I screamed.
I couldn't even think straight enough to get out a single word. It was just a horrified, wordless scream.
I shot through the air like a bullet, forcing my exhausted wings to go faster, faster, faster!
No, no, no, no, no, no! When my human mind had finally caught up to what had happened, I was able to find a word. But all I could do was repeat it over and over and over again. No! No!
Polly was falling, tumbling to the ground so far below, the one wing that she had left flopping wildly in the wind. The other was leaving a spiraling trail of charred feathers through the air.
A memory flashed through my mind as I watched her fall, the human man running through these very woods, being hunted by a Hork-Bajir. I remembered his words, his cries for help. It suddenly occurred to me that I was human too, and I wasn't alone.
-Help!- I screamed, -Help her!-
It was my fault she was out here. It was my fault she was so weak and tired. She'd been raised since birth by humans, she didn't know how to hunt or fend for herself. If it weren't for me, she'd have been in her home, safe and sound. Not falling through the air with only one wing left, and the smoke from a crashed alien ship filling the air with poison.
I was moving too slow. Or maybe time was speeding up around me. All I knew was that I was too far away, and no matter how hard I pushed my wings, I wouldn't be able to reach her before she hit the ground.
But then a flash of black and white shot past me, and suddenly Polly wasn't falling anymore.
Rachel had caught her, one talon wrapped around her legs, the other grasping what had once been a wing.
The yellow of her feet was stained black with carbon.
-I've got her!- Rachel cried, starting to sag in the air as she was weighed down, before she suddenly seemed to gain a new burst of strength, pumping her massive black wings to regain altitude, and fighting her way toward escape, away from the lake and the burning ship and the swarms of enemies chasing us.
-Guys, come on! We gotta get out of here!- Marco shouted, flashing past me with his white and grey osprey wings and shocking me out of my reverie. I suddenly realized that I'd been flying aimlessly, and was about to hit a tree.
I swerved abruptly, fear thrilling through my veins. I managed to avoid the tree, but I was slowing down, fast. I'd spent the last few hours carrying fish that weighed almost as much as I did, and then there was the fight to keep ahead of the truck-ship. My wings had ached before, but now I could barely feel them.
-Guys, I-I don't think I can make it!- I shouted, struggling just to remain in the air. I was losing altitude, too weak to fight the dead, unmoving air that hung beneath the trees. I was made for opens spaces, not cramped forests.
I wanted to tell them to go on, leave me behind, but I had just had to listen to them telling me that, and I couldn't force that weight on them.
Jake must have known what I was thinking, though, because in an instant, he was at my side, and so was Cassie. We're getting out of here, together! She cried, letting out a harsh screech in defiance. Or maybe she was trying to give me courage.
-Come on!- Jake said, diving in front of me, with Cassie taking up position behind him, and slightly to the side.
-Marco! Rachel!- She cried, beating her wings faster when Jake sped up slightly, trying to catch up to the others.
Suddenly, flying became easier. The wind didn't resist my wings as much as it had before, and even though I still felt incredibly weak, I knew that if it stayed this easy, I would be able to keep on flying for a while longer.
Another memory, sharp and clear. The geese flying high in the sky, just before they'd hit the ship. They'd been in V formation, powering through the air as though they could go on forever, eating up the distance as surely as my friends had done while they were wolves.
I suddenly remembered that I was more than a hawk, and so were my friends. We were human, too. We could do things no normal animals would ever think of, things no normal hawk or eagle could probably even imagine.
We could work as a team.
I almost hated to admit it, but for all that he acted like an idiot, Marco was smart. He caught on in just a few seconds, and swerved around in mid air to pull up next to Cassie. Together the four of us sped up, toward where Rachel was still struggling a few dozen feet in front of us.
I knew she couldn't risk turning around to get to us. Bald eagles were huge, and strong, and even though Polly was barely even half Rachel's size, she was still more weight than Rachel was oaccustomed to carrying.
But Rachel didn't seem to care. She just kept going, never looking back, never even stopping for a moment to hesitate, the unconscious hawk gripped tightly in her sharp talons. I hoped Polly wasn't getting hurt worse because of the way she was being carried, but to tell the truth, I wasn't even sure at that point if she was still alive.
We managed to catch up to Rachel after a few minutes of furious-but still easier than before-speed, and she fell into place a few feet away from me so that her wings wouldn't hit mine. Marco and Cassie moved further to either side to accommodate her size, and Jake flew even faster than before.
-What about bird watchers?- Rachel asked, sounding worried once she realized what we were doing.
We'd been worried about what people would think about a red-tailed hawk, a bald eagle, a peregrine falcon, and two ospreys flying together like they were on a mission.
Imagine how confused they'd be if they saw us flying like geese.
-Who cares about bird watchers?- Marco snapped, sounding almost hysterical, -Just fly!-
...
I don't really remember much after that, aside from Marco and Cassie switching places with Jake every so often so that he could rest his wings. Somehow, we all managed to make it back to our hideout in one piece, despite my exhaustion, and the extra weight Rachel was carrying.
