Call of the Raven (5 page)

The cabin consisted of two rooms, one where
the poker playing fowlers gathered around a table and the one where
he was being kept. This room was nothing more than a big square
with several metal chairs stacked against the wall, and a wood
podium at the very end. It reminded him of something that a
preacher would stand behind while he delivered the Sunday
sermon.

Thinking about what the room was possibly
used for frightened Ari. He had only just begun to learn of an
uprising of Raven worshipping magic-users that was escalating both
in power and numbers, and he was pretty sure he was in the company
of some.

Shifting back to man form he leaned his back
against the wall, and played with the ring on his ring finger. In
his world he was known as a spirit twin, a protector or guardian to
the Keeper. Dogs were pretty much the lowest shifter on the animal
totem pole next to the cat.

Ari however was an exception.

The ring and his servitude to Asher gave him
a purpose or, at one time it did. There had been a time that Ari
felt important to his brother but that feeling had long past.
Lowering his head, Ari closed his eyes and thought of Asher. He
felt nothing, no bond, no connection and it was times like this
that Ari missed Grant the most.

***

Asher sprung upward
, placing his hands
over his ears. He had come accustomed to being waken in the middle
of the night, long bangs clinging to his sweaty face, heart racing
from the aftereffects of a dream. This time something was
mysteriously different. He had been dreaming of Grant again and of
course the girl. Now though, his dreams were beginning to talk to
him, really talk to him. Through squinted, light sensitive eyes he
discovered Kennedy squatting before him. One hand was on his
shoulder, the other covered her heart, and her cat-green eyes were
saucer huge.

She sucked in a deep breathe. “Asher you
scared the crap out of me!” she said. “Why are you on the office
floor?”

As he stood up, pain shot to the front of his
skull. He remembered doing a lot of tossing. He even wondered why
he was so cold, but not once had he awaken to realize that he
wasn’t in his bed, and then things became clear.

“Someone hit me.”

“Someone hit you! Who?” Kennedy exclaimed,
and with each loud syllable an invisible knife jabbed into Asher’s
head. And to worsen matters without invitation or tact she put her
hand on the back of his head. The second it made contact with the
knot left by his office invading attacker, Asher was even more
aware of just how much it hurt. Growling, he roughly pushed her
away. Even then she persisted to annoy him.

“Are you sure you just didn’t trip over
something and fall? You know how you can be during the weaker moon
cycles.” Kennedy didn’t seem to want to believe the idea possible
or, better yet, she just didn’t want to believe
him.

“Not unless I tripped over the pair of black
boots I saw running toward the door!” he snapped.

Her face twisted in confusion, “Asher, the
alarms have been on all night and the manor is protected by your
magic.”

“Which you just clearly pointed out is in
weaker state than normal!” When he saw her start to approach him he
put up his finger to stop her. “I know it’s against your nature but
please be
still
and
silent
.” More gently he rubbed at
the lump on his head. “Was the door unlocked?” he asked. When she
didn’t answer he opened one eye to look at her.

“Well, you told me to be silent,” she
exhaled. “No, I used the new code you gave me yesterday. Do you
want me to get you some ice?”

Asher shook his head and the very movement
made him dizzy. “Linn must have left the door unlocked when she
left.”

Kennedy’s face distorted in thought. “Wait,
Linn was in here
alone,
with you?”

He summed things up the best he could. He
knew that Kennedy would continue to question him until he was
exhausted and his brain felt as though it would explode,
otherwise.

“I saw that hole,” she said. “I just thought
Nixon punched the wall again.”

“Is he home yet?”

“No not yet,” she answered.

“Then it couldn’t have been him that punched
the wall.” Asher staggered to his chair and sat down. He didn’t
need to ask. Kennedy always wanted something bad enough that
starting a fire, and seeing that it was stoked throughout the day,
had been her daily routine for the last year.

