Zally's Book by Jan Bozarth

Author:Jan Bozarth
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780375893353
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2010-01-18T22:00:00+00:00

I took several bites, gave the monkeys a mock bow, said, “Thank you!” and sent them a vague idea that it was impolite to throw fruit. I’m not sure what they made of the thoughts I sent—but they did stop dropping things on us and simply swung through the trees above our heads from then on.

After that, I kept getting the feeling that someone or something was watching us from behind. I shook myself, trying to get the thought out of my head.

Behind me, Imishi said, “Ow. Ow—OW!”

I turned instantly, afraid some animal had chomped her arm as we’d ridden by. It was just the parrot perched atop the fairy’s head.

“He walked up my back with his talons!” she exclaimed.

I made sure to hold my smile until I was faced forward again.

Equally unconcerned, Kir continued onward.

“Safe now!” the bird squawked merrily.

I turned to give the parrot a stern look. He bobbed slightly but easily kept his balance, since he was grasping one of Imishi’s hair vines with both claws. “Listen, bird,” I said, “uh … I’m going to call you Monty from now on, okay? Anyway, Monty, you can’t just walk all over people and hurt them. If you want to stay with us, you need to become part of our team and not cause problems, understand?”

He bobbed his head.

I sent him as clear a picture as I could of him moving to Imishi’s shoulder and sitting still. “And don’t dig your claws into her,” I added. As I said it, Monty hopped onto Imishi’s shoulder. Talking to animals was awesome; I hoped with all my heart that it was a skill that wouldn’t go away when I woke up at home.

We continued in contented silence until we left the jungle entirely. Waving good-bye to the spider monkeys, Imishi said, “Do you know where we are, or should we stop so you can map some more?”

I tried to feel the pull of which direction to go next. I couldn’t, so we took a short rest to give me time to sketch a couple more areas on the map. Because it had fascinated me and seemed good for the general purpose of mapping Aventurine, I quickly drew the area of Ool-Kib I had seen on the observatory wall. After that, I let my eyes unfocus and my mind drift. It didn’t take long to lose myself in a sketching trance, my hand just going by itself. When I finished and looked up, the sun was still high overhead.

“Done already?” Imishi asked.

I smiled and ran my finger across the map to show her where we were going. “Yes, I think this is all of it.” I pointed to a hill and said, “Kib Valley should be just beyond this. It shouldn’t take us more than a day.”

Imishi’s face lit up at that. Monty hopped onto my shoulder, eyed my drawing, and tapped his beak on a spot right next to my picture of the jungle. “We’re here, we’re here!”

“Be careful with that!” I said, shooing him away, rolling up the map, and putting it back into my bag.

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