The Seventh Crow Read online

  I nod. “He put a curse on Vicky, and he killed Taylar’s brother, so we needed something to work with. I cast a spell that selected these three books.”

  “And did you find anything useful?”

  With a sigh, I sit down and slide one of the books toward me. “Not yet. We can’t read them.”

  Chloe puts the bread on the table and glances at the books. “Are they in Latin? Because I can read it for you if they are.”

  “No, I think he put a protection spell on them.”

  “Oh.” She sounds disappointed. “In that case, I can’t help you.”

  I flip through the book in front of me. I can see the pictures and drawings inside, but not a single word makes sense. “What if I take a picture and put it on the Pentaweb? Someone must know of a way to decipher this, right?”

  Vicky grins. “That’s a good idea. We can create a false account, so no one can track us here.”

  I freeze. “Speaking about tracking…” I get up and hurry over to the window in the study. The driveway is deserted.

  “What is it?” Vicky asks from the kitchen.

  With a frown, I walk back. “Isn’t it strange that Shelton Banks hasn’t shown his face here yet? Or the demons of the third circle? I mean, every enemy we have knows where we live. We’ve had visits from demons before, Satan sent us a zombie with a message, so why is everything so quiet now? Shelton Banks was looking for us; he wanted to know where we hang out. Why didn’t he just come here? It’s not as if our address is a secret.”

  Mona clears her throat and turns to face me. “Well, actually, it is.”

  A room full of confused expressions answer her.

  “What? What do you mean?” I ask, placing my hands on the back of my chair for support.

  “Ever since Susan was taken, I’ve been working on a way to get this house more protection. When I couldn’t find a way, I went for a different tactic.”

  “What kind of tactic?” Charlie asks, tearing his gaze from the sizzling bacon behind Mona.

  Mona puts her hand on her waist and lifts her chin. “I made Darkwood Manor invisible to anyone who wants to hurt you.”

  My mouth drops open. “You can do that?”

  Her smile says it all.

  “So, they can’t see the mansion anymore?”

  She turns back to the stove and throws some sparks around to help Chloe put the bacon on the plates. “They can’t see it, and they can’t find it. If they come near, they will be led away from here without realizing it.”

  “But what about the crows?” Taylar asks. “They found us.”

  Mona puts a plate in front of him. “That’s because I only figured out how to do this after they arrived. But we won’t be bothered by anyone else.”

  I sit down and lean back in my chair. “That is great news, Mona. Thank you.”

  Chloe and Mona hand out the plates, and we eat in silence.

  We watch Chloe carefully to make sure she doesn’t eat too much.

  “It’s so odd,” she says with a longing look at my plate. “I always had so much trouble eating enough to stay ‘alive’…” she makes quotation marks in the air, “… and now it’s all I want to do.”

  I nod. “That’s the Black Horseman’s influence.”

  “Did you give in to the urge before we found you?” Maël asks, pushing half of her lunch toward Charlie.

  Chloe closes her eyes in thought. “I did eat a lot more, but from the beginning, I knew something was wrong. Of course I knew someone had been trying to make me relive my death, but it also felt weird. The hunger didn’t feel natural, and that scared me. So I ate, but not abundantly. With every hour, it got harder to fight the urge, which is why you found me staring at those pancakes. I’m not sure how much longer I could’ve contained myself.”

  I sigh with relief. “Good thing we found you when we did.”

  “How does it feel now?” Jeep asks, licking the grease from his fingers.

  She stares at Charlie’s plate for a while. “It’s still hard, but it’s getting better.”

  Mona stacks the empty plates and puts them on the kitchen counter. “Now that you’re far away from the Black Horseman, his influence must be waning. And he can’t get close enough to use his powers on you again.”

  I wipe the crumbs from the table and grab the heavy book again. “I’ll take some pictures and upload them to see if anyone in the magical world can read it.”

  I reach for my phone in my pocket and open the book with my other hand. Then I drop the phone. Everyone looks up.

  I must be going pale, because Vicky shoots upright and follows my gaze.

  “Oh my God,” she says.

  I beckon Jeep. “You’re in here.”

  “Me?” He pops up next to me and stares at the drawing of himself.

  Everyone except Maël comes to take a look. “This means it was not by accident that Jeep was taken to Shelton Banks’ house,” the ghost queen says.

  I let out a frustrated groan. “If only we could read what it says.”

  Chloe frowns. “Why don’t you use a spell?”

  “Remember the crows outside? I cast a spell on them, and it didn’t work. Instead, they grew. So I’m afraid using my powers on the books will only make them harder to read.”

