Permafrost: Thunderbird

Chapter 9: Secret? What's That?

⭐️Chapter 9: Secret? What's That?

The Infernos were showing Bird around Laocrah town as bet they could, keeping her in squid form to hide her as well. They figured that there might be scientist spies in the town, and they could never be too careful. Bird was very much so enjoying every little bit, and she wanted to try a lot of the things there. The Infernos figured they could maybe bring her things later if they left her at Ryn's house and brought her some stuff from there. However, the only problem with that would've her getting possibly squidnapped, so someone would have to watch her. Nonetheless, Bird was still having a fun time.

Suddenly, the Infernos spotted a group in the distance. They froze, and immediately tried to identify who it was. If it was the Wave Crashers then they'd be in for some trouble if that gang of no-good jerks found out about Bird. They soon realized who it was, and while it wasn't he bully team, it was definitely someone they knew.

The Thistlins.

And it seemed that they had noticed the Infernos too, because they were making their way over.

Oh boy.

"Bird, you're going to have to remain hidden for a bit, okay? We're going to talk to some friends," Silvia said.

"What? I wanna meet them!" Bird whined.

"I know, but if we're going to keep you a secret from those scientists, we need as little people to know about you as possible!" Ryn hissed. "Now quick, hide!"

"Awww..."

Bird hid away in a pocket as the Thistlins approached the Infernos.

"Hey guys! What are you doing out and about?" Ella asked.

Ryn nervously laughed as she tried to make this as casual as possible.

"Just um...trying to get our mind off things. You know, the whole Wave Crasher fights and-"

"Honestly, I'm surprised you haven't let it go," Sai interrupted. "Surely a team like you would be the better people and not continuously retaliate?"

"Well, it's kind of hard to stop at this point. Besides, if we WERE to do that, I'd want to end it on a WIN first!" Ryn replied.

"As much as I'd love to stop this fighting as well, the Wave Crashers kind of...go too far. I understand Ryn doesn't want them hurting other teams, but...if we can stop them alone then we might as well try?" Silvia added.

"I see...huh. How long has this been going on for?" Clara asked.

"Several weeks, I think," Jack replied.

Bird listened to the conversation drag on and on from the pocket she was in. She reeeaaally wanted to see these new people, but like the Infernos had said, the less people that knew about her, the better. Besides, she wouldn't want the Infernos' friends to get captured and threatened with telling where they saw her. But also...new people...new faces...it would be different than the laboratory, a new experience! Maybe if she could get a teeeeny little peek it wouldn't hurt...

Bird slowly moved around in her pocket so as to not cause a ruckus. She then carefully positioned herself so that her head could stick out while her tentacles held on to the rim of the pocket. However, as she strained to lift herself up enough to see, she overestimated the amount of strength required to do so, so she wound up losing grip and toppling over. Bird fell out of the pocket, and landed with a small "thump" by the side of Ryn's legs. She prayed to cod that nobody had seen her, but now she had no way back into the pocket, so...her only option was to hide behind the Infernos' shoes and hope that nobody would see her.

Unfortunately, she HAD been noticed. Ella, whose eyes were usually (and nervously) darting everywhere during conversations, immediately noticed something moving and had looked in the direction of it. She saw something, but...she wasn't sure if it was just her or not. She nudged Glade in the shoulder and pointed down at the ground as the others kept talking. Glade spotted the thing too, and practically interrupted the conversation to say something about it.

"Who is that?" Glade asked, pointing to where Ella had been.

For a moment, everyone went silent. The Infernos froze, and the Thistlins paused to look at their two teammates. They then followed Glade's finger and saw the small lump by Ryn's legs. Ryn looked down and saw the lump as well, realizing what had happened and internally screaming about it. She sighed, as it was pointless to keep hiding Bird anyway, or try lying. Ryn then bent down and picked the little yellow squid up to show to her friends.

"Guys, meet Bird. Please keep her a secret from everyone else," she stated.

"A new person?! Well hey there!" Clara smiled, waving.

Bird waved a little back, but didn't say much. She figured it was for her own safety anyway, and since she'd already messed up in front of the Infernos she might as well do them a favor and not make it worse.

"She's cute!" Ella said softly, refraining from touching the squid.

"Yeah, you didn't have to hide her from us!" Glade added, pouting a little. "I like meeting new people, especially when they're friendly back!"

"Actually....why DO you want us to keep it a secret?" Sai asked. "Not that we-or I, for that matter-plan on telling anyone, but...it is something I am curious about."

"We're going to prevent a bunch of scientists from finding her since apparently the scientists did bad things to her," Jack replied.

"Doesn't that mean the scientists might come to the town and...I dunno, tear it apart looking for her?" Clara asked.

Ryn groaned, now realizing just how far she'd gotten into this mess. She was starting to regret ever taking in Bird from the start, but hey, what could she do? She had no way of knowing it would be like this anyway, so the least she could do was make the most out of it. Ryn looked up at the dark-skinned inkling and nodded slowly.

"Uh-huh."