Chap.12

Later that day, as the sun was setting and the moon was rising, Marisa’s dad came home. This was after the fire department had declared that the tree burning to the ground was an unexplainable accident.

The three had decided not to tell him about the incident at the hospital, or the bomb. That night was the calmest night Ryan had had during the time that he could remember. The family ate dinner, which was oven-baked pizza, than they settled in the living room, where the parents told Marisa about the trip they had taken. When the story was over, it was long past ten at night, and Mrs. Rodriguez told the kids that they would have to go to sleep, especially Ryan; the steroid might not work as well without enough white blood cells and platelets to improve.

Ryan was laying on the couch, with a thin sheet over him. The wound wasn’t hurting as much now, and Mrs. Rodriguez said that it had shrunk to almost three fifths its size. He was about to fall into a deep, needed sleep, when a light flicked on in the room across the hall, making Ryan immediately alert for danger.

He silently slipped out from under the sheet, and crept to the edge of the room, his back flush with the wall. Ryan could hear muted voices coming from the other room. Ryan was preparing to dive across the hall, and stand against the wall, and see if he could find out what was going on, specifically whether it was something dangerous. He found one hole in the plan right away. If he dived into the hall, Ryan would be visible until he was against the wall. Someone in the room who wanted to kill Ryan would see him. Ryan judged the risk as something he needed to do, then jumped.

For a split second Ryan seemed to float in the lit area, than he fell silently to the floor on the left side of the door. He stood up, and flattened himself against the wall. At first all Ryan could hear was silence, and he was a little afraid that whoever was in the room had heard or seen him, but than the voices went on.

From the tones, Ryan could tell it was Mrs. Rodriguez and her husband arguing. Even without the beginning of the argument, it didn’t take long for him to figure out what they were whispering about, and it made his blood run cold.

“But think about it! We could make millions!” Mr. Rodriguez was whispering, his voice higher and more urgent than usual.

“No! If they wanted him back, why would they buy him? They could send more than one of those monsters, and kill us all, erasing all evidence that he was ever here!” Mrs. Rodriguez countered.

“We don’t have to sell him back, we could sell tickets for people to see him, maybe even get the boy to fly!”

“He’s a living person, not an animal! He has human intelligence! It would be like holding a human hostage!” Mrs. Rodriguez said, in a voice that was a little louder than she had wanted it to be.

“That’s what would make the show so interesting! It’s like having a super intelligent parrot!”

“We can’t do this. He trusts us! Besides, if he wanted to, he could just fly away!”

“Not if we use this!” Ryan heard a paper bag rustle, than Mrs. Rodriguez gasped.

“A shock collar? Those aren’t even good for dogs! We can’t do this! I’m not going to let you do this! What would Marisa say if she heard you say these things?” Ryan heard the sound of a chair scraping back on the linoleum floor. The noise jumped him back to reality. There was only one way out of the kitchen, except the window, and that was through the door that Ryan was hiding beside!

Ryan looked left and right, trying to find a way out. To his left was the door, and for the first time Ryan saw that the door was equipped with a doggy door, though it was to small for Duke, which made it way to small for him. To his right was the hallway, which ended in a door that led to a small hall closet. In front of him was the door into the living room, but if he went through there, someone would see him for sure.

He looked around again, and he noticed that the hallway by the door was darker than where he was standing, not by much, but it could hide him. Ryan heard footsteps coming closer to the doorway to the hall. He took a deep breath, and jumped. Ryan resisted the urge to take out his wings, and landed on his back, with a painfully loud crack. Ryan held in a gasp, and waited to see if anyone had heard the sound.

Mrs. Rodriguez hurried out the door, while her husband whispered loudly, “This will happen! It will make us rich!” This only made Mrs. Rodriguez move faster, into the living room, and up the stairs.

Mr. Rodriguez walked slowly out of the kitchen, like he was taking his time going wherever he was headed. Ryan waited until he heard the man’s heavy footsteps going up, and than walking across the second story floor. Ryan let out the breath he had been holding in, and stood up shakily. Ryan was going to go back to the couch, but he couldn’t have let what he had heard go unnoticed, and he knew just what to do.

Ryan moved silently into the kitchen, which was still lit, and looked around. The table was empty, and there was nothing around the chairs, but Ryan knew that the bag had to be in the room somewhere, because Mr. Rodriguez had come out of the room with nothing in his hand. He kept looking around, than saw that there was one cupboard door that was slightly open, and Ryan went straight to it.

Through the boxes and cans Ryan could make out the back of the cupboard. It was dark brown with a green leaf pattern stamped on it. Ryan saw the collar leaning against the back. He reached in, and pulled it out, trying not to bump it into the cans. After a few seconds Ryan held the collar in his hands, and could see it clearly. It was a black circle, with a square box, about one inch on each side, placed on one part. The control was in a little plastic bag that was taped to the collar.

Ryan noticed that the box on the collar and the controller looked exactly alike, and the box on the collar was removable. Ryan smiled. He started working. It only took a few minutes, and than Ryan had the parts switched. Ryan hoped that Mr. Rodriguez would try to put the collar on him; it would turn into one of the best things that had happened to him since waking up in the Ragnarök compound.

Ryan returned the collar to its spot in the cupboard, and than walked back into the living room and lied down on the couch. As he was falling back into sleep, Ryan wondered whether or not messing with the collar had been the right thing to do. He would find out sooner than he thought.

Next Chapter: Chapter 13