The Disappearance of Ember Crow Read Free Page A

to take any chances.
    “Ash, if the Serpent is who I think he is, then there could be these other people around him, and some of them are … they’re bad people. If he’s alone, I’ll, um, sort some things out with him, and be back before you know it. If he’s not …” I stopped speaking, because I had to. My voice had begun to waver in anticipation of how the sentence ended. I completed it silently instead.
If he’s not, I don’t know when I’m coming home
. That was why I was saying goodbye.
    Reaching out, I pressed my fingers to the cold glass and called up memories, letting them play out in my head. One memory after another, of things I’d experienced since the day I first met Ashala Wolf. Discovering my connection to the huge black crows that stared beadily down from the trees of the Firstwood. The good times Ash and Georgie and I shared, first with the three of us, and then with others when more Illegals came to the Firstwood. Our triumph over Neville Rose, Chief Administrator of Detention Centre 3. We’d snatched sixteen detainees out from under his nose and exposed his plan to take over the government of Gull City. That had been six months ago now. After that, it seemed as though the Tribe could do anything. I hoped they could. I hoped they’d be all right, if I was really gone forever.
    I smiled, a genuine smile this time, for all that happiness. A smile for the forest. For my crows. For my friends. For Ash.
    “Look after Nicky, won’t you? And please don’t try to find me. If I stay away, it’s because I’ve chosen to.” She would try, I knew that, but she wouldn’t succeed. At least, not in locating me, although it was inevitable that she’d discover some of the knowledge I’d hoped never to have to share.
    The glass in front of me was growing misty. I blinked back the tears. “However this ends, you’re probably going to find out some things about me, and they’re not nice things. But, Ash, even after you know, do you think you could remember the good? And whatever you end up discovering – try to think of me kindly. If you can.”

THE PLAN
    Blackness. Then light. Dirt. Trees.
    I am Ashala, and I am in the Firstwood
.
    That much was clear. Nothing else was.
    What did she mean, “not nice things”? And how could she have hidden her suspicions about the man claiming to be the Serpent?
    “Ash?”
    Georgie’s voice. I stared past Pack Leader to where Connor and Daniel and Georgie stood. Their faces were better than a mirror for showing me a reflection; I could measure exactly how bad I looked by the flare of concern in their eyes, the way Connor took a single step before stumbling to a halt, uncharacteristically graceless. I’d pushed him away, and now he wasn’t sure how I’d react if he came any closer. I was sorry he’d stopped. I stomped on that feeling.
    He deserved better than me.
    “Ash!” Georgie again. “Has something happened to Ember?”
    She was afraid. I couldn’t let Georgie be afraid. “She’s okay. Or she was when the memory happened. Only …” I let one hand fall to the ground, crept my fingers across the earth until I was touching Pack Leader’s fur. “I don’t think she’s coming back. Not anytime soon.”
    “Why not?” Georgie sounded as bewildered as I’d felt a moment ago.
    “I don’t know!”
    Even I could hear the edge of desperation in my voice. Pack Leader turned his head in my direction and huffed reprovingly.
Get a hold of yourself
. I drew back, a little hurt – and realised that expecting him to coddle me at this moment was a human reaction. Wolves didn’t fall to pieces when one of their own was gone. If a Pack member died, that was to be mourned and accepted. But if one was missing …
    I reached back, gripping the tree, and hauled myself up. My legs were trembling, made shaky by too many shocks, but I made it all the way upright. Then I stepped away from the tuart and staggered.
    Daniel started forwards to help.
    Connor caught his