Crow

by Vishnu Pinnaka

  Eric was very happy with his adoptive family, but nothing exciting ever happened to him. He wanted to live life to the fullest, but he wasn’t sure that he wanted to sacrifice his relationship with his family for that. Little did he know, that his choice was already made when he heard a knock on his door.

  Chapter Five

  An Unexpected Visitor

  When Olivia answered her door, she was quite startled to see a man with long blonde hair and brown eyes. His hair was so disheveled, it looked like a broom. It was very different from Olivia’s neat, straight, black hair. He was wearing a white suit and on it was a badge: AGT Willow.

  “Excuse me, young lady,” he spoke, “but are you, Olivia Lee?”

  Olivia started responding cautiously, “Yes I am. Who are you, and how do you know my name?”

  The man had a serious expression. “I am Agent Peregrine Willow, and I urgently need to see your guardians.”

  “How do you know them?”

  “Let’s just say your stepparents were given a task to protect something and now, we need that something back.”

  “First tell me what this something is,” demanded Olivia, not satisfied with this so-called Agent Willow’s answer.

  “Look, I don’t have all the time in the world. I know that you don’t know me, but you have to trust me when I say that I know your stepparents. Please let me in.”

  “No, you look. I’m sorry, but I can’t just let you in,” Olivia firmly asserted. “My stepparents’ most important rule is to never talk to strangers and you are the strangest stranger I have ever met.”

  Agent Willow sighed. “I am sorry that my answers aren’t obsequious for you, but please just bring your stepparents.”

  To Willow’s gratification, the Kims came down the stairs and saw the man at their doorstep.

  Mrs. Kim spoke, “Olivia, we heard you talking to someone. We told you not to speak with strangers. Who is this?”

  “He says his name is Agent Peregrine Willow.”

  “Mr. and Mrs. Kim, it’s time for Olivia to return to Magia,” Agent Willow said calmly, but firmly.

  The last word, Magia, made Mrs. Kim’s eyes open wide. She turned to her husband.

  “Return where now? What’s Magia?” queried Olivia.

  The adults ignored Olivia’s question.

  “B-b-bryan, n-n-no, we c-c-can’t let them take Olivia a-a-away from us! Not now,” quivered Mrs. Kim.

  “Don’t worry Mia, I will handle this,” Mr. Kim reassured her.

  They approached Agent Willow and Mrs. Kim protectively grabbed Olivia back.

  “We will not let you take her away,” Mrs. Kim firmly stated.

  “Take me away? Where?” Olivia perplexedly asked.

  The adults continued to disregard Olivia.

  Agent Willow uttered, “That’s not your decision to make. When we gave Olivia to you, you promised that you would protect and take care of her until it was time for her to return to Magia. It is time now.”

  Mrs. Kim wailed, “H-h-how can we just g-g-give her a-a-away? She has been with u-u-us for so l-l-long!”

  “What do you mean give me away?” Olivia continued to question, puzzled.

  The adults continued to ignore her.

  “We know it will be hard for you and I am sorry this day had to come so soon, but please understand. The fate of Magia depends on it,” Agent Willow sympathetically tried to reason.

  During the whole conversation, Olivia was in the dark. She didn’t understand anything that was happening. Where was this man going to take her and what was Magia?

  “CAN SOMEONE IN THIS BLASTED ROOM PLEASE TELL ME WHAT IS HAPPENING?” Olivia bellowed, finally at her breaking point.

  “It’s n-n-nothing dear, don’t you w-w-worry about it,” Mia Kim hastily responded.

  “Excuse me.” Olivia scoffed, knowing the lie when she heard it. “You three were just blathering about taking me someplace. How can you still possibly expect me to believe it’s nothing?!”

  “She is correct, I’m afraid. You know that it’s not ‘nothing.’ It’s a very critical matter revolving around Olivia. She needs to know. However, here is not the place to talk about this, we will sort this out at A.S.H. Headquarters in Magia,” Agent Willow stated.

  “W-w-what do we do Bryan? He won’t l-l-leave,” Mia Kim whispered to her husband.

  “Fine, take us to your planet. But that doesn’t guarantee that Olivia will stay there,” Mr. Kim reluctantly huffed.

  “Very well then,” Agent Willow acknowledged. “Follow me.”

  Chapter Six

  A.S.H. Headquarters

  Agent Willow led Olivia and the Kims to the same dark alley where he and the other agents had traveled to.

  “I still can’t believe you agreed to this, Bryan,” Mia said angrily.

  “You think I wanted them to take her away from us,” Bryan answered frustrated.

  “Honestly, sometimes I wonder why I even try to make some sense out of things,” Olivia whispered to herself just as exasperated.

  The other agents were already there with more adults and three other kids. Olivia had seen all three of the kids before in school, but they never formally met.

  “They can’t take Eric away from us, Jake,” Mrs. Quinn whispered to her husband.

  “And we won’t let them, Sophia,” Mr. Quinn replied.

  “Take me where?” Eric asked, confused.

  “Trust me, I want to know just as much you do,” Olivia told him once she was near.

  “You’re Olivia Lee, aren’t you?” Eric asked her with a smile.

