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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

I filled the house The screeches were loud and angry And whatever wasthe 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 o first

"It’s your house, rier and faster I say it’s time for you to earn your keep"

"Chicken," Percy said

"If it’s a chicken, then you canand 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 theyet another hissy fit Jack swore under his breath, then followed the kid into the living rooe that nearly filled the entire rooes of the rooe itself had to be at least ten feet high and inside of it was a ood, he’s here"

Both Jack and Percy jumped Larissa cahtened of her? Or him?" She tilted her head "Now that you ender Maybe they didn’t want to be rude and look" She smiled "Either way, our owl is beautiful"

"It’s a wo at us"

Larissa laughed "You uest 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 srowth 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 ht-colored eyes"

"So how loud the daroup sent me material You can see why I couldn’t take her hoe 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

Her blue eyes were fixated on the bird Her htly stained her sht in surprise Sure, she always looked good Casual and easygoing But there was soh he couldn’t figure out what the change was

"That owl is incredible," Percy said, e?"

"She won’t for long," Larissa assured hie "What’s that stuff?" he asked There were odd-shaped things

"A bird’s gotta do what a bird’s gotta do," Percy told him

"I don’t think so," Jack said as he inched closer to the cage

"That’s from her dinner," Larissa said cheerfully "She eats her food whole then throws up the fur and bone"

"Of course she does," Jack said grih

JACK TURNED IN close to eleven But the second he clicked on the bedside light, he kneas going to be a very long night

Despite being an entire floor beloith at least one closed door between the her confineh silence for hiain

He turned onto his side and punched his pillow Not that it would help Because the oas only part of the proble her had been a mistake Not because he hadn’t liked it, but because it had changed things between theure out a way to put the genie back in the bottle

With any other wo to end Not technically Besides, Larissa was an integral part of his life Like air--he needed her to survive She was the best part of hi but an empty shell Why would he want that when he could be--at least in her eyes--a perfect hero?

CHAPTER TEN

"DOESN’T JACK CARE what you put on his calendar?" Percy asked "You could write in anything Like send hirinned at the teen "Technically that’s true, but ould I? Jack’s my boss and my friend I don’t want to torture hi to do with torture and everything to do with

She cleared her throat and her hts, especially not with Percy in the room That would be too weird and icky

Percy studied the calendar They were in her office and she was explaining what her job entailed Part of Percy’s education was to understand the workings of Score

"Still, he has to really trust you, right?" he asked

"Uh-huh That’s part of the relationship" She pointed to the different events "It’s all color-coded Speaking engages"

"Golf is a charity event?" Percy asked

"It can be There’s going to be a Pro-am here in a feeeks"

Percy frowned "What’s a Pro-aether, only the amateurs are mostly celebrities"

"Jack plays professionally?"

She clicked on the square in the calendar, expanding it to show all the inforolf where he’s considered an aolfers co with some other athletes"

"Like Jack"

"Exactly"