Shadow Wrack Read Online Free Page B

harsh cries were like nails on a blackboard. Baz teased her into a nervous tizzy until the bird threw itself at the cage bars, sending feathers floating about the room.
    Realizing that cat and bird in the same room was a recipe for trouble, Willa moved the cage to her room, but the bird’s fits did not stop. Willa was terrified she was hurting herself. Actually, to be perfectly honest, Willa was just plain terrified of the bird. She was big, about the size of a large hawk, and her cage took up the entire surface of Willa’s desk. Her gleaming white beak hooked downward to a very sharp point, and she had wicked claws. Large black eyes provided no clues to her thoughts. The soft white fuzz around her face gave way to glossy black plumage at the back of her head and down her wings, but she had a patchy appearance, since she kept losing her feathers. Willa tried different foods, toys, and distractions, and she covered the cage with a cloth to get the bird to stop squawking and sleep at night, but nothing helped. The bird fussed and butted against the bars of her cage until she was exhausted and fell into a deep sleep, to everyone’s relief. Then a few hours later she’d wake and it would start all over again.
    â€œThe bird has got to go,” Willa’s mom pronounced one day.
    â€œWhere?” Willa wailed. “We can’t let it go. It might attack somebody. And we can’t sell it or give it away. Phoenixes aren’t even supposed to exist.”
    Her mom bit her lip. Willa pushed on. “Word would get around, people would start asking questions, and who knows what would get out….” Willa knew this would convince her mom, who was not keen on the whole town finding out they had a mermaid in the family.
    â€œCan you at least try to get it under control? The noise is making me nutty.”
    â€œI’ll try, Mom. I promise.”
    Off to the bird expert. She found him coming out of the public library, one of his favourite spots, second only to Hanlan’s Hill. He was frowning and muttering to himself.
    â€œHorace! I need to talk to you.”
    He looked up at her. “I know I put it in the drawer.”
    â€œUm — what?”
    â€œMy cufflinks. Scarabs in amber. They were in my drawer, and now someone’s stolen them.”
    Willa couldn’t ever remember seeing Horace in cuff­­­-links. “You’ve probably just misplaced them.”
    Horace’s eyes flashed with anger. “I did not misplace them. They’ve been stolen by someone, and I know who.” He leaned closer to whisper. “Tengu.”
    Willa was shocked. “That’s crazy! Tengu would never —”
    Horace stiffened. “Crazy? Crazy? I’ll thank you to respect your elders, young miss!”
    Willa looked at him in surprise. This didn’t sound like Horace at all.
    â€œI’m sorry, I didn’t mean ‘crazy,’ I just …” Her eye was drawn to his coat, which was hanging crookedly. “Your coat’s buttoned up wrong.”
    Horace looked down. “You came here to tell me that?” he sniffed but focused his attention on unbuttoning and rebuttoning. It seemed to calm him down.
    Willa glanced about and lowered her voice. “I need to talk to you about the phoenix. It’s acting crazy, squawking and smashing into the bars of the cage, and I don’t know what to do!”
    Horace finished with the buttons and smoothed his coat with both hands, his anger gone. “Look through its eyes,” he said. “Good day.” He turned and walked off.
    â€œYou mean into its eyes?” Willa called, but he didn’t seem to hear. Irritated, she watched him cross the street. How absolutely, totally helpful.

    After school, she swung by the house, hoping to find Miss Trang, but she wasn’t there. She could hear muffled hammering in the basement as she walked slowly around the outline of the house-to -be. The bare