Chapter Nine
While Soma searched throughout the hotel for Hector or Kai or anyone walking around at all, Squee was up on the roof attempting to play with the flock. He'd found them all gathered on the edge, hopping about on their toes and flapping their arms wildly while shrieking odd noises as loud as they could. It seemed they were all trying to startle one another off of the building, and every now and then they succeeded, and one would slip or at least seem to slip and fall off the side, only to raise themselves up once again with rapid flutterings and kicks. Squee counted more than seven of them. There were not many more, but he tended to lose count after seven. At close range he noticed they were not so much like the sea people as he'd originally suspected. Yes, they had extra folds of skin, but these were loose and flappy, not bound to the bodies like the mer-people's were. Also, they weren't nearly as tall, ranging from only slighter taller than himself to maybe another six inches higher. They looked very young, too. He would have guessed they were more like the sixteen year olds of the forest than grown-ups. Most were boys. Only two appeared to be females, but he wasn't quite sure, since they all looked very similar and were crowded together in a bunch.
Every time he approached, and he tried to be as quiet and sneaky as possible, they took notice and blasted off altogether, flying to the opposite side of the building, where they landed in a heap and re-grouped, much like pigeons or gulls. Their voices were not only loud but annoying as well, even to Squee, who could grunt and squeal with great volume but whose tone was not nearly as grating. They reminded him of amplified squirrels, but although he could pretty much understand everything a squirrel could say, the words of the flock were nonsense to him, and he realized it might take a long time to learn their peculiar language. There was something tremendously attractive about them, and Squee eventually settled into a corner and watched as the night began to fall and the flock went about their rituals and routines. Then, just as the sun was about to disappear for the day, they took off and flew away. Squee leaped up and ran to the edge to see if he could follow their track, but they soon vanished inland into the night.
After that, Squee couldn't rest. He paced up and down, back and forth, growing more restless by the minute. His thoughts began to get jumbled up, not at all like his usual mental wanderings. He wondered what happened to Soma and started to feel angry with her for not being with him. It occurred to him for the very first time that he had no idea whatsoever what he was even doing out there in that place, out of his old forest home and onto this strange and baffling shore, where the people didn't make any sense, and he was suddenly determined to go anywhere else but remain where he was. He rushed down the stairs and back to the room that Soma had found, where the door was still propped open, but inside now there was Gowdy, groaning and asleep on the bed.
Squee looked around and, seeing the sink, went over and turned it on to splash water all over his face. That didn't help. He was still as agitated as before, and didn't know what he would do if Soma didn't turn up. He might just go running off all by himself. Fortunately, she did come back to the room only minutes after Squee, having found nothing and no one after that one silly creature. Squee shouted to see her and jumped up and down before dashing over and grabbing her by the waist and squeezing her tightly. Soma had to wrest herself free and push him away, all the time trying to get him to hush.
"Ssh," she whispered, "look. Bombarda got sick. He ate some of their food. I think it was bad."
"Why'd he do that?" Squee said, and snorted his disapproval.
"I don't know," Soma told him, taking his arm and leading him away from the bedroom.
"I don't like it here," Squee told her, and she nodded.
"Me either," she said.
"I think we should go somewhere else."
"Me too," she agreed, "but I don't know what to do about him."
"We could leave him," Squee said and Soma looked shocked.
"Leave Bombarda? We can't do that!"
"Why not? He can take care of himself."
"Squee! I can't believe you're saying that. We always stick together."
"Sure, you and me," he said, and his voice was growing louder by the second. "But not him. He's not like us."
"No," Soma said, "We're not leaving without him."
Squee sighed. He could never argue with Soma. She was the boss, but for the first time he could ever remember he wasn't liking it, not one bit. He wanted to go after the flock. He was afraid they were getting farther away all the time, and for some reason which he couldn't have explained, he was having a hard time breathing when he thought he might never see them again.
"There were saucers up there on the roof," he found himself saying, although it wasn't true. "And they were flashing these blue lights all over, right on me. They followed wherever I went. I was scared."
Soma nodded, and bit her lower lip to show her concern. She was always protective of him, and he knew that. If he could convince her that he was in danger, yes, that was the way he could get her to go.
"I want to check on Bombarda," she said, and left Squee to go back to the bedroom, where she sat down beside the old man and looked at him closely. To her surprise, she saw he looked very much younger. His tangled gray hair was turning quite blond, and the old familiar wrinkles on his forehead were gone, replaced by an unfamiliar smoothness. She put a hand on his cheek and felt that the fever was gone. He looked peaceful, relaxed, was was breathing very calmly. She took hold of a shoulder and pushed it a little. Gowdy growled quietly, and slowly opened his eyes.
"Soma?" he said. "It's still night?"
"It's still night," she replied. "Are you feeling better now?"
"I think so," he said, surprising even himself. He took a deep breath and began to get up. Yes, he felt pretty good. He sat up on the side of the bed and nearly smiled. He quickly remembered himself and turned that thing back upside down how it belonged.
"Why are we awake?" he wanted to know.
"We think we should go," she answered, and pointed at Squee who'd come up to the edge of the door and was fidgeting, shifting from one foot to the next as if he were dancing.
"Go now?" Gowdy shook his head. "Any reason why now?"
"Squee's being pestered by saucers," Soma said.
"I had a bad feeling about those," Gowdy murmured. "All right, then. I can't say I'm sorry to go."
He was up and into the hall in a bound, with Soma and Squee rushing to catch him. Gowdy realized his body was lighter, and that he had a great deal more energy than he was used to. He practically raced to the stairway and down it, and even felt like laughing. It was all he could do to hold on to his old personality, the mean, the scowling, embittered Bombarda. This new one felt like an acrobat!
They dashed out of the lobby and found themselves back on the still warm sand, and only then did they stop all at once and look at each other. Soma was the first to wonder out loud where they thought they should go. Squee was the first one to answer. He pointed to a narrow dirt trail, leading into the wetlands, on toward the mountains. This was the direction he'd seen the flock go. This was where he was determined to follow. The other two, though mildly surprised at Squee's new found leadership, had no better idea, so they willingly went along behind him.