A few hours later, Mia and her brother Milo (who was currently in the body of a parakeet) sat at the counter of their family pet store, The Last Stop Pet Shop. Mia had showered and washed her hair after her messy dig through the trash. Now, in between helping customers, they were looking over the riddle they had found in the cracker box.

Uncle Fred had left the store and gone downtown.

"Since your mom doesn't have a PC," he said, "I'm going to the library to use the Internet. I'll Google the website of that bookseller in New York - the one the old man ordered books from - and I'll email him. Maybe the bookseller will have the old man's name and address. If that doesn't work, I'll go down to the city offices and see if the old man has a license to run his magic trick supply business. If he does, the name and address should be on the license. Meanwhile, you two work some more on that riddle."

So, now that the last customers had gone, Mia and Milo were once again looking over the strange words:

If an understanding of animals you seek,
Eat of these, and time will tell,
But only a golden talisman,
And words of kindness, will break the spell.

"An understanding of animals," said Milo, walking across the paper. "Well, I sure have that. I understand animals better than I ever wanted to."

"Stop walking all over the paper," snapped Mia. She was still mad at Milo for biting her earlier in the day. "Your bird claws are dirty. You're getting bird footprints all over the paper."

"So? It will be a good souvenir to keep after I turn human again."

"If you turn human," said Mia.

"What's the matter with you?" asked Milo. "You're not still mad about that little nip I gave you, are you?"

"For your information, birdbrain," said Mia through gritted teeth, "that little nip, as you call it, really hurt. Your beak is sharp."

"Sor-ry!" said Milo. "I couldn't help it, O.K.? That's just what birds do when they're nervous. They bite."

"Oh, yeah?" said Mia. "Well, guess what. I'm getting tired of that excuse. That's what you say every time. Well, forget it, Milo. It doesn't work. Just because you are an animal doesn't mean you have to act like one!" And with that, she turned and stomped off into the back storeroom.

"Huh?" said Milo. After a minute he gave up trying to figure that statement out. He flew after her, taking time to enjoy a couple of mid-air swoops and glides on the way. "Oh, come on, Mia," he said as he flew through the storeroom door. "Don't be mad."

"I don't think so," said Mia, smiling triumphantly. "You see, I can't trust you, Milo. You say you can't help biting me. Well, birds that don't behave have to stay in their cages." She turned to walk away.

"Wait, Mia!" he begged. "Give me a break! I'm sick of cages! There's nothing to do in here!"

"Play with the bird toys," said Mia calmly. "That's what they're for."

"You'd do this to me just for one bite?" asked Milo.

"No. Not just for the bite," said Mia. "But because you threatened to peck me again and you forced me to dig in the trash. I told you I'd get you for that," she added and walked out the door.

Furious, Milo began shrieking and squawking at the top of his lungs. He heard his sister out in the shop, trying to help a new set of customers. He also heard the other birds in the shop begin shrieking too.

That will show her, he thought, still hollering. She won't even be able to talk over the noise!

He heard the front door close as the customers left. Then he heard Mia's footsteps coming back to the storeroom. He shrieked even louder. Mia walked right past him and back to the corner. She picked something up and walked over to the cage. Without a word, she pulled a cover over the cage, leaving him in total darkness.

Milo gave up and was silent.

He spent awhile preening and grooming his feathers, and thinking about revenge. Finally fell asleep. He woke up once and tried to move around and exercise, but kept bonking his head on bird toys in the darkness. Eventually he went back to sleep again.

He didn't know how long he had been asleep when the storeroom door opening woke him up. Moments later the cover on the cage was lifted.

"Milo," said Mia in a low voice. "Are you awake?"

He stirred and ruffled his feathers. "Yeah, I'm awake."

"I've been thinking," said Mia, "about how I'd feel if I were you. I think I might be pretty nervous and upset, too. I'm sorry I got so mad."

Milo was tempted to stay mad, but he was feeling pretty stiff. Like most birds, he really needed to get out of the cage and get some exercise. "That's O.K.," he said. "I guess it was my fault, too."

"Is it really hard?" asked Mia. "Being an animal, I mean?"

