“Don’t worry, I’m just moving the car and then I’ll find Princess Priss.” He backed the car up the drive onto the street in front of the house. The fire truck was parked on the front lawn.
“Remain here. Don’t let the animals out and don’t go anywhere.”
She nodded without a word and he took off. “Come here Princess! Here, puss, puss!”
“Hey, you need to get back!” another firefighter said.
“I need you guys to move the chicken coop back,” he told them. “Before the smoke affects the chickens.”
The guy nodded and grabbed someone else. They pulled the coop clear of the smoke and he finally found Princess Priss cowering under a bush.
“Poor girl, come on.”
She let out a high-pitched meow, but let him pick her up and put her in the cage. He carried the cat to the car, one of the firefighter’s following so he could check on Maya. He set Princess Priss into the car as Maya got out. The firefighter immediately started examining her hand.
“The chickens?” she asked desperately.
“We moved them away,” he reassured her.
“We need to get the babies checked by a vet,” she told him
He nodded.
“I’ll bandage your hand,” the firefighter said. “It’s not too bad. But probably best to get a check-up if you inhaled any smoke.”
“Yep, thanks,” he told him as he saw a familiar vehicle pull up behind them. After parking, Ink jumped out. Then another vehicle pulled up behind it. This one had tinted windows so he couldn’t see who was driving it. But Brody jumped out of the passenger seat, nodding at the driver. Then he ran to Ink who stared at the other car for a moment.
Then they both headed their way.
“What happened?” Ink asked. “Is anyone hurt? Did you get everyone out?”
“Hey, who are you? You can’t just come onto this property,” one of the firefighters came over, waving his hands at them irately.
“Apologies,” Ink said. “Ink Callahan. I own Callahan Security which put in the security system for this house. I was alerted to an intruder who threw something flammable into the house.”
“Right. You’ve got video footage?” the firefighter asked.
“Yes.”
“Good. We need to talk to you. But right now, we need to concentrate on getting this fire out. And these people and animals checked over.” He left and Matthieu turned to Brody and Ink.
“Are you all right?” Ink asked. “Do you need the hospital?”
“Maya burned her hand. It needs to be checked by a doctor,” Matthieu replied.
“It’s fine, it’s all bandaged.” She waved her hand around.
“You should both get checked for smoke inhalation,” Brody said. “All the animals are all right?”
“Yeah, but they should get looked at,” Matthieu said. “And we need to do something about the chickens.”
“Chickens?” Ink asked.
“Hen Solo, Jabba the Cluck, Chew Bok-Bok and Princess Lay-er,” Maya said worriedly. “I can’t just leave them here. They’re probably traumatized. And what if this person comes back? They could hurt them!”
“I’ll sort something,” Ink reassured her. “You can’t come back here and we’re going to have to figure out where you can stay. But, I’m sure that Betsy and Zippy would love to look after some chickens for a while.”
“Really?” Maya asked.