  The Mahaha tilts her head. “You think it’s protected against white magic?” She sighs and walks back to her chair. “Too bad I can’t do spells. It might have worked, since my powers are considered evil.”

  Gisella breathes in sharply. “That’s it!” She holds out her hands to me. “Let me try something.”

  I slide the book over to her, and the others give her some room. She stretches her arms out sideways. The shadows in the corners of the kitchen respond instantly. They pull themselves free and dive down to wait for her orders. Gisella brings her arms down, and the shadows drop onto the book. The silence in the room is tense; no one even dares to move. Gisella’s yellow eyes go completely black, and dark lines appear on her face and neck. She utters strange, single syllable words, and the shadows respond by crawling into the pages. The werecat-witch slowly brings her fingers up, one at a time. It’s as if a shroud decorated with letters is lifted from the pages. Below it, there’s more text, but I can already see it’s English. It’s working!

  Gisella lifts her hands higher and higher. The pages of the book flip, and from each page, a veil drifts up to the ceiling. When all the pages have turned, the book slams shut, and the true title is revealed:

  Whereabouts of the most powerful deceased mages and magicians that ever lived

  The shadows crawl back to their corners when Gisella spreads her arms.

  I can’t take my eyes off the title when she slides the book over to me.

  Jeep frowns. “I’m obviously not one of the most powerful mages that ever lived, so why is there a drawing of me in this book?”

  The answer lies on the tip of my tongue, but I flip back to the page with his picture to check if I’m right.

  “Seven mages were captured in the tattoos of a necromancer. It is said that this man will one day be part of the Shield of the chosen one. The souls trapped in his body will be even more powerful when released, since they will take part of the necromancer’s magic with them.”

  My throat is suddenly extremely dry, and I feel dizzy. I’m afraid to look at Jeep and jump when he slams his fists onto the table.

  “Great!” he yells. “Just great!”

  Vicky hurries over to him and puts her arm around his shoulder. “Try to stay calm. You’ve still got magic, right?”

  Jeep places his hand on his chest, as if he can feel the magic moving inside him. “Sure, but how much?”

  “Try it,” she says, rubbing his shoulder gently.

  The tattooed ghost sits up straight, and Vicky withdraws her arm.

  He cracks his neck and lifts his arms. He bends his wrists, stretches his fingers and waves his hands in all directions.


  After a couple of minutes, our focus shifts from him to the back door. Through the glass, I can see something drawing closer. It’s hard to make out what it is. Something small, that hops closer.

  “It’s working,” I encourage Jeep, whose forehead is wrinkled up in a deep frown. “Keep going.”

  He presses his lips together, and his gestures intensify. Soon, more small creatures move through the grass toward us. D’Maeo stands up and opens the door to let them in.

  Then Kessley lets out a frightened shriek. Taylar’s hand shoots out to comfort her. “It’s okay, they won’t hurt us.”

  “I know,” she says, her voice trembling. “But they creeped me out for a second there.” A nervous giggle escapes her throat. “I thought necromancers brought full bodies back to life.”

  Jeep stops moving, and the things he brought to life come to an abrupt halt.

  “They do,” I respond, scratching my head.

  “Was this intentional?” I ask Jeep carefully.

  The tattooed ghost seems to deflate in his chair. He slumps back, his shoulders hunched and his chin touching his chest as he shakes his head. “I can’t do it anymore.”

  I gesture at the body pieces waiting patiently for his instructions on the threshold. “Sure you can. You called all of the pieces here. All you have to do is put them back together.”

  Vicky nods vigorously. “He’s right. Come on, you can do it.”

  After a solemn sigh, Jeep sits up straight again, locks his gaze on the skeleton parts and lifts his hands. It takes some time and a lot of effort, judging by Jeep’s grunts and repeated gestures, but finally the feet, legs, torso and head are in place.

  “Where are its arms?” Kessley inquires.

  Jeep wriggles his fingers some more and bends his wrists. “Coming.”

  In the silence that follows, the giant crows soar around the corner of the house and head straight for the open back door. The armless skeleton steps aside, bumps into the door frame and falls apart.

  Taylar rises to his feet to close the door, but I stop him. “Leave it open. They can’t get in.”

  “What if they’ve found a way?” Vicky says.

  The first crow bumps into the magical protection I put up and screeches, in pain or fright, or maybe both.

  “Then a door wouldn’t stop them for long either,” I answer. “But as you can see, we’re still fine.”

  Two more crows attempt to get inside, but they retreat back to the trees after some dizzying hits.

