NO ORDINARY OWL (16 page)

Heat crept up Esther’s neck as Sunny and Vee snorted with laughter. Nadine and the Bird Lady pressed their lips together.

Okay
.

“I get it,” she said, making a hideous face at the floor. “He wanted us to be safe. To make sure we wouldn’t come back. He was mad at the sabotage, not us.” When she looked up, she asked the Bird Lady, “But how do we get back into the estate to help with the birds? How do we find the slingshotter so all Byron’s birds are safe?”

Beverly’s face lifted in a smile. “I can’t wait to see what you girls come up with for
that.”

The two women waved good-bye and left for their lunch date.

“Whoa, you
guys!”
Sunny clutched her hair as soon as they were out of earshot.

“What?” Vee looked startled at Sunny’s outburst. She’d been looking at her Anti-Trouble Phone, or the ATP, as the girls called it.

Sunny hopped up and down, hands still in her hair. “Esther is
moving
. We’ve
got
to solve this case!”

What Would Imogene Do?

W
hen Sunny began wriggling and squirming, the girls declared they needed to go outside and exercise Sunny before one of the other librarians tossed them out. The rain had stopped and the sun was out, at least for now, so they left their raincoats piled under Nadine’s chair. After a few steps of trying to keep pace with the other girls as they walked through the parking lot, Esther pulled off her sweatshirt and tied it around her waist. It felt good to do Squad things again.

The Squad needed ideas on how to get back to the estate, and they needed them now. The birds had been doing so well the last time they’d seen them; the girls told each other it would be any day now. The launch back to the wild! They would miss it.
It’s not fair
. Esther snorted and told herself to chill. A lot of things weren’t fair. Like moving away from the best friends on the planet…

Sunny was still bouncing and darting around each of the girls.
Just like Siddy. Can’t sit still
.

“Okay Sunny, you and Vee race to the end of the pavement and back. Go!” Esther said.

The two girls took off. It was no contest. Vee was back and not even breathing hard before Sunny reached the end of the pavement; the redhead laughed and skipped her way back. “That felt good. All this rain makes me feel like I’m building up steam and I’m gonna
blow!”

Esther glanced back over at the Dumpster in the community center parking lot. Near it stood a bushy pine tree with two odd white blocks tucked under it. The Squad knew what those cubes were. That had been their second adventure. A couple of the community cats sat on the closed Dumpster. Was the black-tailed Flick from the Great Cat Caper there?

“Remember—” She pointed. The girls followed the direction of her pointing finger. “That was a crazy adventure.”

Vee rubbed her knee. “Boy, do I.”

“A great adventure, although it sure didn’t seem like it was going to be.” Sunny spun around and around, barely landing on the ground before she twirled again.

“Frank and Nadine were so angry,” Aneta remembered.

They kept walking.

“Remember the first time we met each other…,” Sunny said, walking backward in front of them.

“Don’t do that, Sunny, you’ll fall and break your head.” Esther took in a deep breath. Remembering was fun, and it was sad. If she took deep breaths and didn’t actually look at the girls, maybe she wouldn’t cry.

“Yeah, and some of us did not pay attention, and some of us were bossy, and some of us did not want to be there.” Aneta shivered. “I was so afraid.”

“Ole Frank still says we are drama girls.” Sunny’s smile showed she didn’t believe him.

“An idea!” Aneta squealed, stopping and clasping her hands as though holding her thought. “Why do not we do with Byron Beake what we do with Frank?”

“Push his buttons and make him mad?” Sunny asked.

“No,” Aneta spoke through her chuckle. “Tell him we know we were not doing it right and say we are sorry.”

The other three considered this, reaching the lake. Sunny roamed the beach looking for rocks to skip. When no one spoke, Aneta said, “It is not a good idea?”

“It is, Aneta.” Vee patted her friend’s shoulder. “ ’Cept we already did that with Byron, remember?”

“Yeah,” called Sunny from the beach where she was as close to the water as she could get and not get wet feet. “When we thought he was a kidnapper.” She bounced up and down. “Okay, guys, what about this? This could be the rocko-socko Great Idea we need! Okay, here’s the deal.” Sunny came up from the water’s edge, gathered the girls in, and lowered her voice. “We don’t ask for Byron to let us in. We go to the gate and say we’re there to see Howard.”

“Howard?” Vee looked incredulous.

“Yeah, yeah.” Sunny’s blue eyes widened. “We make a super treat for Howard and tell Byron he has to let us in because we are not staying, only bringing Howard his treat. Then when we get in there, Byron will see that we are totally safe and voilà!” Sunny leaped into the air and turned in a circle. “Tada!”

Three blank faces regarded her. Then Aneta turned her head toward Vee. Vee shrugged and looked at Esther. Esther put her hands on her hips. “Sunny, you’ve been spinning too much. Howard eats
roadkill
. It’s not like we can make”—she waved her hand, trying to think of something to show Sunny she was cuckoo—“roadkill
cupcakes
or something!”

Sunny’s lip curled, and she made an “ew” sound. “Oh,” she said. “Good point.”

Vee pulled out her notebook and tiny pen and scribbled. “Two ideas down. So let’s think about what Byron wants.”

“Us not to come back,” Sunny said.

“Sunny, be quiet,” Aneta said.

Sunny pressed her lips together, took two fingers, and pretended she was locking her lips and throwing away the key.

“He wants us to be safe. So what if we come with a bodyguard?” Vee looked up from her scribbling.

A bodyguard. Esther thought this was a terrible idea, but she didn’t say anything because she didn’t want to be bossy with Vee anymore.

