“My little wildflower has returned! Finally there will be some fun back in the jungle,” she said.
Eduardo leaned over to Blu. “I got to tell you when I first saw you, I thought, Oh, boy, here comes one of those wimpy-winged birds. But you’re not.” He paused. “Right? Not you, Drew!” He punched him in the wing, almost knocking Blu over. “You’re tough.”
“Mimi, come here,” Eduardo called. “I want you to meet Sue.”
Mimi and Jewel walked over.
“Oooh, you snagged yourself a cute one,” Aunt Mimi said.
“Actually, I’m Blu,” he corrected politely.
“So am I, dear,” Aunt Mimi said.
Blu tried to explain. “Oh, no, no, no—”
“We’re all blue, dear. That’s why they call us blue macaws.” She turned to her niece. “Not too observant, is he?”
“Uh, no, really, that’s my name,” Blu said.
Jewel laughed. “Just go with it,” she whispered to Blu. “Aunt Mimi, you haven’t changed a bit!”
A strong breeze ruffled Blu’s feathers, followed by someone singing in a soulful voice. Everyone in the jungle seemed to stop. Anticipation hung in the air. Blu joined the others and looked up to see a powerful-looking macaw soaring down to land. Blu didn’t know who he was, but the bird was marvelous-looking: athletic and commanding, with a luscious head of feathers and the voice of a star.
“So that’s what a blue macaw is supposed to look like,” Pedro said, awestruck.
The majestic bird had only one focus: Jewel. He was singing directly to her—about how happy he was that she had returned, how amazing it was to see her again. He flew down to a branch near where a few female blue macaws sat. They swooned and fainted.
The bird glided down next to Jewel. “Welcome back, Jewel!”
“Roberto,” Jewel said, blushing.
“Wow, you look great!” the dazzling macaw said.
“So do you!” Jewel said, smiling.
“We have so much catching up to do!”
Blu cleared his throat. “Uh, hey. Hi there. I’m Jewel’s significant other.” He was shocked when Roberto scooped him up and kissed him on both cheeks.
“Ahhh!” Roberto boomed. “So you’re the lucky bird who swept Ju-Ju off her feet!”
Jewel giggled at the sound of her old nickname.
“Ju-Ju?” Blu repeated.
“Yeah, when we were kids we always had the cutest names for each other,” Roberto explained.
“We did,” Jewel said, giggling. “I called him Beto.”
“That’s adorable. I love doing the nicknames.” Blu leaned toward Jewel. “You never mentioned any Roberto.”
“There was nothing to mention,” Jewel whispered back.
Eduardo joined them. “There’s my wingman!” He grinned at Roberto. “Looking good, Roberto!”
“Look at you!” Roberto replied. He turned to Blu. “Eduardo taught me everything I know. He’s the bird.”
“No,” Eduardo contradicted him. “You’re the bird.”
“You’re the bird,” Roberto insisted.
“You’re the bird,” Eduardo held firm.
Blu decided to join in. “Hey, how about you’re both the bird?” he said, trying to play along.
Eduardo and Roberto just looked at him. An awkward silence hung in the air. Thankfully, the music changed and Jewel’s face lit up. “Oh wow, I remember this one!” she said.
“How could you forget?” Roberto said. “It’s in our blood, baby! It’s who we are.” Roberto turned to Blu. “You don’t mind if I borrow her for a minute, do you? I promise I’ll bring her right back.”
“Oh, well . . .” Actually Blu did mind. But Roberto had already swept Jewel onto the middle of the makeshift dance floor. Blu watched as the bird spun his wife expertly around. From the side, Nico, Pedro, and Carla bobbed to the beat.
“Come on, cutie!” Aunt Mimi said, taking Blu’s wing. “Let’s dance!” After a few seconds of spinning, Blu felt dizzy—and turned green. But Roberto and Jewel were on fire, singing and dancing together as if they’d never been apart. Everyone was watching them.
“Yo, this is untapped territory,” Pedro said, shaking his feathers as he listened to them sing. “I am loving this sound!”
Eduardo brought Bia, Carla, and Tiago over, encouraging them to sing and dance too, and soon the whole tribe was singing. Blu tried his best to give it his all, but in the end, he found himself alone on the side, watching everyone else have fun.
“Come on, Dad!” Tiago urged, hopping around.
