Call of the Raven (26 page)

“And just when I thought things were strange
enough,” she uttered.

The falcon lifted from its perch and she
ducked instinctively as it soared over her head and flew at the
approaching men. And then something even stranger happened, the men
changed before her eyes into a flock of blackbirds. Suddenly
feeling faint, Elle watched the blackbirds rise high into the sky
and begin to swarm around the falcon, diving time and time again on
the outnumbered bird. Just when Elle thought things couldn’t get
any more bizarre the falcon changed into a hawk.

Mouth opened, she dumbly stood watching the
scene unfolding as one of the blackbirds changed and then the hawk
again—both simultaneously taking turns shifting into different
species of birds, as though trying to outdo each other. Elle knew
then she had lost it.

She had gone indisputably insane.

Looking down at Mary, Elle saw that she was
just as horrified. She looked to the firemen, with pick axes and
water hoses far too busy to notice what was going on. In a fleeting
moment, Elle thought about convincing them to turn their powerful
hoses on the birds, but she hardly doubted they would listen to her
when a burning building was much more important than breaking up a
bird fight. Yet, as crazy as it seemed, she knew she wanted to help
the falcon.

Feeling it was worth a try, Elle pulled Mary
in the direction of the closest fireman. He had his back to her and
was attempting to put out a small heap of burning shingles that had
fallen from the roof. They were almost there when Elle clearly
recognized the sound of Julio’s car once more and this time he was
much closer. Pulling Mary along with her, she ducked behind a
dumpster. And then peeking around, she looked for the car.

She caught a glimpse of the pea green Mustang
passing between buildings, as he drove down the side street
apparently looking for a clear path to the apartment. Julio knew
about the hidden money and he knew Elle well enough to know that
she would take advantage of a situation like a fire to disappear.
Elle wondered which one was the most important to Julio. She knew
she couldn’t stick around, bird fight or not.

“Come on, we have to go,” Elle said to
Mary.

She headed for the abandoned Dairy Queen at
the end of the alley. Many nights prior to crying herself to sleep,
she had plotted an elaborate escape in her head, but not until this
night had she acted. Even without Julio’s money, she was leaving.
There was no turning back now. She planned to spend the night in
the cold ruins of the building, and in the morning, before setting
out to find Mea, they could sneak back to see if anything had
survived in the suitcase.

The sun was just lowering over the giant ice
cream cone, and casting shadows over the alley, but Elle could
distinctly make out two forms coming toward them. At first she
thought they were both dogs, until she realized that one was far
too large to be even the largest of the dog breeds. Then she heard
the roar of an animal so frightening all she could do was freeze in
place. Out of the darkness the creature rushed at them and Mary
threw her arms around Elle’s waist in terror. The heavy smoke in
the air was getting to her…Elle was sure of it.

The approaching tiger was just an object of
her tormented mind, nothing more. But as the animal passed by her
in a rush of wind that sent her hair back behind her shoulders,
Elle realized she wasn’t mistaken. Some of the birds were in man
form again and coming for her but Elle’s fear kept her feet planted
firmly on the ground. The only time she had ever seen a tiger in
her life was at the Zoo downtown when she chaperoned a field trip
for the ‘I Read’ book club kids. And that tiger had been behind
thick iron bars and separated from her by a large concrete mote.
Even then the pacing animal filled her with respect.

Teeth bared, this tiger looked directly at
her and Elle, on impulse, had the urge to pee. She tried to swallow
but there wasn’t enough spit in her mouth. The tiger did an odd
thing then, it put its backside to her and crouching low roared at
the advancing men. Looking up to see what had become of the falcon,
Elle saw another bird flying in her direction. Mary’s arms tighten
around her waist as the seagull landed and changed into the man
from the library. Just as he took a step toward her, a big
Labrador, the color of chocolate, darted in front of her and
snarled at the man.

The library man gave her a wink and then
directed a devilish sort of a smile, strangely, at the dog. “Ari,
it’s good to see you again so soon.”

This time when the dog changed right in front
of her to a man, Elle wasn’t the least bit surprised, and the
thought of that frightened her all the more. She could make nothing
out about the dog-man but dark hair and a set of broad shoulders
inside a green army coat.