But he need not worry about her too much
longer. She was a senior in high school and upon graduation she
would take her place on the Pillar Council, and then would further
her training in India with Linn. He had to keep reminding himself
of that, that soon she would be gone. “Are the phones working
yet?”

“Not yet, and I lost my cell,” she selected
the biggest log from the pile on the hearth, and placed it in the
fireplace.

“You too?” Asher was amazed. Kennedy casually
nodded and sat down on the hearth, her expression distant as she
reached for a handful of kindling from the bucket next to the logs.
He knew where her thoughts lied. “You have no reason to be worried
girl,” he told her.

“Do you want me to call the police?” she
asked.

Asher allowed his look of surprise to fall on
her. “And even if we could, since we’re both without
phones,
when have I been known to allow an outsider inside the manor?”

“Asher it’s not everyday someone gets past
your magic and invades your room. Besides, there’s a foot of snow
outside and Ari’s not home yet either. So regardless of what you
say, I have reason to worry.”

Asher closed his eyes. “Just as soon as the
phones are working I’ll report the incident to Culver’s security,
and if Ari and Nixon are still not home after lunch, I’ll send
someone to look for them.” He softened his tone and looked at her.
“Does that make you feel better?”

Even though Kennedy seemed surprised by his
consideration, she simply nodded. “I’ll feel better once I go check
out
every
closet and look under
every
bed.”

Asher waited for her to leave and then began
searching his office, eventually finding what he was looking for,
the wood bookend shaped like a globe that usually sat on the
bookshelf. Whoever had hit him over the head with it, and then
hastily discarded it in the trash, must have had a purpose for
invading his office.

Running his hand along a row of books he
found the right one and removed it from the shelf. Reaching into
the opening he pushed the button that was built into the paneling.
Standing back he waited for the bookcase to slide open to expose
the room where the ancient archives were kept.

“How cliché,” he said aloud to himself, “a
secret vault concealed by all things a sliding bookcase, but only a
few know about this room which leaves me wondering.”
He entered, walked across the room, and sat the book down on
a glass case that protected the Keepers creed. Reaching up, he
removed another book from a shelf, blew off the layer of dust from
the cover, and took it back to his desk, and sat down.

He felt it again, the strange creeping
sensation that moved up his fingers and arms whenever he opened the
spell book. The ink was barely visibly and the yellowed pages were
brittle with age. He turned to the last spell in the back of the
book. Despite the throbbing in his head he read, until he reached
the sudden end. As it typically did, frustration set in. Closing
the book, Asher refused to believe that in all Grant’s preparing,
he had failed to notice the last few pages had been torn away.

“The spell is useless without the solution.
You should have known that Grant.”

Assured the spell book had gone untouched;
Asher returned the book to its hiding place. After securing the
room so that no one else could discover its whereabouts, and
putting the book back in place to conceal the button, Asher
ventured downstairs.

The sun was just rising over the land that
some ancestral Keeper had titled Brokenridge, when Asher took his
seat at the breakfast table. He poured cream into the cup of coffee
that awaited him. He invited no conversation, nor did he look at
anyone. Down the length of the table a throat cleared, but only
after a second time, did he relent and give Linn the attention she
desired.

“I had a horrible night last night Linn, make
it fast.”

Linn made a grunting sound of disgust and
shook her head slowly from side to side. “We seem to have plenty of
vacant seats this morning.”

Asher quickly looked around. She was right.
All were missing except for the little girl. Her name would come to
him, eventually. All he needed to know was the fact she was a rat
and part of a twin duo that liked to torment him on a daily
basis.

“Asher, Kennedy told me that neither Ari nor
Nixon is home yet. I’m not sure about the boy but I called the
Plaza and the desk clerk said Ari never checked in. That worried me
enough, but then I called the office and learned that Ari wasn’t
there either and his secretary said she hasn’t heard from him all
morning. I talked to him just as he was getting into his car
yesterday, and he said he was on his way home to attend the Pillar
Council meeting. That was before you cancelled it of course.”

