Murder Most Fowl – Part X #atozchallenge

For the A to Z challenge, I present Murder Most Fowl, an unedited serial story from the unpublished Cera Chronicles. Please excuse the grammar mistakes. This hasn’t been critiqued yet. If you’re just diving into this story, you may want to start with part A.

“X marks the spot.” Molly zeroed in on Perry’s pendant and pulled the trigger.

Ow! Mother friggin’… This girl was a pain in the butt. Literally! “Seriously kid, you need to learn how to aim.” I rubbed my posterior and flinched. Wisps of smoke rose from where the lightning had hit. I stomped to Molly and ripped the gun from her hand. “Stop ruining my clothes!”

Molly pointed an indignant finger at Perry. “She done killed my husband. I deserve to have my revenge.”

“On my skirt?!” A new outfit was top on my list after I cashed in on her reward.

Perry shook her head. “The deputy should’a known better than to take what was mine. He had no business stealin’ my map and the other key.”

Molly’s cheeks reddened. “Liar!”

“I ain’t lyin’, honey.” Perry sneered. “Now how about you hand over that there necklace of yours?”

I lifted the gun and fired. Lightning blasted Perry in the chest and flung her against the far wall. She struck and slumped into a pile.

Michael rushed to Perry’s inert form and detached the necklace. “I have the key! I told you this was a map. You see? I am never wrong.”

I waved Molly toward the stone bird.

Michael met us there. “From what I have deciphered, these keys will unlock the greatest treasure of an ancient civilization. We need to insert them at the same time.”

Molly lifted her pendant. They exchanged glances and then, after a sharp intake of breath, inserted the matching keys.

The two ‘x’s sank into the slots and twisted with a grinding noise of stone gears. The bird’s beak fell open. A dark egg rolled out. It reached the edge and dropped onto the stone beneath the bird’s feet. Everything went silent. We waited. I looked at Michael and he shrugged.

Molly frowned. “Is that all?”

The egg cracked. A second later, the top popped off and a feathery little creature rolled out. It blinked its eyes at Molly.

I studied the creature. “Is that a…”

“Turkey?” Michael asked.

“Duck?” Molly suggested.

“Chicken,” I decided.

I cluackgled at us. Wow. Some treasure. A red snood hung from over its bill, and a white downy covered it’s squat frame. It waddled to Molly. “Mama!”

Wait…did that bird just talk?

Read Y here.

Thanks for reading! If you want to start at the beginning, find it here. Don’t forget to visit other bloggers participating in the A to Z Challenge.

Do you have any criticism? Suggestions? Wild, off-the-wall ideas of “you know what would be funny…?” Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear them.