NO ORDINARY OWL (2 page)

“You didn’t even say anything when the Bird Lady asked if anyone knew what the birds of prey were called.” Sunny was riding in circles in the emptying parking lot.

“You already told us they were raptors, and these raptors weren’t dinosaurs,” Aneta chimed in, stepping to her bike, helmet and raincoat in place. Squeezing her brakes to test them, she added, “Hooray for a Squad sleepover tonight at Sunny’s Uncle Dave’s house!”

Esther cleared her throat. “I was in shock.” She sucked in a deep breath before they could ask why and said, “Melissa is back!”

She waited for the reaction.

“She’s in France.” Vee climbed on her bike, pushed off, and began to pedal.

“Lovely, faraway France,” Aneta said happily, pedaling after her.

“C’mon. We’ve got to beat Uncle Dave to the ranch.” Sunny zipped by on her bike. “If he beats us from leaving Aneta’s house, we have to muck stalls tonight.”

Climbing on her bike, Esther wanted to shout that they needed to
listen
to her, that Melissa was
back
. Then, after Sunny’s words zapped her mind, she began to pedal. Mucking stalls versus insisting the girls listen to her right now? She’d tell them at the ranch. Quickly snapping up her raincoat, Esther pushed away Melissa’s threat. The Squad would know what to do about Melissa.

With Sunny and Vee out in front, Esther pedaled next to Aneta. Two side by side was the max when riding the wide road shoulder out to Uncle Dave’s ranch. She sent a smile toward Aneta. While Aneta could smoke both Vee and Sunny with her swimmer’s legs, she gave no sign of wanting to leave Esther as the slowest and last in line. Two by two. Squad rule for bike riding. That and helmets. Always. Like Vee said, “I plan on using my brains for a very long time. I want to keep them in my head.”

Was that a growl of thunder? Esther squinted at the sky. The afternoon brightness that had followed them out of the parking lot now skittered away to hide behind gloomy clouds. It reminded her of how the mention of Melissa’s name
gloomified
everything. Good thing they had their raincoats. A ways up on the right was the haunted mansion with the creepy black-iron fence and giant gate. Once they passed that, only one other driveway on the right remained, then a left turn off the road and they were home free for the fast pedal to Secondhand Horse Ranch and fun. They’d spend the night and then go to Esther’s church together tomorrow.

“I love sleepovers at Dave’s ranch. We get to play with all the animals.” How Aneta could look dreamy eyed and still keep her bike on the road, Esther couldn’t imagine. If Esther had been daydreaming like that, she’d be off in the ditch.

After they left the city streets behind and fewer and fewer houses dotted the country road, Esther called for a rest. Although she hated to, because she was slowest of all of them, but she was going to fall over if she didn’t. She’d never catch up with them. Aneta accelerated and brought back Sunny and Vee, who were speeding along out of earshot.

“Hey, a stop works for me.” Vee pulled the top up on her water bottle and took a swig. “Guess what? You’ll never guess the big surprise and change coming to
my
house. I didn’t even believe it at first.”

Change?
That word again. What could Vee’s news be? By the way Vee was holding back a flat-out grin from shooting across her face, Esther knew it must be an award at school. Vee attended the Accelerated Learning Center at Moby Perkins Elementary School. Vee liked to think she was the smartest Squad member. Esther wasn’t sure, since she herself was always on the high honor roll at Oakton Victory Academy
and
the sixth-grade computer coordinator.
Maybe we’re just the smartest at different things
.

“My mom is having a baby!” Vee burst out, not waiting for guesses.

Shrieks erupted from all four girls, their voices spilling down the deserted road. The sun jumped out briefly as though celebrating with them.

Esther shrugged in the warmth. “Your mom! Bill will be the coolest dad!” Vee’s stepdad, Bill, worked on huge diesels and had a garage at home that the girls were convinced had secret treasure. The trouble was, they weren’t allowed in it. Only Vee, and only once when she had convinced Bill to let her organize it. Vee reported there were some high-potential boxes to investigate, labeled “other jobs” that were steel suitcases strapped and locked.

