"Hey Lacey!" Lacey woke with a start her heart pounding; she jumped out of bed and ran out onto the limb. "What's the matter? Where are you?" Lacey called out as she started to climb down the tree. "I'm over here." Silvia called from around the other side of the tree. "Come see this, you have got to see what Lilly can do."
As Lacey came around the tree, she jumped in fright, her dress tuning a bright glowing yellow at the sight of the white bird behind Silvia. It stood twice as tall as her with feathers as white as shining snow and each one tipped with shining Silvia.
"Wow." Lacey exclaimed in shock. "It is a beautiful color, is this what it is going to look like when it is full grown or is it going to change to be the same color as the other ones?" Lacey asked as her fear started to subside.
"I don't know." Silvia replied. "She is three months old now. And her fluff is all gone, all that is left are her feathers now so maybe this is the color she will always be? I guess we will find out as she grows. Now come watch what I have taught her to do."
Lacey's dress stayed a bright yellow as she followed Silvia toward the meadow. When they got to the meadow, Silvia grabbed a big stick off the ground and threw it, it landed across the meadow. Lilly took off after it at a run with wings flapping sending dust into the air, Lacey covered her mouth coughing, There was a loud shout and words yelled that lacey didn't recognized.
Lilly tried to stop and landed face first in the grass, Tim popped up and out of the grass, sword drawn, Silvia gasped. "Tim" She yelled running to stand in front of Lilly who had got herself up and was staring at Tim with curiosity.
"PUT THAT AWAY! You are scaring her!" Tim lowered his sword and looked from Silvia to Lacey. "What's going on?" He asked. "You know that baby bird I told you Silvia had found, this is her." She said pointing at Lilly. "But it's so big, when you said baby bird, I thought..." Tim said looking at Lilly.
"It's so big." He said. "Its name is Lilly." Silvia said turning to pet her between the eyes. Tim stared in ah at the giant bird. Again, he whispered. "It's so big." Lacey walked over to where Silvia was petting Lilly, slowly putting out her hand she asked.
"Can I pet her?". "Sure." Silvia responded. "She likes it best right here between the eyes." Lacey kept on petting as Silvia turned to Tim who was still rooted in place almost as still as a statue staring at the bird.
"It's so big you could practically ride it." Exclaimed Tim. "She hasn't started flying yet though." Replied Silvia. "But she does have all her feathers now so maybe she will soon. She is very smart and responds to all my commands.
She has caught on to everything I have taught her very quickly. I think that she is ready to start to learn how to fly." Silvia continued to demonstrate all of the tricks and things that she and Lilly had been learning. The three children laughed and played with Lilly until the sun began to set.
"We better head back now." Lacey gasped as she lay down in the grassy meadow. "It is starting to get dark and I'm starving. We have been having so much fun that none of us have eaten all day."
"So, what does the bird eat?" Asked Tim as they headed back towards the lagoon. "Same things we do." Replied Silvia. "Well that's good." Tim said. "It would be terrible if it wanted to eat us one of these days." Silvia stopped suddenly and turned to Tim with anger in her eyes.
"How dare you even suggest such a thing!" She growled. "Lilly is our friend! I am the only mother she has ever know!" Tim quickly put his hands in defense stammering. "Woah, I didn't mean anything bad, it is just so big and it seems like it would not be hard for it to do it."
Silvia stopped short her face becoming even harder. "You..". "Hey." Lacey cut in. "You really should keep your mouth shut Tim, before she knocks it off."
"And Silvia, clam down, he didn't mean anything, he is just curious." Silvia still faced Tim; her fists clenched tightly. "Come on Silvia, you know how he is, doesn't know when to just be quit, just let it go." Lacey continued, Silvia started to unclench her hands and har face softened a little.
"Just don't say or even suggest such a thing again. Do you hear me?". "O, K. o, K." Tim stammered. "I promise I won't suggest anything like that again." Silvia turned and started walking again.
Lilly and lacey followed. Tim stood still stunned for a minute and then run to catch up. As he come up beside Silvia again, he began talking excitedly. "When you teach her to fly can I have a ride?". "We will see." Silvia said.
The next morning Lacey was up bright and early and headed up to the edge of the mountain where Silvia said she was going to be teaching Lilly how to fly. As she walked along the path, she was humming a happy little tune.
