Doug gasped. “Where we gonna go, Arcade?”

Squawk!

I smiled at Doug. “What do you say we take Flames back to the Beijing Zoo?”

*  *  *

The elevator doors open right inside the bird house at the Beijing Zoo.

“Good job, Arcade,” Zoe says with a little sass in her voice. “Being specific saves a lot of confusion.”

The only problem is, I’m not ready to say goodbye.

“So this is where it all began,” Doug says as he watches all the birds flying around. “I LOVE China!”

Zoe rolls her eyes. “Oh, brother. You need to see the giant pandas.”

I reach down and smooth Flames’s feathers. “I hope your family recognizes you now that you’re orange.”

“He’s pink.” Zoe laughs.

“Orange.”

“Pink.”

“Orange.”

Squawk!

“Well,” Zoe says. “Whatever color he is, he’s home.”

I look down at the ground. “I’m going to miss him. Taking care of him the last couple of months while searching for Loopy really kept me going.”

“Well, we got a bathroom to renovate now. That’ll keep the memories alive.” Doug reaches over and pats me on the back as I reach down for one last flamingo hug.

“Take it easy, Flames. I hope they feed you top-notch shrimp here at the Beijing Zoo.”

Flames wraps his neck around my arm and stays that way for a minute. Then he steps away, flaps his wings, and flies back into his flamboyance of flamingos.

“Let’s go see the pandas while we still have time,” Zoe says. She grabs Doug’s elbow. I turn to follow, but then I spot someone off in the distance.

It’s the Triple T woman.

She walks over to a kiosk next to the flamingo exhibit. I meet her there.

“You weren’t joking when you said things were going to heat up.”

She smiles. “I don’t joke . . . about that.”

“Did I pass the tests?”

She nods. “I had no doubt. You’re compassionate and you wear loyalty and kindness . . .”

“. . . around my neck as a reminder?” I finger my gold chain.

She looks me in the eyes. “There’s so much more for you to learn, Arcade. And with each discovery, you can help someone be their best self.”

“I like the sound of that. But I have some work to do. With the Badger brothers. And then there’s Wiley Overton . . .”

“They’ll come around. If they choose to.”

The Triple T woman turns from me and points to the sign. “Flamingos are an odd bird. But I’m not surprised you like them. Do you know where the name flamingo comes from?”

I wrack my brain. In all my reading, I don’t think I’ve ever come across that information.

I step toward the sign and read out loud what it says.

“The word ‘flamingo’ comes from the Spanish word ‘flamenco,’ which is derived from the Latin word ‘flamma’ meaning . . .”

WHAT???

“Flame. Or FIRE!”