by Laurel Gale
Two, his skin was warm.
Three, something pounded against his chest in a vaguely familiar rhythm. Thump, thump. Thump, thump. Thump, thump.
Four, he’d been asleep. Unconscious, at least. That was nearly the same.
He opened his eyes and noticed several more things: the pinkish hue of his skin, the absence of maggots, the blood welling in a cut on his arm.
If it weren’t for his broken leg, he would have jumped for joy. He tried to, despite the pain, but didn’t get very far before collapsing back to the ground. The pain doubled, but it didn’t matter.
In fact, it was wonderful.
He was alive.
The others had escaped from the webbing, although strands of spider’s silk still clung to their hair and clothes. Travis was his normal size. Grace and Hannah glowed with beauty, despite Grace’s uneven hair, still damaged from the fish attack.
Melody smiled. “It worked.”
She held up the collar. It was pretty now that it wasn’t attached to a monster. The silvery metal was so shiny that it reflected hints of pink, blue, purple, or green, depending on the way the light hit it. The engraved symbols formed a border around the lower and upper edges. “The Meera lost its magic. It’s just an owl now.”
“Its curses and wishes were undone?” Crow asked. “All of them?”
Melody’s grin grew larger. “Just like I told you would happen. How does it feel?”
“Good.” He winced. “Painful. How do we get out of here?”
“Not through the wall,” Melody said. “Now that the Meera’s magic is gone, so is the shortcut. I know because I spent ten minutes trying to walk through solid wall.” She rubbed her forehead. “Very solid. We’ll have to go back the way we came.”
Crow’s heart beat a little faster. The way they came had rickety bridges, chasms that could only be crossed by leaping, and walls that had to be scaled. He couldn’t do any of that with a broken leg.
“But just into the next room,” she added quickly. “There’s another shortcut. A nonmagical one. I saw it on the way in, when an illusion was masking it—and locking it. The Meera had them all over the place. That was how it got around so easily without being seen.”
Crow breathed a sigh of relief, and another wave of excitement coursed through him. He was breathing! He was alive!
While Melody led the way, Grace and Hannah helped him walk, acting as his crutches.
“Thanks,” he said.
Grace looked like she wanted to speak, but her lips were pressed tightly together. Hannah mumbled something incomprehensible.
“What?” Crow asked. He started to check his ears for maggots but stopped himself. That wasn’t a problem he’d have to deal with anymore.
“They want to say they’re sorry,” Melody said. “Right?”
“Yeah,” said Grace. “I’m sorry I kicked you.”
Travis and Hannah nodded. All three of them were looking at the floor. Crow wondered what Melody had said to them while he was unconscious. He gave her a questioning glance, but she just smiled.
In the next room, the rectangular platforms still formed a straight line from one door to the other. There was a third door, too. Crow could see it now, but he still couldn’t reach it—not without wading through the pool of killer fish.
Something splashed.
Melody had fallen into the water.
“I’ll help you!” Crow yelled, though he wasn’t sure how much help he’d be with a broken leg.
Melody laughed and splashed water at him. “It’s just regular water with regular fish now. The magic that made them deadly is gone. We tested it while you were unconscious. We were getting ready to carry you out of here when you finally woke up.”
Crow watched her for a moment. She certainly didn’t look like she was being eaten alive. He eased himself in slowly with Grace and Hannah’s help, careful not to put any weight on his broken leg. Travis followed after a lengthy pause.
The door led to a dark staircase, which led to a sewer grate, which led to the park. The sun had set, long ago by the looks of it. The rain had stopped, but clouds still covered the sky, blocking out the moon and stars. The resulting darkness meant that Crow couldn’t see anything unless someone shined a flashlight directly on it.
Including the source of that nearby rustling. He gulped. Was the Meera back for revenge already? Sure, it was just a regular owl now, but even a nonmagical owl had sharp claws and a beak.
But owls didn’t produce heavy footsteps, which was what Crow heard next. He took a deep breath. “Who’s there?”
“Crow? Is that you? It’s me, Luke.”
Melody shined her flashlight in the direction of the voice. It was Luke, all right.
“I came to the park like we agreed, but I didn’t see you anywhere. I’ve been waiting for hours.” His clothes were damp from the rain. He wrapped his arms around himself and shivered. “But I guess you guys went without me. Why did you do that?”
“You just had to go down the grate and catch up with us,” Melody said. “Couldn’t someone as smart as you supposedly are figure that out? Anyway, you were late. You got scared and left them the first time. How were we supposed to know you hadn’t done it again?”
