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“Speaking of which,” said Mordecai, “when we finish eating, I’d like to take Lauren outside and work with her a little. We’ve sent security to the outer perimeter, and I’ll turn the cameras off in the sector we’ll be working. I don’t want anyone except the five of us to know what happens.”
“Like it or not, and I’m not thrilled about this, but Ambrose and Gavin are going to have to know whatever happens,” Lauren’s mom told them. “They’re the ones keeping an eye on her in Branson, so they need to know her capabilities.”
Chapter 7
Lauren assumed Mordecai wanted her outside so they could test her night vision, but when they got outside, she couldn’t see much better with Ying’s vision than she could without. Once she’d ascertained she didn’t have night vision, Mordecai turned the flood lights back on and then ran at her with a sword raised as if he planned to spear her through the chest when he reached her.
Looking back on it, the whole thing was a blur, but Ying had flown at Mordecai with claws and wings used offensively, and the sword had faded to nothing. It’d been an illusion, and once Ying was in attack mode, a swordless Mordecai had turned up his hands to show he wasn’t attacking.
Lauren’s hawk had flown up and away from them, made a circle of the cleared area around the house, and then returned to her. When Ying was fully back on her skin, Lauren got a quick replay of everything the hawk had seen, heard, smelled, and otherwise sensed while gone.
“Can you free him again?” Mordecai asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Think about how it felt.”
Lauren shook her head. “It’s all a blur.”
“Slow it down in your head.”
Lauren tried, but nothing happened.
“Did it hurt?”
“Yes. It felt as if he was being ripped away. Not just from my skin, but from my aura.”
“Have him lift his head and look around.”
Lauren imagined her hawk looking off to their right, and her field of vision increased, so she could clearly see what would normally be in her peripheral vision — and beyond.
“Oh. Wow.”
“Does that hurt?”
“No.”
“Let him slowly move away, piece by piece, but don’t have him stand on your shoulder. We don’t want him tearing you up with his claws, and he might accidentally do so.”
“Your mom’s going to hand you a large piece of wood from a tree branch,” Nathan said from her right. “See if you can have Ying stand on the branch while you hold it.”
It took a while, but eventually, Lauren’s hawk was perched on the branch, with Lauren holding onto both ends of it for stability, and her shoulder and back naked, without the tattoo.
“He doesn’t like being out at night,” Lauren said. “I didn’t know hawks are afraid of the night. Of the dark.”
“In the wild, natural hawks and owls occasionally team up,” Nathan told her, “so the hawks watch out for the baby owls at night while the parents are off foraging for food, and the owls watch out for the baby hawks during the day, while the parents are away from the nest.”
“The hawks on our security team work mostly in human form at night,” Cora said. “The ones who help keep an eye on things in bird form stay around the light sources. Generally speaking, wolves are much better for night duty, but so many of our hawks have better training, it balances out so we still use them at night.”
“Sophia and Aaron just pulled past the gate,” Mordecai said. “Do what you want to do with Ying and then put him back, please.”
Lauren tried to imagine the hawk tattoo back on her, but nothing happened. “I’m not sure I know how to do that.”
“What did you imagine?” Mordecai asked.
“My tattoo back on me.”
“Try imagining Ying, as a sentient being, returning to you and joining back with your aura.”
