Jake Reynolds by Sara Leach

Author:Sara Leach
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUV000000
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2009-10-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

The noise sorted itself into sounds Jake could recognize—like several eagles screeching at once, only higher-pitched.

“What’s that?”

“I bet there’s an aerie up there,” Emily said. “An eagle’s nest.” She started jumping up and down and pointing. “It is an aerie. I see one. I see an eaglet!”

“Where?”

“On the third big branch up. It doesn’t have a white head. They must turn white as they get older.”

Jake realized the brown lump he’d been looking at was actually a bird. He saw two more near it. “There are three of them. And look, there’s the mom.” An adult eagle rested on a branch nearby, staring at Jake and Emily.

“Do you think they always make so much noise?” Emily asked.

“Maybe they’re hungry.” Jake pointed to the water.

“Look, here comes lunch.”

Another bald eagle swooped into the tree, holding a silver fish in its talons. Jake guessed it must be the father. It dropped the salmon into the nest, where it was quickly ripped apart by the smaller birds. They were quiet for a moment, and then the screeching started up again. The mother eagle took off immediately.

“It only took them a few seconds to eat that huge fish,” Emily said.

“I know.”

“Let’s see what the mother comes back with,” Jake said.

“Sure, let’s wait a few minutes,” Emily said.

Jake sat down on a soft patch of leaves and moss and leaned against a log. “So do you think it was the wolf that ate the chickens?”

“Probably. I know George said it was an eagle, but they hunt during the day. Don’t you think someone would have seen or heard it scooping up a chicken?”

Jake smiled to himself. He loved being right. “Why didn’t they hear the wolf then?”

“I bet the wolf snuck into the coop at night, killed a chicken and ate it over by the garden.”

Jake shuddered. “I heard a wolf howling the other night. Maybe it was hunting the chickens.”

“What? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I tried, when we were with Sierra. You didn’t want to listen to anything about wolves.”

“What did it sound like?”

“Scary.”

Emily sat back against the log. “I wish I’d heard it too.”

“Are you crazy?”

“It’s not like people hear wolves howl every day,” Emily said. “That’s really special.”

He bit his lip to hide a smile. It felt good to know something Emily didn’t, even if it hadn’t felt special to him at the time.

“I don’t think it was howling when it attacked the chickens though,” she said.

“Why not?”

“They don’t howl when they’re hunting, because that lets their prey know they’re coming.”

“That makes sense.” Jake thought about Mr.

Timmins’s fuzzy pictures. “Maybe it was howling to find a mate.”

Emily nodded. “Good thinking. I guess it worked.”

Something loud cracked behind them. With his heart pounding, Jake leapt up and spun around, expecting to see fierce jaws lunging toward him.

“Oh, look,” murmured Emily. “It’s a deer with a fawn. The baby still has its white spots. Aren’t they cute?”

Jake started breathing again.

“You’re like the kid in the fairy tale who always cries wolf,” Emily whispered.

“It could have been one,” Jake said.

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