Crow Boy Read Free Page A

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.