“Oh, I like that,” I interrupted, waving a hand to emphasize my disbelief.Evidently, it caught Fang’s attention, because he lurched up and staggered down the aisle to me.“You call us heinous?You’rethe evil one!People like you who indulge in something so completely reprehensible and inhuman as bird fighting are not main characters—they’re villains, and they get what they deserve.Oh, Fang, no!Not both eyes!”
The woman did a double take when Fang stopped next to me, blood seeping from his nose, while both eyes had dark rings that were growing darker with each passing moment.
“Is it bad?Iain set my nose,” he answered, wincing as he gently touched his nose.“What’s happening here?”
“You people are trying to harm our birds, that’s what’s happening.Leander!I’m done trying to reason with them.I’m calling the police,” Rosie yelled.
“You can’t call the cops—weare calling the cops,” Kathie snapped back.Iain and Devon had Leander sitting on a chair, his head drooping as he leaned forward, clearly feeling the effect of tangling with Devon and Fang.
Fang asked me, “Why does she think we’re doing something wrong?”
“I don’t know,” I answered slowly, my eyes on the woman as she turned away to explain to someone on the phone that she was reporting an assault and needed police intervention.“But I suspect something is going on other than what Bess told us.”
I could tell Fang was going to roll his eyes, but at the movement, he winced.
“Just so you know,” I said loudly to Rosie as she continued to speak on the phone, “I will be informing the police about your bird-fighting ring.”
“Bird fighting?We don’t teach our birds to fight,” she said, turning to nod at Herbert.“His gun isn’t real.I mean, how could it be?It’s tiny.But regardless, we never have fighting.Our videos are all suitable for children.”
I stared at her in horror for a moment, then met Fang’s gaze.“They aren’t a bird-fighting ring,” he told me.
“Bess was wrong,” I agreed, then asked the woman, “We were told you made the birds fight each other.What do you do with them if not that?”
“We would never!”she said, outraged, gesturing toward Herbert.“We love our birdies!We are Dinosaurs with Feathers.”
She said that like we should know the name.
“Eh ...” I said.
“For heaven’s sakes ...we make the videos where our birds live in a virtual town called Kneecap Hollow.We film them going about their day.”
Fang and I stared blankly at her.
She slapped her thighs.“We’ve won awards in the short-video category!You must have heard of us!”
“Sorry, we haven’t, but I’m relieved to know you aren’t being heinous to the birds.”I glanced at where Mom was absently feeding Herbert some veggies from the buffet.“I suppose you should take him home, although my brand-new husband is a vet, so—”
“No,” Fang said, pulling me up for a fast kiss.“He had a home that isn’t abusing him.We don’t need to take him to the States with us.”
“So, are we letting this bastard up, or what?”Kathie called from the other end of the aisle, gesturing toward Leander with a small pocketknife that I assumed had been wrestled from him.
“Yes, let him go, although I think he needs to see some consequences for coming in here with a knife and attacking everyone,” I said, after I murmured to Mom that she could let the woman have Herbert.
Santana emerged from the dining room, sneezing and looking annoyed as she stood and glared at Marla.
“It’s wrong to be happy.I’m going to hell in a handbasket,” I told Fang softly.
He followed my gaze, and chuckled.“Normally, I would argue for more tolerance, but she all but attacked Holly.Assuming her allergies aren’t severe, I’m sure she’ll survive, hopefully in possession of a little more common sense.”
We started up the aisle, intending on explaining the miscommunication between the bird people and us, but before we made it two steps, a commotion started inside the hotel and burst out into the garden.
Two of the ghost hunters leaped across the chairs, heading for the far entrance, but before they made it, four policemen in blue flak jackets appeared.
The ghost hunters stopped dead, and I think might have made a run for the brick fence, but the hotel’s servers boiled out to join us.
Bringing with them a very red-faced, pajama-wearing Brother.
