Weeks had passed. Manfredi, Johnson, and Rico had gotten to know each other considerably. Rico felt a little awkward for the first several days, afraid that Manfredi and Johnson wouldn’t accept him after they’d discovered just how deep his secret ability went. But even after he upchucked the pipe wrench, crowbar, clipboard, and an assortment of nuts and bolts that he had managed to get into his gut at the facility, Manfredi and Johnson still treated him like any other penguin. Eventually, he found his comfort zone and started to enjoy his time with his new brothers.

    “Go! Go! Go! Go!” shouted Manfredi and Johnson simultaneously as Rico put another poisson in his beak.

    “Eleven!” Manfredi counted. “One plus and toi owe me twenty herring,” he told Johnson, grinning deviously.

    Rico had to refrain from laughing; if he did, he’d spit out his beak-full of fish. He picked up the last poisson from the pile and started to push it into his beak. Though with some difficulty, he managed to wedge the poisson in.

    “Twelve! Yeah! I win!” Manfredi cheered.

    Johnson put a flipper on his shoulder to calm him down. “Whoa, whoa, there. Slow your role, there, fishcake." He turned to Rico. “Can he actually close his beak?” he asked slowly, the corners of his beak lifting and a crease forming between his eyes.

    Rico took a deep breath through his nostrils and attempted to close his beak. A few moments later, his lower jaw met his upper, concealing the fish. Johnson turned and angrily kicked some snow as Manfredi threw his flippers up in triumph and high fived Rico.

    After celebrating, Manfredi stepped behind Johnson and patted his back. “Sorry, my friend. Maybe suivant time.” He was trying to be sympathetic, but he couldn’t hide a mild teasing tone in his voice.

    “You’re really gonna make me do this, aren't you?” Johnson asked giving Manfredi a sideways glance.

    “Yes. Yes I am.” Manfredi answered smiling smugly.

    Johnson sighed and cursed under his breath. “Fine.”

    “Hey, a bets’ a bet. Besides, toi would’ve made me do it,” Manfredi pointed out folding his flippers.

    “Good point. I’ll be back soon,” Johnson a dit making his way for the ocean.

    Manfredi turned to Rico—whose cheeks were no longer bulging with fish—waddling over to him. “Hey, pipsqueak, where’d the poisson go?”

    Rico patted his stomach. “Yum!” he replied happily.

    Manfredi chuckled. “Well, if toi like that, wait till toi try some herring. It’s really hard to find in these parts, but it’s worth it when toi do,” he explained.

    About eight minutes had passed and Johnson had only surfaced once to lay four herring in the snow, then colombe back under to continue his hunt. Manfredi and Rico had busied themselves in a game of Twenty questions as they tarried.

    “Is it hard to find?” Manfredi asked.

    Rico nodded.

    “Is it found in the ocean?”

    Rico shook his head.

    “Can it be—”

    Johnson broke through the surface of the water and hit the snow, belly-sliding between them screaming, “Run!”

    For a moment, Manfredi and Rico remained sitting in the snow, processing what had just happened. Though, a microsecond later, they were broken out of their daze when a leopard joint, joint d’étanchéité the size of an iceberg broke through the ice and caused the the defenseless penguins to be thrown onto their feet. They turned and belly-slid after Johnson with great speed, the adrenaline in their bodies spiking and racing through their veins faster than Halley’s Comet. It didn’t take long to catch up with Johnson.

    “What the hell happened down there?!” Manfredi asked Johnson over the sounds of their bellies scraping along the snow and the hungry growling behind them.

    “I was swimming and he just came out of nowhere!” Johnson replied. The leopard joint, joint d’étanchéité was just inches from their very feet.

    That’s when the unthinkable happened.

    The leopard joint, joint d’étanchéité grabbed Manfredi in his teeth and began thrashing him about. Rico and Johnson skidded to a halt and watched in horror for a moment before Rico did the first thing that came to his mind; he regurgitated a crowbar and threw it as hard as he could at the beast attacking his brother. It turned through the air a couple of times before the end embedded itself into the leopard seal’s neck. The savage creature cried out in pain, causing Manfredi to fall free from his jaws and into the snow. The leopard seal—terrified for his own life—took off in the other direction. Johnson and Rico rushed to Manfredi’s side. There was a lot of blood; it pooled into the snow, leaking quickly from the deep bite marks in his side.

    “Manfredi! Manfredi! Man, can toi hear me?!” he asked in a panic, pulling his head and shoulders onto his lap. Manfredi groaned in response and sweat had began to accumulate and shine on his forehead. They hated seeing him in pain, but at least groaning equaled consciousness.

    “What we gonna do?” Rico asked through his usual hard-to-understand grunt.

