The Eight

Chapter 2 - Birds And Beasts

Breanna opened her mouth but before she could say anything the giant eagle swooped on her and grabbed her arms with its huge talons. Too shocked to say anything, Breanna hung limply, legs swinging, and hoping desperately that she wouldn't be bird food.

She vaguely thought she heard a scream somewhere, but her shocked mind couldn't process it. It was startled into action, however, when Breanna's legs hit the branches of a tree and then she was falling, falling through the boughs until she hit one, square in the middle, and came to a stop. Limbs scratched, clothes ripped, she clambered into a sitting position, wincing at the pain in her ribs.

Still need to work on that landing, then, said a voice in her mind. Breanna was so shocked she nearly fell again, and looked all around as if she could see the voice's owner. Eventually, her eyes came to rest on the great white-tailed eagle circling above her, and she quailed from its vast size. The voice in her head returned. Sorry about that, it said. The drop, I mean. I know I wasn't supposed to do that, but it's my first time carrying a...human. I'll let you ride on my back next time. Like you're supposed to... Anyway, you should get back to that horse. But keep us both a secret, ok?

And with that, the eagle flew off towards the small beaches beyond the headland. Breanna just stared. Was it the eagle that had been talking in her head? Why was she so reluctant to move when she should have run as fast as she could back home?

Suddenly exhausted, Breanna heaved her tall frame off the edge of the branch - luckily a low one - and dropped to the ground, starting back home. She would have to tell everyone about this...

Faintly, the soft echo of laughter rolled around her mind.

***

Cera's scream went on and on, the shrill sound startling the leopard in the tree. Leaping down, it loped over to the trampoline, which it gladly hid under. Following its path, Cera's gaze was caught by something else, perched on the roof of the community centre at the bottom of her garden. The sight of it was all to much for the shaken teen, and she ran back out the gate and onto the pavement, heading for the beach where her parents would be. But before she even went ten steps down the road the bird from the roof was upon her, angling its wings so it could fit through the gap between the cars and garden fences and snatching her up into the air. Cera would have screamed again if her throat wasn't so hoarse, so instead she kicked her legs and struggled against the claws circling her arms. One glance down and she decided that was a bad idea, and clung to the bird's legs for dear life. It wasn't exactly exciting, dangling hundreds of feet above the ground in the black-clawed grasp of a giant osprey. Cera gulped as it banked, starting to slow down, and went back towards her house, getting closer and closer to the ground until---

Cera's legs collided with the pristine grass of the bowling green, and she stumbled a good few metres before falling to her knees. The osprey, meanwhile, settled itself on the roof of the bowling club building and stared at the girl intently.

Cera curled up in a little ball, her eyes wide and her mind shutting down, apart from one tiny little place where there seemed to be...a voice?

How was that landing? Not bad, right? the voice said. Slowly, Cera turned her head to look at the beautiful bird, who was staring at her intelligently, head cocked to one side. The voice in her head spoke again.

What? Never seen a giant osprey before? Well, I suppose not, but it's still rude to stare. Cera looked away politely at this, even though every ounce of her body screamed at her to get up and run to somewhere the bird couldn't get her.

I must go now, you can climb over the wall to get back to the pavement. Oh, and don't mind the leopard. Rocky's your friend. And, with that, the unusually large bird flew off over the trees and left the dazed girl wondering what on earth just happened.