word they said. And one day they were sold to an elderly lady.
She had many birds. Lorikeets and budgerigars and canaries. Meep and Moop learned to speak all the bird languages . They learned to value the wild birds who woke at dawn every morning to tend the trees, they learned about the hard work of these birds, who spoke to each other about leaves and rain and the currents of the air.
Meep and Moop learned much, and they had each other, but they missed their home. They missed the sea, the salty mist and the light of the dawn on the waves.
Many years passed and each day Meep and Moop made lots of noise attempting to get the attention of the elderly lady. She paid attention, she fed them apples and lured them onto her finger. She spoke to them, and cooed at them, she whistled and sang to them. But she never called them by name and she never recognised their true nature.
One day the lady died and Meep and Moop were frantic with despair, thinking that this was it, they were going to be deserted, left homeless and without hope, orphaned and alone with no chance of being freed.
They did gain a different kind of freedom. The lady's family, seeing all the caged birds, took pity on them, and in a surge of good will, opened all their cages and the birds flew free into the blue sky.
Meep and Moop for the first time, experienced the thrill of flying in the open air. They beat their tiny wings and their hearts thudded in their tiny breasts. The rush of air rustled their feathers and the sun warmed their tiny bodies. They were exhilarated, but they were still birds.
Meep chirped at Moop, ' We have to find somebody who can recognise us. Where should we go?'
Moop looked down at the hundreds of people below, searching for a sign, an indication of who would recognise their true nature. Then she saw a rainbow. A rainbow whose half circle surrounded a young girl slumped against a tree. She was crying.
She chirped at Meep, ' Look down there.'
And Meep chirped a quick 'yes.'
With wings beating in time, Meep and Moop flew on the breeze and landed on the shoulders of Daisi Malone.
They lived with Daisi for some time and accompanied her when she moved to the Presidio. Meep and Moop could feel the strangeness of the place, and they were hopeful that this was where the spell would be lifted.
Each morning they sang to the sun as it crept along the sky. They sat on Daisi's balcony and sang to Daisi's tree which grew wild and verdant under their care. But the days passed and still nobody recognised their true nature.
They were there when Gavin Cloud tried to conduct a false séance for Daisi and her friend Madden. They recognised Madden as unnatural as soon as he appeared and Gavin Cloud reminded them of the magician who had cursed them, but without the power.
Then one night, a strange thing happened.
There was a blood red moon. Its amber glow cast shadows in the black night. Daisi was restless, waking from her sleep and pacing in and out of the lounge room. She tried sleeping on the couch, she tried sleeping on the floor, she sighed deeply several times, but still she couldn't sleep. She murmured to herself, ' remember my medication, remember my medication'
Daisi's eyes grew wide and paled to a soft ancient blue, they almost glowed beneath the blood red moon. Then suddenly, before they knew what was happening, Meep and Moop were confronted by those wide blue eyes staring wildly into their cage.
'You glow.' Daisi whispered, ' you glow'.
She moved away from their cage in wonder. 'You're all bright, you're like glowing juggling balls. You're not birds at all, you're something else. Something natural. You smell of the sea. You are of the sea, not of the air.'
And Daisi in stunned awe murmured the true nature of Meep and Moop.
They sang in ecstasy, and transformed into themselves. Meep and Moop looked at Daisi in wonder and joy and Daisi cringed from their brightness.
'I don't understand' She said in a frightened whisper.
Moop looked at her in pity and turned to Meep. 'She cannot remember this, it would haunt her dreams and disturb her mind.'
Meep nodded, and together they chanted an ancient tune which had been given to their race. it was a tune that wiped the memories of those that had seen what they could not comprehend.
And so Daisi forgot about Meep and Moop . Madden and her friends did not ask about them, thinking that they had died or disappeared and that to mention it would cause her pain.
Only Daisi's tree carried the memory.
Meep and Moop returned to their people, wiser for their trial. They worked harder than they had ever worked before and tended the waves carefully, but they always made time to cast rainbows.
END
This is a Vampire Across the Hall Story. If you liked this story you may also enjoy these short stories.
Book 1- The Vampire Across the Hall- By Leann Richards
Book 2- The Murmuring Lift- By Daisi Malone
Book 3- The Exchange- By Daisi Malone
Book4 - The Strangers at St Stephens- By Leann Richards
Book 5- The Noises in the Night- By Leann Richards
And the other associated story
The Deadly Juggling Kid- By Leann Richards
Daisi has a website, www.daisimalone.net and is on facebook.
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