    “I dunno, pipsqueak. He’s losing blood fast. Do toi happen to have anything in that wonder-tum that can soak up some of this blood?”

    Rico nodded and regurgitated some sweat rags that he’d collected at the facility long before they'd escaped. Johnson pressed them firmly to Manfredi’s side.

    “Rico, since Manfredi is incapable of moving, and he doesn’t need to be left alone, I’ll stay here while toi go try to find help, okay?”

    Rico nodded in understanding.

    After around an heure of shuffling through the snow, Rico stumbled upon a village. He could hardly fathom his good luck. He awkwardly waddled through the streets of snow, catching leery glances from other penguins as he made his way through. Finally, he worked up the courage to ask someone where he might find a doctor.

    “Doctor?” he asked an elderly woman who was busy chopping up a fish.

    “Down the street, go left, third house on the right, dear,” the elderly woman instructed kindly, pointing down the street. Rico nodded in understanding and appreciation and did as he was told. Upon reaching the house, he knocked four times then waited for a response. A young female manchot, pingouin answered; she was about half his age.

    “Yes? This is Dr. Mavis’s office.”

    Rico attempted to speak as best as he could. “Friend…Hurt…Blood…” His voice was very rough, which made a crease form between the girls’ eyes.

    “Um, is something wrong? toi sound hoarse.”

    Rico shook his head. “Doctor!”

    The girl nodded. “Okay! Okay! Come on in. He’ll see toi momentarily.”

    She pushed the door open further and gestured inward. Rico stepped in. There were four beds on one side of the room; only one was filled. A manchot, pingouin about the girls’ age laid upon it, sweating and shivering. The sight made a chill run down Rico’s spine. He heard the door shut behind him and the girl appeared at his side with a smile.

    “I’m Kari. What’s your name?” she asked kindly.

    “Rico,” Rico grunted.

    “Well, Rico, I’ll go get Dr. Mavis. It was nice meeting you," she replied before she turned and went into another room.

    Rico looked once again at the boy that lay in the bed. He was awake now, and was weakly trying to reach the glass of water on his bedside table. Though hesitant, Rico waddled over, picked up the glass, and handed it to him. The boy accepted the glass and drank gratefully, looking at him through thankful eyes.

    “Thank you,” he whispered. Rico nodded. suivant thing he knew, Kari returned with an older man, presumably Dr. Mavis.

    “Hello, young man. I’m Dr. Mavis. I see you’ve met Tom.”

    Rico glanced at the boy in the bed, then relocked his eyes to Mavis’s.

    “What seems to be the problem?” Mavis asked.

    “Friend, trouble,” he grunted.

    “Excuse me?” Dr. Mavis replied, perplexed par Rico's inaudibility.

    “I think he was trying to say that his friend is in trouble, and that there’s a lot of blood. For some reason, he can’t seem to speak properly,” Kari explained.

    Mavis nodded. “And where is this friend of yours?” he asked him in a calming tone. Rico simply just walked over to the door and came to a halt, looking at Mavis with pleading eyes.

    “I think he wants toi to follow him,” Kari suggested.

    Mavis nodded. “I’ll go get my bag.”

    Mavis turned and entered a room, emerging a moment later with a bag in his grasp. Rico opened the door and lead Mavis out.

    It didn’t take long to reach Manfredi and Johnson. Johnson had slowed the bleeding enough to get Manfredi to his feet and the two of them were following Rico’s trail.

    “My goodness! What happened?” Mavis asked in shock when his eyes met Manfredi's side.

    “A leopard joint, joint d’étanchéité attacked,” Johnson answered.

    Mavis took a quick mental survey of Manfredi’s condition, then supported the side that Johnson wasn't.

    “We’ll discuss this further once we get to my office. Come on,” he instructed as he lead them to his office.

    Once they’d arrived, Mavis immediately set to work, not wanting to waste a single second. After laying Manfredi on the lit suivant to Tom’s, he cleaned the wound and bound it tightly. “So, one of toi wanna tell me exactly what happened?”

    “We told you, sir. We were attacked par a leopard seal,” Johnson repeated.

    “And how did toi three escape a dit leopard seal?” Mavis asked suspiciously.

    Rico and Johnson exchanged a glance.

    “Well?” Mavis urged.

    Rico nodded to Johnson, permitting him to reveal his secret. Johnson sighed.

    “Well, Rico, here, has somewhat of a gift,” Johnson explained reluctantly.

    Rico demonstrated par regurgitating a pipe wrench without difficulty.

    Mavis was speechless for a moment, but quickly recovered. “I’m not even going to ask,” he muttered. “Where are your parents?” he asked raising his voice again.