“A bodyguard.” Sunny squinted at Vee. “Like which of us knows a bodyguard?”

“You mean like a mom or dad?” Aneta asked.

Even worse
.

“Bill would be a great bodyguard, but he has to work all the time.” Vee pushed the notebook and pen into her back pocket.

“Doesn’t that leave C.P.?” Esther said, hoping they would laugh.

They did. It felt good to laugh, even though they still didn’t have an answer. They walked out on the dock.

“Remember…,” Esther began.

“Yes!” Aneta shivered.

“I’ll never forget that day,” Sunny said, collapsing on the wooden planks of the dock.

“Crazy,” agreed Vee.

Another S.A.V.E. Squad adventure. Their first. When they didn’t even like each other.

Remembering that day and all the yelling and screaming and running—especially remembering all the running—Esther was reminded of her little brother. Siddy loved to run and scream. One of Imogene’s sayings when she got in trouble for yelling was, “Yelling helps me think.”

“What would Imogene say?” she muttered, leaning over her crossed knees and staring into the dark water. Sometimes a bit of sun would catch a ripple just right and it would glow like a silvery snake.

“Who’s Imogene?” Vee sat next to her, arms wrapped around her skinny legs. Esther couldn’t quite get her arms around her knees, so she dropped her head into her hands, elbows propped on her legs.

“My little brother’s favorite book series. It’s called
Hey, Imogene!
and he’s always hollering out things she says in the books. She’s a nine-year-old who’s, well,
different
, who solves little kid cases and sometimes big cases by mistake.”

“I wish we could solve this case by mistake. At least we would solve it while the four of us are together,” Sunny said.

“I’m going to ask to see if you can come for fall break after you move,” Vee said suddenly and added ferociously, “I mean it.”

“I think…” Sunny stood up and looked down at them. “I think we need to go ask the Imogene expert. Right after the library. And Siddy is the expert on Imogene.”

“Uhh…” Esther’s voice disappeared into her surprise. As shown at the dinner, people other than the family—with the exception of C.P., whom Siddy adored—usually got him too excited. Who knew what he’d do?

But Aneta and Vee were already pulling her to her feet and excitedly talking about what they might find out.

“Like what stuff does Imogene say that Sidney yells?” Sunny asked.

“ ‘Yelling helps me think,’ ” Esther said quickly.

Vee repeated the words, a frown creasing her brow. “Huh.”

“Hey! That works for me!” Sunny shouted, waving her arms.

“And ‘Look up when you’re down!’ ” Esther continued.

“I like that one.” Aneta smiled.

They were climbing the steps to the library when Esther pulled on Sunny’s arm. “Look, you guys. You saw how my brother was at the dinner. He’s”—she almost said
weird
, when her love for Siddy swelled up and she finished—“different.”

“Ha.” Vee leaned against the railing and folded her arms. “The Twin Terrors smell like you can’t believe. That’s different. And you’ve only got one Sidney to smell. I’ve got two.” Then her face broke out in a smile. “And a baby soon! I hope it’s a girl to even things out.”

“My mom says we have
different
relatives she doesn’t want me to meet yet,” Aneta volunteered.

“Are you kidding? I’ve been called
different
all my life. What’s the big deal?” Sunny trotted up and down the stairs.

Esther remained doubtful, but said, “Okay, just so you know what you’re getting yourself into. Vee, can we use the ATP and see if my mom says it’s all right and everyone else?”

Vee pulled it from her pocket and handed it to Esther.

As she tapped in her home number and held the phone to her ear, a chill ran up her neck.
If this doesn’t work, I might be glad to move
.

Asking Imogene

A
n hour later, Esther took in a deep breath and opened the door to her house. The girls crowded in the entryway. Mom appeared at the top of the stairs, a welcoming smile on her face. “Hi, girls!” She pointed to the living room. As the girls settled in the couch and love seat under the soaring cathedral ceilings, Siddy tore down the hall and launched himself at Esther. “Esther is here!”

“That looks familiar,” Vee remarked. “The Twin Terrors do that to me all the time.”

Esther’s mom waved as she headed down the hall. “He loves those
Hey, Imogene!
books. C.P. will be here soon.”

“C.P.?” Aneta said.
“Our
C.P.?”

Esther’s mother nodded. “Siddy loves him. C.P. comes over and reads
Imogene
books over and over. Sometimes they act out the books in the backyard.” She sighed. “It’s…nice.”

It drove Esther crazy to read to Siddy. He had memorized a lot of the books and wouldn’t let her skip any words. He had to chant them along with her. The problem was Siddy had no sense of pacing and sped up and slowed down until Esther thought the top of her head would blow off.

Aneta picked up the first one.
“Imogene Tries Out,”
she read, opening the wide cover with a full-color drawing of a little girl with a gap-toothed smile, bushy black hair, and glasses with a Band-Aid wrapped around the nose part. She held pom-poms half her size. “Oh, look—Imogene is trying out to be a cheerleader.” Aneta turned a page.

The doorbell rang. Siddy ran to the top of the stairs with an armful of books. “Esther’s home! Esther’s home!”

Esther ruffled the top of his head as she ran down the stairs to let C.P. in. She never should have brought the girls. Finding something helpful about an imaginary kid? From a kid who couldn’t communicate? Crazy idea. “Hi, C.P. We need help. We need to know what Imogene says!”

C.P. pushed the last bit of what looked like a peanut butter sandwich into his mouth. C.P. was always eating. “What for? You never cared before.” He pushed past her and said to the small boy, “Good to see you. Thanks for coming.”