"Yeah," said Milo. "Sometimes. I mean, it's cool to be able to fly and other stuff like that. But it's kind of scary being small, especially when I'm around strange people or other animals. I'm sort of at their mercy, you know? I never thought about animals having feelings before. But I can tell you now, they get scared and mad and glad just like we do."

Mia thought for a moment. "Yeah. It must be tough to have to depend on people for everything."

"It is," agreed Milo. "Which reminds me, I forgot to tell you-the iguana cage needs cleaning."

Mia sighed. "O.K. I guess I can't make you do it this time. Here." she opened the door, "You can get out now. I'm sorry I left you in here."

Milo climbed out onto her finger, then spread his wings and flew around the room. "Boy, that feels good."

Later that evening, when Uncle Fred came home, they all sat around the kitchen. He told them he hadn't had much success. "I found the bookseller's website," he said, "and called the phone number that was listed there, but the bookseller's answering machine said his store was closed today. So I emailed him. Tomorrow I'll have to run by my house and check my computer to see if he responded. And the license search didn't work, either. There's no business license listed for "Mr. Wizard's Magic Chamber". It's as though he just doesn't exist."

That night, Milo perched on the back of the sofa and dozed while his sister and uncle slept. But the night was warm, and he was restless. Several times he woke up and flew around the room, but it wasn't enough exercise.

"I need more room," he grumbled. Then he noticed that his uncle had left the kitchen window open a little way. Milo knew that the kitchen window had a hole in the screen. He flew into the kitchen and inspected the window. Sure enough, there was room for a small parakeet to squeeze under the window and through the hole! Moments later, he was outside.

Milo flew high above the houses, soaring and gliding and sailing on the night breeze. It was the most wonderful feeling he had ever known. I'll never forget this, he thought. The moon shone brightly over the houses below, and the city in the distance. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad being a bird forever. Not if I could stay outside and fly all the time. He flew up towards the moon and swooped down to the earth at thrilling speeds. He tried banking and spiraling and even loop-the-loops. Finally, he grew tired and glided down to the back garden for a rest. He perched on the lowest branch of a bush to relax. The night breeze blew gently around him, riffling his feathers. It felt so good! Before he knew what was happening, he fell asleep.

WHUMP! Something enormous smacked against him. He lost his hold, tumbling to the grass below. Before he could revive and try to fly away, a huge paw came down on top of him, pinning him down so tightly that he could hardly breathe. He looked up to see a big, yellow, whiskery face looking down at him with a very hungry expression. A pair of brilliant green eyes gazed down at him above a set of very large, gleaming white teeth. It was one of Mrs. Trimble's cats.

Right then, Milo realized it was not such a good thing being a bird.

The cat's eyes glittered. It bent closer to sniff Milo. Milo felt the cat's hot breath on his feathers. It smelled like tuna-flavored cat food. Milo squirmed, but the cat only held him tighter. I'm going to die, thought Milo. I'll be the first kid in history to be eaten by a cat. Goodbye, Mia and Uncle Fred. Goodbye, Mom. Sorry I didn't listen to you. You always told me to watch my temper. If I had, I wouldn't be in this mess now.

The cat opened its mouth. It was drooling a little. Milo prepared to close his eyes and pray. But just then, through his half-closed eyes, he caught a glimpse of the sky, and realized it was growing light outside. If he could just keep the cat from eating him a little longer..Milo opened his eyes. He cleared his throat and spoke.

The cat's ears went back. Its whiskers twitched. Milo continued, "I know how you feel. I'm having a pretty strange week myself. I'm learning a lot about animals, though."

The sky grew lighter. The cat made up its mind. It was hungry, and the talking bird seemed harmless enough. The cat's mouth opened wide..

Milo felt the familiar dizziness sweep over him. Yes! Hurry, please!

Milo hopped swiftly across the garden to the house. He stopped below the kitchen window, panting hard. He looked up. The kitchen window was far above him. He knew even a rabbit couldn't jump that high. And even if he could have reached that high, the hole in the screen was parakeet-sized, not rabbit sized. Like it or not, he was stuck out here until Mia or Uncle Fred found him. He hopped into a sheltered corner near the back porch, and settled down, ears quivering, to wait for rescue.

But one thing he knew for certain. He wasn't going back to sleep!