“I have a surprise, too!” Aneta’s blue eyes were shining with her secret. “My mom—I think”—Aneta turned to Sunny—“likes your uncle Dave a lot.”

“Really?” Sunny’s exaggerated looks at Esther and Vee put a furrow in Aneta’s brow. “Ready, girls?”

“What took you so long?” The three shouted so piercingly it set off an echo with “longggg, ongggg, onnggggg!”

Their friend look confused. “I do not understand.” When Aneta was uncertain or frightened, her English took a dive. Otherwise, their Ukrainian transplant friend did great with her English. Especially after Melissa Dayton-Snipp left Cunningham Preparatory Academy. Having Melissa gone had been good for everyone, in Esther’s opinion. Since everyone was telling news, now was a good time to tell the girls Melissa was back.

“We knew it during the last adventure!” Esther said. Well, she’d been the third to know, but still, she’d known before Aneta. Sunny and Vee had been shooting sideways looks at each other. At first, Esther thought they were having a secret and leaving Esther and Aneta out, but then she’d seen how Sunny’s uncle—never married—and Aneta’s never-married mom spent a lot of time laughing and talking at Uncle Dave’s ranch.

“Tell us why you think they like each other,” Vee said. “I’m an expert, since Mom and Bill got together.”

The furrow disappeared between Aneta’s eyes when she smiled. “He calls my mom every day after she gets home from work. He comes over to eat dinner with us a lot, and”—the blue eyes turned from bright blue to dark—“my mom is making a
lot
of peanut butter cookies!”

“It must be true!” Sunny spun.

Esther smothered a laugh. Whenever Aneta’s mother had something big to think about, she made peanut butter cookies. During the girls’ first adventure, Aneta had gone to sleep several nights with the smell of baking cookies in her nose. It was the only time Aneta’s mother cooked. Usually Aneta’s grandmother brought over meals to bless Aneta’s mom who worked hard as a lawyer.

Opening her mouth to spill the news that would be more giant than either of those changes—
Melissa is back!
—Esther was interrupted by Sunny.

“Well, my parents changed their mind and said if you guys had Spring Break, I could, too!” Sunny was homeschooled.

“The rest of this school year is going to be great.” Vee seemed so happy with the change that was coming to her house. Aneta and Sunny, too. Esther wasn’t so sure about her house. She suspected something was up at home, and it couldn’t be good. Mom was cleaning more than usual, and Dad was snapping orders when he was home. Which wasn’t much, since he pastored a church.

“I love us!” She interrupted Sunny who was telling how her brother had been busted while making the family lunch. He’d been biting tiny bites of sweet pickle and spitting them into the tuna salad because he wasn’t allowed to use a knife.

Aneta turned a grimacing face to Esther. “What did you say, Esther? That is so gross, Sunny. I will
never
eat tuna salad again.”

“I said I love us,” Esther repeated, putting her water bottle back in the bracket. “I hope we stay the S.A.V.E. Squad forever, saving the world one animal at a time.” It seemed crummy to tell such bad Melissa news along with everyone’s
good
news. She hesitated.

“We’ll always be the S.A.V.E. Squad, but we haven’t had an animal rescue since forever.” Vee played with the strap of her helmet. “It’s not like these kinds of birds we saw at the bird show are going to show up for us to help.”

The girls laughed, Esther the hardest.
Sure
. A turkey buzzard, a peregrine falcon, and some bird she couldn’t remember. She’d taken a quick look at them before the show was over. No cuddling those wild ones.

“Ready to head for the ranch?” Sunny stood poised, her right foot on the pedal and her left foot ready to push off.

“Ready!” sang out Esther. This sleepover would be the official beginning to Spring Break. As soon as they got to the ranch, she’d tell the girls about Melissa. For sure.

A slight bend in the road curved them right, and the black wrought-iron fence began, twisted with the underbrush of winter. Some of it leaned crazily outward like medieval spikes. Esther shivered, not sure if it was because the temperature was dropping or because they were now passing the
way tall
double gate with the big padlock and some square box with buttons on it. Two hulking metal bird sculptures crouched on top of the tallest spikes. The whole entrance looked like a scene out of a scary story when stupid kids investigated where they had no business going.

