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owls.”
    Shooting a glance at each other, Sunny and Esther trooped in behind Beverly, Esther sniggering to herself that they were following the
Bird
Lady, Beverly
Beake
. It seemed easier to call her Bird Lady than Beverly. At the extra-tall front door, Bird Lady turned the doorknob, the head of a snarling lion. She pushed open the heavy door.
    Inside was a wide foyer with a room off to the left and firelight coming from the right.
What a place
, thought Esther as she and Sunny ran to meet Vee and Aneta who leaped up from enormous wing chairs by a fireplace that looked big enough to sleep in. The fire was piled high with large logs, sending out welcome heat. Esther couldn’t wait to stand in front of it. The chills were twitching her shoulders all by themselves.
    Byron Beake, standing by the fire, muttered something that sounded like “hullo.”
    “You’re here!” Aneta threw her arms around Sunny, squeezed her, and then did the same to Esther. “You are safe. We are safe. Mr. Beake says the owls need lots of help. He put them in his bird hospital.”
    He had a bird hospital? She regarded the tall, spare man standing in the shadows at the edge of the fireplace, arms folded. He wasn’t smiling. Beverly laid her wet coat over a chair near the fire and watched her brother on the other side. She was smiling, like she knew a secret he didn’t.
    So they had actually jumped in the truck of someone who could help? Another great S.A.V.E. Squad rescue. They
were
good. Living the yayness, as Sunny would say.
    “Uncle Dave knows we’re here now, and he says, well—I guess we kind of got it wrong about Mr.
Beake.”
Vee was trying not to laugh. “We’re not in danger.”
    Esther couldn’t blame her.
I mean really…Beake?
Were Vee and Aneta wondering about the mask? How could they not be?
    “Now that we’re here, what do we do to help the owls?” She’d made it to the fireplace. Oh, it was toasty. She wondered briefly if Mr. Beake had supplies for s’mores.
    The Bird Man’s long nose twitched as his lip curled.
    “Byron.” Beverly’s voice held a warning. She moved to stand next to Esther by the fire. “I’ve heard about these girls in town. They—”
    “They aren’t getting within ten miles of my owls.” While the girls filled each other in, he hadn’t said a word; now this single sentence was icy clear.
    “Your
owls?” Vee’s dark brows slammed together…the look Aneta had dubbed the Vee Stare gathering on her face.
    “But…” Aneta’s voice trailed off. She looked at the other girls, her expression asking,
Did I hear what I think I heard?
    His
owls? Those two bitty owls were
their
owls. Esther frowned and placed her hands on her hips. Before she could correct him, however, Byron had risen and was moving toward a door at the back of the room.
    “Take them home, Beverly,” he said, tossing the words over his shoulder. When Vee began to speak, he spun around and stabbed a long, bony finger at each girl, punctuating his words. “Don’t. Ever. Come. Back.”

Chapter 6

    Something’s Up
    I know you’re going to say life’s not fair, Dad, but it was really
really
not fair that Masked Man kicked us out and we had to leave those hurt baby owls with him!” Anger choked Esther’s throat so she couldn’t swallow the mouthful of chicken rice casserole. As soon as she’d gotten home, her mother made her take a long hot shower and pull on fleece pj’s. No more shivering.
    Her father, who called himself “Mr. Medium with a Big God,” regarded her with his medium brown eyes. They matched his medium brown hair. Taking another forkful of the peas that accompanied the casserole, a smile hovered over his lips before he inserted what Toby called “the usual” Saturday dinner.
    “Now how did you know I would say that?” he murmured to no one in particular.
    “Because you always do!” Esther and Toby chorused.
    All eyes were on him—Esther’s mom, whose eyes looked more tired than usual, Toby,