//means thought-speak// *means
emphasis*
Sara put a hand over her mouth to muffle her giggles as she crouched at the bottom of her older sister Rachel’s closet. Rachel was out with her friend Cassie right now, but she would be home soon. Rachel didn’t usually do much in her bedroom at night, but hiding in her room was still fun.
Sara didn’t know that this night would be different.
Rachel always left her window open, even in the winter if it wasn’t too cold. Sara heard a strange noise… a flapping or something. She looked through the crack in the door, and saw a bird fly right in the window! She’d seen a bird like this flying around often; Rachel called it a ‘red-tailed hawk’. Rachel really liked red-tailed hawks.
//Rachel? Are you here?//
*
Tobias settled on the end rail of Rachel’s bed, and looked around.
//Rachel? Are you here?//
“Wow.”
Only a hawk’s sharp hearing let him hear the whisper. He turned his head and looked towards the closet.
//Who’s there? Come out right now!//
The closet door swung open, and a blonde little girl crept out. Tobias recognized her as one of Rachel’s little sisters, he’d seen them together a few times. Not even Rachel realized just how much time he spent watching her. The little girl came right up to him, her eyes wide. “How did you do that? I heard you talking… but birds don’t talk.”
Tobias thought fast. He didn’t have much experience with little girls…okay, none. But he knew what would have worked on *him* at this age.
//I’m a magic bird.//
“Cool.”
Tobias shifted so he was facing her, and said, //You’re Sara, aren’t you?//
Sara’s eyes grew wide and she asked breathlessly, “How did you know that?”
//I told you… I’m a magic bird.//
“Do you know Rachel?”
//I’m looking for her. She’s helping me with something.//
“Could I help you? Are you on a quest, like the princess for her brothers?”
//Which princess is that?//
Sara looked suspicious. “Don’t you know?”
Luckily, Tobias had a response to this…
quite true, as it happened. //There are a lot of cursed princes and
princesses, you know. Sometimes
it’s hard to tell them apart. Are you talking about the children
of Lir who were turned into swans, or the queen who was turned into a white
cat, or the princesses who went to Fairyland
every night and danced their shoes to
pieces?//
Sara shook her head. “The princess who had seven brothers who were all turned into ravens.”
//Oh, *that* princess. I don’t know her brothers really well, they’re too clique-y. Besides, ravens and hawks don’t get along very well.//
“Clicky?”
//Don’t worry. You’ll understand when you get to junior high.//
“So why are you looking for my sister?”
//I told you. She’s helping me with a quest.//
“She’s not going to be home for a while
yet. Could you tell me a story? You’re magic, so you must know
lots of
stories.”
//I know a few.//
“My sister Jordan’s downstairs, I’m sure that she’d like to hear too.”
//NO!//
Sara looked a little startled, and asked, “Why not?”
//Remember how, on your birthday, you make a wish and you can’t tell anyone what it is?//
Sara nodded. “That’s ’cause if you tell anyone, it won’t come true.”
//Well, this is kinda the same thing. If you tell anyone about me – even Rachel – I won’t be able to come and see you anymore.//
“Are you hiding from an evil magician? Is he the one who turned you into a hawk?”
//Well, actually, it was a good magician. He cast a spell on me so that I could turn into an animal. But he warned me that I couldn’t stay as an animal for more than two hours.//
“And you did?”
//Uh-huh. You see, he cast the spell so that I could fight an evil magician, but I got caught. I couldn’t let the evil magician know who I was, so I had to stay as a hawk… and it took too long.//
“So you’re a hawk forever now?”
//Not exactly. A good sorceror gave
me back the ability to turn into animals again, even into the human I used
to be. If I wanted to, I could be a human again… but I wouldn’t be
able to change into anything else. And I still have to fight the
evil magician and his minions. Besides, my life as a human wasn’t that
great. I don’t have a really
good reason for staying human.//
“Not one?”
//Well, there’s something I’m hoping for…
but I don’t know if I’ll ever get it. Until I know for sure, there
isn’t much
point, you know?//
“I think so. Are you still going to tell me a story?”
//If you want.//
Both the little girl and the hawk turned their heads as a voice called from downstairs. “Sara! Time for bed!”
Sara turned back to the hawk and told him, “That’s Mommy. She’s going to put me into bed now.”
//When you go to bed, leave your window open, and I’ll come to tell you a story.//
Sara smiled and nodded her head enthusiastically.
*
Ten minutes later, Sara was tucked up in bed. Her mother had been puzzled at the girl’s insistence on having her window open and her door closed, but put it down to Sara’s worship of Rachel, who did the same thing every night except in the dead of winter.
When the sounds of footsteps faded away, Sara sat up in bed. “Mr. Hawk?” she whispered.
Tobias flew in through the open window, and perched on her brass rail bedhead. Good perching rail. //You can call me Tobias, if you want. What story would you like?//
“Could I hear the story about the princesses who danced their shoes to pieces in Fairyland?”
//No problem. Get under the covers, now. When I’m done you have to go right to sleep, okay?//
“Okay, Tobias.”
Sara snuggled under the covers, and Tobias
began the story.