Hawthorne looked up at me with his big blue eyes and bowed his head once quickly. Yes, he felt it too.
“What does this mean?” I turned back to Jack and Camryn, “How will he be able to fly if he is tethered to the ground by some invisible force?”
“Didn’t you say you saved him?” Jack said slowly, “When you first met him, it was because you saved him. Maybe in doing so you created an unbreakable bond, and he is tethered to your side until the debt is repaid.”
“But I don’t want-” I began. I didn’t want Hawthorne to be bound to me because he felt obligated to repay a debt.
“Jack, you’re talking like its magic.” Camryn whispered.
“Well, why not?” He folded his arms, “two thousand years ago there was no such thing as Mages. The humans called us magicians at first. If we are possible, why can’t this be?”
We were all silent for a long while, until I found my voice, “So does this mean he won’t be able to fly away from me until the debt is repaid?” I muttered.
Hawthorne looked at me with reproachful eyes that quite clearly stated that he never wanted to leave me, even if he could.
“What if Jack’s wrong?” Camryn began slowly.
Jack scoffed, “I’m always wrong.”
“Shut up. I mean, what if it’s not the fact that there’s some silly, mystical debt to be repaid?”
“Go on.” I liked the idea that Hawthorne was not in my debt. He was not my prisoner.
“It’s simple.” She said, “Love.”
“L-” I bit down on my tongue, “That?”
“Why not?” She said defensively.
I looked at Hawthorne who held the same expression as my own. Could that be it? The fact that I loved Hawthorne so dearly, and he loved me so much in return was like a great invisible force, bonding us together.
“Yeah, yeah, love and the bond that was formed when you saved him.” Jack agreed eagerly.
I laughed at Jack’s eagerness to be right.
“Maybe.” I muttered, stroking Hawthorne and stifling a yawn, “But that still doesn’t help us teach him to fly.”
Jack checked his Time-Keeper in the moonlight, “Its two o’clock in the morning.” He noted, “Perhaps we’d better call it a night.”
I huffed and got up from my crouching position, Hawthorne following my lead.
As we walked back to the stables I heard the crack of a twig in the nearby trees. Hawthorne’s ears pricked up and a growl formed menacingly deep in his throat. It was quite a scary sound.
“What is it?” I whispered to Hawthorne, squinting through the darkness.
Jack and Camryn had come to a stop too, looking around for the source of the noise.
“Someone’s there.” Jack whispered.
“Probably a squirrel.” Camryn muttered, though she sounded nervous, “C’mon, let’s get Hawthorne into his stall and go to bed.”
I nodded and headed for the stable door once again, but Hawthorne didn’t move. The hair on his back was standing up menacingly, his face contorted into a threatening scowl as he glared into the trees.
“Hawthorne, stop it.” I hissed, “It’s just another animal.”
But Hawthorne’s coat rippled from purest white to jet black in the blink of an eye, making him absolutely terrifying.
Fear gripped me. It wasn’t like Hawthorne to be so hostile. Did he really sense danger? Some think that animals can sense things better than Mages. Hawthorne’s growl got louder, and he crouched forwards ready to pounce.
“Hawthorne, please, you’ll wake up the whole manor.” I begged, “Just come inside. It’s nothing.”
Crack. Another twig breaking.
Hawthorne let out a terrible yowling bark that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I’d never heard him make a noise like that before. Shivers of fear ran through my body. I clapped my hands to my ears and flinched. Surely that noise would wake the manor. Jack and Camryn looked at me fearfully. None of us knew what to do now. We were barely aware of the crashing and fumbling noises coming from the trees as someone ran from the sound. There had been someone there, watching us train. They had fled at Hawthorne’s warning cry.
Hawthorne did not pursue the stalker but retreated a few steps, still growling.
“Please Hawthorne! They’re gone now! We have to hide!” I hissed at him.
As though coming from a trance, Hawthorne blinked and shook himself before running with Jack, Camryn and I to the stables.
We bundled into the stables and ran to Hawthorne’s stall, stuffing him back in and getting him to lie flat on his side so he wouldn’t be seen. From a distance we heard the back entrance to the manor slamming open, and saw Charles accompanied by one of the large male chefs came onto the grounds, carrying a lamp through a window of the stall.
“Lie down!” Camryn hissed at me and Jack. We obeyed her and fell to our stomachs in Hawthorne’s stall as Camryn closed the waist high gate and bolted it closed.
Panting, Jack and I listened hard as voices came closer to the stables. I could hear Charles more clearly now.