Black Feathers by Joseph D'Lacey Read Free Book Online Page A

you’ll have Megan back – as she always was but full of knowledge.”
    Mr Keeper didn’t give them time to speak.
    “You must talk it through. It’s not a decision to take lightly, believe me. Megan needs to understand how difficult the role of Keeper’s Prentice will be. The Crowman’s story makes adults of children and she may not be ready. However, if she does complete the training, her contribution, not only to Beckby village but to everyone hereabouts, will be immeasurable. She will be a bringer of real joy and the land in these parts will love us all the more deeply.”
    Megan is sitting up straight, eyes wide, and something in her very blood is telling her that this is what she wants more than anything else in the world. There’s something magical about Mr Keeper but she’s not sure her parents can even see it. Yes, she is still frightened by the Crowman – terrified, if the truth be known. But the boy from the night country isn’t terrifying. He is gentle. Just remembering him awakens a dormant recess in her, locked tight until now. Deep within herself, stronger than any desire she’s ever known, the urge to follow the boy arises with crystal surety. This is her chance to find out who Megan Maurice really is.
    “I want to do it,” she says.
    Her mother, as though slapped, is speechless. Her father’s face reddens.
    “Now wait a moment, young Megan, it’s not your place to be deciding such things. You shall do as you are tol–”
    Mr Keeper holds up his hand.
    “In the end, Mr Maurice, the decision is entirely Megan’s, and not yours or your wife’s to make. You certainly cannot refuse her the right to proceed, should she be certain that is what she wishes to do. However, as I said, I think you should all discuss it very carefully before a… consensus… is reached. I will call on you in seven days’ time, at which point I shall want an answer. If Megan is to undertake the training, she will come to me the following morning before dawn and we will begin. If she is not, then I shall trouble you no more about it. Please understand that there will be no second opportunities in either case. A yes is a yes. A no is a no.”
    Mr Keeper scans each face. Megan knows he can see the smile inside her eyes even though, for the sake of her parents, she keeps her face blank. He stands, collects his ash again and shoulders his pack. By now the sun is casting shimmering shadows of willow trees onto the bank and afternoon is giving way to evening.
    Before he sets off, Mr Keeper says:
    “Do you all understand?”
    No one speaks, but Megan and her parents nod. Amu and Apa have calmed down enough to each place a protective, forgiving arm around Megan, and together they walk slowly home from the river bank where so much love has been made, so much that it became the most beautiful thing in her parents’ lives and the thing, Megan knows, they believe they are about to lose.
    That night, her small but swelling breasts ache, her belly knots and tightens. She bleeds for the first time. Amu brings her a bundle of moon cloths, quietly explaining their use. As to the blood and its significance, Megan has been expecting it. Pain is not the only sensation in the depths of her belly, there is a flutter there – excitement and expectation.
     
    May 200 4
    The door to Judith’s bedroom opened a fraction and a face, lily-pale in a thin bar of moonlight, appeared there. Lying on her right side facing the doorway, she watched through a tiny crack in her eyelids as Gordon pushed silently into the room. She felt a warm flush of anticipation and pride knowing she was his secret protector.
    The door hinge creaked and Gordon froze. Judith saw the look of terror there. If Mum and Dad discovered him here, his nocturnal visits would end. Then what would he do when the nightmares came?
    She’d loved him with a fierce loyalty the moment she’d seen his wrinkled, newborn skin and gentle grey eyes. So different to the feelings she had