Hannah half laughed, half snorted.
“You little coward,” Grace said.
“I didn’t know I was friends with a chicken,” Travis said. “Maybe I won’t be anymore.”
“Oh, like the three of you were any better,” Melody said. “When the Meera took Luke, you couldn’t run away fast enough. You really couldn’t, since it caught you.”
That silenced everyone for a while.
“But you’re okay, right?” Luke asked, his voice softer than usual. Less certain.
Melody and Crow took turns filling him in on what had happened. When they got to the end, Melody held up the Meera’s cracked collar, which glowed faintly against the surrounding darkness. She wouldn’t let Luke touch it despite his repeated attempts.
“How does that thing work?” Luke asked.
Melody traced her fingers along the inscriptions. “The symbols are from the fairy language, and the metal is actually dragon bone. Before, I could read what the symbols meant, but now…It’s all fading so quickly. As far as I could tell, a wizard made it and put it on a regular owl, turning it into a magical beast it could control.”
“So where’s the wizard now?”
“I don’t know,” Melody said. “Maybe he died. The Meera didn’t seem to be taking orders from anyone.”
“Does the collar still work?” Luke asked. “If you put it around an animal, will it become a monster you can control?”
“I don’t know.” She stared at the collar, then shook her head. “I understood this all so well, but already everything’s fuzzy. I don’t know what would happen if I put this on an animal.” She smiled. “Think I should try it on you?”
No longer interested in touching the collar, Luke stepped back. He squinted at Crow. “I don’t get it. Why are you alive again? Your parents’ wish brought you back to life, right? So shouldn’t you be dead now? Like, really dead?”
“You honestly don’t know, do you?” Crow’s leg hurt. His entire body ached with exhaustion. He wanted to go home, not stand around and talk. But he also wanted Luke to know the truth. “Back in elementary school, you complained to your parents about me.” He waited, searching Luke’s face for a flash of memory.
It never came, so Crow continued. “We were both competing in the school spelling bee. Back then, you were different. You studied hard, and you were a runner-up. I got first place. The same thing happened in the academic bowl. We were both class captains, but my class won. And there was the school play. I got the lead. You were my understudy.”
Finally, realization dawned on Luke’s face.
But his memory of the events was probably skewed and incomplete. Crow told him the rest of the story, exactly as his father had told him.
“I remember when my parents disap
peared at the park,” Luke said. “I had to spend the night at Travis’s. They came back the next day, but they never told me where they’d been. They never said anything about the Meera.”
Crow wasn’t surprised. His parents hadn’t told him much, either, not until they had to. “They probably wanted to protect you.”
He shook his head. “You’re lying. Why should I believe you?”
“I don’t know,” Crow said. He had more to say, but he paused. Something was flying over the park—something shaped very much like an owl.
Or a pigeon. Or nothing at all. The pain and fatigue might have been causing Crow to see things. He took a deep breath and finished the story. “But it’s the truth. That’s why I’m alive now. The Meera’s magic brought me back to life, but it was also what killed me—because of you.”
The light reflected off something falling down Luke’s cheek. A tear. “It wasn’t my fault,” he whispered.
“No, it wasn’t,” Crow said. “You didn’t know what would happen. Your parents didn’t, either.”
An owl hooted. Definitely an owl this time. Crow looked around, but he couldn’t find it. That meant it could be anywhere. “We should go. A lot of people are looking for the three of you.”
—
Every light in the Darlingsons’ house was on.
Melody helped Crow to the porch; the others had gone to their own homes already. If they followed Melody’s advice, they’d tell the authorities that they had gone down into the underground tunnels and gotten lost. It might not have been the most believable story, but it was certainly easier to accept than the truth.
The front door flew open before they even reached it. Mrs. Darlingson stood there. Her mouth opened, but the words she had planned never made it past her throat. When she saw her son, she fell to her knees. Tears streamed down her face. While she gave Crow a long, wet hug, Melody slipped away.
Crow observed the neighborhood from his bedroom window. The sun shined brightly in a clear blue sky. Cars peeled out of driveways as their owners rushed to work. Luke and Travis were already waiting at the bus stop. Grace and Hannah, currently walking down the sidewalk, would soon join them, and Melody was just opening her front door.
Mrs. Darlingson grabbed Crow’s hand and pulled him away, gently because of his cast. “You’d better hurry. You don’t want to miss the bus on your first day of school.” She frowned. “Although I still think you should wait a while longer. Until your leg heals, at least. And it might be easier to wait until next September, so you won’t have to start midyear. You’ll have a lot of catching up to do, and I already have your homeschool lessons planned. I can call the school right now to make the necessary arrangements.”
