“I’m not ready at all,” he confessed with a heavy sigh. “Pringle never came back.”
“What?” I stared at him as if I’d be able to read the explanation on his face. “But it’s been over a week.”
Charles tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, a nervous tic of his. “I know. That’s why I’m so worried. Do you think something happened to him?”
Dread flooded my gut. For all his faults, Pringle was my friend. A colleague, too. I hated to think that something may have happened to him.
“I’m sure he’s okay.” I forced a smile and placed my hand on Charles’s arm to steady his anxious rapping at the wheel. “He probably just got distracted and lost track of time. That’s all.”
“So what do we do without his evidence? I know none of the facts beyond what we were initially told, and something feels off about the story they told us. If their case is so cut and dry, why do they need us in the first place? Why did that one bird stay on me day in and day out while all the others waited in my yard?”
I knew he would feel better if he had answers going in, but unfortunately there was nothing to be done now. All I could do was try to comfort him and pray this would be finished quickly. “I know you want to do a good job and that you want to be on the side of truth and justice here, but you can only do so much. Present your argument, and then let the birds figure out the rest.”
“I know you’re right. Of course I do, but my intuition keeps gnawing at me. Something’s not right.”
I rubbed his arm soothingly and changed the topic. Talking about all the pieces we didn’t have would only make defending the seagulls’ right to the land that much more difficult for him.
We pulled into the empty strip mall parking lot and found the entire flock waiting for us. Once again, they led us back to the clearing in the field, and there a second even larger flock waited.
“Are we ready to begin proceedings?” A one-legged seagull cawed. I tried not to stare, but he caught me looking, anyway, and shrieked, “Our human guests must show proper respect for the court!”
My poor ears. “Ouch, ouch, okay. Sorry,” I muttered as they continued to ring.
Bravo landed on Charles’s shoulder. “Go get ‘em, tiger.”
And Alpha took up a perch on mine. “You better pray he doesn’t mess this one up.”
Gulp.
“So where’s your flock’s lawyer?” I asked the one-legged gull.
“I am the judge here!” he cried even louder than the first time.
“I will be presenting the case on behalf of Flock 84,” a young female bird announced, extending one wing in greeting.
“All rise,” Judgey McJudgerson said while glaring at us.
I bit my lip to stop myself from pointing out that we were all already standing. Given how loud his caws could be, I definitely didn’t want to do anything else that could upset the one-legged banshee.
He glanced at Charles and me then to the bird lawyer and began, “We are gathered here today in holy legality to discuss the dispute between flocks 82 and 84 over the territory previously held by Flock 83. Are there any objections? If so, speak them now or forever hold your peace.”
Um, why had the seagulls selected human law to decide this case when they clearly knew so little about it? I couldn’t tell if I was in a courtroom or at a wedding altar. As ridiculous as this all felt, I also knew that the best way to get through to any animal was to act natural and play by their rules.
So I stepped forward, swallowed hard, and said, “I object.”
All eyes zoomed to me, including Charles’s.
“Sweetie,” he whispered at me. “What are you objecting to? The trial hasn’t even begun yet?”
I didn’t know, but I also didn’t want to lose the opportunity to object if that wasn’t going to be allowed later on.
“Please state your objection for the congregation,” said the bird judge or minister—honestly I didn’t even know anymore.
I cleared my throat and spoke up loud and clear. “I object because this is a case about seagull rights and should, uh, thusly, not be decided by human laws.”
He cocked his head to the side. “Interesting. Do go on.”
“Hey, kid!” Alpha squawked in my ear. “What are you doing to me here? Did you forget our deal?”
But I refused to back down. Something about this case had left Charles unsettled. If our situations were reversed, he never would have forced me to go forward with this. I wanted to meet my bio grandma, yes, but knowing she was out there and close by could be enough of an advantage to find her on my own.
“Since the disputed territory belongs to Flock 83, I propose we let them decide whether 82 or 84 will acquire it in their absence.”
“But Flock 83 disappeared. Nobody knows where they went,” Bravo said from his place on Charles’s shoulder.
I raised both eyebrows. “And don’t you find that a bit curious?”
“Angie, what are you doing?” Charles whisper-yelled as he grabbed onto my upper arm. “This case is open and shut. Let me tell them about the precedents, and we can all go home happy.”
I shook my head hard. I hadn’t known where I was going with this when I first claimed my objection, but now I knew exactly what needed to be done. “No,” I said firmly. “You wouldn’t be happy. Not without knowing.”
“Listen to your mate,” Alpha hissed at me. “Do what we hired you to do, or you’ll be sorry.”
“No, you’re the one who will be sorry!” Pringle shouted, charging onto the scene with a fuzzy brown chick on his back—a baby seagull, I realized.
Exactly three thoughts ran through my head at that moment:
Pringle was alive!
He had discovered something important!
And it would be a lot longer until I got to meet my long-lost grandmother…
Chapter Twenty
“What is the meaning of this?” the judge bird demanded of the raccoon. Spotting the little one, however, he immediately changed his tone. “Oh, hello there, chicky. This is no place for youngsters, I’m afraid.”
“I may be young of age, but I am old in experience.” The baby gull’s voice came out high and squeaky and so, so cute. “I have seen things, escaped things, that no bird should ever witness.”
“Throw her out of here. We have a very important trial to run, and we need to do so without any more delays!” Alpha declared, swooping down from my shoulder and landing before the judge.
Pringle stood on his hind legs and clutched the fluffy chick to his chest defensively. “Quit your yapping and listen to my friend Abigull here. It’s because of her I’m going to get my treasure.”
I held my breath and waited. Whatever Abigull revealed next, I knew it would decide what happened in this field today.
Alpha spread his wings wide and charged at the raccoon. “We don’t have to listen to you, you filthy—”
Pringle bared his teeth and hissed, which had Alpha immediately changing course and flying to the nearest tree for cover.
“Go on, Abigull. This is a safe place,” the judge nudged.
She hopped out of Pringle’s hands and onto the ground, then began her harrowing tale. “I was hatched in Flock 83. I loved it there with my family and had just started practicing leaving the nest. One day I came home after exploring and found that everyone had gone away. Every single bird. I cried out for my momma but couldn’t find her anywhere. Then I saw that guy.” She stopped and motioned toward Alpha with her beak. “I saw him pecking around, so decided to follow him for a closer look. That’s when I found him talking to a cat. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but the next thing I knew the cat had a dead seagull in its mouth and was shouting ‘pleasure doing business with you!’ I still wasn’t a very good flyer, so I ran and hid. And I’ve been hiding ever since. Well, until Pringle found me.”