"Hey Lacey, wait up." She heard Tim shout, she stopped and waited still humming her tune. "Well good morning." She said cheerily as Tim came up beside her, breathless from running to ketch up. "This is so exciting. It will be so neat to see that bird fly. Maybe we will be able to use it to get off this island." Lacey stopped humming.
"That is an interesting thought. We will have to see what Silvia thinks about that." They continued up the path towards the mountain with Tim rattling on and Lacey only half listening. As they got closer to the side of the mountain, they saw Silvia and the bird up on a ledge about as high as a three story buiding feet up.
Silvia had a piece of something in her hand holding it out to the bird coaxing her out onto the ledge a little further. As they got even closer and started climbing, they saw her trying to get it to jump off the ledge. Lacey could see that Lilly did not want to do it.
Lacey and Tim quickly hiked up to the ledge where Silvia and Lilly were. Lacey could see that Lilly was scared and did not want to jump. "She hasn't seen anything fly before she is used to being like us and just walking." Said Lacey.
"What are we going to do?" "She probably would if you did." Said Tim. "Well this is too high for me to jump from." Replied Silvia. "We could just push her off." Replied Tim, Silvia turned to him quickly. "Don't you dare!" She said. "Just giving suggestions." He replied defensively. "How else is she going to know she can fly?" He continued.
"I have a suggestion." Lacey chimed in. "What if we go down lower where we can jump from, starting at little rocks and then getting to the bigger boulders? What do you think about that?" "That sounds like a better idea than the other one." Replied Silvia.
"Come on let's go." They headed back down the side of the mountain. When they got to the bottom, they each stood on a rock and jumped off. The bird just watched. After about fifteen minutes of jumping off rocks, Silvia coaxed Lilly up onto a good-sized rock that she and the bird could both fit on. She jumped off, then turned around and showed the bird a treat.
Lilly gave a squawk and jumped. Silvia quickly rolled out of the way as Lilly came crashing down onto the ground. Lacey and Tim began clapping. "Well I guess that was a start." Said Silvia as she brushed dust off her clothes. "Come on Lilly, that was fairly good. Let us try again." Said Silvia, as she climbed up on the rock. Again, they jumped. After three more times of Lilly crashing to the ground Silvia got up dusting herself off again.
"Now what should we do?" She asked turning to Lacey. "She jumps off now, but she keeps landing on her face." "Maybe if she spread her wings, when she jumped then she would land softer." Suggested Lacey. "That's a good idea." Exclaimed Silvia and she and the bird headed back up onto the rock.
Tim yawned, getting bored with watching the same thing over and over again. "I'm going to go do some hunting for a while." He said as he wondered off. Lacey watched him go for a little bit and then turned back to Silvia and Lilly, encouraging them on and giving suggestions on how Silvia could get Lilly to do it even better.
As the sun got higher in the sky the girls began to get tired and soon Lacey suggested they take a break for lunch. "She really is doing a lot better." Silvia said as she sat on a stone beside Lacey. "She definitely doesn't face plant anymore, but she still isn't very graceful." Replied Lacey.
They found a shady spot under the trees on the edge of the forest and slowly ate their food. After eating lacey climbed up into one of the trees. Finding a good spot, she used some large leaves as a blanket on the limb and lay down, quickly drifted into a deep slumber.
As she drifted off, she glanced over where Silvia and Lilly were on the ground, Silvia had climbed onto Lilly's back and was curled up getting ready to take a nap also. Lilly tucked her head under her wing and they were soon asleep.
Lacey woke and stretched, she looked around her then down at where Silvia and Lilly still slept. As she climbed down the tree Lilly lifted her head and looked at Lacey with her red eyes. Silvia sat up and stretched. "That was a good rest after all that jumping, I feel refreshed. Should we do some more?" Lacey smiled up at Silvia up on the bird. "I feel refreshed too. Let's get back to it. Come on Lilly." With Silvia still on her back Lilly started following Lacey.
"Oh, Wow, uhh..." Silvia stammered as she quickly grabbed ahold of some feathers so she would not fall off. "Hey, this is fun!" Silvia exclaimed. "We should get her to where she can just be ridden without following someone."