As we approached the abandoned treehouse, Cassie spoke up. -Let me go first, I can morph back the fastest, and I can help Polly.-
No one said anything in argument, so she raced ahead and flew neatly through the open window of the treehouse while we all peeled to different sides, grabbing onto tree branches to rest our wings.
Except for Rachel, who continued toward the window. She fanned her wings through the air in an awkward hover, holding her talons outstretched toward the wide ledge. With extreme care, she released Polly's unconscious form onto the wooden ledge, nudged her closer to the window with her beak, then flapped wildly for a few seconds to regain her balance, before she abruptly folded her wings and dropped to the ground below.
She tried to open her wings at the very last second, and ended up halfway crashing into the dirt. She skidded to a stop, sending a spray of dust flying into the air, and Jake and I both cried out at the same time, -Rachel!-
He was faster than me, and got to her first. Marco wasn't far behind me, either.
Rachel shook her head, her white feathers tinged slightly with soot. -I'm okay.- She reassured us, sounding as tired as I felt, -My wings just really hurt.-
-You can morph back next. -Marco quickly said, -As soon as Cassie's done. And then we can all go home, and relax, and pretend that we didn't all just almost die again.-
"I'm done!" Cassie called down, with perfect timing, "Whoever's next can come up!"
Rachel seemed to wilt for a moment, before she shook herself again, and lifted her huge wings upright. Watch out. She warned.
I lifted into the air slightly and backed away, and Marco and Jake did the same.
She struggled for a few moments to get airborne, but once she did, she hurried to get through the window. Cassie had moved the hawk further inside, but Rachel was still so big that she had to tuck her wings in and almost dive through the opening just so she could fit.
None of us knew how long the tree house had been here, or who had built it. But I'd found it while I was scouting out the area a few days before our mission, and we figured it was a perfect midway point between Cassie's farm and the lake.
We knew the others could make it from the farm to the lake in just under two hours as wolves, but there was no point in pushing their time to the limit if we didn't have to. This was also a good place to store emergency items, like bandages, clothes, or food.
And a clock.
-Cassie, is she-is the hawk okay?- I didn't want to ask if she was alive. And it still felt weird referring to her by her name. It felt wrong, to my hawk mind.
But that was exactly the problem. It had been my hawk mind that had caused this in the first place. My hawk instincts and emotions had blinded me to the truth-and only Cassie's anger and fear had made me realize my mistake.
Humans weren't like most animals. If a hawk found another bird that was injured, but it wasn't hungry, it wouldn't kill the bird. It would just leave it there, and go on its way.
If a human found an injured bird, and they weren't going to eat it, they wouldn't kill the bird.
They would help it.
Just like Dealin' Dan-or whatever his actual name was-had helped Polly. Cassie had explained to him-half angry at him for his actions, half terribly sad and worried-in a quiet, barely restrained voice that Dan was an old family friend, and he'd adopted Polly from her parents. Polly had been rescued from poachers, and Dan had taken her in. He was licensed to keep her, and had all the proper training and equipment. The cage I had seen-the cage that only my human mind understood, but my hawk mind gave emotion to-was only for commercials. Once they were oven, she was moved back to her normal enclosure.
I'd forgotten that humans were animals of compassion, and now Polly was paying the ultimate price. The price I had foolishly thought I was saving her from.
Whether she lived or died, Polly would never fly again.
I flapped up onto a branch just outside the window, hesitantly peering into the dark space, feeling like an intruder the whole time.
The treehouse only had the one window, but it was big enough that we could have all fit inside if we needed to, as long as most of us were human. That was why they had to morph back in turns, until we were all ready to leave.
I could see Cassie kneeling in the far corner, the hawk-no, Polly-lying on the floor in front of her, with a first aid kit open next to her.
"I think she's going to be okay." She called, not taking her gaze off Polly to realize that I was in the window, "The Dracon beam cauterized the wound, so she isn't bleeding. But she's in shock, so we need to get her back to my parents as soon as we can. We can say we found her in the forest."
I wasn't sure exactly how she was going to try explaining exactly how Polly had gotten hurt, but I didn't want to ask.
In the other corner of the treehouse, Rachel was in the midst of morphing back into her normal self. At that moment, she was just a horrifying, writhing mass that wasn't bird or human, just some unnatural combination of both.
I looked away quickly, feeling sick.
-Good.- I whispered, far too late, in response to what Cassie had said. I knew that her parents would help, it was what they did.
It was their help that I was so very good at undoing.
Almost against my will, my eyes were drawn back towards where Polly lay, still and unconscious, the burned off part of her wing clearly visible, her breast barely stirring with her breathing, she was so weak.
Again I felt sick, but for a completely different reason than before.
As though all my strength had finally been drained, I swayed slightly, and dug my talons deeper into the bark of the branch I sat on, suddenly able to feel the way my entire body ached.
My wings felt like jelly, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't lift them.
Something shifted, maybe it was my eyes, maybe it was the world. I felt light, like I'd detached from my own body, unable to feel anything for a few moments where all I knew was confusion.
And then the ground was rushing up at me, and everything went black.