be shoelaces—emerged from a thicket and began a hunched-over approach. The nearest flight cage—Howard’s cage. She blinked twice to make sure she was seeing what she thought she was seeing then squeezed her eyes shut. A long green something, sort of like a wishbone, hung from one hand. What kind of gun looked like a wishbone?

Esther silently breathed in and out like she imagined a spy would. Opening her eyes, a second observation through the eyepieces choked the next breath. Now the figure had straightened and was looking around. Had he—wait, now—had he heard Esther
breathing?
No, she knew she was hidden within the bush.

Wait a sec
.

The figure was too short even for the short chicken farmer, with long hair and a way of tossing the head.

Realization washed over Esther in a hot wave that made her forget her right leg was dead asleep. That long thing the person was carrying was a thing to cut the locks off the cages. She’d seen one in school when someone had forgotten their combination. Even worse, she now knew the Squad had been terribly wrong about who used the slingshot on the owls and tore the screens.

That shadowy greenish-white image in the night-vision goggles was not that Awful Person the chicken farmer.

That Awful Person was Melissa.

Crash! Crash!

“Esther! Don’t be mad! Where are you?” Aneta’s voice soared through the trees. Melissa’s goggled head jerked up toward the sound.

No, not now!
Esther screamed in her head at the girls, for after Aneta’s voice was Sunny’s with, “For pizza sake, Esther, if you wanted us to follow you, you at least should have told us.” Those two came into view in Esther’s goggles with Vee behind, her mask swinging from her hand. What was she thinking? How was she going to see Melissa with no mask?

Whipping her head back to where Melissa stood, Esther’s heart collapsed.

The woods were empty.

All Is Lost

I
’m telling you, it was Melissa,” Esther was explaining as fast as she was walking back to the house. Her breaths came in little gasps. “She was as tall as Melissa, has long hair, and flipped it just like Melissa does. No way was it the chicken farmer.”

“We’re going to be late for dinner. Walk faster, Esther.” Vee was several steps ahead. Esther didn’t think she was even listening.

I found the person who hurt the owls! Who did the sabotage!
She couldn’t wait until the Squad told Byron.

“But why Melissa, Esther?” Aneta’s long legs had no trouble keeping up with everyone.

With a sigh of exasperation, Esther repeated what she’d been telling the girls since the first day Melissa offered to help and suggested maybe Esther wasn’t up to being a S.A.V.E. Squad member anymore.

“I don’t know about that. Maybe someone who looks like Melissa?” Sunny sounded unsure.

They passed the carriage house and broke into a group trot. With the breakfasting room dimly lit with only a lantern-like lamp, Esther assumed dinner must be in the dining room at the front of the house. The girls always had their “nibbles,” as the Bird Lady called their snacks, on the back stairs that cascaded from the back door outside the breakfasting room.

“Why didn’t you guys come and help me?” This came out rougher than she had wanted it to. But really, why hadn’t they?

“Look.” Vee swung around and faced her, forcing Esther to jerk to a stop. They were on the side of the house. “Sunny convinced us you were setting up some silly training. When you didn’t come back by the time the Bird Lady came out to tell us dinner was ready and
our parents are here
, we went to find you. End of story.” Vee flounced off around the corner.

Esther heard her footsteps on the front steps and the front door open and slam shut.

Well
.

When she, Sunny, and Aneta stepped through the door, Esther looked at both of them. “You believe me, don’t you? I saw Melissa. She’s the one.”

Sunny slid a look toward Aneta who looked unhappy then swung her gaze back to Esther. “Maybe you should keep it quiet for a while about what you saw. I mean, night-vision goggles aren’t like what we see in real life.”

Aneta nodded, her blue eyes full of tears.

They didn’t believe her. Her own beloved Squad didn’t believe her.

“Fine. I’ll go tell everyone else.
They’ll
believe me.”

Brushing past them before they could reply, she turned sharply into the dining room. Vee’s mom and Bill sat at the long table set with a roast, bowls of mashed potatoes, and vegetables. The tablecloth—a real one—reflected so much white from the chandelier it made Esther’s eyes blink after being in the dark. Sunny’s parents were there, without her brothers. Esther’s eyes widened when she saw Aneta’s mom sitting next to Sunny’s uncle Dave.

“Esther! Esther! Esther is home!”

Siddy. Her little brother struggled to remove himself from her father’s lap. “Here we are! Here we are!”

Her heart dropped to her muddy toes. How could her parents? He would go on with that for all of dinner. Her glare flew to her mother, but it was rebuffed by Mom’s upraised eyebrows.

Feeling both the girls standing behind her and the heat shooting up the back of her neck, Esther raised her hands to shush her brother. “Shh, Siddy. Time to be quiet.”

