Crow Boy by Maureen Bush Page B

bleeding; I helped her wash the blood out of her hair.
    The crows settled nearby, checking each other’s injuries and splashing in the creek. The white-tipped crow paced and bossed, while Corvus sat back and groomed his feathers.
    Maddy watched them through her silver ring, and then leaned back. She smiled and rocked slightly as she looked across the valley to the far mountains, enjoying seeing magic so clearly. Then she turned to study the rock face behind us. Her body stiffened as she stared through the ring. “Josh,” she said quietly, sounding puzzled.
    “Hmmm?” I said.
    “Come look at this.” Now her voice sounded more urgent as she waved a hand at me.
    I sat beside her, and as she handed me the ring, she gave me a look filled with pity, like she knew that what I was going to see would break my heart. Not understanding, I took the ring and peered through it.
    I could see magic, like the radiance that shimmered in everything I saw in the magic world, but it was more substantial through the ring, like it was an actual thing hovering in the air, light and beautiful. The trees each had their own radiance, their own presence, as if you could walk up to a spruce tree and have a conversation.
    Corvus and his crows circled us and cawed, but this time I didn’t mind. They were magnificent. When Corvus flew, magic stretched from his wingtips across the sky.
    Then I saw the doorway, near the face of the rock wall that rose high above us. It was closed, but the edges pulsed with magic. Surrounding it was the veil, translucent white as if woven of the finest gossamer threads, like spider’s silk. And stretching out from the doorway was a great long gash in the veil.
    My heart stopped. Maddy was right! Magic was pouring through the tear like water through a hole in a dam, except this was golden and radiant. I longed to reach out and pull the tear closed, to use my hands to fill the gap, to stop that leak.
    Aleena wandered over, asking why we were so quiet. Suddenly, I knew exactly what to do. Without saying a word, I handed her Maddy’s ring and pointed at the doorway. She stared through the ring and gasped. As the colour drained from her face, she closed her eyes, unable to look. Silently, she handed the ring back and walked away. I had no idea what she was thinking, but I knew that we were getting close.
    Later, I watched her staring across the valley, the nexus ring in the palm of her hand, her fingers closing over it and opening again as if she couldn’t decide if she should keep it or let it go.
    Then Maddy screamed. Aleena and I both spun around. Maddy stood by the creek, her whole body tight as she pointed to the doorway at the base of the rock face.
    As we stared, a hand appeared, large and dirty, with thick, stubby fingers. It groped in the air, struggling to grab something.
    “Give me your ring,” I whispered to Maddy. I peered through the silver ring and watched, stunned. The hand reached through the tear, grabbed an edge of the veil and pulled the tear wider. Then Gronvald stepped through, without ever opening the doorway itself, full of energy and delighted with his new trick.
    He stared at us, sniffing. When he caught the scent of the nexus ring, his left hand reached out, twitching. Slowly, his hand opened and closed, and then opened again – just like Aleena’s, grasping, longing for the ring.
    Grinning, his hands reaching, Gronvald moved from the doorway, placing himself between Aleena and the stream.
    I glanced up – heavy clouds darkened the sky, blocking out all sunlight. I sagged. Sunlight would stop him, freeze him into a statue until twelve hours of darkness thawed him. But the clouds were too dark.
    We could go through the doorway , I thought. He would follow, but we might have time to get to the stream in the human world before he could reach us. I hated taking the ring through the doorway again, but maybe that was better than letting Gronvald have it.
    “To the doorway,” I murmured to