“You failed to mention that you talked to Ari
last night Linn. It might have been helpful in deciding just how
much I should worry about him.”

Asher didn’t feel much like eating. Standing,
he crossed to the fireplace, picked up the poker and stirred the
already raging flames. The only thing he liked about the house was
the fact there was a fireplace practically in every room. He
lowered his head contemplatively, black hair falling forward to
hide his eyes from the watching Linn. He wouldn’t let her see his
concern. Instead he did what he always did, he evaded the
topic.

“Child, where is your brother? I checked in
his room but he was nowhere to be found.”

The little girl considered the hot poker in
his hands and swiftly shook her head. “I didn’t look for him. The
dead moon is in cycle,” she offered in way of explanation and Asher
nodded.

Unlike him, the wolf who kept his powers when
there was no moon, all other shifters were powerless. He had heard
over the years how some that tended to lean toward their animal
side like the boy, preferred their inborn shape during such a
phase.

The thought disgusted him.

“Aah yes, in which case means he is more than
likely hiding somewhere in his rat form. I wonder, just where he’s
hiding.” This time
he
considered the hot poker, even when
Asher knew he would never use it on
any
child, let alone the
quiet little girl. The prop was for visual effect only, to motivate
her into answering.

Hair swaying back and forth, she shook her
head forcibly in answer. “Sorry Keeper, I don’t know.”

“Casin child, eat your breakfast, it’s
getting cold. I blame you for this Asher,” Linn said, “for not
teaching the boy that it’s not good for him to stay in his ani-form
so much. Doesn’t he understand the consequences?”

“Casin, yes that’s the name. It always seems
to escape me, and the boys would be?” Asher smugly asked.

“Cade,” Linn’s frown deepened. “The twins
have been with you since they were toddlers and you don’t even know
their names?”

“Since it suits them both, rat suffices quite
nicely,” Asher retorted.

“You said you weren’t a bully and yet that is
exactly what you’re doing to the poor child. She said she doesn’t
know where her brother is, so why don’t you just believe her and
let her eat her breakfast.”

Asher rubbed at the throbbing knot on the
back of his head and resumed his seat. Picking up the knife, he
proceeded to butter his toast when he detected footsteps
approaching from the front of the house. To his great
dissatisfaction, he recognized the two men from the night before
along with another, which more than likely was the third Watch that
Linn had mentioned. Leading them was the Rat Pillar, Gus Sturgis
and the old healer to the Union community. Asher was sure he had a
name and at one point he probably knew it, but in this case he
didn’t rightfully care that he forgot. He looked fiercely at his
unexpected company and then at Linn.

“It’s not like me to forget that I invited
someone to dine with me?”

“My apologies Keeper,” Linn spoke, “but since
you expressed to me that you would like to solve matters quickly, I
took the liberty of inviting them myself.”

“I know what you did Linn. You made sure I
had no other choice.” Asher redirected his attention to Gus. “And
what part do you partake in this?”

“None Keeper,” he said with a shake of his
head, “other than the fact that Madam Linn asked me to house them,
that is.”

“Keeper,” the biggest of the strangers
extended his hand toward Asher which he refused to accept. Seldom
did Asher allow strangers anywhere near him, let alone make
physical contact. He gestured to a seat. The man withdrew his hand,
slowly moved away, and took a seat next to Linn. “My name is Vince
Donavan,” he said, “and I’m a Watch from Tennessee, a bear in my
shifter form. I’ve come because there are some matters within the
Union under my care that concern you.”

Yawning, Asher poured more cream into his
coffee and emptied the remainder of the pot into his mug, not
thinking of even offering his guest any. The two Watches that he
had overheard talking to Linn introduced themselves, making similar
comments—their three way conversation exploding into an all-out
attempt to outdo each other, until eventually Asher yawned louder.
When silence ensued, he waited until all eyes were on him before he
spoke.

“As I told Madam Linn, until my brother is
home, there really is no need to discuss Union affairs.”