Eye of the Falcon (Psychic Visions #12)(69)

He stopped for a moment, staring at the long driveway, then headed back inside. When he stepped through the door, Issa was curled up on the couch, a cup in her hand, studying him.

He stopped and stared, feeling a sense of rightness he hadn’t known before. A woman had never lived here with him. This house had missed a woman’s touch. And it was funny just how much that touch happened on a natural basis.

The kitchen table he usually covered with discarded newspapers had been cleaned off, the sugar and cream bowls at the center. Underneath them was some kind of checkered cloth. He didn’t know where she’d gotten it. She studied him for a long moment. He smiled and carried on to the coffeepot. “Did you leave me any?”

“Of course,” she answered smoothly. “How often do you go into town?”

He poured his cup, turned to look at her, and said, “What do you need?”

“I don’t need anything.” She shook her head. “Roash and Humbug. I can sense them. But I don’t know where they are.”

“Can you call them?”

She shrugged. “I have been. It’s as if something’s between them and me.”

“What does that mean?”

“Don’t you think if I knew, I would have found a way to get past it?” she said in frustration.

“Call Stefan?”

Her jaw dropped. “Make a long-distance call to a stranger?”

“Unless you have another way?”

He eyed her over the rim of his cup as he took a sip of the hot brew, loving the fact she’d very quickly picked up on how he liked his coffee. It was stronger than most people could stomach, but it was about the only way he could handle it. Otherwise it just tasted like dishwater to him. “I wouldn’t mind talking to him myself.”

Instantly the phone rang.

Eagle stared at it, like a bomb ready to go off. It sat nearby on the kitchen table. “That’s going to be him, right?”

She snorted. “You’re asking me?”

He strode forward, snatched the phone off the table, and answered, “Hello.”

“Yes, it’s me,” Stefan said. “It would be a lot easier if I could talk to you in other ways. Put the phone on Speaker please.”

There was just enough of an order in his words to get Eagle’s back up. But still, the man had either heard the conversation or heard something. And, if he could help Issa, Eagle didn’t want to antagonize him.

“Very smart,” Stefan murmured. “Know this. I have no intention of hurting her or any of the birds on the property or those on their way to her.”

“I hope a lot more aren’t coming this way. I don’t have enough feed for too many more.”

“Let’s hope you have room for these two,” Stefan said, fatigue pulling in his voice. Now with the phone on Speaker, his voice filled the room, his tone harsher as it echoed off the walls.

“Stefan?” Issa asked in disbelief.

“Yes, it’s me. I don’t normally listen in on conversations,” he said. “But you’ve got a bloody highway between you and the birds. So when I hear you say there’s like cotton batten between you and them, it’s a little irritating. Because it’s not by their choice. When you were a child, there was nothing between you and Hadrid. Communication was clear, concise, and you were in control. But you were in control naturally and followed what you needed to do, knowing you were in the right, and knowing you could do it. There was never any question. But now that you’re an adult, and you’ve missed all those years in between, you’re questioning everything. You keep searching for the same connection, but you’re searching in all the wrong places.” His voice was full of exasperation. “Because the only place you should look for something like this is inside yourself.”

Dumbfounded, Issa could only stare at Eagle.

In the meantime, Eagle said, “While you’re on the line, can I ask you something? She does this one thing that’s really freaky. I don’t know, otherworldly. It’s like she’s in a trance. I’ve seen it twice now, and it just freaks the hell out of me.”

Stefan’s tone was sharp when he snapped, “Please explain.”

Issa said, “Yes, explain. You never mentioned that to me before.”

Eagle took a moment, gathering his thoughts. “Twice I came upon her, once in the bed and once on the couch. I thought she was asleep, except her eyes were wide open. When I checked to see if she was okay, it was like she was in a trance, and, when I looked deep into her eyes, I didn’t see her eyes anymore.”

“What do you mean, you don’t see her eyes anymore?” Stefan asked curiously. “That’s a fascinating observation.”

“It’s as if her eyes, the iris itself, had become like a galaxy. I don’t see planets obviously, but I see light dots of colors. Yet there is no pupil, no iris, and no longer any white of her eyes.” He heard Issa’s shocked gasp. “More than that, it’s almost like I can see images outside of her eyes.” He fumbled to a stop. “Forget that. That just sounds too stupid.”

“Actually it sounds very logical. You need to tell me more.”

“Logical? How the hell does that work?” He tried again. “Think about a megaphone. Where the small end is against her mouth and the large end is a foot or two away. At the large end, it’s like there are images—colors—something showing. As I was watching, I could see bits and pieces moving in the air. When I tried to look from the same position she was in, it was clearer. I could see part of the sky, lakes, fields. When I moved back, it was like a disturbance in the air, but …” He stopped, stumped for words.