Plunged immediately away from the gate, the many-puddled dirt driveway disappeared into a dark overhang of evergreen and bare-branched trees. Vee’s mom, who was a real-estate agent, had told the girls a Victorian mansion stood at the end of that road. She’d seen it when it was up for sale a few years ago. Back before the mysterious man nobody ever saw—and it was rumored,
hated children
—bought it. Another shiver chilled Esther and, glancing over at Aneta who was also darting glances at the gate, said, “Let’s hurry. I’m cold. That place is creepy.”

“It looks like ghosts live there,” Aneta said, pushing more firmly on her pedals.

An unearthly scream split the air. It began loudly and then tapered away to a screechy gasp.

“What”—Esther said, running off the road into the dirt, narrowly missing the ditch,—“was that?”

“It must be one of the ghosts!”

“There’s no such thing as ghosts.” Even though Esther knew she was right, it didn’t stop her from getting back on and pumping her bike pedals.

In seconds they had caught up to Sunny and Vee.

The redhead circled her bike to swoop by Aneta and Esther. “We made it past the haunted house without getting sucked in by the ghosts!” Her usual mischievous grin preceded a big giggle, and she was off again.

“You didn’t hear the scream?” Aneta asked.

Sunny gave her a funny look as she rolled past to ride just a bit in front of Vee. “We’re living the yayness!”

I bet she can’t tell if Aneta is joking or not
. Watching Sunny and Vee, Esther knew exactly what Vee would do, and she did. Standing up on her pedals, the long-legged and fastest runner of the Squad pumped twice, caught up to the shorter girl, and kept juuuusssst a tiny bit ahead of Sunny. Vee liked to win.

“Living the yayness!” Esther grinned and threw a look over her shoulder. A truck was a long way back. She pedaled harder. “Let’s pass Sunny and Vee, Aneta. That truck is a long ways back. I bet Sunny and Vee think we’re slower than frozen honey!” She glanced over at her friend. “Ready, set, stand, and pump it!”

She and Aneta stood on their pedals, laughing at their flapping rain slickers.

“We are flying now!” Aneta hollered, her long blond ponytail flopping like a horse tail. “I hope we do not get rained on.” She pumped easily while Esther puffed.

I want us to live the yayness of the S.A.V.E. Squad when we’re a hundred and eighty years old
.

They pumped, laughed, and almost caught up to Sunny and Vee when a thunderclap shattered their laughter into shrieks.

When had it turned like almost night? The wind, which had been behind them, viciously folded in on itself and now shoved at them, daring Esther and Aneta to gain any further ground. Heavy raindrops fell, some so big they hurt when they smacked on Esther’s helmet, some slipping between the air vents. “Ow!”

Lightning. Lightning. What were you supposed to do when the sky spit bolts of lightning? Besides not be
outside
. Esther mentally scrambled through memories of fifth-grade weather camp.

Another bolt split the sky. Esther counted, but no thunder followed. She stopped at ten. This was good. Her dad had taught her that counting the seconds between a lightning bolt and a thunder boom told you how many miles away the full storm was. Count three seconds, and the rain was three miles away.
Counting storms
, she thought, wishing Uncle Dave’s ranch was closer,
is more fun when you’re on a back porch watching it
.

Crrrrr-accckkkk!
Another bolt.

Aneta screamed, her face furrowed in fear as she turned a wet face to Esther. “What do we
do?”

Sunny turned and yelled something like “Pedal for all you’re worth!” or maybe it was “Get down in the dirt”?

“There’s a ditch by that big tree! We can hide there!” Vee leaped off her bike, tripped on the gravel, and tumbled toward the edge of the shallow ditch, her bike falling with her. Or rather, on top of her.

“Vee!” Aneta, Sunny, and Esther screeched.

“I’m okay, I’m okay.” Her face twisted—probably so she wouldn’t cry. Vee stood up and brushed herself off. “I think I’ll live.” Her clean jeans now had muddied knees. The palms of her hands were muddy and scraped. “C’mon, let’s lie down in here so we’re not the tallest things on the road.”