  “Yes, how did you know my name?”

  “You were always at library like I was. We were the only ones who finished all of the works.”

  “You’re Eric Andrews, right?” Olivia asked, now remembering him.

  Eric nodded.

  “Let me guess, you got a visit from a strange man in a white suit too,” Olivia postulated.

  “Surprisingly, yes. He said his name was Agent Carter or something. He seemed very intimidating, or so I think. My stepparents were terrified when they saw him,” Eric admitted with a chuckle.

  “You have stepparents too?”

  “Yes,” Eric answered. “I’ve lived with them for as long as I can remember. I don’t even know anything about my real parents. My stepparents never told me anything about them. I learned not to ask questions. I love my adoptive parents, my parents, I mean. They are more than I could ask for. It’s just that I feel like something is missing in my life, don’t you?”

  “I’m not just missing something,” Olivia joked. “I’m practically missing half of my life. It gets kind of boring doing the same thing every day, even if you’re used to it.”

  “I just want to live my life. I just want to fulfill something, but I don’t know the price I’m willing to pay,” Eric confessed.

  “You’re very philosophical, you know that?” Olivia grinned.

  “Thank you, it’s one of my favorite qualities about myself.” Eric beamed.

  As the children were speaking together, the agents were also discussing.

  Agent Roses shook his head. “Peregrine, we have been waiting for you for quite a while.”

  “Sorry I am late, but now that we have everyone here, we shouldn’t waste another moment. Everyone hold hands and agents set your mirorvators to Magia,” Agent Willow instructed.

  “I guess we have no choice,” Claire Winston murmured. “Children, do as they say.”

  Everyone followed the directions and each of the agents clicked travel on their devices. Suddenly, lots of purple light appeared out of the mirorvators and encircled them all.

  “What’s happening?” David asked nervously.

  “I don’t know, but I don’t think this is just a fancy light show,” Vanessa quipped.


  The light spun faster and faster and everyone disappeared.

  It was the worst feeling any of the kids ever felt. All they saw was a bright purple blur, and then complete black. They all opened their eyes to see that they were no longer in the dark alley of New York, but on the streets of another bustling city. All of them were in shock. None of the kids could believe what had just happened. Did they just teleport?

  Before anyone could recover from what had happened or process any information, Agent Parker spoke, “Sorry about that, we know how unpleasant the feeling is to travel with someone else using a mirorvator, so we are going to walk the rest of the way, but we have no time to lose. Follow us.”

  “Follow you? We physically just teleported! How?” Olivia asked confounded.

  “Get used to it,” Vanessa responded. “I have a feeling this isn’t the last peculiar thing we’ll experience.”

  Olivia nodded. “Before today I would never dream of anything like this happening to me of all people.”

  The agents started walking and everyone followed them. The four children started looking around their surroundings. Whatever the place was, it was much different than New York.

  Multifarious towering skyscrapers with whimsical shapes were lit up in the night and a countless amount of people were strolling on the sidewalks. On the road, people were driving strange cars. As the four looked close they saw that there were not only humans hurrying about their businesses, there were also different creatures wearing human clothes.

  Olivia saw a short goblin-like thing with pendulous ears and warty green skin wearing a crisp suit walking into a building holding a briefcase. David saw a furry pink animal with pointy ears wearing what looked like some designer dress and a belt. It was walking out of a store with lots of shopping bags.

  “Wherever this place is I kind of like it. It’s strange and it’s my cup of tea,” Vanessa whispered.

  “Well I have to agree, it is definitely strange,” David replied.

  Eric rolled his eyes. “Never mind what this place is like. Does anyone else have a clue as to where we are, I can’t possibly be the only one who is frustrated at not knowing?”

  “Believe me, Eric, we are all frustrated,” Olivia said speaking for them all.

  David then spoke, “I still can’t believe what just happened. I mean, one moment we’re on Earth thinking that nothing is going to happen, and then the next we get a visit from a man in a white suit.”

  “What on Earth do they want with us?” Olivia wondered with a hint of worry in her voice.

  “Technically, we probably aren’t on Earth anymore,” Eric corrected her. “I’ve read lots of travel books and this place looks nothing like any of the pictures.”

  This time, it was Olivia’s turn to roll her eyes. “Anyway, does anyone have an idea as to why we were brought here?”

  The rest of the kids shrugged.

  David then asked, “What do you suppose Magia is?”

  “Wait a minute,” Olivia realized. “I think that’s where we are. The agent who was at my house kept talking about it. He said that he was going to take me to Magia. This is Magia, this planet.”

  David shook his head in disbelief.

  “She’s right, it’s obviously the planet we are on right now,” Vanessa agreed.

  “Maybe this is all just some sort of dream,” David put forward.

  Olivia disputed, “How can we all possibly be sharing the same dream?”

  “Then what else could it be then? We couldn’t have just teleported, I mean, that would require magic. There is no such thing as magic,” David pointed out.

  “This can’t be a dream because I have this disorder that doesn’t allow me to dream, and we all felt that terrible feeling when we teleported here. In dreams, I heard you can’t feel anything. Wherever we are, we are awake and this is all real,” Eric explained.

