Ghost Owl

The music tried to fill the silence and nearly did so, but too many other noises had vanished at the same time, too many pointing fingers and murmured ‘look at that’ had spread the void so there was an emptiness that pushed at the edges of the happy dance tune. All eyes turned, not to the pirate walking on his hands, but to the bright white owl perched on the thick wooden beam that ran the length of the room.

Quill brought his legs wide apart into the splits while shifting his weight onto one hand. Everyone who was watching, which was unfortunately no one, was impressed and cheered. That is to say, there were no applause at all. Pirate Quill cartwheeled back to his feet.

Percy, who had perfectly perceived the cause of the lack of applause, swooped down and perched back on Quill’s shoulder. “We should go now,” the bird whispered quietly into his ear.

A masked figure appeared before them, with an outstretched hand. “Big Dan is my name, and animal sales is my game. I don’t like to waste time, mine or yours, or anyone else’s really,” he said. “How much for the ghost owl?”