    “We never knew our parents. We’ve spent most of our lives in a drug-testing facility run par humans. We only escaped from there a few months ago.” Johnson explained. Mavis didn't look convinced. “It's the truth!”

    Mavis sighed. “Alright. I’ll bite. I’m Dr. Mavis. toi two are?”

    “Manfredi, and I’m Johnson,” he answered gesturing to Manfredi, then himself.

    “Well, Manfredi, you’re going to need to stay with me for a few days to recover. As for toi two, you’re going to have to go to foster care, I’m afraid. toi can visit from nine to seven.”

    “Foster care? What’s that?” Johnson asked.

    “It’s where children that have no parents go to live until they’re either adopted ou have reached adulthood,” Mavis explained.

    “We’re not children!” Johnson pretested.

    Mavis cocked an eye. “Oh? How old are toi three?”

    “Rico's eight, Manfredi’s twelve, and I'm almost thirteen.”

    “Well, I’m afraid that’s considered children. I’m sorry.”

    “But we can’t just leave him. We’re like brothers,” Johnson a dit taking Manfredi’s flipper in his, who had long since fallen asleep due to how weak he felt.

    Mavis looked at them sympathetically. “Alright. toi can stay the night. But tomorrow, you're going to have to go to the foster home. Understood?”

    Rico and Johnson nodded.

    Mavis sighed and returned to his office. Not ten secondes after he did, a voice was heard from behind.

    “Hi.”

    Rico and Johnson turned their heads toward Kari, who was holding her flippers in front of her and bowing her head slightly, her cheeks a faint shade of pink.

    “Hi. I'm Johnson. This is—”

    “Rico. I know. We’ve met. I’m Kari. I hope your friend gets better,” she replied bashfully.

    “Thanks. And toi don’t have to be shy. We may be different, but we won’t bite,” Johnson assured her with a kind smile. His attention shifted to Tom, who was in the neighboring bed. “What's wrong with him?” he asked.

    “He was a late hatcher. He’s lucky he’s lasted four years. He recently became ill and we’ve started an untested therapy to try to save him,” Kari explained.

    “So, he might die?” Johnson asked.

    There was a long silence. For Kari, it felt like years had passed before she replied. “It’s a possibility, yes,” Kari answered softly, the words hurting.

    Johnson took notice of the pain in her eyes and a twinge of guilt pinched his stomach. “I’m…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you,” he a dit slowly.

    Kari shook her head. “No, you’re fine. I just can’t stand the thought. He’s the only true friend I’ve ever had," she replied slowly, not taking her gaze away from Tom.

    Johnson smiled sympathetically. “I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

    “I hope you’re right,” Kari a dit with a sigh, glancing at him, then returning to her place suivant to Tom’s bed, dabbing his forehead with a wet cloth.

    There was silence for the rest of the afternoon.

♦ ♦ ♦

    “Ready, Rico?” Johnson asked in a hushed whisper.

    Since neither of them liked the idea of this ‘foster care’, they decided that their best option was to sneak out at the dead of night.

    Rico nodded; he had consumed a few of Mavis’s supplies that they deemed necessary to keep Manfredi alive. Johnson helped Manfredi out of lit and the three of them started for the door on their tiptoes when they heard a groan. It was Tom.

    “Where are toi going?” he asked propping himself up in bed.

    “We can’t end up in foster care. We’re getting out of here,” Johnson answered.

    “But Manfredi might not make it if toi go,” Tom warned.

    “No, he’ll be fine. Please, just go back to sleep,” Johnson insisted.

    “Yes, I think we should all go back to sleep.”

    Johnson, Rico, and Manfredi turned to the voice behind them. Mavis stood there with a dim lantern in his flipper. toi could just make out his disappointed expression in the faded yellow.

    “Busted,” Rico muttered with a sigh.

    “Damn, right, you’re busted. What were toi thinking? Manfredi, out in the cold in his condition? toi could have killed him!” Mavis told them. The three penguins looked down with guilty expressions. Mavis sighed. “Look, I know toi three don’t want to be separated, but I have no choice. toi need to be taken care of.”

    “But we were taking care of ourselves just fine,” Johnson protested.

    Mavis examined Manfredi with his eyes. “Oh, really?” he a dit sarcastically.

    “So? Accidents happen. We’re doing just fine on our own,” Johnson insisted.

    Mavis thought for a minute. “Alright, I’ll make toi a deal. toi two stick around while Manfredi heals, and toi can help me out around the office.”

    Johnson and Rico exchanged another glance, then looked back to Mavis and nodded, agreeing to the terms of the deal.

    “Good. Now, let’s get him back in bed.”

    After getting Manfredi in bed, Rico and Johnson slept in the other beds for the night. They’d never slept in anything so comfortable, so falling asleep was like falling on a cloud.