“Let’s settle this like men Steve and not
animals.” Her protector named Ari took a step back closer to her as
he talked. He opened his arms wide to prevent anyone from trying to
go around him to get to her and Mary. “You have no business here
Steve.”

“Oh, I do have business with you Ari. Unlike
you though, I’m gentleman enough to wait for a more suitable place
to discuss matters, since this tonight has nothing to do with
us.”

“What is it then Steve, because it looked to
me that you were bothering these two ladies and that does concern
me.”

A slow smirk spread across Steve’s lips.
“Well you being concerned about a lady doesn’t surprise me Ari, but
again that will save.”

“What are you doing here Steve?” Ari demanded
in a harsher tone.

“Calm down Ari. It’s not how it looks, but
I’m not at liberty to say much else right now. The important thing
is you have the girl, so I’ll leave you and the geek squad to
getting her home. However,” he looked past Ari and straight at
Elle, “I’ll be taking the lady with me.”

Trying to show no fear, Elle strengthened her
hold on Mary. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“What do you want with her?” Ari moved a step
closer. Behind Steve the tiger softly growled which caused him to
turn a nervous glance over his shoulder.

The orange beast stood very still, just a few
feet away in a crouching position. They were at a standstill,
waiting to see who would make the first move, if any. With one
giant leap the tiger could pounce on him and Steve seemed to
realize that. There was no sign of the other men. However, looking
up, Elle noticed several birds sitting on a telephone wire,
watching. “Kennedy,” Ari calmly said, “take the girl and
leave.”

The tiger shifted into a girl with orange red
hair and glared at the dog-man called Ari. She was such a
remarkable beauty that Elle suddenly felt ugly in comparison. Just
as the feeling registered, Elle realized just how peculiar such a
notion was, when it should have been the fact that the tiger
shifted into a girl named Kennedy that she should have thought of
first. Almost as though he had anticipated the girl’s attitude, Ari
quickly put up a hand, cutting her off just as she started to open
her mouth.

“Don’t argue with me,” he said, “just take
her and go!”

“What about
her
?” Kennedy asked
curtly, her gaze falling on Elle.

“I don’t need anyone looking after me,” Elle
snapped. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Ari turn toward
her.

Smiling, he softly whispered, “Pardon me but
I saw things a bit differently from my perspective.”

Knitting her brows together, Elle frowned at
him. “Well your perspective was just two feet off the ground a
second ago.”

One light amber eye winked at her, instantly
warming her cheeks. “Still, maybe you should just let me handle
things,” he said.

Even though Elle was convinced that she was
living in some twisted nightmare, due to stress or smoke or some
other unforeseen cause, she couldn’t help but admire the fact that
she had dreamed up one nice looking hero. Nonetheless, stubbornness
prevented her from giving in.

“I don’t need you’re protection.” She folded
her arms across her chest.

“I know,” Ari said, “but it would help to
feed my confidence if you’d at least pretend that you do.” Again he
winked before turning away.

There was a scowl on Kennedy’s face as she
approached and roughly pulled Mary out of Elle’s grasp and
protection. Mary let out a squeal but the more she fought the
orange-haired girl, the harder she pulled. Impulsively Elle kicked
the girl in the back of her leg, which caused her to let loose of
Mary. She raise a hand as though she would strike her, but just as
quickly as the scene unfolded, Ari not only reached up and grabbed
the girl’s wrist stopping her, he had somehow managed to grab
Elle’s arm as well, preventing her from doing anything else
foolish.

Laugher erupted from Steve and above on the
wire the blackbirds cawed loudly. Elle could almost hear them
chanting for a fight like stupid kids on the playground. Always the
fighter, Elle tried to break free but Ari was not only determined,
he was strong—much stronger than Julio. When she refused to calm
down, he had no choice but to release Kennedy and then grab her
around the waist.

“Oh Ari,” Steve taunted, “You do seem to have
a way with women.”

“Kennedy, please, just take the girl,” Ari
irritably commanded as Elle struggled to free herself from his
powerful hold.

“Where are you taking her?” Elle shouted as
Kennedy began dragging Mary down the alley.

