Part Three: Chaos [POV Detected: Adira Hunter, Peregrinator]

[POV Detected: Adira Hunter, Peregrinator]

Back at 12’s cabin, I’m too shellshocked to say anything. My mom’s alive, Hawk Guy’s standing, and my dad nearly took Incitatus's powers. Overwhelmed, I sigh loudly and slump down on the couch, which has mutes and molted feathers all over it. With nothing else to do, I start picking up feathers. A few minutes in, Wilson pads in. There’s an expression of concern on his face.

“Everything OKk?” he asks in falcon.

I sigh again. “I wish I could say yes.”

His scaly body brushes mine. “Wanna go on a flight? Or something?”

I smile. Flying’s always cheered me up. “Sure. Or maybe 12 could lure-fly me. I haven’t done that in ages.”

Wilson brightens. “I’ll go tell him.” He bounds off.

When he is gone, I continue the job of collecting feathers. I fan out all the feathers I have collected so far. They are from so many birds…

“You ready?” Max comes in, with a hawking vest on and a lure in his hand. He is wearing a camo sweatshirt and jeans, and his spiky hair sticks out of his old Seahawks beanie. Just like normal.

I nod, then turn into a falcon and hop on his fist. “Let’s go.”

Max surprised me. When I got onto his fist, he pulled a hood over me (which he usually never did) and walked to a car. I could tell because he set me on a perch and I could feel vibrations under my talons. I don’t know how long I was hooded, but I know at some point I fell asleep. When I woke up, Max was putting me on his fist. I could hear voices around me, and the chirp of an osprey. Then Max unhooded me.

It was like a dream come true.

I was at a falconry meet!

I could see people all around taking pictures and murmuring. “It’s the bird from S.W.O.R.D.!” I could hear some say. “I wonder how she’ll fly,” some others were saying. “Don’t mind the peregrine, how will the osprey fly?” I noticed Johnny walking along beside me and Max. On his gloved hand was Wilson. Spotting me, the neon-eyed osprey winked. I narrowed my eyes back.

“Surprise,” Max said. I looked at him in gratitude. Nothing’s been normal since we decided to rebel against S.W.O.R.D. First Avi betrayed us, and then my mom somehow appeared out of nowhere, and some crazy battles in between. I’ve had no time to chill with 12, Sparrowhawk and Wilson, and go hunting or pull pranks. This falconry meet was the closest to normal the four of us could get.

The meet was in eastern Washington, which is full of sagebrush and wind. Basically, it’s perfect for hawking. The falconry club had chosen a place near to the Columbia. To the left of the outpost, where any off-road cars were parked, was the river, silently streaming by in the majestic way rivers do. A vast expanse of sagebrush was to the right, and a few miles off was a bluff that cast an ominous shadow over the prairie. Before I even discovered my powers, my parents and I would drive out to visit relatives. I would sit and watch cars and vegetation go by, my face plastered to the window. I always imagined what it would be like to be the coyotes or the elk that bounded around the vast wilderness, or to be the hawk that wheeled slowly around in the skies above. Now I am that hawk.
Agent 12 hooded me again, and I nodded off as he ventured into the field; the sagebrush wildness that brought back so many memories from childhood. When I woke up, I could hear the dogs barking as they scouted out pheasant, grouse, and any other game I could get my talons on. We walked for a while longer, then Agent 12 unhooded me. I glanced around for a moment. The bluff that had been so small before now towered over us. To an average human, the river would be nothing but a blue line in the distance. I could hear barking to my right. The dogs had settled, and were now at a point. “You got this,” I heard Agent 12 whisper in my ear. Then he cast me off.

With large wing beats, I started to ring up above the sage-land. As I climbed higher, I could see the falconers gathered round start to murmur in astonishment and point at the sky towards me. Finally, I reached my stopping point. It was even higher than I had gone when Agent 12 had first flown me at S.W.O.R.D. The falconers reacted almost the same as the officials, too, staring at me through binoculars and inviting others to see me. Agent 12 stood unmistakably to the side of the crowd that had started to form, waiting patiently for my signal. Go ahead, I thought-spoke as I circled a little upwind.

I never saw the flush. I never have. But I could always sense it, the movement of the grouse exploding out from cover. I veered around suddenly, and tucked my wings in for the stoop. I don’t think I will ever be able to describe the moment I stoop accurately. It’s so exhilarating, so amazing and so wild I can’t put it to words. All I can say is that I was like lightning falling from the sky, with only one spot I was focused on: a c**k, right in the middle of the flurry of feathers that I was quickly gaining on. At the last moment, when everything was so close I could practically feel it, I extended my talons and rammed into it with the most force I have ever hit something with. I took that c**k all the way to the ground. With a swift bite to the neck, the grouse was dead.

“Nice kill,” a familiar voice complimented. I looked up to see Darkling perched in a lone tree that I had happened to go down by. “I know it’s you Peri, I saw 12 in the crowd,” he said when I didn’t answer. “Thought I’d stop by and say hello, ya know, because we’re friends and all.” There was a pause, and a frustrated look crossed his face. “I can’t really have an intelligent conversation with you when you’re a falcon you know,” he quipped, exasperated. I ignored him and started to pluck at the grouse. “Um, HELLO?? Talk to me Peri,” he said loudly, waving a hand in front of my face. I narrowed my eyes and mantled over my kill, continuing to pluck. “Whatever. I didn’t just come here to say hello,” he muttered when I didn’t respond. I heard him climb down from the tree and stalk off into the sagebrush. Just then Agent 12 and some other falconers run up, exhausted. “Who was that?” one falconer asked, pointing in the direction where Darkling had gone.

Agent 12 squinted out in the direction the falconer had pointed. As he located Darkling searching through the bushes, his eyes widened. “What the… what is he doing here?”

“What?” the falconer said, confused.

Agent 12 turned to me, his eyes big. “What is Darkling doing here?” he asked. “What did he say to you?”

I shrugged the best I could as a falcon. “Dunno. I think he needed to say something, but apparently, it’s more than just for falconry.”

“Oh,” Agent 12 replied. “That means it’s something important.” He looked back in Darkling’s direction. “HEY, YOU!” he called. “COME BACK HERE FOR A SECOND!” Darkling looked up and saw 12, but he slowly shook his head, then turned and sprinted off into the brush, disappearing behind a small hill. Spar came up behind us, Wilson still on his fist. “Who was that?” he asked.

“Darkling,” Agent 12 muttered just loud enough for both of us to hear. Spar nodded. “What should we do?”

A mischievous smile crossed Agent 12’s face. “Cast Wilson off.”

Spar looked confused, but shrugged. “Okay.” Wilson was away in a flash, or at least how fast an osprey can fly.

[Peri POV End]