The Capture
Introducing the newest heroes to children's fiction; the owls of Ga'Hoole. Meet Soren and his friends, the owls charged with keeping owldom safe. Based on Katherine Lasky's work with owls, this adventures series is bound to be a hit with kids. Join the heroic owls in the first of a series of mythic adventures.Out of the darkness a hero will rise…Soren the enthusiastic and young owl is busy learning the rituals of being a barn owl– First Meat Ceremony, how to fly and of course, about the legendary Guardians of Ga'Hoole. However, his life is quickly transformed when he abruptly falls from his parent's cosy nest to the bare and dangerous forest floor.Helpless, he is captured by evil chick snatching owls that bring him to St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls, where his identify disappears as he receives a number instead of a name.Soren quickly befriends another young owl Gylfie, with whom he works to withstand "moon blinking" (brainwashing), and instead develops plans to escape.But before long, Soren realizes that he in fact has already embarked on an extraordinary adventure with much more excitement in the future.
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HarperCollins Childrenâs Books An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.
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First published in the USA by Scholastic Inc 2003
First published in Great Britain as The Capture by HarperCollins Childrenâs Books 2006
Text copyright © Kathryn Lasky 2003
Kathryn Lasky asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Source ISBN: 9780007215171
Ebook Edition © OCTOBER 2016 ISBN: 9780007369782
Version: 2016-12-02
To Ann Reit, Wise Owl, Great Flight Instructor
⦠and then the forest of the Kingdom of Tyto seemed to grow smaller and smaller and dimmer and dimmer in the night â¦
CONTENTS
Chapter One: A Nest Remembered
Chapter Two: A Life Worth Two Pellets
Chapter Four: St Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls
Chapter Six: Separate Pits, One Mind
Chapter Seven: The Great Scheme
Chapter Eight: The Pelletorium
Chapter Nine: Good Nurse Finny
Chapter Ten: Right Side Up in an Upside-down World
Chapter Eleven: Gylfieâs Discovery
Chapter Fourteen: The Eggorium
Chapter Sixteen: Hortenseâs Story
Chapter Seventeen: Save the Egg!
Chapter Eighteen: One Bloody Night
Chapter Twenty: Grimbleâs Story
Chapter Twenty-Two: The Shape of the Wind
Chapter Twenty-Three: Flying Free
Chapter Twenty-Four: Empty Hollows
Chapter Twenty-Six: Desert Battle
âNoctus, can you spare a bit more down, darling? I think our third little one is about to arrive. That egg is beginning to crack.â
âNot again!â sighed Kludd.
âWhat do you mean, Kludd, not again? Donât you want another little brother?â his father said. There was an edge to his voice.
âOr sister?â His mother sighed the low soft whistle Barn Owls sometimes used.
âIâd like a sister,â Soren peeped up.
âYou just hatched out two weeks ago.â Kludd turned to Soren, his younger brother. âWhat do you know about sisters?â
Maybe, Soren thought to himself, they would be better than brothers. Kludd seemed to have resented him since the moment he had first hatched.
âYou really wouldnât want them arriving just when youâre about to begin branching,â Kludd said dully. Branching was the first step, literally, towards flight. The young owlets would begin by hopping from branch to branch and flapping their wings.
âNow, now, Kludd!â his father admonished. âDonât be impatient. Thereâll be time for branching. Remember, you wonât have your flight feathers for at least another month or more.â
Soren was just about to ask what a month was when he heard a crack. The owl family all seemed to freeze. To any other forest creature the sound would have been imperceptible. But Barn Owls were blessed with extraordinary hearing.
âItâs coming!â Sorenâs mother gasped. âIâm so excited.â She sighed again and looked rapturously at the pure white egg as it rocked back and forth. A tiny hole appeared and from it protruded a small spur.
âThe egg tooth, by Glaux!â Sorenâs father exclaimed.
âMine was bigger wasnât it, Da?â Kludd shoved Soren aside for a better look, but Soren crept back up under his fatherâs wing.
âOh, I donât know, son. But isnât it a pretty, glistening little point? Always gives me a thrill. Such a tiny little thing pecking its way into the big wide world. Ah! Bless my gizzard, the wonder of it all.â
It did indeed seem a wonder. Soren stared at the hole that now began to split into two or three cracks. The egg shuddered slightly and the cracks grew longer and wider. He had done this himself just two weeks ago. This was exciting.
âWhat happened to my egg tooth, Mum?â
âIt dropped off, stupid,â Kludd said.
âOh,â Soren said quietly. His parents were so absorbed in the hatching that they didnât reprimand Kludd for his rudeness.
âWhereâs Mrs P? Mrs P?â his mother said urgently.
