"Oh, dear," Darus whispered again, and quickly backed out of the room.
Just then, Joey, who had been awakened by the call of nature, was exiting the bathroom. Suddenly, he was hit in the face with a mound of feathers as Darus backed out of his parents' room.
"Hey, what the-?" he said, as he pushed the feathers away and Darus turned himself around. Joey looked at him for a moment, eyes wide in shock. Then-
"Aahhh!" he yelled. But only for a second. Darus saw it coming, and was quick to react. He slapped a wing over Joey's face, filling his mouth with feathers again.
"Shhhh, quiet," Darus whispered. "Where do you sleep?"
Joey pointed down the hall. Darus led him to his room, holding Joey's mouth the whole way.
When they walked in, Joey kicked the door shut behind them. Choco, who was once again trying to fall asleep, caught his first glimpse of the large visitor, let out a small yelp, and immediately bolted for the closet. When the coast was clear, Darus let go of Joey's mouth.
"Holy krud, what are you doing here?" Joey asked. But before Darus could answer, Joey turned to his brother. "Johnny, wake up."
Johnny stirred a little. Then, after some effort, he forced his eyes open. When he saw the giant ostrich standing in his room, Johnny's eyes opened wider on their own. He started to scream, "Waaa-"
Luckily, Joey saw this one coming and was quick to react. He slapped his hand over his brother's mouth.
"Shhhh. You have to be quiet," he said.
Johnny nodded quickly.
"You sure you're gonna be quiet?"
Johnny nodded quickly again, and Joey let go. "What are you doing here?"
Darus looked at Joey. "I think we need your help." After he said this, Darus looked over at Johnny and noticed his black and swollen eye. "What happened to your eye?"
Johnny touched his face. "Oh, that. I got in a fight with a fish."
"With a fish? Like the ones that swim in the ponds back home?" Darus asked.
"Yeah, it's kind of a long story," Johnny said.
Then Darus noticed the bandage on Joey's arm. "And what happened to you?"
"One of our friends got caught on fire, and we were trying to dunk him in the river," Joey explained. "But we'll tell you about that later, too. What do you mean, you think you need our help?"
"Are you in trouble?" asked Johnny, as he stepped up to his friend. After the initial shock of seeing Darus wore off, he was immediately filled with excitement of seeing his friend again. "We'll help you if you're in trouble. What'd ya' do?"
"Did you break a law or something?" Joey asked.
Darus looked from one boy to the other. "No, I didn't break any laws. It's not that kind of trouble. It's not just about me. It's about everyone in Animal Land."
Now Joey moved closer. "What's happening in Animal Land?"
"After you boys left, Lazoo was so upset over what his brother had done to Simus. He was furious. I had never seen him so angry."
"What did he do?" Johnny asked.
"He went right up to Teron's cave, and had it out with him. They argued and argued for hours on end. Oh, you have never heard such a racket. Finally, Lazoo forbid Teron from ever coming down the mountain again. He told him to die up there, alone."
Darus stopped for a moment and slowly lowered his body to the floor. His face was suddenly filled with sadness. "That's when it all went bad".
