Chapter 10
C olette Saunier pounced toward Declan's fallen feathers like a starved predator. Even the human part of Declan wanted to flinch back; his peacock, which was considerably more in control just then, gave a horrified shriek and flung its wings wide, bouncing into the air and out of Saunier's reach. She snatched up his fallen feathers, and his peacock snarled, I don't like her having them! inside Declan's head.
I don't either. Declan tried to sound calming and reassuring and was quite sure he failed. But look now, she's got them and we can call the guards on her if nothing else, and that will keep her from ever taking any more from any peacocks.
Or I could peck her eyes out, his peacock snapped. That would stop her, too.
For a moment Declan enjoyed considering the tempting option, but then sighed and got the peacock to settle back on the grass. That would be bad, he said regretfully. They would consider us a dangerous wild animal, then, and probably have to put us down.
We're already down, his peacock grumped, and stomped its feet on the ground a few times to make sure Declan understood.
Ah. Em. Right. No, it means... Never mind. The last thing he needed was the bird panicking at the idea of…well…what 'putting them down' meant in human terms regarding dangerous animals. He didn't even want to think what it really meant, just in case the bird caught on. It means we wouldn't be able to stay with and protect our mate, he said after a moment, and that was horrifying enough to the peacock.
No! We must stay with her! Tara is perfect and funny and clever and beautiful! And she loves it when I get it up! See? His peacock fluffed its tail demonstratively, and Declan had to admit that Tara did look delighted. Saunier made greedy, grasping hands, though, and the peacock clicked wildly at her, a warning to back off. She did, but with a furious look at Tara that made his peacock screech in anger. How dare she look at our mate that way! I'll bite her nose!
Declan started to say, It's fine, it'll be all right, when a horde of small children in uniform suddenly arrived at great speed, with delighted screams and shouts about look at the pretty birds! Like every other peafowl in the green, Declan flung himself toward the safety of low tree branches and bushes to hide behind as the stampede of children grew larger and larger. Both in number and in size of the children: there had to be two hundred of them, ranging from smaller than Declan himself up to some rangy kids who looked three times the smallest ones' sizes.
Amidst their happy squealing, Colette shrieked, "No! I need my feathers!" and actually started chasing one of the peacocks herself. She looked like an angry, oversized toddler among all the kids, whereas Tara, who climbed to her feet and watched the children with obvious amusement, seemed like an oasis of adult calm.
They were not going to be able to get anything done with their plan to scare Saunier straight, with all these kids around. Declan could spend the next hour or so with Tara, probably. Maybe longer, depending on how long the school tour took. Maybe long enough for his mates to get there, after which Declan had a plan that would definitely convince Colette the peacock gods disapproved of her behavior. So, since he didn't have much other choice except nesting in a tree for a while, Declan hopped to the ground and went in search of somewhere to shift without being seen.
He made it around to the back side of a thicket and was looking around to be sure he was unobserved when a net fell over him, and a cheerful Corkish accent said, "Sorry, lad, but it'll be safer to keep all of yis penned up until the smallies are gone. Bernie should never have let you out this morning to begin with."
Then, to Declan's absolute horror, the groundskeeper scooped him up in the net and carted him off to the peacock enclosure.