We waited until dusk, and then, Mage Jaye, Mage Nuthatch and I changed ourselves into owls and took off toward the mountains. It wasn’t snowy or windy, and the sun was just starting to go down, so the trip wasn’t nearly as uncomfortable as it had been the last time I made it all by myself. That being said, it was still dangerous enough to make my feather stand on end as we took off, up into the air, on our way toward the mountains.
I didn’t see the light at first. We were flying blind, except for my pack, that was running through the forest beneath us. They have a much better sense of direction than I do, so I stayed where I could see them. All of them stuck together and used their noses and the description I had given them from my last trip to figure out which way to go. Sam was with them, but Starla had stayed home, which was just as well. I felt more comfortable knowing the largest wol
The “old bird” next to me on the branch flew down to the ground, changing back into her human form as her shoes touched down on the snow. Nuthatch followed suit, standing behind her, and I decided I’d better do the same, even though I would’ve rather stayed in my current owl form in case I needed to fly away quickly. I still had no idea who this guy was, what he was capable of, or who was in the house behind him.“You’ve decided to show yourself at last, Dakota,” Mage Jaye said. I could tell without being able to see her face what expression she was wearing. Whoever this Dakota person was, he had disappointed her gravely.Laughing, he said, “You always insist on calling me that when you know I prefer Cody.”“I don’t give a damn what you prefer,”
After Mage Jaye gave Cody Buzzard her ultimatum, that he needed to pack up his mage friends and ride off into the sunset, or whatever the equivalent for evil people is, there wasn’t much else to say. Cody’s laughter basically told us all he wasn’t planning on going anywhere. So, Mage Jaye warned him that he had two weeks to get himself back into the shadows where he was no longer a threat to anyone, and then she shifted back into an owl and turned back toward my house.I wasn’t sure how having an enemy in the shadows was better than knowing where he was, but it wasn’t my place to ask her at the moment, in front of the threat himself. I was just about to shift into an owl and fly back, too, but just before I did so, Cody Buzzard said, “Come on, Harlow. You gonna keep answering to that crazy bitch your whole life?”I didn
“What are we going to do about this guy?” Brice asked for all of us as the pack gathered downstairs. According to Melanie, Mage Jaye had finished her tea and told her that she was going to retire to her quarters as Mel was walking by. She said she looked pale and like she was about ready to be sick to her stomach.“We are going to see what he wants,” I said with a simple shrug. “I mean, just because Jaye says he’s evil, that doesn’t mean anything, does it? She came all the way to Montana from Paris to punish me for not doing exactly what she said when she said to do it, so, really, I’m not sure I’m in a position to decide someone is evil just because she says so.”“Yeah, but he’s related to that other Buzzard I told you about in the woods the other day, right?” Brice asked.
The last thing on earth I wanted to do was talk to Nuthatch--alone or otherwise. His beady little eyes bore down on me as I met him at the top of the stairs. I couldn’t guess what it was he wanted to tell me, but he seemed desperate, so I said, “Okay…” and followed him outside.He really did mean alone, too. I can’t remember ever having seen him move quite as quickly as he was at the moment, walking away from the house toward the forest. I was able to keep up with him, but it was more of a struggle than I’d like to admit. Since when am I not as fast as a middle-aged balding dude with thick glasses?Once he felt we were far enough away from the house to qualify as “alone,” he stopped abruptly and spun around to face me, making me pull up short to keep from running into him. I gave him a look, but he ignored me. &l
I went back to the house and went about getting my stuff ready for school the next day. Everyone else was either doing the same or watching TV, trying to chill out before school started up again. Sam was back over with Starla. I was jealous that he was the only one of us who didn’t have to worry about getting ready for school, but then, he’d definitely done his time.As I went about making sure I had everything I wanted to take for lunch the next day, I couldn’t help but go back over Nuthatch’s warning in my head. He had followed me back to the house and then gone upstairs to an area at the end of the hallway we’d sort of designated his space, even though it wasn’t even a room. I realized I needed more guest rooms and considered just magic-ing a few on, but I wanted to do it right. Besides, if Starla ended up not keeping the baby, or if Sam ended up tossing her out on he
The sound of the school bell ringing was comforting in a way I couldn’t have ever thought it would be before, when we had to go to school. Now that we hadn’t been able to for a while, it was a reminder to me that it really is a privilege to be able to go to school and learn every day and not have to work or do something else less fun.A few new students joined us, a couple of guys and a girl, but as far as I could tell, none of them were mages. They seemed to be just regular human children, which was kind of cool because there weren’t a whole lot of them at our school. They were definitely better than the last new student we had show up, that was for certain.On my way to first period, I passed Mr. Short, the principal, in the hallway. He was whistling a happy song, a big smile on his face. That was my first clue that Fionna hadn’t come
Mage Jaye was waiting for me at the door when I got home from school. I was shocked to see her there. I was hoping she’d be busy doing something else--like gathering frog legs and puppy dog tails for her spells or something. But no… she was sitting on the front porch swing, waiting.I was slow to get out of the truck because of it. I just sat there. “Are you waiting for Ben to open the door for you?” Raven asked from the back seat.“Something like that.” I said.“Only if I can run off the witch on the porch before I open the door,” Ben replied. I looked at him, wide eyed. I’d never heard him call a mage a witch before, but in this case, it was the nicer of the -itch words he could’ve chosen. “It’ll be all right,” he to
For the rest of the week, I was torn between trying to concentrate on school and listening to Mage Jaye make her preparations at night. She was very focused on all of the things that needed to be done and spent a great deal of time on the phone talking to her staff members back in Europe. I didn’t have a lot of time to get involved in it because I had homework during the week, but I knew that weekend, I’d be up to my eyeballs in helping Mage Jaye figure out a way to move an entire school from one continent to another.Saturday morning, way earlier than I wanted to get up, I heard a sharp wrap on the bedroom door. Ben was awake already, which wasn’t surprising because he hardly sleeps compared to me, but I knew the summons wasn’t for him. I caught his eyes, and he shrugged. “Do you want me to get it? Tell her to go away for a few hours?”