"I—oh. Yes."
"Call me on that," Kelly said, and hung up.
Tara stared at her phone a few seconds, then sighed and called the main number again. "Hi. This is Tara Lynch. I just spoke with you, and I'm supposed to call Director Kelly back, but she hung up without giving me her number and because you transferred me to her, I don't have it in my phone."
The woman on the other end gave an amused snort and connected Tara directly. Kelly picked up, said, "I meant call me on mymobile,not my desk phone."
"I'd love to if you would just give me your number."
A very long pause preceded Kelly's, "Oh." Then she rattled off the number, which Tara punched into her phone's keypad, and called the park director back on the 'vone' app. She kind of liked that term. It covered all the bases, instead of trying to remember which video phone program was used by which company.
Kelly's face came up on the screen—she was square-jawed, with short, greying hair, and her attention was like a laser focusing on Tara. "You can be direct, Ms. Lynch."
Well, if she couldn't be, she was screwed anyway, so Tara blurted, "My friend Declan is a peacock shifter and got himself caught in the Blarney Castle's peacock enclosure and they won't let me take him out again because I don't have papers proving he's an authorized pet and not a trafficked animal and he said there were a lot of shifters at your wildlife park so you were the only person I could think of who might help."
Director Kelly's eyebrows rose slowly, until they'd gone as high as they could go, and stayed there as Tara finished her rushed explanation. "That," she said after a considerable pause, "was very, very smart of you, Ms. Lynch. I can, in fact, provide exactly the kind of paperwork you require. I'll send it directlyto the castle estate within the hour. It'll be Declan McCarthy, then?"
"Yes, but how did you know that?"
"Because Declan was the one dancing around you like a fool a few days ago at the park," Kelly said with a smile. "I don't run a nanny state here, Ms. Lynch, but we do have to keep a close eye on our shifters, whether they're visitors or permanent guests at Anavee Island, so I noticed."
"Thank goodness," Tara said, heartfelt. "I don't know his home address or anything, so?—"
"Don't worry," Kelly said gently. "This is part of what I do. They'll have the paperwork shortly. But please do tell Declan to be more careful in the future."
"I will," Tara said, but as they hung up, she wondered how he was supposed to be more careful, when they were trying to trap a thief.
Chapter 12
Declan had never been so glad to see anyone as he was to see Tara return about an hour later. She had an expression of serene triumph, while the groundskeeper who trailed along after her looked like he'd bitten into a lemon. He unlocked the gates leading into the peacock enclosure, and Tara,cooing, opened her arms to Declan as he scurried outside. "C'mere, Bluey! Come right up here into my arms!"
His peacock saidBluey?in distaste, and Declan hissed,Roll with it!in response. With unfortunate literalness, his peacock dropped and rolled around on the pathway, then shrieked in confusion as Dylan saidNot like that!!!
Tara was still standing there with her arms out, although her smile had gotten a little fixed. "C'mon, Bluey. Up! Up!Because you're such a well-trained pet peacock, Bluey," she added pointedly.
His peacock gasped with outrage.I am not a pet! Or well-trained!
Declan groaned.Do you want to stay in that cage forever?
No!His peacock, properly incentivized now, hopped up into Tara's arms, then suddenly shone with delight, so happy itsfeathers practically glowed. It snuggled its head down into Tara's shoulder as she wentooofslightly with his weight—peacocks weighed about five kilos on average, but he was a big bird even though he was trying to keep himself to a pretty normal peacock size. Having twelve or fifteen pounds of bird jump in your arms was quite a bit, regardless. Especially with all that tail.
I told you she likes getting tail,his peacock said smugly.
That isnotwhat I said!It didn't matter, though: he was safe and snug in Tara's arms, and not in a pen with a dozen true peafowl. He made the nicestchirrupsound he could—which wasn't brilliant, to be honest, but he did his best—and rubbed his beak against Tara's shoulder. Her breath was warm and her mouth was soft as she kissed the top of his head, avoiding the delicate crest feathers. From one eye, he could see the groundskeeper grudgingly accepting that he was, in fact, Tara's bird.
"Get that bird out of here," the man grumbled. "And don't bring it back. I've no time for nonsense like this going in my day." He followed them as Tara carefully flipped Declan's train over her arm so she wouldn't step on its long feathers, and then, to Declan's dismay,keptfollowing them.
Tara, helpless to do anything else, headed toward the gates, but bent her head over Declan's to whisper, "I don't have keys to your car. Do you?"
He nodded, although he couldn't answer any more than that, not in peacock form. Tara took a deep breath. "Can you…give them to me? Without changing back?"
Declan shook his head, and she groaned. "Well, this is going to be awkward, then."
Fortunately the groundskeeper stopped following them at the gate, and although Declan's car was right there, Tara kept walking as if they'd parked farther away. People stared at them: a woman carrying a giant peacock was not normal. Tara gave ahigh-pitched giggle right above his head. "Where the hell am I going to take you so you can shift? Oh, I know." With another nervous giggle, she headed for the toilets near the entrance, brought him into one of the stalls, and locked the door behind them before setting Declan down.
He shifted to human immediately, which made them both gasp: the toilet stall was remarkablysmallwith two adult humans in it. But then he picked Tara up into an embrace, his face buried against her shoulder just like his peacock had done. "I have no idea how you got me out of there, butthankyou."
"Ah sure and it was nothing," she said in a passable attempt at an Irish accent, then laughed a bit hysterically again, hugging him hard. "I called the wildlife park and asked Director Kelly if she could help me."
