The Story of Tiberius

Chapter 24

"Alright, come on you sleepy heads. Time to get up," Alfred's voice woke both Thunder and Rain one month later. While the old man walked out of the bedroom mumbling something about names for the pair under his breath, the young hawks blinked their eyes open. "I don't wanna wake up..." Rain complained, getting to her feet. Groaning, Thunder stared up at the ceiling as he muttered, "I was this close to catching that squirrel." He showed exactly how close he was with his talons.

"You guys have chicken for breakfast!" Alfred called from the kitchen.

That got the siblings' attention really quick. Jumping off the bed, they rushed out of the bedroom and headed out to the kitchen. Rain had run into the wall along the way while Thunder had tripped over the edge of a rug. Luckily, nobody got seriously hurt and they made it out to the kitchen. However, the hawks couldn't find the plates of chicken that Alfred had been talking about. Realizing what had happened, Rain whispered quietly, "We were tricked..."

Before the pair could react, two hands scooped up Thunder from behind. Lifting the hawk so that they could look into each other's eyes, Alfred commented, "You two need to learn how to fly. And today is the day." Panicking, Thunder looked down at Rain and shrieked, "Help! What do I do?!" Backing up until she was hiding under one of the chairs at the kitchen table, his sister trembled as she mumbled quietly, "Trust your... instincts?" She sounded unsure of her own advice though. His face switching from absolute terror to a scowl, the young hawk grumbled, "Some help you are today Rain."

"Now I want you to relax. All I'm gonna do is toss you towards the couch on three," Alfred reassured Thunder as he carried him out towards the living room while Rain followed silently like a shadow. Standing beside the wall across the room from the couch, the old man added, "The rest is up to you to figure out."

Hearing those last words, Thunder cried, "Is that supposed to make me feel better?! Cuz it's not!"

"One..."

"Please don't do this, I trust you with my life..."

"Two..."

"Goodbye cruel world..."

"THREE!" Alfred cried as he tossed Thunder towards the couch. Yelping, the young hawk squeezed his light brown eyes shut while his heart pounded in his chest. With each second that passed, he expected to collide into the wall instead of the couch. However, nothing happened. It made the hawk think that he was dead or something. But then he could hear cheers coming from Rain and Alfred. Trembling all over the place, Thunder slowly opened one eye to find himself hovering above the ground without being held. Glancing to the left and then the right, the hawk was surprised to see that his wings were open and keeping himself aloft. In his state of panic, he didn't even realize that he had opened them. It soon hit him that he was flying. Delighted, Thunder did a somersault in the air before landing on the coffee table. Coming over to the hawk, Alfred patted him on the head as he commented, "See, not that hard. Well done boy."

Purring softly, Thunder glanced over at Rain and pointed out, "You're up next." Hearing that, his sister quickly went into hiding.