Eye of the Falcon (Psychic Visions #12)(50)

In frustration, she finally shut down, feeling her own energy draining. It was useless. What had been so natural at one point was now just impossible. A voice broke through her mind.

That’s because you’re trying too hard.

She sat up slowly and peered around the house. “Who said that?” Surely someone was here.

I did, the man said. And, no, I’m not in your house. I’m in your mind.

“Who are you?” It was almost like he floated on air around the edges, fuzzy. “There’s no way you can be talking to me in my mind.”

I’m Stefan. Tabitha is here with me too.

She frowned, recognizing the names. “You’re the psychics?”

We are, Tabitha said. With a penchant for helping those who are hurt and injured. In your case, and in my case, animals.

“Can you feel Roash and Humbug? Gillian’s out there too,” Issa asked. “Can you help them?”

All we can do is bond our energy to yours to give you more strength so you can help them yourself …

She flung back the blankets, her mind rapidly trying to figure out how this would work. “I just tried, but I didn’t have enough power,” she said, knowing this was a bizarre conversation as she talked out loud to an empty room. “And Roash wasn’t getting the message. Hadrid used to send me images of where he was flying. Roash doesn’t seem capable of doing that. And Humbug is even worse,” she cried out in despair, only partially realizing they mustn’t have a clue who she was talking about. Not to mention they were talking in her mind, and she wasn’t fazed in the least. It seemed so normal. Besides she’d do anything to help her friends.

A long moment of silence passed, and then Stefan chuckled. It wasn’t Hadrid sending you the images, he said gently. How could he have?

His voice filled the room as if her mind was on a megastereo system. If she wasn’t so desperate to get help for her birds, she knew she would think she was nuts. But she was willing to do anything to get her birds back.

That’s a good thing, Stefan said. Because you have to be willing to do anything. Like I said, it’s not that Hadrid was sending you the images. He had accepted you in his consciousness, and you flew with him. You’re the one who sent the messages to your father, saying that all was clear. Hadrid couldn’t send pictures on that defining day where your life changed. And neither could you because your own mind was still locked on the images of what you’d seen in the house. You were so upset you couldn’t connect with Hadrid. The bird was not at fault.

She finished that thought for him. “I was,” she said as the faint cry of intense pain sliced through her. “It’s my fault they are all dead.”

No, Stefan said harshly. It was your mother’s actions that led to that disaster. You were only six years old, bonded to a falcon in a way that most adults could never understand. I don’t know how. I don’t know where. All I can see is your energy. But you have to do what you must now, if you want to save Humbug. And please save him because his cries of distress are driving through my own consciousness. I can’t track the owl. I just know he’s in Colorado.

“He’s trying to fly,” Issa said. “But his wings are damaged. He’s an oversized baby. I’m trying to send him energy for the journey until he can reach me. I’ve been trying to send Roash that same energy too because I think he’s flown to be with Humbug.”

Silence came again, and then Stefan let out a long slow sigh. Of course. That’s why they tortured you. They tortured you so you would cry for help, and they could find the same falcon you had as a child, or another one equal to him, so they could use again what didn’t belong to them.

She started to sob. “They must have known my dad in Ireland. They figured, if they found me, they’d find the bird. Instead, I had broken birds. Not the majestic one of my childhood. There was more to it—I just don’t know what.”

But they knew that, if you didn’t have another bonded falcon, they could force you to show them how you work with the falcon so that they could do it too. And, if you didn’t show them how, they’d kill you trying. Never understanding it wasn’t something they could force.

“Yes,” she whispered, the truth and the pain slamming through her. “I don’t dare be caught again.”

You won’t, Stefan whispered. I will help.

Tabitha’s voice was already fading as she whispered, So will I.

“What about Eagle?” she asked. “Who’ll help him? He’s outside right now, searching the property for somebody who just shot at us. Who’s going to help him?”

Then again came that same faint chuckle. And Stefan whispered, You are.

*

Eagle stared at the bloodstains outside the fence, anger radiating from his shoulders outward. No way that asshole should’ve gotten up and walked away, not from the amount of blood here. That meant he wasn’t alone. That also meant somebody was coming back. He turned to study the house and wondered if it was time to pull up stakes and leave.

But no way could he do that with all his responsibilities for the birds. Even if he opened the cages and let them go, most of them couldn’t go anywhere. Between the broken and crippled legs, missing feet, busted wings, and many other things, the birds weren’t capable of going far. That was why he was here doing what he was doing. Everyone needed a second chance at life.