  The four weren’t the only ones who were talking. The stepparents were also whispering amongst each other.

  “Can you believe this is happening? They are taking our children away from us,” Mrs. Winston said to the group.

  “They had left us alone for so long, I thought they weren’t going to come back,” Mr. Kim replied.

  “They gave us the children to protect them and now they are taking them away at such a young age. It’s too dangerous for them. They are just kids!” Mr. Harrison told them.

  Mrs. Harrison responded, “Why do they need them so early now anyway?”

  “I don’t know, but I still wonder. What can our kids possibly do to help them save their world?” Mrs. Quinn fumed.

  Mrs. Harrison firmly stated, “I agree. How could their world depend on children? We can’t just give our kids away. We have to protect them.”

  All the stepparents nodded and held their heads high. The agents led everyone farther into the city until they finally stopped. In front of them was a magnificent golden statue of a crow.

  “I’ll activate the cloaking,” Agent Carter announced after looking around to make sure no one was watching.

  “What does he mean, activate the cloaking?” Olivia whispered to the group.

  “I think we’re about to find out.” Vanessa pointed at Agent Carter’s wrist.

  He touched the black screen of his contraption and it turned on. He swiped the screen to reveal a button: Show All A.S.H. Headquarters Entrances. Carter pressed the button and a list of locations appeared. He kept scrolling down until he found the one he was looking for. It said Crow Statue Entrance (Main). Carter pressed on it and two buttons appeared. He clicked the one that said Activate Cloaking. Suddenly, out of the agent’s mirorvator, another purple light came out and encircled the statue. After encircling the statue for a while the light evanesced. It was as if nothing happened. Carter nodded to the other agents and they all walked forward. After taking a few steps closer to the statue, they had completely disappeared.

  The four, who were still amazed that they teleported, were shocked at what happened. Each of them thought that they would never get used to any of this. Next, the stepparents walked forward. After taking as many steps as the agents did, they too disappeared. The four now didn’t know what to do.

  Vanessa broke the silence. “I think we follow them.”

  Olivia was dazed. “Are you mad? We all saw that they just disappeared. What if something bad happens?”

  “That’s the only thing we can do, we just have to hope that we will be safe.” Vanessa shrugged.

  “Hope we’ll be safe?! This isn’t even Earth, this a whole new planet,” Olivia said, scared and frustrated.

  Vanessa sighed. “What else do we do then? We can’t just stay here and wait for something to happen. The agents and our stepparents went forward so maybe it is safe.”

  “I-i-i’m still not sure,” Olivia whimpered.

  “Don’t worry, we can both go at the same time.” Vanessa smiled.

  The rest of them nodded and they all nervously started walking until they took about the same amount of steps as the agents did. They all then closed their eyes, held hands, and took a deep breath. They then took one more step.

  Nothing happened, they all felt alright. All at once, they opened their eyes to see that they were in some translucent purple dome surrounding them and the statue. The kids looked out to see that some people were walking near them. However, it seemed like they didn’t see any of the company near the statue. Everyone inside the dome was invisible to those outside of it.

  “Woah,” David marveled.

  Agent Ross looked around the dome to make sure everyone was inside.

  Once he was assured, he told Agent Carter, “Everyone is here, you can open the entrance now.”

  Agent Carter nodded and pressed the second button which said Open Entrance. Suddenly the statue started to turn and a part of it opened to reveal a set of stairs leading down. Th
ere was also an elevator with glass walls which allowed you to observe the outside.

  “This day just keeps getting more and more bizarre,” Eric exclaimed.

  The agents walked into the elevator and everyone else followed. Agent Parker pressed a button and the elevator started to descend. The four looked out to see that below them was a huge viaduct which led to an enthralling waterfall. Once the elevator landed down, everyone got out and started walking over the bridge. Olivia looked down to see that under the viaduct was a very deep trench. Olivia was dreadfully afraid of falling.

  “Why did I have to look down?” she mumbled to herself.

  She continued walking and tried to stay as far away from the edge of the bridge as possible. As they reached closer to the doors, the waterfall magically parted so that they could pass through.

  “The waterfall is so thoughtful,” Vanessa joked.

  The waterfall revealed two giant golden doors which allowed the group to move on.

  Once they were close enough to the doors, they automatically opened and everyone entered. The sight the four saw once they walked in was magnificent. They were on the highest floor inside the most voluminous room they had ever seen. The walls and ceiling were white. In the center was an elevator in a cylindrical shaft. Connecting the shaft to each story were white walkways with safety railings. On each level, there was a multitude of doors which led to different rooms. A fair deal of people were walking around. Plenty of them were also like the creatures the four had seen before. Numerous were wearing white suits just like the agents. The agents then led the company across a walkway into the center of the room.

  “This is amazing,” David remarked.

  Both the four and their stepparents were marveling at the room. They were all speechless. Olivia, however, tried not to look down because she knew she was very high up. Once they had reached the elevator, they all got in. Another creature also entered. It was very short with brown skin covered in warts. It was wearing safety goggles and a white lab coat with a steel name tag. Engraved on the tag was the name Phyllis. She was pushing a cart with glass beakers and test tubes into the elevator.