Raven Read Free Page B

be reflected in the painting she was about to do.
     
    The images of the raven she had seen today danced across her mind as she stroked the canvass with her brush. At first she executed big sweeping gestures of black paint that outlined its massive wings and body, before being quickly replaced by darker shades of grey that accentuated the breast bone of the bird and its claws. Distractedly she shoved a mouthful of sandwich into her mouth and the gooey cheese squirted out the sides of the buttery toasted bread. She cursed as it burnt the roof of her mouth and then went back to her painting.
     
    The feathers were what made the raven so beautifully unforgettable. In a rare glimpse of the sun’s rays, she had caught the blue green tones that mingled with the black feathers on his body. She used the tip of her brush now to replicate the colour on her canvas.
     
    The painting wasn’t perfection by anyone’s standards; it was raw and visually confronting, even a little scary. But she liked it. The eyes of the bird told a thousand stories that she was yet to listen to and the wings told of power and strength. She somehow had stumbled across what everyone it the city was looking for – the mysterious creatures that now walked amongst them.
     
    She could see now how they made it possible to avoid detection when it was obvious they could morph at will. Only one ‘man’ had ever been caught by the APP, which was the Armed Patrol of the People. He had been in his human form at the time and they had whisked him off to some laboratory to run all manner of tests. According to media leaks the scientists had ended up killing him without him ever having revealed his alter form.
     
    Of course the results of all the samples they had taken were a closely guarded secret, one certainly not to be shared with the general public. The only thing citizens had been made aware of was the imprint of a symbol that was located at the base of their spine when in their human form. It was a symbol of double infinity – a branding of a curse that would stay with them for all of eternity, the same one she had seen on the raven today.
     
    Aiyana was intrigued by the species and her curiosity had peaked several months back when she was walking through town and had caught a glimpse of the symbol on the back of a man as he had bent over. He had turned and saw her and made a hurried attempt to get out of the city. She’d followed him on her bike as far as the mountain, but the trail had run cold.
     
    He had abandoned a car at the petrol station at the bottom of Springbrook and then completely vanished into thin air - until now. She’d felt like she had combed every inch of the bushland in order to find him again, and  now that she had, she wondered just what to do about it.
     
    She certainly wasn’t about to tell anybody about it, but at the same time she wondered if she were a fool to think she could trust him. Was she in danger? Was it better for her to forget about seeing him and go back to the mundane existence she had been living?
     
    She sighed and tucked a strand of her dark locks behind her ear, and in so doing smeared paint across her cheek. Giving one last appreciative look at the painting she moved over to the kitchen sink to wash the paint off her face. There was a tiny mirror mounted over the tap and she peered into it as she scrubbed at her cheek. As she gazed at her reflection she realised with a sudden shriek that there was someone standing behind her. Well, not actually behind her, but close enough.
     
    She whirled around, her heart catching in her throat at the mysterious stranger that was standing on her balcony. It was him. He stood patiently, calmly. He wore a moody expression and looked perplexed, like something was bothering him.
     
    For a split second she wondered whether she should run out of her apartment right now, but that thought was quickly replace by another - curiosity. It was something she had never been able to