Night insects . . . He looked up at the sky. It was not dark yet. Why are they out before the Sun-Dog has finished his journey?

Lucky’s thoughts were drowned out by the sound, which was rapidly growing in volume to a deep drone. The dogs raised their heads in unison and Mickey yelped: “It’s the giant loudbirds! We saw them in the city!”

Lucky squinted at the sky, fear clenching at his stomach. What are the loudbirds doing now? Are they still searching for sick longpaws?

Mickey was right—several of the huge birds were swinging into view, gliding over from the forest. Panic coursed through the Pack. Sunshine and Bruno whimpered and cowered. A short distance away, Alpha and Sweet were on their paws, barking. Mickey was still saying something but one of the birds had dropped overhead and was hovering in the sky, thrashing the air so loudly with its wings that it swallowed his words. Lucky saw Mickey back into Bella. Bella threw up her head and barked. The two dogs stood close as chaos broke out all around them.

The loudbird leaped up high enough for Lucky to catch what the dogs around him were saying.

“Longpaws!” barked Daisy. “There are longpaws trapped inside the birds!”

The dogs fell silent a moment, staring up at the bird. Yellow-furred longpaws were hanging out of the gashes in the bird’s flank.

“It’s true!” Bruno gasped. “There are longpaws up there trying to escape the belly of that hideous creature!”

“We should help them!” Sunshine howled. Lucky threw her a wary look. Had she already forgotten her promise to put longpaws out of her mind?

“No, Sunshine,” Mickey warned. “These longpaws are no friends of dogs! We need to stay back.”

Snap had drawn closer, perhaps realizing that Mickey and Lucky had something to say about the giant bird. Dart and Spring followed her and they huddled close to Lucky, waiting for him to speak.

“They aren’t trying to escape,” Lucky barked, raising his voice as the huge bird swept a loop over their heads. “We saw a bird like this settle in the forest. The longpaws left and returned, which means that they are not prisoners. I think they are controlling the bird somehow.”

Alpha and Sweet approached, their eyes fixed to the great bird overhead. They growled and barked as it started to sink over the valley, whipping up a ferocious wind beneath its wings that flattened their fur and shook the pine trees at the edge of the camp.

“It’s going to land!” barked Bruno. “Maybe the longpaws will get out, like they did in the forest.” He started pawing the ground excitedly. “We should try to find it! We should help the longpaws.” The bird was moving back to the deep forest, beyond the cluster of pine trees. Bruno started after it. Lucky saw Alpha’s eyes darken. The dog-wolf was about to say something, but Bella got in first.