Until We Touch (Fool's Gold #15)

Percy’s humor faded. “I’m sorry.”


“Thanks. He was...” Jack hesitated, then figured what the hell. “He was seventeen. We both were. Lucas was my identical twin.” Although not completely identical, he thought. There was the matter of their very different hearts.

“That had to be hard.”

“It was,” Jack admitted. “He was a good guy. He saw the best in people. And he never complained.” Not about all the treatments, the surgeries, the suffering. Not even about whatever twist of fate had landed him with the crappy heart.

“You still miss him.” Percy wasn’t asking a question.

“Every day,” Jack admitted.

The kid nodded. “It’s like that with my mom. Some days are easier, but I never forget her. I guess it’s always like that when someone you love dies.”

They continued to walk toward Jack’s house. They were mostly silent, but it was companionable. He thought of his earlier conversation with Larissa. “So there’s going to be a bird at the house.”

Percy nodded. “Larissa said something about it coming to stay for a few days. It’s nearly healed and they needed room for more injured birds.”

Which was more than Jack knew. No doubt Larissa would have told him the details, but he liked to be as uninformed as possible. It made his life simpler.

“Did she mention how long it was staying?” he asked.

“Three days. By then it should be able to fly. Once it’s ready, it’ll be released in the wild.” He sounded excited. “She’s going to show me how to feed it and everything.”

“I hope it’s not a raptor.”

“You mean like a dinosaur?”

“No. A raptor is a bird of prey. Like an eagle or a hawk.” Because Jack was starting to have a bad feeling about the whole bird rescue-visit thing. No good deed, he reminded himself.

“She wouldn’t do that,” Percy said confidently.

“Uh-huh.” Jack was less sure. After all, she’d left fighting dogs in his living room before.

They approached the house where they lived. From the outside, everything looked normal, but he knew better than to take any chances.

When they were on the front porch, he carefully inserted his key into the lock and turned it. The door opened slowly. He flipped on a couple of lights.

Immediately a loud squawking and hooting filled the house. The screeches were loud and angry. And whatever was making the sounds wasn’t tiny.

Percy’s eyes widened. “What do you think that is?”

“I have no idea.”

They both stood on the porch. Jack motioned for Percy to go first.

“It’s your house, man,” the teen said. “The honor is yours.”

Jack grimaced. “Maybe, but you’re younger and faster. I say it’s time for you to earn your keep.”

“Chicken,” Percy said.

“If it’s a chicken, then you can mock me all you want.”

Percy passed over his computer bag and then slowly, carefully, walked through the foyer and into the living room beyond.

“Oh, man, talk about a beauty.”

The words were hard to understand because the mystery bird was throwing yet another hissy fit. Jack swore under his breath, then followed the kid into the living room where he found a cage that nearly filled the entire room.

All his furniture had been pushed back to the edges of the room. Protective tarps had been placed on the floor. The cage itself had to be at least ten feet high and inside of it was a massive owl.

“Oh, good, he’s here.”

Both Jack and Percy jumped. Larissa came in from behind them.

“What?” she demanded. “Are you frightened of her? Or him?” She tilted her head. “Now that you mention it, no one told me the gender. Maybe they didn’t want to be rude and look.” She smiled. “Either way, our owl is beautiful.”

“It’s a woman,” Jack said flatly. “Look at how she’s glaring at us.”

Larissa laughed. “You might be right. Anyway, this is our guest. She’s a Northern Spotted Owl. There are only five or six hundred breeding pairs in California, so keeping her safe is important. She’s nocturnal, she eats small rodents and she prefers old-growth forests. She’ll be returned there in a few days, when she’s fully healed.”

The owl in question continued to glare, then she turned her head away.

“Her eyes are dark, unlike most owl species. They usually have light-colored eyes.”

“Someone’s been on Wikipedia,” Jack murmured, wondering how loud the damn owl was going to be.

“The wilderness group sent me material. You can see why I couldn’t take her home. I don’t have room for the cage. Plus, Dyna would have been at risk.”

Jack glanced at the owl and figured it could eat a whole cat with no problem. He returned his attention to Larissa. She beamed at the bird as if it were the most perfect creature ever invented. And to her, it probably was. Until the next rescue.