NO ORDINARY OWL by Lauraine Snelling and Kathleen Damp Wright

stopped. “Yayness!” she whispered.
    Aneta beamed.
    Esther blew out a big breath. That had been a close call. The knot in her stomach loosened. “Sure. We can help. What do you want us to do?”
    Beake Man led them over to the kitchen. “Stand here.” He pointed to the long, stainless-steel counter. The girls walked over and stood obediently. Esther wondered what was in the drawers below the counter. Probably bowls and spoons?
    Beake Man eyed them for a moment, like he was going to say something, then he shrugged and turned away to the fridge. He took out a large plastic container with a red lid like Esther’s mom used after she made a lot of pea soup. She recognized it because she hated pea soup and groaned inside when she saw the container come out. It meant a lot of days of pea soup for lunch and pea soup for snacks.
    Beake Man placed the container on the counter. “You have to prepare what they would eat in the wild. Since they can’t fly yet, they can’t catch their food.”
    Pulling the lid off the container, he pushed the bottom toward the girls and continued, “Cut each one in half, and then I’ll show you how the robotic arm works.”
    Four heads leaned over the container and then jerked back.
    “But, but—,” Aneta said, backing away.
    “It’s—” Sunny gulped.
    “They’re dead mice!” Esther’s voice sounded like it was squeezing out of a tiny space.
    So that’s why he was smiling. Sure they could help the owls. With cutting up dead mice.
    The big door rolled open, and everyone turned to look. Outlined with the brightness outside, the silhouette stood small in the doorway, but the tilt of the head and a toss of the hair told Esther helping the owls was about to get worse.
    “Ms. Beake told me I could find you all here. I hope I haven’t come too late to help.”
    Aneta’s gasp was loud enough to echo off the wide beams.

Chapter 11

    Epic Fail
    M elissa stepped through the doorway, made her way to Beake Man, and extended her hand. “Thank you so much for allowing me to help you here with your amazing service to animals.”
    Beake Man just stood there. Esther was sure the word was “goggling.” He stood there goggling at Melissa’s big speech.
    What was going on? How did Melissa get in? A quick peek at S.A.V.E. Squad faces told Esther they were wondering the same thing.
    “How did you get in?” Vee sounded like she did the very first time Sunny, Vee, Aneta, and Esther had ever seen each other. The very unfriendly voice Vee was so very good at.
    “Oh, my dad called his friend the mayor to see what type of volunteering I could do while I’m”—
did she hesitate the tiniest bit?—
“recovering from my accident.”
    Vee muttered an ugly sound, Sunny said “hunh,” and Aneta didn’t say anything.
    The mayor
, thought Esther as Melissa pushed past her. The mayor thought the S.A.V.E. Squad a fine example to the city and its children. Esther sighed. But the mayor also thought all kids got along as long as they were kept busy on “worthy service projects.”
    The S.A.V.E. Squad could have told her that didn’t happen.
    Now Melissa had busted herself into a S.A.V.E. Squad rescue. Anybody who’d ever talked to the rich girl for more than two minutes knew Melissa didn’t care about anything but herself. She was up to something. She’d been mad at the Squad since their first adventure.
    Esther would be watching
very carefully
.
    “Oh, for the love of mud.” Beake Man shook his head and stopped goggling. Rummaging in a drawer below the counter in front of him, he pulled out five knives. Esther’s stomach pitched a half flip and hung there.
Uh-oh
. That halfway stomach flip usually meant she was going to throw up. Unless she distracted herself.
    “Cut the mice in half and put the pieces in this bowl.” He produced a medium-sized silver bowl from another larger drawer.
    Sunny and Vee were shooting side looks at each other. They were closest to the counter with Esther behind them.