Eye of the Falcon (Psychic Visions #12)(62)

“I can’t imagine that you would have,” Tiger said. “Children are inherently mean. If you come to school with twenty birds in tow, the teachers would have had a lot to say to you, and none of it would’ve been nice. And, depending on where you lived, if there were any kinds of fears or beliefs that you were more demon than angel, it would’ve been much worse for you. Everyone instinctively is afraid of what they don’t understand.”

“You said you didn’t have the same connection with your mother?” Eagle asked. “Did that start in infancy?”

Her eyes widened. “I don’t know.” She let her gaze return to the front door. “Did you see any baby pictures of me?”

He shook his head. “No, I didn’t. But it makes me wonder why. And how this”—he waved his arms at the birds surrounding them—“could’ve come to pass. Did she have anything to do with you or did she avoid you?”

“Nothing to do with me. Avoided me every moment she could. Maybe she didn’t want me. Didn’t want another pregnancy. Once we moved here, she was different—then I was too.”

“Your birth certificate has your father’s name, not Angus’s.”

She laughed. “No way she could list anyone else. My father would have killed her,” she said simply. “I was something unique for him to hold up to his friends, to show them what I could do. I think he’s the one that fostered a love for me and maybe even over my mother’s wishes.”

“They fought all the time?”

She stilled and tried to glance back into her past. “There was yelling. I never understood if he yelled at my brothers or if he was always yelling at my mother.” She stopped for a moment, then nodded. “No, they often fought. Mealtimes were terrible.” She frowned. “That’s why I spent so much time with the birds.”

“Your birds made it a happy, unique time in your life,” Panther said.

Her gaze hardened as she turned to look at the two men. “And I was just six when I lost it all. Until this moment. These last few years I slowly started finding this part of myself again through Roash and Humbug. Roash came out of the sky, circled, and slowly flew down to me. Instinctively I held up my wrist, and he landed on my forearm. In the beginning with Roash and Humbug, there was a bit of a connection, but nothing like now. Big doors shutting away that part of my life have reopened. I couldn’t be happier.”

She tilted her face to the sky and smiled, her eyes closing naturally as the birds’ cries rose up around her. “And now I feel like me again.”

*

Inside, Eagle didn’t know what to say. The evidence was all around him. In the past he may not have believed in anything he couldn’t see or touch, but right now a tiny owl perched on his forearm. And it looked to have made himself right at home. In fact, it really liked his gray wool sweater. He’d thrown it on earlier when he’d gone out to stand guard, and this little owl leaned into it every once in a while, rubbing his head back and forth. That the owl was called Rubiks made his heart cheer. It was adorable. He respected and loved the birds in his care. But he sure as hell hadn’t become friends with them like she had. He glanced at Panther and Tiger.

He knew his friends. They had decades of military experience behind them, just like he had, and they were as dumbfounded as he was now. They stared at him—expecting him to explain. He shook his head. “I don’t know what to say.”

Panther turned to her. “Ma’am, you are the damnedest thing …”

Her lips widened into a big fat grin. With a trill of laughter, she said, “Thank you.”

She was like a small child who somebody gave one of the biggest and best gifts to.

Panther walked to the big living room window. It was still wide open, and the birds flew in and out. He watched the species swirl around him, come in, and then swirl back out again as if checking on the inside of the house, making sure all was well, only to leave again. Panther turned to stare at Tiger and then Eagle. “Is this for real, or are we on some bizarre drug trip?”

Eagle nodded. “It sure as hell is for real.”

Tiger said, “And this is exactly why somebody’s after her.” He shook his head. “Man, you cannot let that happen.”

“Too late. They are already looking for me.” She gasped and turned pale. “That’s it. Now I remember.”

Eagle reached her side in seconds. “What are you talking about?”

“Trauma. My original connection to Hadrid. It came from trauma. I was stuck. I fell off the craggy cliffs into a crevice. I had screamed and cried for help, but nobody heard me. My leg was broken, and I was violently ill from the pain. Nobody came.” Her voice was dark, the chill in her eyes bleak.

Eagle gently patted her shoulder. “Why would you even be alone?”

She slowly turned her gaze his way and said, “My mother. She told me to go and play. She was busy.”

His lip curled. “With her lover?”

“It was a man. But I don’t remember if it was Angus or not,” she said quietly. She shook her head. “I was so very young. I remember I fell once and sprained my ankle. They took X-rays. The old break showed up.”

“What did your mother say to the doctor?” he asked, his tone dark.

“She said I broke it by being foolish.”