Wild Wings by Gill Lewis

Author:Gill Lewis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atheneum Books
Published: 2011-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

“Osprey!” said Euan, flopping down in the boat. He watched the osprey carry the trout back to the aerie, where the young osprey pulled it from him. “You’ve got osprey nesting on your farm. Why didn’t you tell us?”

I stared at the ripples of the boat’s wake. “They’re rare,” I mumbled. “Protected.”

“And you thought we’d go and blab to everyone,” said Euan. He looked hurt now, angry. “You didn’t think you could trust us?”

I grabbed the oars and pulled hard on them. “It wasn’t like that,” I said.

“Did she know?” asked Rob.

I nodded. “Iona found them. She saved them … Well, Iris that is.”

“Iris?” said Rob with a laugh.

“Yes, Iris,” I snapped. “Why d’you have to make a stupid, bloody joke out of everything?” I rowed the boat across the loch, the oars slapping in the water. The boat crunched on the gritty shore, and I jumped out and looped the rope over a tree stump. “I promised Iona I’d look after Iris. And I will. I’ll do it.”

I stormed off along the path. Rob and Euan had to run to catch up with me.

Rob grabbed me by the arm. “I’m sorry, all right?”

I turned on him angrily. “You said I was a complete loser, remember?”

“I was mad at you. You couldn’t be bothered with us anymore.”

“It was the ospreys,” I said. “I …” My voice trailed off, and I sank onto a damp, mossy stone.

Euan leaned against a tree. “So, where’s she now? Where’s Iris?”

“Gone,” I said. “She’s heading south for the winter.”

“So that’s it, is it?” said Euan. “You’ll have to wait till next year?”

I sat there picking the bits of moss and rolling them between my fingers.

“No,” I said.

Neither Rob nor Euan said a word.

I flicked the moss to the ground. “I can follow her. She’s got a radio transmitter on her back. I’ll see her journey all the way to Africa and back.”

“You’re kidding me?” said Rob. He was wide-eyed.

“No,” I said. “Iona and me, we helped fit the transmitter.”

“Now that is cool.” Rob whistled. “How do you track her?”

“On my computer,” I said.

“Can you show us?” said Rob.

I shrugged my shoulders.

Euan gave me a hard stare. “For God’s sake, Callum, we’re your mates. Can’t you trust us?”

I looked across at them. Dad was right. They were my friends, and right now, I needed them.

“Of course I trust you,” I said.

“Come on, then,” said Rob, picking up my rucksack. “I can’t wait to see this.”

Back in my bedroom, Euan and Rob leaned over my shoulder as I switched on the computer.

“Iris is in southern France,” I said. “She’ll have to fly over the Pyrenees soon.”

“The what?” said Rob.

“Pyrenees,” said Euan. “The mountains between France and Spain.”

I showed them how to tap in Iris’s code so we could find her position and plot it on the maps from Google Earth.

“Look,” I said. “That’s where she was an hour ago.”

August 25

19:00 GMT

Lourdes, South of France

43°05’08.94” N 0°05’43.43” W

Speed: 26 km/h

Altitude: 1.18 km

Direction: South

Total distance: 1,771.86 km

Rob took over the computer.

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