Crow Boy (3 page)

Maddy and I set our backpacks beside us, and dug out sandwiches and water bottles. Maddy offered to share with Keeper but he just laughed when he saw how small our sandwiches were. He brought out his own – massive buns stuffed with meat.

After I’d eaten I pulled out my sketchpad and drew. The nexus ring got in my way, so I slipped it off and set it on a rock beside me. As I sketched, I felt like I was feeling the mountains, seeing the world through my fingers.

Then I started to tell Keeper about my summer. “I couldn’t feel much magic in the human world, but my art was really good. I went to an art camp, and I made a sculpture of you.” I felt a little embarrassed, but continued anyway. “It was all carved and angular, and it turned out really well.”

Keeper listened carefully. I’d forgotten that about him – he listens with all his attention. I wasn’t sure if it was from politeness, or because he had to concentrate to keep up, but it didn’t matter. It was great to have an adult really, really listen.

I showed him how I’d made the sculpture, carving clay into all the angles of his face, my arms waving in the air as I recreated the work. When I swung my arm back I hit the nexus ring, spinning it into the air. With a cry I lunged for it, but it slipped past my fingers.

“The ring!” Maddy gasped, leaping up and reaching as the ring spun down the mountain.

“Watch where it lands,” boomed Keeper, his eyes following the ring’s path.

And then a small crow dove after it. With a throaty, gleeful “ca-ca-caww,” it snatched up the ring in its beak and soared away.

Chapter 3

Aleena

“
H
e is a young one,”
Keeper said, shaking his head. He stood and called out an order. “Corvus, bring back the ring.” A panicked voice in my head cried out,
The ring – the nexus ring!
I didn’t trust Corvus; I had to get it back myself. I took off down the mountainside, scrambling over rocks towards the lake at the base of Castle Mountain. Maddy raced down the slope behind me, struggling to catch up.

Keeper called out after us, “Work with Corvus. I will come if you need me.”

The mountainside was littered with rocks. I leapt from one to the next, avoiding the big ones. I slipped, and several bounced down the mountainside, startling a herd of bighorn sheep below me. They bounded away,
baaing
to one another in fright.

I raced on, determined to get the ring back. This was my fault and I had to fix it. Once I’d skidded down the side of the mountain, I ran up the shore of the lake, following the sound of the crows. I glanced back – Maddy was close behind me. Keeper watched from high on the mountain.

Soon I could see crows circling a figure near the head of the lake. I slowed, waiting for Maddy to catch up. Side by side, we followed the shore of the lake to the crows and the still figure.

It was Aleena, standing with the little crow caught tight in her hand.

Maddy gasped, and I felt a shiver of fear.

Aleena was a water spirit. She looked like a tall, thin human woman, but moved more smoothly, like seaweed in water. She stood wrapped in a long cloak and black clothes as tight as skin. Long, loose hair fell past her waist, grey on her head, shading to black at the ends. Her face was pale, her eyes deep blue. I remembered how they danced when she laughed, and turned to black when she was angry.

She’d been nice when we first met, when Gronvald the troll had cornered us to take back the nexus ring. It was only later that we discovered she could be very, very scary when she didn’t get what she wanted. And what she had wanted more than anything was the nexus ring.

As we stared at her, she dropped the crow. It fell to the ground with a thud. I gasped as I watched it, willing it to get up, to twitch, to breathe. But it was dead.

When I raised my eyes from the crow to Aleena, she slowly smiled and showed us the back of her hand. The nexus ring gleamed on her finger.

Maddy cried out, “You killed the crow!” and dashed forward. I grabbed her and held her back, afraid of what Aleena might do.

Aleena shrugged. “It’s just a crow.”

This drove the crows into a frenzy. They circled Aleena, cawing and diving at her. As they attacked, more crows arrived. They flew in from all directions, scolding and dive-bombing Aleena, cawing what I was sure were curses.

Aleena covered her ears, her skin becoming pale and her eyes dark. She turned towards the lake and held out her hands, ignoring the crows as she focused on magic. A spout of water rose from the lake. Aleena drew it higher and higher. When it towered above us, she threw it at the crows.

Water slammed against the flock and flung the
crows sideways. Some flew off, squawking and shaking their feathers, while others plunged to the ground. They
shook themselves and stood, strutting and muttering. I
wondered if there was a way to catch the indignant crows
in a painting. But the moment was gone as the crows rose
in a cloud, cawing, and launched another attack.

Aleena drew up another spout of water and flung it at the flock. Birds scattered, some squawking in anger, some too stunned to speak.

Corvus cawed out instructions that even I could
hear over the noise of squawking. The birds shifted –
instead of circling around Aleena, they attacked from the lake side, and slowly drove her back from the water.

Cursing in frustration, Aleena ducked into the forest.

I turned to Keeper, watching us from high on Castle Mountain, and bellowed, “
Keeper!
”

He raised one hand to the sky, and began striding down the mountainside.

Maddy, the crows and I followed Aleena into the forest. We found her holding the ring in her hand, ignoring the circling crows as she concentrated on opening a doorway in the veil of magic.

“Why go through a doorway?” Maddy asked me quietly. “The crows will just follow, and so will we.”

I thought about it, and answered slowly. “Maybe she knows there’ll be hikers around, so we’ll need to look normal for the human world. Magic folk are careful not to be seen by humans. Keeper won’t be able to follow, and the crows might settle down. Then she could head to the lake on the human side.”