“No,” Crow said quickly. He adjusted his crutches under his arms and hobbled to the door. “I’m ready.”
Downstairs, the front door opened. “Is Crow still here? I’ve been running late all morning—coffeemaker got clogged, car keys went missing, hit every red light in Blaze. I hope I haven’t missed him.”
“Dad?” Crow turned to Mrs. Darlingson. “You didn’t say Dad was coming.”
Mr. Darlingson bounded up the stairs. “Of course I came. I couldn’t miss your first day at middle school, could I?”
A huge grin spread over Crow’s face. He hadn’t seen his father since the hospital.
His cast and crutches made going downstairs difficult, but he refused his parents’ many offers of help. He’d have to deal with stairs at school, so he might as well start practicing.
Mrs. Darlingson handed him his backpack. “I’ve made a lunch for you. Peanut butter and strawberry jam. You like that, right? You used to like it, I remember.”
Crow slung the backpack over his shoulders and readjusted his crutches.
“Tonight, we can go out to dinner to celebrate your first day,” Mrs. Darlingson added. “How does that sound?”
“All three of us?” Crow asked.
She hesitated for only a moment. “Yes, all three of us. Melody, too, if you want. You pick the restaurant.”
Crow smiled. “That sounds good.”
The bus was already at the bus stop, but the driver waited patiently as Crow hobbled down the sidewalk.
“Hey, Crow!” Melody yelled, running forward to meet him. She helped him get on the bus, and this time, Crow didn’t mind needing assistance. She’d be there at school to help him, too. That was what best friends were for.
Luke, Travis, Hannah, and Grace had already taken their seats in the back. They waved awkwardly, and Luke gestured to an empty seat.
“Let’s just sit here,” Crow said, still near the front of the bus. He didn’t want to walk farther than he had to, especially in the narrow bus aisle.
He’d see Luke later, anyway. Luke had been coming over almost every day, just to hang out. He’d even signed Crow’s cast. Crow suspected that although Luke was popular and had never had to deal with maggots or foul odors, he got lonely sometimes. Maybe having friends wasn’t as important as having the right friends.
Crow and Melody sat down and compared schedules. They had the same lunch period and a few of the same classes.
“I can point out the werewolf teacher,” Melody said. “Although he looks normal to me now, thank goodness. I wrote some stuff down when I was under the curse, so if I keep rereading it, I won’t completely forget.” She bit her lower lip. “Um, have you noticed anything strange since that night?”
Crow frowned. “Like what?”
“An owl.”
“It was in the park,” Crow said. “I heard it while we were talking to Luke. But I haven’t heard or seen it since. Have you?”
She nodded. “Every night. It sits on a branch outside my window. I think it knows I have the collar, even though I put it away somewhere safe, with lots of the oil mixture. My entire room smells like basil now.”
“But it’s just an owl now, right? It can’t do anything.”
Melody smiled. “Right.”
Crow hesitated. “Have you heard from the brownie yet?” If she had, he couldn’t imagine that it had been good news. If the brownie had found her mother, she would have said something.
“No. And now that I can’t see magic, I don’t think I’m going to.” She looked down at her lap. “I don’t think it would have helped anyway. Some things can’t be solved with magic.”
The bus pulled up in front of the school, a massive two-story building that Crow knew he’d get lost in. He and Melody got off last, after everyone who wasn’t slowed down by a broken leg.
Everything made noise—the bus engine, the warning bell, his classmates. The racket overwhelmed Crow, who was used to his quiet home. It was so loud that he couldn’t be sure, but he thought he heard something else.
A nearby hooting.
He paused in front of the massive school doors. He didn’t see anything, but there were plenty of hiding spots nearby.
“Is something wrong?” Melody asked.
“No,” Crow said. He smiled. So what if an owl was watching? “Let’s go. I don’t want to be late for class.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I want to thank my husband, who always believed in me, even when I didn’t, and who let me bounce ideas off him. My wonderful agent, David Dunton, has also earned my never-ending gratitude. Thanks to everyone at Crown, especially Phoebe Yeh and Rachel Weinick, who offered amazing insight that helped me make this book the best it could be. Thank you to Yoko Tanaka, an extremely talented artist, for transforming my words into pictures. Finally, I need to thank everyone who reads this book. I hope you enjoy it.
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