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Warmth spread through my chest. This was one of the only constants left in my life. A piece of who I used to be that wasn’t going away. I cherished every second of being here.
A shrill call filled the air, and I scanned the skies for my hawk. His wings spread wide, gliding in circles over me before he dove and landed on a patch of grass next to me.
I stroked my fingers over his russet wings before bopping him on the yellow dot on his beak. He snapped at me, and I laughed, “No, I will not stop doing that.”
He ruffled his feathers and hopped a foot away from me.
I rolled my eyes and returned to the gorgeous view. “I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon.”
He flapped his wings and landed on my bent knee, facing me.
“Miss me too much?” I teased, and he nodded. That was how I knew this was a dreamland. Birds couldn’t understand English, and they certainly couldn’t respond, but my hawk always had. He’d been there for me wherever I needed him over the years. He listened to me complain about how strict my parents were when girls were mean and when boys didn’t like me back.
It was probably a weird way for my brain to process, but I wasn’t sure lucid dreaming was all that normal. Maybe it was for witches.
“It was a really long day.” I dropped back and stared up at the orange sky. “I knew I was behind, but I was reminded of it in every class. This boy, who I’m pretty certain hates me, has to tutor me. I don’t know how that’s going to go over. We’ll see if I survive one day with him.”
My hawk hopped lightly onto my thigh, stomach, then chest, before peering down at me with his head cocked to the side.
“I’m not sure why he doesn’t like me. It’s been one day, and I have an enemy.” I sighed. “There’s something about him. I can see it in his eyes. He’s lonely. Sad. I get that. Maybe he doesn’t like that I can recognize that in him.”
Or maybe I was overthinking, and he just didn’t want to be bothered by people who kept telling him to help me.
“Also, I had the strangest thing happen to me, which is saying something since I’m at a witch school now,” I huffed, and he waited. “I think I had a premonition, and not like my dreams. I was completely awake. I bumped into a guy here, and I had this flash of seeing us together in the future. It was so bizarre. I told my friend that it felt like a memory, but she didn’t know what I was talking about.”
He snapped his beak, and I studied him. Sometimes, like now, it felt like he was desperately trying to communicate with me, but even after all these years, I wasn’t great at deciphering his movements and calls.
“What?”
He ruffled his feathers around his neck. He didn’t look happy.
“Is that a bad thing?”
He nodded. I swear he did.
“Why?”
He snapped again. Huh. He didn’t like me having premonitions? But why? I kind of thought it meant I was getting more powerful, but maybe I was wrong. I was just happy I didn't see anything bad. I could have seen Sai get hurt or die. I’d much rather see us laughing and holding hands.
“Fine, we don’t have to talk about that.” I thought over the rest of my day. “I learned about bonds and pairs.” I waited to see if he would react, but he didn’t. “I guess some people, well, supernaturals, have a pair in the world that helps strengthen their powers. Cool, huh?”
He made a low sound, but at least he wasn’t grumpy anymore.
“What else?” I ran my arms along the soft grass. “Oh, my new friend has a crush on another one of my new friends, but she doesn’t think he likes her back. I think she’s wrong, though. He would have to be stupid not to like her. Maybe I’ll be their matchmaker.”
He shrieked, and I laughed, “Geez, you’re not into the gossip either? What do you want me to talk about?”
His golden eyes held mine, and I swore he was trying to talk to me through his signals. I sighed. “Maybe if I had a pen and paper, I could play twenty questions or something until I knew what you were thinking. Could you answer my questions?”
His head turned to the side.
“Or maybe, I’m crazy for talking to a bird like he understands me.”
He shrieked again and snapped at me. “Okay, fine! You do understand me.”
He shuffled on me like he was pleased I understood that.
“It would be really convenient if I were a shifter. Maybe if I had an animal form, we could communicate.” I didn’t understand why I didn’t take after my dad’s side. Did all hybrids only have the characteristics of one parent?