“But if she crosses with the ring, she’ll make another tear.”

“I know that,” I said.

“So what do we do?”

“I don’t know,” I said, frustration making my voice tight.

“We’re responsible,” said Maddy. “We brought out the ring.”

“I did,” I said. “And I dropped it. It’s my fault.”

“It was an accident, Josh,” she said, her voice soft.

“I know, but the damage will be the same. We have to do something.” Except I didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t about to confront Aleena, to try to wrestle the ring out of her hand. She had magic, and she was nasty. “I just don’t know
what
to do.”

“Well, I do,” said Maddy. She marched straight past the crows to Aleena. “You mustn’t use the ring to open a doorway in the veil,” she said, her voice loud enough to carry over the cawing. “You’ll make another tear, and the tears aren’t healing as fast as they used to. You mustn’t cause any more damage.”

Aleena yawned. “Why should I care? It’ll heal. It always has, always will. You’re fussing over nothing.”

Maddy was furious. “Nothing?” she shouted. “The more you weaken the veil, the more human changes will affect your world. And everyone in it, including you. Already the otter-babies are suffering.”

“Why should I care about pathetic little otter-babies?”

Maddy looked shocked. I don’t think she could imagine anyone not caring about otter-babies.

While Maddy stood speechless, the crows attacked again. Aleena pulled her cloak over her head as protection from the crows, turned back to the doorway and focused on using the nexus ring to open it, so she wouldn’t tire herself by using her own magic.

I watched, thinking frantically. What should I do? Aleena wouldn’t give up the ring, and I couldn’t take it from her. No matter how angry they were, the crows couldn’t either. Keeper might be able to, but she was afraid of him. He would just scare her away, through a doorway or through water. But if
I
could stay with her, maybe something would happen, maybe I could convince her. I nodded, finally sure of myself. I had to stay with her.

Maddy looked ready to speak again, but I held out a hand to stop her. I took a deep breath and bellowed, “Corvus. Stop!” My voice rang with power, like it was projecting magic.

Corvus must have felt it too, because he and all the crows pulled back from their attack, circling higher in the sky, a cawing mass of black.

Maddy gave me a strange look. “How did you do that?”

I just shrugged. I didn’t know, and I didn’t have time to talk about it.

“Thanks for calling off the crows,” said Aleena. “But that won’t stop me.” She smirked. “You’ve got some magic there, crow boy. I can see it radiating off you. It’s nice, isn’t it? Want a little more?”

I swallowed. Oh, yeah, I wanted more. I tried to focus on the ring. How could we get it from her? “Yes,” I said, “I want more magic.”

“Josh!” Maddy sounded horrified.

I turned away from her. Aleena needed to see Maddy really angry with me. “Keeper said to just let the magic soak in, but that’s too slow. I want more – sooner. Can you teach me?”

She nodded. “You’re unusual for a human.” She tilted her head to one side as she examined me. “Perhaps I could teach you a little.”

I felt a grin forming in spite of myself. “Maybe to water travel?”

“You won’t be able to water travel. You’re not a water spirit.”

“Could you show me, at least?” Anything to stay with her, to stay with the ring.

Maddy elbowed me and muttered, “What are you doing?”

I turned a little away from Aleena and whispered, “I need to stay with her, with the nexus ring. Otherwise, we’ll never get it back.”

“I’m coming too.”

“No. I’ll do it. I’m older.”

“No way,” said Maddy, sounding stubborn.

I sighed. “I’m almost twelve. You just turned eight.”

“You might be almost twelve, but someone needs to look after you. I don’t trust you on your own. You get weird around magic.”

Finally Keeper arrived, his face tight and his eyes angry. He held the dead crow cradled in one hand.

When Aleena saw him, she shuddered and refocused on opening the doorway.

“Stay back,” I said, holding up a hand to Keeper. “She’s afraid of you.” While I spoke my stomach twisted. I knew that Aleena wasn’t afraid of us, but Maddy and I were both afraid of her.

I explained to Keeper what we were planning, hoping he’d stop us. After thinking about it for a moment, he nodded and gestured for Corvus to go with us. “Look after them,” he told Corvus.

He leaned down to me and tried to lower his voice to a murmur. “I am Keeper. I am responsible. I have failed again. Bring the nexus ring back to me, Josh.”

“I will,” I promised, although I had no idea if I really could. I reassured myself that at least it was just Aleena. We’d be fine as long as we didn’t have to deal with Gronvald the troll, too.

Keeper stepped back, and Maddy and I joined Aleena.
Slowly she inhaled and then exhaled. As she exhaled, mist thickened into a dense patch. I could feel Aleena tighten her focus again, and a doorway appeared in the mist. She smiled and opened her eyes. “That’s so much easier with the ring,” she said, sighing with pleasure.

She stepped into the doorway and paused. “Come or don’t come,” she said. Then she disappeared into the fog.

Maddy sighed. “Well, the damage is already done. We might as well follow.”

So Maddy and I walked forward into the doorway. Mist surrounded us and then was left behind as we stepped into the forest on the human side of the veil.

It didn’t feel like coming home. It felt sad and flat, without the vibrancy of the magic world.

Aleena walked to the edge of the forest and scanned the valley for hikers. There were a few on the far side of the lake, heading towards Castle Mountain, but none nearby. She grabbed our hands and pulled us towards the lake.