As soon as Ben headed out the door, I flew up the chimney, switching forms into a bird that followed him home. He seemed to recognize me as soon as he saw me, slowing down on the porch and waiting for me to morph into my human form. “Well, hello there, Harlow,” he said, shaking his head. He sounded more like Sam now than I could handle. “Have fun eavesdropping?”
“Did you know I was there?” I asked him, checking to make sure I didn’t have any soot on me.
“No, I didn’t, but I’m not surprised you were. Did you hear the whole conversation?”“Not all of it,” I said, “but enough. Do you believe her?”
Ben shrugged. “I have no idea. I didn’t
We had one more day before school was scheduled to start. After about a month of being home, it seemed like torture to have to go back, but I was also looking forward to starting my last semester in high school. I had applied to a few colleges online, and every day, I would wake up and check to see if I’d gotten any responses. I would’ve loved to be going off to college, like I’d always dreamt, but I knew now, wherever I went, at least for the next year, I’d have to do it online because I’d either be needed with my pack, or I’d be in Europe. I had no idea what Mage Jaye’s plans were since we’d had our tiff since I hadn’t heard from her since the phone call where we’d argued, but she’d promised me I’d be hearing from her soon. I was beginning to think perhaps she was bluffing.Until that day before we were to start school again. W
I had won. It was difficult to believe. Mage Jaye had come all the way to Montana from Europe, seething the whole time, ready to put me in my place, to take me down a notch, to teach me a lesson, and whatever other viscous thoughts she had had in her mind for that entire long, boring flight. But in the end, when she’d gotten here, I’d reminded her that she needs me a hell of a lot more than I need her, and now, here she was pretending like she had somehow settled things in her favor.I didn’t expect an apology, and quitting while I was ahead entailed me not asking for one. We just had an understanding now. I would do whatever I could to help the council, as I had been doing, and she would shut the hell up when it came to trying to “punish” me when she disagreed with what I determined was the right thing for me to do for myself and for my pack. I could’ve been bluffing a
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