Crow Boy (5 page)

Chapter 5

Water Travel

A
leena set us to work building a fire.
Maddy and I placed rocks in a circle on the sand, above the high tide line. Then Maddy
dragged driftwood into a pile, while I collected deadwood from the forest floor above the beach.

Maddy built a base of tiny twigs and dried needles and moss. When she was ready, I held the firestone in my left palm. It was smooth and cool, and I could see glints of gold. I let magic flow into my fingers and danced them across the stone. Then I reached in, caught the end of one thread, and pulled it out of the stone. I dangled it over the kindling, lightly touching down with the tip, and fire flared up the thread. With a gasp I dropped it onto the dry moss. The moss smoked and flared; slowly the fire grew. Contented, I slid the firestone into my pocket.

While we were lighting the fire, Aleena had been collecting food. She washed everything in the waterfall, then laid out an assortment of fish and shellfish on leaves. She set aside a few – I knew she’d be eating hers raw. Carefully she wrapped the others in kelp and laid them on rocks near the flames.

I wasn’t sure exactly what she’d collected – mussels rather than sea anemones and starfish, I hoped.

“How can you eat that?” Maddy asked, looking ill.

“What?” asked Aleena.

“We were just playing with them!”

Aleena shrugged. “We have to eat something.”

Maddy wouldn’t eat any of it. When she was finally too hungry, she nibbled on kelp. It turns out that Maddy likes kelp, salty and crisp from the fire. I hated it – I stuck with mussels and scallops and fish, which were surprisingly good roasted. Still, I felt guilty. I eat meat at home, but eating creatures from a magical world seemed wrong. At least everything we ate gave us so much energy we didn’t need a lot.

When we’d finished eating, Maddy washed her hands in the ocean and sat close beside me. “This is hopeless, Josh. She’ll never give us the nexus ring.”

“What do you want me to do?” I asked. “Hit her over the head with a rock and take it from her?”

“Of course not,” said Maddy, but there was a slight hesitation in her voice. “We’ve got to think of something. We can’t let her keep travelling and taking the ring across the veil.”

“As long as I’m opening the doorways, it won’t cause any damage.”

“Are you sure?” Maddy asked. “No one has ever travelled across the veil with the ring without using it to open the doorway. No one but you could. What if the tears are caused by simply crossing the veil with the ring?”

“They’re not,” I said. “Keeper said so.”

Maddy wasn’t convinced. She turned to Aleena dozing on the sand. “You need to give back the nexus ring,” she called out, her voice soft but determined.

Aleena rolled over, her back to Maddy.

Maddy raised her voice. “You’ve caused enough damage to this world. Give back the ring!” Maddy stood, hands on her hips, looking stubborn as only Maddy can.

Aleena didn’t say anything, but I could see her body tensing. Suddenly, she rolled and sat up, dark eyes flashing. “Who are you to talk about damaging the magic world, human?” She unfolded herself and stood, hands on her hips, imitating Maddy.

I could see where this was going. If Aleena got mad enough, she’d just leave with the ring, and we’d never be able to catch up with it.

So I interrupted. I walked up to Maddy and slowly turned her away from Aleena. Then I asked Aleena, “Can you teach me to water travel?”

“No!” she said, shaking off her annoyance in an amused smile.

“Why not?” I asked.

“Because you’re not a water spirit,” she said with a laugh.

“Yeah,” I said, “and I shouldn’t be able to open doorways without getting tired, but I can. So could I at least try?”

Aleena nodded ruefully. “Well, you can do those things. You’re a strange little human.” She shrugged. “We could try.”

While Maddy played in the sand, I stripped off most of my clothes, and left them in a pile on the sand.

Together, Aleena and I walked to the edge of the ocean. Aleena took my hand and pulled me down, deep into the water. We became smaller and smaller, slowly becoming part of the ocean.

Once we were water, Aleena let me explore wherever I wanted, but always holding hands so I wouldn’t get lost, and never far from the shore and Maddy.

Sometimes I got turned around, not sure where I was, but Aleena always led me back. Fluid and cool, we travelled under rocks and between grains of sand, and flipped into the sky as the foaming crest of waves.

Finally Aleena let go of my hand, to let me explore on my own for just a moment. I dove down towards the ocean floor, wanting to see what it looked like. Before I could reach it, a current grabbed me and pulled me further out into the ocean.

I struggled, but it was too strong. It pulled me down, deeper and deeper. As I was dragged down, the magic around me changed into something darker and much older. Soon I was surrounded by ancient magic, and lost in it.

Suddenly Aleena grabbed my hand and we rose up and up and up, struggling against the current. The water became clear and the magic normal, at least as normal as magic can be.

Aleena pulled me to shore. I staggered onto the beach and lay shivering while she surrounded me with a blanket of warmth. I felt like waterlogged paper, not good watercolour paper, which is meant to be wet, but cheap stuff, soggy and weak.

Maddy hovered, drying my shaking limbs with my hoodie.

“What were you doing?” Aleena scolded. “If you’d
gone any deeper I wouldn’t have been able to reach you –
you were right on the edge of where I can go.”

“How could he do that?” Maddy asked.

Aleena shrugged. “I have no idea. Josh can do strange things,“ she said, as she stared at me.

It didn’t feel at all strange to me. Well, it was strange, of course, and scary, but underneath the strangeness and fear, it felt absolutely natural, like I’d been born to do this.

