The Crowmaster by Barry Hutchison Page A

course there’s a local shop,’ Marion told me. She stopped stirring the bubbling contents of a large metal pot for a moment, wiped her hands on her apron, and then pointed out through the open back door. ‘You know the drive we came up?’
    â€˜Yep.’
    â€˜Head back down it until you reach the road, then turn left.’
    â€˜Left,’ I nodded. ‘OK.’
    â€˜Then you just keep walking straight on.’
    â€˜For how long?’
    â€˜About twenty-seven miles,’ she said. ‘It’s on the right. You can’t miss it.’
    â€˜ Twenty-seven miles? ’ I groaned. ‘Seriously?’
    â€˜Afraid so,’ she said, returning to her stirring. ‘Listen, dinner will be less than an hour. Why don’t you go for a wander outside for a while? I’ll give you a shout when it’s ready. You could have a look for Toto for me. Just don’t go too far from the house.’
    I hesitated, considering just heading back up to my room and riding out the hunger pangs. A smell had begun to rise from the cooking pot, though, and it was making me feel even more ravenous. Maybe getting outside for a while was a good idea.
    â€˜Get a shift on then,’ Marion urged, as she ground some pepper into the pot. ‘Take the chance to get out and explore while you can.’ She turned to me, unable to mask her mischievous grin. ‘Because I’ve got a real treat in store for you after dinner.’
    â€˜Oh?’ I asked, intrigued. ‘What’s that?’
    â€˜You’re on dishes!’
    The hillside was steep, but the tangle of thick roots that covered the ground acted almost like steps, making climbing easier. I had decided to check out the mast on the hilltop, but now I was actually in the forest, the trees blocked it from view. As a result, I had absolutely no idea if I was headed in even vaguely the right direction.
    A high embankment rose up in front of me and I had to scramble on all fours to get to the top. I had only been walking for about five minutes, but already the terrain was taking my breath away, and not in an Ooh, that’s pretty kind of way. I spent a few seconds resting against a tree, before continuing onwards and upwards.
    Marion seemed nice, but already I could feel I was beginning to miss Mum. Some people might have found it strange that I’d never spent a night away from her before, but then it wasn’t like I’d ever had a lot of places to go and stay.
    I’d never had many friends, and the few I’d managed to make I didn’t know well enough to sleep over at their houses. That left only family, and I didn’t exactly have much of that, either.
    My nan lived with us up until she’d gone into the care home, so staying at her place overnight had never exactly been an option. And then there was my dad. The less said about him, the better.
    He was the one who sent Mr Mumbles and Caddie after me. He was the one to blame for everything that had happened over the past few weeks. And he was the reason I was here now, hiding in the middle of nowhere, a hundred miles from home. And the worst thing was, I didn’t even know why he was doing it.
    Thinking about my dad had got my blood pumping and my heart thudding against my chest. I’d spent the last few minutes powering up the hill, hauling myself along using low-hanging branches and trailing roots.
    The further up the hillside I went, the denser the forest became. The treetops were so close together now I could barely make out the darkening sky. Dusk had been approaching when I left the house, but now night was fast drawing in.
    I turned and looked back down the hill. A weak, watery light highlighted the details of the woods around me, but beyond that everything merged into murky shades of grey.
    â€˜Great,’ I muttered, realising now why Marion had told me not to go too far from the house. Checking out the mast would have to wait.
    I slowly