An Owl's Rise

However, while Evelyn felt relief that the beast that was moments away from eating her was dead. Now there was an even greater threat.

Whatever had just killed it was many times bigger, and Evelyn knew that if it discovered her, it would be all over.

Except as she looked at the talon closely, she realized that it looked familiar, and she believed that it belonged to one of her parents.

And just a moment later the large root that she had hidden under began to lift up, and revealed that indeed it was one of her parents who had come in response to the distress call of one of its children.

Yet as Evelyn looked up, she saw that it was her new father and not mother, and her warm and hopeful heart turned to ice.

Images of what her previous human father came back to her, and as her owl father reached out one of his claws towards her, she winced back instinctively expecting to get hit.

Except that is not what happened. Instead, she was picked up in a gentle embrace and her father bent his head over and began ruffling around her feather looking for any injuries.

Turning her head to face her new father, Evelyn saw the concern in his eyes and the love that a parent was supposed to have.

It was a look she had all but forgotten about, not having seen it once in the last six years of her life as a human.

Feeling the care that her owl father had for her, Evelyn began crying, not thinking she would ever feel the love of a parent again.

Seeing this her father thought that she was simply grateful to be rescued from a terrify situation and began rubbing his face against hers while letting out a comforting trill.

Of course, this only caused Evelyn to cry even more, as her emotions welled up inside.

Eventually Evelyn stopped crying and really looked at her father. Seeing that he himself was a bit injured, and in some places was missing feathers and bleeding.

Immediately she wondered what was wrong and remembered that she was able to make her set of stairs to look out of the nest, because her mother had gone in search of her father when he was late returning.

Now she realized that he must have gotten into a fight with some other creature and ended up injured.

Still, he had come to help her as soon as he heard her distress call even when he was hurt.

Nuzzling her head up against her father's, Evelyn let out what she thought would be happy squeaks to let her concerned parent know she was okay.

"Hoot Hoot."

Giving some hoots in conversation, her father acknowledged what Evelyn was trying to say and ruffled the top of her head with one of his wings.

However, what happened next left Evelyn absolutely speechless, as her father opened up the claw he had picked her up with, and a gust of wind picked her up and placed her onto his back.

Witnessing this happen, Evelyn's wide eyes went wider as she looked around in astonishment.

She could not understand what had just happened.

Was it some kind of freak accident, or naturally occurring phenomenon that happened here?

Of course, this was just her mind trying to come up with rational explanations, but quickly she knew what had really just happen.

'He manipulated the wind somehow!'

Understanding that there was no other explanation other than that her father was the one controlling the wind, Evelyn looked at him in awe.

Certainly, there were plenty of stories that she had read where people manipulated the wind like magic, but she had never expected to see it in real life.

She had thought that this world might have been like how earth was back when the dinosaurs still roamed, and most of the animals were just larger because of higher oxygen levels or something.

'There is magic in this world.' Evelyn thought gleefully.

Though while she was lost in her fantasies about what this magical world might be like, her father took off from the ground.

She felt herself beginning to shake and threw herself down into his feathers, while trying to grip on with her claws and beak.

Holding on for dear life Evelyn did not want to fall off her father, but soon realized her efforts were pointless.

A soft breeze had enveloped around her preventing her from falling off his back, as he ascended back into the canopy of the forest where their nest was located.

Once they had arrived back at the hollow, Evelyn's father lowered his head and another swirl of wind picked Evelyn up and gently places her within the nest.

As soon as she touched down her owl mother rushed over and began inspecting her with a worried expression on her face.

However, as Evelyn looked up at her she saw that her mother was also injured, probably having backed up her father against whatever he had been fighting.

Then when she was certain that Evelyn was uninjured, she moved over to the father and the two of them began squeaking and hooting at each other.

Watching this Evelyn was certain that they were having some type of conversation and that the noises they were making held meaning.

The two of them would even give occasional glances at her, and Evelyn now truly understood that her parents unlike her siblings, held a high level of intelligence beyond what she expected from owls.

When her parents had finished talking to each other, they both approached Evelyn and her father placed the items she had used to make stairs with in front of her.

"HOOT!" Her mother said with a stern tone while shaking her head.

Seeing this Evelyn understood what her parents were trying to say, and she lowered her head and started making remorseful sounds doing her best to convey that she was sorry.

She now understood that her curiosity had nearly gotten her killed, and that her new parents were worried about her.

Once Evelyn showed remorse and understanding for her actions, her parents patted her gently on the head.

With this emergency now cleared up, Evelyn's new owl family quickly went back to normal as her father flew off somewhere, while her mother began ripping up the chameleon like beast and feeding it to Evelin and her siblings.