"I guess that is what you can work on this afternoon." Replied Lacey. For the afternoon they worked on teaching Lilly how to be ridden. After a couple of hours both girls were riding on the bird with Silvia guiding her with her kind voice. "Now let's see if we can get her to jump off some rocks with us on her back." Said Silvia. "That sounds like a great idea" Said Lacey.
Soon they had Lilly jumping off rocks as the girls held on. As the sun started to go down and the beautiful colors of the sunset began to become a brilliant color of reds, oranges, purples and blue.
Silvia guided Lilly onto one more rock and gracefully she spread her wings jumping off, she floated a little way before landing gracefully onto her feet. The girls smiled at each other. "Come on Lilly, take us home." Silvia said. The bird let out a sweet-sounding squawk and began walking down the trial towards their tree house.
The next morning the girls headed to the mountain side to continue practice flying, Time flue by, they took turns jumping off smaller boulders on Lilly's back.
"She is doing so well on the smaller rocks lets try off the bigger ledge now." Silvia said sliding off Lilly to stand beside Lacey, they started climbing up to the cliff." Hey wait up!" Called Tim as he came out of the trees behind them, they got to the top and waited for Tim.
"Is she going to jump off here?" He asked looking off the edge of the ledge. "I think she is ready." Lacey said as Silvia bent down and let Lacey step on her hands and lifted her up onto Lilly, she sat down, Silvia scrambled up too. "Are you coming?" Lacey asked Tim. "I thought you wanted a ride." Silvia said. "Come on, I will give you a hand." Tim took the hand Silvia held out to him and pulled him up.
He was to busy looking around at the forest that you could see from the ledge to notice Silvia's strength. He tried positioning himself on Lilly's back, not sure where to hold on. The three sat on Lilly, Lacey in the middle, Tim on the back and Silvia in front.
"Come on Lilly, you can do this, remember to use your wings." Silvia said to Lilly. Lilly shook her head then slowly spread her wings, and jumped off the ledge, Tim let out a shout as Lilly fell towards the ground, Lacey let out a quick breath.
Silvia had her head close to Lilly's whispering things Lacey could not hear as she held fists full of Lilly's white feathers in her hand to hold on.
Tim looked on in horror as Lilly got the hang of her wings. Right before they crashed into the ground she spread her wings out as far as they would go and flapped hard, pulling the children up and into the sky, Silvia laughed and patted Lilly's neck.
"See I knew you could do it!" Lacey smiled at the forest below them and then looked back at Tim. He was clinging on for dear life, his face as white as a sheet. "you good?" She asked him. "I... I... I... th... thi... think I'm afraid of heights."
He stammered, she giggled. They flew around the forest a couple times and then headed closer to the mountain Tim still struggling to find a good hold and stay on Lilly's back. Suddenly Lacey spotted a group of black birds far below them. Lilly began to rise higher into the sky headed in the direction of the big birds.
"Look!" She said to Silvia pointing at the birds. "Oh dear, I hope they don't see us" said Silvia. She bent down low to speak to Lilly and Lacey grabbed an even bigger hand full of feathers as Lilly spotted the other birds.
Tim let out another shout, as Lilly took a sharp turn and speed up her wings flapping faster. Lacey grabbed ahold of Tim's shirt as he started to tumble off Lilly. Struggling he hung on to the feathers, Lacey struggled to keep ahold of his shirt. Tim's face turned an even whiter shade which Lacey had never seen before.
The birds spotted the group above them and began taking off in pursuit. Lilly headed farther over the mountain trying to get away from them. They could see sharp rocks below them as they headed further over the mountain.
Silvia started calling "LILLY. LILLY." But Lilly could not hear her over the wind that was blowing around them and sped up even faster trying to get away from the other birds. As they got closer to the opposite side of the mountain they were jolted as Lilly suddenly hit something invisible. The air around them quickly became heavy.
Lilly let out a wild squawk and tucked her wings in slightly. With this action they suddenly began heading towards the ground in an extremely fast decent. Lacey's breath caught as she looked down, instead of the yellow she was expecting, her dress was white and had suddenly became its original shape with its ankle length skirt and sleeves down to her wrists.
Her vision blurred from the quick change in atmosphere as they descended. She could barely see the ground as it continued getting closer, Lilly braced for impacted, Tim's yelling was drowned out as fear gripped her. Her hands clenched on to Lilly and Tim's shirt as Lilly' hit the ground and everything went black.