Of a Feather by Dayna Lorentz

Author:Dayna Lorentz [Lorentz, Dayna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780358378587
Publisher: HMH Books
Published: 2020-02-09T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

The three of us spend the bus ride home coming up with supervillain nicknames for our teachers.

“Ms. Smythe is the Rock,” I say.

“No, the Ice Queen,” Jamie says, leaning across the aisle.

“The Ice Cube,” Jaxon says. “For math.”

We all agree—Ice Cube it is.

When we get home, I find the crackers and fill some mason jars from the tap. It’s kind of cheap, but Jamie and Jaxon don’t say anything. We’re too busy negotiating a name for Ms. Thomas, the English teacher.

“Something evil,” I say, “because she’s so mean and yet pretends to be nice.”

“She’s the Ice Queen,” Jaxon says, pointing a shard of cracker at me.

“Two-Face,” Jamie states.

Jaxon considers the proposal. “The bad guy from Batman?” he asks.

Jamie nods, shoving a stack of crackers into her mouth. She glances at my face. “I’ll give you an explanatory comic.”

“Perfect,” I say. Jamie’s instructing me in comprehending Jamie-Jaxon-ese.

But the name “Two-Face” claws its way under my skin. I have so many secrets. If I told them even one, would they be here now?

“So your aunt lives here with your family?” Jamie asks. “Your aunt’s the falconer, right?”

“My aunt—” I begin. Any answer is either a lie or a risk. I wait for the buzz, but no hiss rises. “I live with my aunt,” I say, testing the truth. “My mom—she’s sick.”

“Oh,” Jamie says.

“That’s rough,” Jaxon says.

“That’s super rough,” Jamie adds, like he gave her the right word to use.

“It is,” I say. And this relief like cool water fills me to my forehead.

Jaxon grabs another cracker. “These are good.”

Jamie crunches a bite of hers. “They’re like healthy cookies.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” I say, checking the ingredients on the side of the box.

And we all kind of laugh. I opened this tiny piece of myself up to them, and they stayed. They think my crackers are good enough to be called cookies.

I put the box down. “Do you guys want to meet Red?”

They both jump out of their chairs.

When Aunt Bea comes home, she kind of freezes when she sees the two additional kids in the yard.

“I wanted to show them Red,” I say. “For our hunting project.”

She drops her keys into a pocket. “Then I won’t take my coat off.”

Aunt Bea is a pro; she explains everything step by step to Jaxon and Jamie. “These buildings are called mews, which is where the birds live. This glove I’m putting on is called a gauntlet.”

When she brings Red out, Jamie and Jaxon nearly fall over. Watching Red soar, I feel like a proud mom—as if I have anything to do with her magnificence.

“You want to try calling her?” Aunt Bea asks Jamie and Jaxon.

Jamie nearly faints. Jaxon holds out his arm. Aunt Bea gives him a glove and then puts a tidbit on it and whistles. Red comes soaring down and even Jaxon can’t help but laugh and smile like a goof. Aunt Bea shows him how to cast Red, and she glides off into the trees. Jamie regains the power of speech and asks for a turn.

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