Canary

Chapter 34: The Action Plan

Siren's Human was missing.

There was something wrong with the air when Siren collapsed. When she awoke – it was gone. She thought that would be the end of that story, but that was not to be. Her Human's mum came and picked her up from the strange place she'd found herself in – with white walls and shiny, metal cages. She was quite happy to be back with that Human. She had to be on her list of top ten Humans.

But she seemed... sad. Which wasn't good at all. Siren tried to cheer her up with her singing, which usually helped – but it just seemed to make her face leak more water, which couldn't have been a good thing.

She took Siren home, and Siren was quick to fly across the house to her room. Her Human lived there too, because she was kind enough to share it with him. But... it was dark inside. That wasn't right – the miniature sun should be alight in the middle of the room unless her Human was sleeping. She pecked at the white thing which made it day inside again, but her Human didn't seem to be asleep at all. In fact, his nest was empty and his bags were all on it – untouched.

Siren perched by her nest. Maybe her Human was hiding – how silly of him. So, she hopped over to her bell and pecked at it. It made a very satisfying ringing noise that often succeeded in making her Human wake up or come and check on her.

However, after persistent ringing for far longer than usual, only the Mum Human appeared at the doorway.

Siren stopped, cocking her head to one side as she tweeted at her in confusion.

She sniffed, "He's gone, Siren."

Siren turned her head from the empty room and back to Mum Human. She chirped at her again. This didn't make sense – her Human wasn't allowed to go anywhere without her. Where did he go?

"The villains took him a-away," she sobbed, falling to her knees. "And we d-don't know if he'll ever come b-back..."

Siren sat there for a moment. No – this wasn't right, not at all. Her Human was... in danger? Then why wasn't she with him?!

She took one glance at the open window and took off. She had to find him!

But... she couldn't.

The little green bird flew as far as her wings could carry her. She visited UA – the radio show – the beach – the dance studio. Everywhere across the city that her Human could possibly have gone to – but he was nowhere to be found.

She was tired; she was hungry.

She flew home and Mum Human cried again when she saw her.

But Siren didn't have the heart to sing to cheer her up. Siren didn't have enough cheer to go around.

Mum Human took Siren back to the place with the white walls – she didn't know why. Maybe it was because she wasn't singing anymore. But she wasn't sick. And she wasn't mute either. Siren could sing if she wanted to. But it was just so much easier to fade into the background – to not make a fuss or make things worse. That was what female canaries were supposed to do. They were quiet.

Siren was with her Human's friend now – the purple one.

He was sad too; she could tell.

But Siren was a little happier now she was with him. She was in the know – she'd met all of her Human's Humans and was still working on the names for a lot of them.

She had spent the last few days in a new place for the Humans at school. They had all their nests close to each other, which was nice to see. And they all said hello to her a lot and gave her lots of food. She wasn't in the mood to eat much of it – but she appreciated the gesture.