Chapter 1: The Gems

"Stop right there!" I hollered menacingly, pointing at Evelyn and Maggie, who have taken away our liberties.

They stopped but were baffled by my words and actions.

"Um...why-" Maggie began.

"Shush! Just so you two know, this whole jar is Chicky's and I's, got that?" I screamed, attempting to be fierce despite my size.

Why, oh why can't they just leave us alone with our well-earned gems?

"Why are you so defensive over it?" Evelyn asked, trying to be emotionless though I could clearly tell that her entire face was bright red from irritation.

"I'm not telling you because you're an airhead," Chicky replied quickly.

Later, I huddled with my sister. It would have hurt me if the blues, Maggie and Evelyn, did this to me, but they hurt me way more in other ways. It was revenge in action.

"Good one, Chicky!" I whisper-shouted.

"Thanks! But we must make sure that they do not get anywhere near this..."

Maggie smirked after they turned to face us. "Are you guys finally back from your cuddle?" she asked.

No sound could be heard through my beak no matter how hard I try.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we get it. I am just going to flaunt my wings like a model to throw you off balance and open the container," she told us after doing all of that.

If there was a competition about who had the best wings, no one would be in a dilemma since Maggie's were on fleek.

The smooth look...the tender- What was I thinking? Maggie may look tender and sweet, but her personality is surely something else.

Evelyn came over while we were still down.

"Excuse me? What do you think you're doing staring at my sister with that dumb smile?" she cut in, snipping my thoughts into however many pieces there were.

"Is that any of your business? Your beak is so big that it could never spit out positive messages! You're beak is always 'negative, negative, negative'!" Chicky asked, always having my back.

Evelyn's eyes narrowed in shaking feathers and left.

It was part of my made up law that I agree with my sister. Evelyn's beak should have a filter about the two types of messages she let out!

In Maggie's gem container, she opened a strange triangular piece of paper from the gems' container.

Congratulations, Maggie and Evelyn for finding this! To use it, simply pick up a gem, hold it to your heart, and say the following spell: "Water, water, water. Rise to the sky so mote it be."

It sounds amazing. I will give it a shot..." she replied.

No! Do not do that!

It was too late for me. It was Chicky, my older sister's, time to shine, but we failed. The gems' sparkle provided me my own, but the strength that should have really come with it for all intents and purposes was taken away by those pretty evil flying creatures.

She followed the instructions; Chicky and I glared at her. It was supposed to be ours, but we failed to protect it. Sourness crept up like a shadow, scaring the sweat out of me.

Is it healthy to feel that way when around my new family members?

"Tina!" Chicky screamed, running around like a maniac. She said the water was rising rapidly, leaving us vulnerable and powerless! We chicks were unable to fly or swim, so we were left to die.

As a result of my height, I got a large amount of water in my mouth and nose when I attempted to speak.

I was choking. Oh, no!

"Tina? Are you okay?" Chicky asked, panicking, but all I could do at that moment was choke and cough repeatedly.

My unspoken hate phrases were forced out of my mouth and probably even in the air. I hoped they could sense it.

Then she lifted me where the water hadn't gotten, though she wasn't that tall either, so she also did the painful movements. Because she didn't have much of a voice anymore; I was clear of water, I decided to complain to Maggie and Evelyn.

"Maggie! Evelyn! We are on the verge of death, like literally, so can you guys at least stop the water from rising?"

Maggie just laughed on the side as if this was a sick joke, while Evelyn asked, "Why should we?"

As I heard wings flapping above me, a big rush of water flooded my eye, proving to me that we couldn't do it. We just had to suffer for all of eternity.

First of all, I could barely see, second, Chicky could barely hold it together, and third, the birds were just there, having fun watching us! My stubborn wings and painful legs could barely keep my beak above the water.

Perhaps they're trying to elicit an answer from us...

"The water must stop for me to answer!" I vocalized as confidently as possible.

Thankfully, they listened and stopped the water by saying the spell on the instructions: "Water, water, water, go down, down you go, down the drain."

If they were loyal, could I use that to my advantage?

Know-it all: Tina, their four eyes are glued to you, so speak up! Don't bother asking so many questions to your inner self if the only results are increasing water level and disappointment.

Okay, fine.

"It was because Chicky and I wanted to turn the blue gems into yellow ones so that we could become more powerful than you guys, but we failed miserably...we were just so jealous," I confessed as I stared at the floor.

Both nodded and took the gems, calling it even, but I knew it was far from it. Way too far. The crack between the bird and chick family was cut too deep to be mended.

Chicky groaned in an 'I-am-such-a-loser' way, and I couldn't help but agree. That was absolutely impossible. Our lives almost ended there! I didn't think we'll ever go through something like that again! Salty tears sprinted down my face, but it wasn't only because of what just happened. It was something else that I thought should wait.