“Be still, she’s family,” Ari said. Mary
broke loose from the girl and ran. “We’re not here to hurt her but
bring her home,” he finished just as Mary threw her arms around
Elle’s waist. When Ari jerked his hand back, Elle knew that Mary
had bitten him.

Taking Mary quickly into her arms, Elle
looked first at the bird-man Steve. A tremor involuntarily spread
through her body as she found him not only standing very still, he
was watching in a very odd almost fascinated way. He didn’t appear
all that eager to intervene. Then she looked to Ari behind her.

He stood with his head lowered examining the
perfect set of teeth marks on his skin. When he became conscious
that she was looking at him, his gaze rose and met hers. His warm
brown eyes scanned her face and his handsome features twisted into
an expression of clear confusion. He slowly shook his head but the
words that followed confused Elle just as much as he appeared to
be.

“How old are you?” he asked.

“I’m twenty two but what does that got to do
with anything?”

She noticed him then, how he looked past her
to the girl who stood some ways away, and then back over his
shoulder. Steve was softly chuckling now as though, he had
anticipated Ari’s reaction.

“By all means Ari,” Steve snorted, “take your
time. I can wait.”

Ari sent him a glare and Steve’s held up a
hand in a placating manner, and then applied that same hand to his
mouth to show that he would remain quiet. “Then you’re not the
girl’s mother?” Ari turned back to her.

“No, I’m her neighbor.” Elle tensed as Ari
suddenly took a giant step near her.

“Where’s her mom?” He asked in a soft voice,
away from Steve’s listening ears and watching eyes.

“Not sure, she took off.”

“I see.” His eyes lowered to the little girl.
His expression softened as he looked at her. He didn’t seem to
notice the dirt on her body or face. “You have your dad’s
eyes.”

“You knew him,” Mary whimpered.

“My names Ari Lake, and your dad’s name was
Grant Lake, but we need to go, so this can wait.” Ari looked
skyward, and then back at Steve. “What did you goons do with
Nixon?”

Steve followed Ari’s eyes up and with a slow
shake of his head, the leer returned. “Not sure, but it should be
no surprise to you that the boy started the fight,” he said, eyes
returning to Ari. “Now, more importantly, I can’t have you running
off with the neighbor lady, Ari, before I have a chance to speak to
her.”

“I don’t know what your game is Steve,” Ari
said, “but we’re leaving, all of us.” Reaching over Ari put a hand
on Elle’s arm and urged her in the direction of Kennedy waiting for
them at the end of the alley. The more distance they put between
them and Steve, the better Elle began to feel.

“The problem with that,” Ari glanced sideways
at her as they walked, “I’m not sure what to do with you. We have
rules about outsiders, regardless,” his eyes boldly moved over her
face, “of who they look like.”

“I’m sorry that I’m not Mea, but I’ll manage
on my own, if you can just get me away from here.” Elle glanced
over her shoulder. Again Steve seemed to be quietly contemplating
them, but this time he wasn’t smiling, but instead deeply scowling.
He didn’t seem to like the idea that Ari wasn’t heeding to his
request. When he looked up and saw her watching, Steve shifted into
a blackbird and flew away. With a relieved breath she gave Ari her
full attention.

“Then Grant was your brother?” she asked.

Mary looked up at Ari in wait of his answer.
She seemed to be watching for a sign that it was okay to trust him.
Not even knowing that he had come to their rescue persuaded the
little girl to loosen her hold. She needed Mary to trust him. That
was the only way that she knew Mary would let her go.

“Well sort of,” Ari said. “We were adopted
into the same family but I loved him like my real brother.”

“Then my dad really is dead.” Mary dug her
face into Elle’s side.

“As I said before we can talk about such
things later,” Ari kindly told Mary. “We need to get you home where
you‘ll be safe. Your dad was an important man but we have enemies
so others might come looking for you.”

He put a hand on Elle’s arm to stop her from
walking since they had reached Kennedy, and then lowered down in
front of Mary. “Sweetie, I promise we won’t hurt you. Now I need to
speak to your neighbor, alone, and you need to go with Kennedy, and
I’ll meet up with you in a little while.”