Crow Boy by Maureen Bush Read Free Book Online Page B

to get onto the glacier, not watch furballs tumble over each other.”
    Maddy was too absorbed to hear her.
    “Go ahead,” I said to Aleena. “We’ll follow in a bit.”
    As Aleena walked away, I heard cawing. Three crows flew up the valley and landed directly in front of Aleena. One was Corvus. Another was the rumpled white-tipped crow from the Banff Springs. They walked in front of Aleena, scolding with short harsh caws.
    I called out, “Corvus, leave her alone.” We were just starting to convince her. This was not the time to make her mad.
    Corvus cawed to the others. The white-tipped crow cawed back, head bobbing. Corvus flapped his wings with a long rant of caws, and the white-tipped crow backed off. All three flew to a nearby branch, the white-tipped crow sitting furthest from the others.
    Aleena raised her hand to thank me, and walked up the scree slope towards Stanley Glacier.
    I turned back to Maddy. She was squatting on the ground, staring intently at the marmots. They were small, furry mammals, like overgrown gophers, silver-grey with dark patches on their heads. Their tails were large and bushy.
    I was better at drawing mountains and trees than animals, but I studied the marmots carefully, doing quick sketches on my leg as they played. After a while, Maddy pulled out her ring to watch them. She let me look – the marmots were bright with magic. Then I turned and saw the glacier. It was magnificent, magic flowing as I supposed the ice itself flowed, but cycling back and around, contained and huge.
    I could see where the glacier had shrunk and left behind a ridge of small rocks. The marmots scampered all over it as they played. When I looked through Maddy’s ring I could see why. It had a magic too, different from the glacier, a little darker and more settled. The marmots were bright sparks of magic against the darker magic of the rocks.
    As I watched the marmots and the magic flowing through the glacier, I felt my determination grow. I had to get the nexus ring back to Keeper. Maddy and I had to convince Aleena.
    But how? I sketched the marmots to quiet my mind, to let the fear and doubt settle for a moment. As I sketched, my mind stilled, and in the silence came a sureness. There will be a way. I will get the ring back. I have to stay with Aleena.
    Then Maddy yelped. “Greyfur. Eneirda!”
    Startled, I jumped and turned to see Maddy running, arms outstretched. Two otter-people were stepping out of the trees at the edge of the scree slope.
    We’d met them in July – Eneirda, who’d taken us over the glaciers of the Continental Divide to return the nexus ring to Keeper; and Greyfur, older and more serious. They looked like small humans, except they were sleek and covered in soft fur, like otters.
    Eneirda was about Maddy’s height but thinner, with auburn fur and soft tan skin on her hands and face. She watched Maddy with large round eyes, fur in a V down her forehead.
    Greyfur was taller than me, with rich brown fur turned to grey on his head and across his shoulders, and amber skin on his face and hands.
    Maddy ran to Eneirda, her face lit up in a huge smile. Eneirda smiled a little, and reached out her four long fingers to touch Maddy’s.
    “I’m so happy to see you,” Maddy said. “You made it home safely?”
    “Yes.” Eneirda smiled, and then sighed. “You did not complete your job, tss .” Eneirda’s voice was low and purry, with a hiss when she was angry.
    “We took the ring back.”
    “ Sssst! Now you have it again.”
    “Aleena has it.”
    “It does not matter who has it. Sssst! What matters is the ring tearing the veil.”
    Maddy hung her head. “I know. We are trying. But Aleena is so determined.”
    “Aleena is just like humans,” Eneirda said.
    I flushed. I’d heard her say “humans” like that before, like it was a swear word. “Why are you here?” I asked.
    “We are looking for a new home,” Greyfur said, his voice deep and somber. “Fire burned our valley. Sssst!