With his beak tucked under his wing, the hawk sleeps through the morning sun creeping in through the opening in the barn's hayloft. His reddish-brown feathers glow as the rays strike them, and Cassie wants to reach out and touch them. She can't though, not only because the spaces in the cage wiring are too small for her fingers to get through, but also because the hawk would be startled awake by the sudden contact. He might hurt himself in panic trying to get away from a strange, threatening human.

Even knowing this, Cassie is still tempted to open the cage door and place her hand gently on the bird's wing. Despite her presence, the red-tailed hawk continues to sleep unaware of the attention it receives. Even though she scrutinizes him closely, there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the bird. The protective wrappings around his sprained wing still are bound nice and tight to his body, and his breathing seems to be at a normal pace. It's just…there's something off.

Cassie glances at the frozen rat besides the cage that her father left out to thaw for the bird's breakfast. There doesn't seem to be anything missing from the hawk's early morning care. But something drew her to this particular patient, and Cassie doesn't want to leave for school just yet if there's something wrong that she's missing.

This off feeling has happened before. Ever since Cassie could remember, she has always helped with the animals that her wildlife veterinarian parents take in. She knows the breathing patterns of a falcon with lung inflammation, the smells of a wound left unclean for too long, the sight of a fox that's just lethargic from his meds rather than from something more sinister.

When there's something wrong with one of their animal patients who had been seemingly fine, sometimes there's just this feeling that rises up. Like there's a part of Cassie that knows something's off before the rest of her conscious self picks up on it. She supposes it's a bit like how her gymnast friend Rachel just knows the right moments to leap off the balance beam. It's a skill, helping animals heal or preforming gymnastics, that's been practiced for so long that the knowledge is just ingrained deep inside of her.

Even so, this ability to tell if something is wrong isn't ingrained enough if Cassie can't tell what that something is. She nibbles at the corner of her lip before checking over the red-tailed hawk again and finding nothing again.

"Cassie? What are you still doing in the barn? The bus is coming down the road."

Cassie jumps, spinning towards the source of the voice—her father—who frowns at her while lugging in a pair of dripping, cleaned cages.

"Oh, um, I was just checking on the hawk." She glances back at the bird that now glares at the loud male human that disturbed its sleep.

"Well, I'll take a look at him. You need to get to school." Her father assures while shelving the cages below an empty worktable. "You're going to have to run to the house to grab your book bag in time."

And so off she goes, but not without looking back one last time at the bird who watches her disappear through the barn door.


Cassie manages to make it just before the bus driver gives up waiting and drives off without her. The heavy backpack drags her down as she trudges up the steps. Lacking the breath to say hello to the driver, she gives a weak nod in response to his greeting before plodding over to her seat in the back.

She passes by the handful of other kids who live farther out than her with only a few mutual glances in lieu of actual greetings and hellos. She really isn't friends with any of them, but that hasn't bothered her in a long time so she doesn't dwell too much on their near complete dismissal. Settling into her seat, Cassie turns to stare out the window as the country slowly gives way to the town's outer suburbs.

The outside view passes by as she still sees the hawk watching her as she ran out the door. She probably was wrong about the bird. The off feeling hadn't started out in the barn anyway, but right after she had woken up. For a moment, the bed had been too narrow, the door and window off-center like they were placed a few feet away from where they should be. Yet when she had blinked, the offness of the room had faded with the dream that she had emerged from.

The dream was…Cassie really can't remember what it was about, but it must have taken place in a room different than her bedroom if she was so confused upon waking.

"Hey Cassie. Whoa, sorry for scaring you."

There's a boy standing over her. Dark eyes, dark hair, shoulders that aren't as broad as they should be.

What…

Cassie slowly blinks while lethargy crawls out of her mind and over her body.

"Um, Cassie?" Jake asks in a voice that isn't as deep as it is supposed to be. "Are you okay?"

"What?" Cassie shakes her head as the lethargy refuses to leave, sinking deeper into her mind and making her want to sleep.

"Why wouldn't she be?" States a voice. It latches on to the stupor that threatens to take a hold and peels it back.

A girl, possessing blue eyes and golden hair, pushes past Jake and leans over the empty seat besides Cassie. As she leans closer, any lethargy within Cassie's body burns away under the intense stare the girl directs at her.

Oh god.

The girl places a hand on Cassie's, frowning as she studies her face.

"Cassie, you're really pale. Are you sick?" The girl demands to know.

Oh god, Rachel.