“Time to be quiet! Time to be quiet!”

Maybe once the girls sat down, Siddy would quiet down. She dropped into the nearest chair, by Byron. Sunny, Aneta, and Vee found seats. Beverly nodded to her brother, and he prayed over the meal. How come his English accent made the meal blessing sound so much cooler?

As soon as the amens faded away—Dad had, Esther noticed, covered Siddy’s mouth during the blessing—the conversation broke out all over the table. Frowning, Esther took this in. She was going to have to be a bit bossy here—for everyone’s good, and especially for the Squad.

“I found who shot the owls.” Even to her, her voice was louder than usual.

It did, however, create the desired effect. All conversations ceased. She had every eye upon her. Good.

“Vee, what have you girls been up to?”

“Aneta, honey, what’s going on?”

“Sunny! Did you forget to fill us in on something?”

The three girls swiveled their gazes to Esther. Sunny drew her lips down in a horrific
what-are-you-doing
face. Aneta pinked up and began to stammer, “I do not—well—I did not.” Vee gathered the worst Vee Stare ever and shot it full-force at Esther.

Esther burst out, “It was me who found her. She hurt the owls! She was going to get the Squad in trouble. I saw her in the woods. It’s not the chicken farmer.”

Parents murmured, “Who’s
she?”

Siddy perked up. “She did it! She did it!” he bellowed, slipping out of his father’s lap like a greased pig at a carnival and running toward Esther. She knelt to grab him, but he eluded her and made a circuit of the table, shouting the phrase in his high-pitched and majorly practiced vocal cords.

“Siddy!” Esther shouted. “Sit down and be quiet!”

Siddy didn’t sit and wasn’t quiet.

“Esther,” her mom said.

The parents’ murmurs got louder. Beverly looked around from her place at one end of the table. Byron sat in his chair, ramrod straight, the overhead chandelier highlighting his wispy hairs.

They weren’t getting it
.

“I know who slingshotted our owls. It was Melissa. She’s the one who’s been messing with the cages, too.” She directed this sentence to Byron, who did not respond. “I saw her in the woods.” With a nod toward Bill, whose eyes were wide as he watched Siddy who was continuing to yell, she pronounced, “With your night-vision goggles.”

Byron cleared his throat. “I think—”

At the same moment, Esther’s dad said, “Esther, please sit down. Siddy, be quiet!”

“She did it! She did it!” Siddy was ecstatic. He hadn’t had a phrase like this in a long while. Then, to Esther’s horror, her little brother remembered another favorite phrase: “We’re moving! We’re moving!”

The girls gasped, turning to their friend who now had no words to say. “What?”

The table was now a complete mess, people asking her parents about moving, the Squad running up to her and asking questions—mostly, “Why didn’t you tell us?”—and Siddy still shouting, voice shooting higher and shriller. “We’re moving!”

If only he could stop. Why didn’t her parents just make him stop? His repeating was wrecking everything.

“Shut up, Siddy!” Esther roared. “You’re ruining everything!
You always ruin everything.”

Siddy stopped running, stopped hollering. He clasped his small hands in front of him and hunched his shoulders, big eyes wide and clear until a tear slipped out of each one.

Regrets

S
he would be in eighth grade before she ever got on the Internet again. Two weeks after she’d hurt her brother so terribly, she was still grounded from the computer. Esther rolled right, then left on her bed, then right again. It was only Monday and still two hours till dinner.

Siddy was staying away from her like he expected her to smack him. Her parents had talked with her about being disappointed and how mean she’d been to her brother and then about Melissa and how you can’t accuse people without proof.

Yes, she was sorry she’d hurt Siddy. So very sorry. About Melissa? With being grounded and the girls not speaking to her, hard evidence was out of her reach. If that wasn’t bad enough, Byron had shut them out for good this time. She sat up, leaned forward to find her slippers, and, like she was plodding through chocolate pudding, began to pick up her room.

That night, when her mouth shot off without her brain attached, Byron had stood suddenly and said, “This isn’t going to work. You must all go home and not return. Please.” He didn’t sound mad, but he did sound like he meant it. Then he’d done what he hadn’t since the first afternoon the girls had met him. He turned and left the room. The sound of the back door shutting followed soon after.

The party was over.

Well
.

So now her secret was out. The Squad knew she was moving. The trouble was, she’d been such a bossy brat, they didn’t care anymore. Not a single one had called to ask if she’d lost her mind. Well, she had lost, lost it all—helping the owls, watching the wild one get launched back, maybe getting to do the launching. And the S.A.V.E. Squad. The tears that had been so hot and burning for fourteen days seared their way out of her eyes again. She was so tired of crying.