“Oh, that’s okay,” Blu assured him. “You guys have fun. I’m good.”
Chapter 7
While the macaws were having a party, Nigel, Gabi, and Charlie were having a good dose of misery. They were hot. Sweaty. And uncomfortable. Especially Charlie. Nigel was perched on top of the anteater, and Gabi rode on top of Charlie’s hat, fanning Nigel with a leaf. She hadn’t stopped talking.
“You’re the only one who knows what it feels like to be all alone. Misunderstood. You’re the evil to my lethal.”
Nigel shot her a look. “I can see why they call you Gabi.” He glanced around. “Where are you, you filthy fowl?”
“Oh, I love watching you work,” Gabi cooed.
Looking past Gabi, Nigel saw a group of blue birds flying overhead.
“Halt!” he shouted. Charlie stopped short and Gabi was thrown off. “I’ve been going about this all wrong. I need to search from higher ground.”
Nigel climbed down Charlie’s head, not caring that he was stepping on his face. Puffing out his chest, he took a running start and jumped. Bam! He slammed hard into a tree. He tried it again. And again. But each time he failed, finally belly flopping unsuccessfully onto the ground.
“You stayed airborne for almost a full second that time!” Gabi said encouragingly. “Bravo! Bravissimo!”
Ignoring her, Nigel whipped around to face Charlie. “What are you looking at? Get me up there!”
Moments later, Nigel was standing on Charlie’s head. Charlie used his tongue like a rope to scale the tree. “Higher! Higher . . . even higher!” Nigel commanded. “A little bit higher! Stop. Lower. Lower now. Yes! Perfect!” But when Nigel finally reached the perfect vantage point he was unhappy to see that Blu and his family weren’t alone. Instead, they were among hundreds of blue macaws.
“Ugh, it’s an infestation. Keep celebrating,” Nigel said to himself. “I’ll be pooping on your party promptly.”
Beneath him Charlie stretched to reach an ant, which caused him to lose his grip on the tree and slip. They all tumbled to the jungle floor.
Back at the macaw’s village, the party was wrapping up. Nico and Pedro were very excited.
“We came to the right place!” Pedro enthused. “This is poppin’! It’s poppin’ in the Amazon!”
Nico nodded. “We can bring these macaws back to Rio and have the best Carnaval show ever! I am inspired!” He tossed his hat into the air but it didn’t come back down.
Eduardo leaned over toward them. “Sorry to break it to you, city boys, but you’ll have to find some other talent. Nobody leaves the tribe.” In his talons was Nico’s bottle-cap hat. “Oh, and no human things in the jungle. Understood?” He flew off holding the hat.
“What?” Pedro said, upset. “What’s his problem?”
Nico slumped. “I feel naked.”
“We coulda been legends,” Pedro said, dejected. “I mean, we already are super mega dope, but you know what I’m saying?”
“We had it all,” Nico picked up where Pedro had left off. “The undiscovered talent, the big idea. The inspiration. But if we can’t bring these guys to Rio, we got nothing.”
“Nothing? Hold your mangoes,” Rafael said. “We still have Eva.”
Nico and Pedro exchanged glances.
“What?” Rafael prompted.
Carla hurried over. “Guys, this jungle is huge. I bet we can find loads of untapped talent, if we just scout a little.”
“We?” Nico repeated
“What you talkin’ about, we?” Pedro said, frowning. “You speak French?”
Carla gave it to them straight. “No offense guys, but you’re kinda old. And let’s face it, I know the youth market.”
Nico let out a low whistle. “Oooh, dude, you just got dissed,” he told Pedro.
Pedro balked. “She was talking to you. I’m all youth. I swim in the fountain.”
On the dance floor, Roberto and Jewel were finally taking a break. “Wow, you still got the moves, Ju-Ju,” Roberto said as they flew over to Blu.
“Oh my gosh, I haven’t danced like that in forever!” she gushed. “Seriously? When is the last time I had this much fun?”
“Um, New Year’s, maybe?” Blu tried. “Just putting it out there.”
Jewel wasn’t picking up the hint. “Oh, I’m so exhausted.”
“Yeah, we should get some rest,” Blu spoke up. “Find a local inn or B and B nearby.”
