The Capture

an owl who won't eat snakes -- oh, pardon me, Mrs.
    Plithiver."

    "No need to apologize," she said quickly "Soren's family was exceptional in that way. Such elegance they had!" she said wistfully.

    "Anyhow, as I was saying," Twilight continued, "then another who lives in holes -- not trees. What's the world coming to?"

    "I don't think not eating snakes and living in holes of ground animals are quite the same thing. Besides, you said you lived with foxes," Soren said huffily.

    "Above foxes, not in their den. Lived in an old cactus hollow. Their den was beneath it."

    A rustling noise came from the hole. The three owls stepped a bit closer. A beak poked out. "Is he still there?"

    "Who?" asked Gylfie. "We're all still here."

    "The one with the white face. The ghost owl."

    Twilight and Gylfie spun their heads toward Soren.

    "Me?"

    That was when Soren realized that he had not only fledged the rest of his flight feathers but his face feathers
    as well. Like all Barn Owls, his face had turned pure white and was rimmed with tan feathers. His belly and the underneath parts of his wings were the same pure white, while the top of his wings, his back, and his head were a mixture of tans and browns delicately speckled with darker feathers. And unlike almost any other owls, his eyes had not turned yellow but were deepest black, which made his face seem even whiter.

    "I'm not a ghost," Soren spoke. "I'm a Barn Owl. We all have white faces." Soren felt a strange mixture of pride and terrible sadness. He wished his parents could see him now. He must look a lot like his father.
    And Eglantine -- what would she look like? If she resembled her mother, her face would be white but with a more distinct and darker rim, particularly on the lower part. She might have a few more speckles and they would be darker. She would almost be ready to fly.

    "Are you sure?" The owl was creeping a bit farther out of the hole.

    "Am I sure what?"

    "Are you sure you're not a ghost?"

    "Why would I want to pretend to be a ghost? Are you sure you live in that hole?" Soren replied.

    "Of course I do. We've always lived in holes. My parents, my grandparents, my great-grandparents, my great

    great-grandparents. And what's with the snake on your head and all this talk about not eating snakes?"

    "This is Mrs. Plithiver. She has been with my family a very long time. And," Soren paused dramatically,
    "we don't eat snake. We not only find it unappetizing but wrong, and my friends here have agreed -- not to touch snake. I want to make that perfectly clear. Or you'll be a ghost before you know it!" Soren said, raising his voice.

    "Perfectly clear," the Burrowing Owl answered in a quavery voice, and dipped his head toward Mrs.
    Plithiver. "Pleased to eat ya. I mean, meet ya."

    Soren gave a long rasping sound.

    "I'm sure it was just a slip of the tongue, Soren," Mrs. Rhiann. said diplomatically

    "So what happened to your parents?" Twilight asked abruptly.

    The Burrowing Owl hesitated and then sighed. "I don't like to speak about it."

    "Were you snatched?"

    Again there was a long silence. And then finally the story spilled out in jagged chunks between gasps and sobs. Soren listened. At one point he heard Twilight mutter, "This is one hysterical owl." Gylfie told him to shut up.

    The Burrowing Owl was named Digger and he had not been snatched, but his two brothers had been.
    From

    the description of the owls who did the snatching, it must have been Jatt and Jutt. The most horrific part of the story, however, was the fight that Jatt and Jutt had over the youngest, Digger's brother Flick. "He was plump, a chubby little fellow, and they ... they ... they ate him!"

    Digger crumpled into the sand in a swoon. "Come on, now Twilight said briskly, and nudged the poor owl. "You can't keep passing out. Buck up."

    Gylfie and Soren looked at each other in disbelief Soren thought if he heard Twilight say "buck up" one more time, he might just attack. But it was Gylfie who bristled up and suddenly seemed twice her normal size. "His brothers been eaten by another owl and you say 'buck up'? Twilight, for Glaux's sake, show some sensitivity."

    "Sensitivity gets you nowhere in the desert. If he keeps passing out like this, why, if the moon was full, he'd get moon blinked in no time."

    A shudder passed through Gylfie and Soren at the mere mention of those words. Digger began to stir.
    He dragged himself to his feet.

    "How did you get away?" Soren