Maddy was staring, too. “Josh, this is not right.”

“What?” I said with a soft smile. “This is awesome.”

“No. You’re a human boy. This magic is not for you. Not for us.”

“You’re wrong,” I said. “This is totally and completely perfect.”

~

Maddy sat with me while I rested on a log, watching the tide turn as we warmed ourselves in the last sliver of sun. A row of crows joined us, lined up along a tree branch above the beach. They just sat and watched while they quietly muttered to each other. Aleena dozed on the wet sand nearby.

Finally, as the sun set, we leaned down to pull on our runners. When we looked up, Gronvald was standing right in front of us.

The first time we’d seen him, we’d thought he was a short, lumpy man. Once Aleena had cleared away his disguise, we saw him as he was now – a troll. He was short and wide, with rough skin, a lumpy nose, and big ears sticking out from his head. His thick black eyebrows hovered low over his eyes.

Maddy shrieked, backing into me so hard I toppled over the log. I felt sick. I did not want to face him again. We’d learned before how Gronvald had used the ring to travel between worlds, stealing, hurting and killing, doing anything for more gold. His passion for the ring was even greater than Aleena’s, and he cared even less about protecting the magic world.

He leaned toward us, his nose twitching like a dog trying to catch a scent. Then he caught it and stared straight at Aleena, reaching out, his hands opening and closing. He looked totally determined to get the ring back, whatever it cost him.

Maddy had been warm all day but now I could feel her shivering. I pulled her close and swallowed my fear. Even more than getting the ring from Aleena, we had to keep it from Gronvald.

Aleena sidled closer to us, picking up her cloak as an excuse.

“How did he get here?” I whispered.

“He knows all the ways under the earth. Distance doesn’t bother him. And the scent of the ring seems to lure him from anywhere.”

Gronvald gathered himself in with a deep breath, and then somehow puffed himself up to look even
larger and more threatening. “Give me my ring,” he said
.

“No,” I said. “Leave us alone.”

“Ah, no,” he said. “Not ever. Not in all of time. As long as you have that ring, I shall follow.”

A shiver shook me from my ears to my toes. There
was no way I wanted this troll following us for all of time.

Gronvald stepped forward, blocking Aleena from the ocean.

Maddy caught my eye and gestured towards a trickle of water flowing across the sand just beyond me. I nodded and took Maddy’s hand, while she grabbed Aleena’s. I stretched until I could touch a foot to the water, but I couldn’t feel it through my runner. I
glanced back at Maddy. She mimed falling to her knees –
I nodded.

As Gronvald stepped closer to Aleena, she froze, terrified. Maddy and I locked eyes and counted.
One
.
Two
. On
three
, Maddy yanked Aleena towards her, and I pulled Maddy as I fell to my knees in the stream.

Gronvald laughed. I ignored him while I drew magic up through my body and imagined becoming water. I slipped into the stream, pulling Maddy and Aleena behind me. Gronvald screamed and lunged at Aleena but she shrank under his grasping hands, slipping beyond his reach. I could hear the crows mocking him as we became water.

I took us down the stream into the ocean and stopped, not sure where to go. Once the water soothed her, Aleena took over. Holding our hands, she dove deep into the ocean. Then we travelled inland, squeezing through small spaces between rocks, and flowing under mountains. We travelled for far too long, until finally we started to flow up and I knew we were back in the mountains.

Chapter 6

Endangered Snails

T
he water was icy cold as we rose up
between rocks,
until suddenly it was as warm as bathwater. We emerged into air and total darkness. I took a deep breath and choked on an overpowering smell of rotten eggs. I gagged and Maddy coughed.

Even once I’d grown to full size, I was standing in water up to my neck. It was too deep for Maddy; she was splashing and choking. I held her so she didn’t have to keep swimming.

Aleena sighed from deep in her throat. “Thank you,” she said, her voice shaky and low.

“How did he find us?” asked Maddy, sounding very small.

“He wants the nexus ring. He can track it – he’ll do anything to get it back.” Even in the dark, I could tell Aleena was shuddering. “But he hates water.”

Darkness pressed against my eyeballs, so black I lost all sense of direction. I reached out a hand to feel for a wall or bank, and touched something slimy. I yelped and yanked back my hand.

“What is it?” asked Maddy, clinging to me.

I shuddered, and whispered, “Something really slimy.”

Aleena laughed. “You guys sound so scared.”

“Where are we?” asked Maddy.

“In the human world it’s called the Banff Springs cave,” she said, sounding proud.

“Banff?” I said, totally confused. “We’re in Banff?”

Maddy tapped my shoulder. “Remember, Josh? We toured here last year.”

I did remember. The smell was sulphur, and the slime was algae growing around the hot springs. “Why did you bring us
here
?” I asked.

“I love it.” Aleena sighed. “The water feels so good.”

Good? I waved my hand through the water. It felt kind of like being in a bath – a big, slimy bath. “I can’t see a thing,” I grumbled.

“Use your firestone,” said Aleena, laughing at me.

“Light a fire here?” I asked. “In water?”

“No, silly. Just pull out a thread and use it as a light.”

Puzzled, I pulled the firestone out of my pocket and let it drip for a moment. I closed my eyes and drew magic into my hand. I danced it around the firestone, reached in and touched a thread. Slowly I pulled it out; it dangled from my finger, a pale thread of fire. It was a pathetic little worm of light in this huge space.