“Stop, stop, stop. What is this crazy talk?” Roberto cut in. “No, you guys are staying in my nest. I’m on patrol tonight. Mi casa es su casa.”
Jewel looked up at Roberto, obviously touched. “That’s really nice, Beto.”
“Thank you, but we’re fine,” Blu said, hating that plan. “Besides, our whole family couldn’t possibly fit in your bachelor pad.”
But it turned out that Roberto’s “bachelor pad” was a palace.
“Whoa,” Blu said, the word echoing in the cavernous space. He and Jewel stood in the atrium, gazing around Roberto’s stylish, gigantic nest.
“Real estate must be pretty cheap around here,” Blu mumbled.
“Wow,” Jewel said, her eyes shining. “This is incredible.”
Roberto played it down. “Oh, this old nest. It’s just something I put together last minute. With my own two wings, of course. And my strength. And my brawn. I’m into landscaping.”
Tiago swooped in. “Dad, it’s huge! It has six bedrooms! I get the big one!”
Carla swooped in next. “No! I’m the oldest.”
“Only by three minutes, two point five seconds,” Bia countered.
“I had hoped to one day be blessed with a flock of little Robertos to call my own,” Roberto said by way of explanation. He smiled at Jewel, and Blu’s eyes narrowed.
“I bet you did,” he said thinly.
“No way!” Tiago shouted. “A birdbath! Yeah!” He slid down a branch into the water, splashing Blu.
Roberto put his wing around Blu. “Blu, let me tell you something. If anything, and I mean anything, ever happens to you, I will take care of your family.” He smiled at all of them. “Sleep well.” And then, as a clap of thunder sounded, he flew off.
Outside Roberto’s nest, rain fell in hard, noisy drops. Blu searched the nest for hidden dangers. “I’m not paranoid,” he told himself. “I’m just practical.” A shadow loomed over him and he whipped around. It was just a vine. “Ah, okay, all clear.”
Jewel was singing a lullaby as she put the kids to bed. It made Blu feel a little better, hearing her soothing voice.
“Mom, sing it one more time, please,” Tiago asked sleepily.
“Tomorrow, sweetie,” Jewel told him. “Time for bed now.”
After tucking the tired kids into bed, Blu and Jewel sat quietly together, looking out the window into the dark, wet rain forest.
“What an amazing day,” Jewel said softly. “All this time, I never let myself hope they were still alive . . . but . . . but they are! We found our family, Blu!” She yawned. “This changes everything.”
Blu had just dozed off, but Jewel’s words startled him awake. Changes everything? What did she mean? “Yeah, wait, what? What’s changing?”
But Jewel had fallen asleep.
Sighing, Blu stared down at his wife. What had he gotten himself into?
Chapter 8
Shafts of light made their way through the jungle canopy the next morning.
“C’mon, guys!” Carla said, waking Rafael, Nico, and Pedro up. “We have auditions.”
The guys jolted awake. “Okay! I love it!” Rafael burst out, startled.
Carla sighed. “We haven’t started yet. Here’s the plan. We’ll use our auditions today to pick the very best performers to take back to Rio. And Pop-Pop said tomorrow night we could put on a show right here to try it out!”
Nico held up his talons. “Whoa, kid. Slow down. It’s early.”
With a flourish, Carla stepped aside to reveal a crowd of animals that had already gathered.
Rafael let out a whistle. “Whooo, kid’s been workin’!”
Carla grinned. “I told you I’d find talent! All right, hit it!”
The contestants lined up to do their thing. Everyone was hoping to secure a spot in the show.
A group of capybaras performed a synchronized swimming routine. They created a pyramid that rose out of the water. Fins circled around them. It was pretty amazing.
“Wow,” Raphael said, impressed.
Things were going great until the surface of the water began to bubble and foam around the capybaras. When the bubbles stopped, all the animals were skeletons, except the one at the top of the pyramid.
“Ta-da!” the lone capybara cried.
Nico, Pedro, Rafael, and Carla looked at one another in horror.
“Is that a one-time thing?” Rafael asked. “Or are there more of you?”
Carla took a breath. “Well, we have more to go through. Next!”
The acts kept coming. There was a sloth that woke up to sing and fell promptly back to sleep when she finished. Next, two turtles demonstrated a capoeira routine in slow motion. Nothing was exciting the judges.
The next contestant, a baby capybara, stepped into the spotlight. “Hi, my name is Clara the Capybara. And I will be singing my favorite song.” She began to sing “Memory,” her voice light and sweet.
The judges agreed she was doing a wonderful job. But to their horror, a jaguar sprang out of the jungle and chomped the capybara down in one bite. The capybara continued to sing inside the jaguar. The jaguar lip-synced along.
“If they keep eating each other, we got no show,” Nico muttered.
Carla sighed. “Okay, we’ll just keep looking.”
When Blu woke up, a spider was sitting on his face. “Ahhh!” he cried. Tiago laughed—he’d been holding the spider on the end of a string while a group of macaw kids watched and laughed.
“Tiago!” Blu scolded.
Jewel flew past, joining Tiago. “Good morning, sweetie! C’mon, Blu, join us! Tiago, I’ll race ya! Last one to the waterfall is a rotten egg!”
Blu watched as they did loop de loops and barrel rolls, then slid down a waterfall.
“Yeah!” Tiago shouted. “This is great!”
Jewel landed on a branch. “Tiago!” she called, tossing him a piece of fruit. She ripped into her own fruit, juice dripping down her beak.
Blu had never seen her act this way. “Whoa.”
He decided to go brush his teeth first, keeping up his regular routine. But as he was brushing, he realized he wasn’t alone. Eduardo was standing there. Watching him.
“Morning!” Eduardo bellowed.
Blu swallowed down the toothpaste foam and started coughing. He didn’t like being snuck up on.
“See you overslept a little bit here, son,” Eduardo said. “Our days start pretty early here in the jungle.”
Jewel swept back in and Blu quickly wiped his beak.
“Morning, Daddy!”
“That’s my girl, already up and at ’em!” Eduardo said proudly.
“Why did you let me sleep in?” Blu asked Jewel under his breath. He hated looking lazy in front of his father-in-law.
Jewel looked at him. “What are you talking about? You sleep in every day!”
“Yeah, but—”
Bia swooped in carrying clay in her talons. “Hey, Dad, Aunt Mimi says clay is good for your digestion. Try some!” And despite Blu’s protests,
Bia shoved the clay into his beak, making him cough again.
“It’s good, right?” Bia grinned. “I’m gonna go get some more.” She took off.
“Smart girl. Clearly she takes after her mother,” Eduardo said fondly. “So I thought I’d take Stu here for a little tour of the area. Show him around.” He put his arm around Blu. “Let’s shake that city off you, son.”
“Oh, that’s a great idea!” Jewel exclaimed. “You go have fun with Daddy and I’ll explore around here with the kids!”
“Oh, oh yeah, okay. Sure. Yeah, great, I just gotta—” Blu pulled out his fanny pack. “Okay, ready.”
Eduardo cleared his throat. “Okay. Stu, come here. It’s okay, Stu. Come closer.”
Blu moved a little closer. “Even more? Okay, yeah.”
“Not so close,” Eduardo said.
Blu backed off. “Oh, okay.”
Eduardo sighed. “Listen, I know you come from a . . . I realize a different background.” He pointed to the pack. “But, you gotta . . . you gotta lose that human pocket, okay?”
“Oh, this is a fanny pack,” Blu corrected.
“It’s human,” Eduardo said firmly. “And I can’t have my flock corrupted, so you understand.” Finished, Eduardo flew off. “I’ll meet you by the clay banks!” he called.
“Come on . . . corrupted?” Blu let out, exasperated. “By a fanny pack?”
Jewel tried to calm him. “Remember how I was when I met you?”
Blu nodded. “Uh, yeah. Rude, violent, borderline psychotic.”
Jewel smiled. “All right, easy there, partner. I was wild. These are wild birds.” She smoothed Blu’s feathers. “We have to try to be culturally sensitive while we’re here. Besides, it won’t kill you to leave behind the fanny pack.”
“All right,” Blu agreed. Jewel flew off as Blu put the pack on the ground.
“Happy wife, happy life,” he said, sighing. He took flight, trying to keep up. Then he looked back at Jewel, with the kids and Roberto.
Jewel waved. “Have fun, honey!”
“Uh, yeah, sure. Bye!”
In another part of the jungle, a different expedition was taking place. Nigel, Gabi, and Charlie stalked through the rain forest. Nigel had disguised himself with leaves and vines.
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