  “There they are!” Kessley calls out excitedly, pointing at the line of trees around the lawn.

  “Who?” I ask, but then I see the arms walking our way. I say walking because they are upright, with the hands in the grass. They’re a bit wobbly but steadily making their way to us.

  Kessley cheers Jeep on until he has directed the arms into the kitchen.

  “Great job,” I compliment him. “It takes more effort than it used to, but I think with some training you’ll be fine again.”

  Jeep stares at the skeleton pieces gloomily. “I hope you’re right.”

  “Of course I am,” I say with a wink. “Now rest a bit before you try to put it back together. We’ve got some more reading to do anyway.” I gesture at the book in front of me. “So, thanks to this book, we know why Shelton Banks wanted to free the ghosts in Jeep’s tattoos. He hoped he could make a deal with them. If he joins forces with them, he’ll be unstoppable.”

  Jeep rubs his dark beard. “Can I see that page?”

  “Of course.” I slide the book over to him, and he bends over it.

  Maël eyes the book warily from across the table. “What else does it say about those mages?”

  Jeep scans the lines quickly. “The first one was a meteokinetic, like you, Dante.”

  “Only well-trained and a lot older,” Gisella adds.

  “Maybe we can trick Shelton Banks into a trade,” Vicky suggests. “We’ll give him one mage if he lifts the curse on me.”

  I shake my head. “And let another powerful mage run free? I don’t think so.”

  “Shelton will be in jail soon,” Taylar says. “So that would leave us only one mage to fight.”

  I follow the edge of the table with my finger. “I’d rather have zero mages to fight.”

  “Besides,” Gisella adds, “Shelton will be out in no time, don’t you think?” She gives Taylar an apologetic shrug. “I mean, do you really think a bunch of bars and guards will be able to hold him?”

  Taylar’s face goes dark. “If not, why did we go through so much trouble to find evidence against him?”

  Mona places a calming hand on his shoulder. “Because all prisons are equipped with magical protection on top of the non-magical, to make sure magical beings cannot rise above the system.”

  The young white-haired ghost relaxes again. “Good.”

  “There is something I am wondering about,” D’Maeo suddenly says.

  He has been quietly listening and observing, which usually means his brain is working overtime. I’m curious to hear what D’Maeo has been thinking about.

  “What’s that?” I ask him.

  He entwines his fingers on the table in front of him as he leans forward. “What if Shelton Banks talked to the souls before we found Jeep?”

  “He probably did,” Maël agrees. “I think he told them to follow Dante and take him and all of his friends out.”

  D’Maeo nods. “Possibly. And that might mean that the crows know about Satan’s plan.”

  “We should try to find out what they know before we kill them,” Maël adds, as if she and the old ghost have been discussing this in the past few minutes. Maybe they have. I’m not convinced I know about every single way they have to communicate with each other.

  “You’re right,” I say. “If only we knew how to capture them.”

  “And how to kill them,” Charlie adds.

  Another thought floats up in my mind. “And how to turn them back into human souls. Because it might be hard to question a crow, right?”

  “Yeah…” Charlie scratches his head. “I don’t think any of us speak crow, you know.”

  “I can catch them,” Ginda interrupts us.

  “And I know a way to turn them back into their human forms.” Mona stands up and throws around her sparks to take some glasses from the cupboard. “Drinks, anyone?”

  CHAPTER 24

  It takes us about half an hour to set up our plan, and after another twenty minutes, Jeep feels confident enough to act out his part. He manages to put the corpse back together and steer it around the table several times without it falling apart again.

  “I think it would look more natural if you made it move a bit slower,” Gisella suggests. “It will wobble less than.”

  Jeep gives it a shot, and it almost looks like a living person.

  Vicky points at the ceiling. “I’ll get some clothes.” She vanishes and comes back with a pile of my stuff in her hands: trousers, a long-sleeved shirt and shoes. She walks over to the skeleton and starts dressing him.

  “Hold up your arm,” she says, as if the corpse can still move on its own.

  Jeep raises two fingers, and the arm shoots up.

  “Not that far,” Vicky laughs, and Jeep drops his fingers a bit.

  Lifting the legs is a bit harder because the skeleton starts to wobble on one leg. But with Kessley supporting it, Vicky is able to dress it completely.

  They both step back for a better look.

  “All we need now is a hat.” Kessley turns her head and holds out her hand to Jeep. “Lend me yours.”

  Jeep’s hand flies to his hat. “What? Not a chance. This is a weapon. I’m not letting the crows tear it apart.”

  Kessley reaches out and grabs the hat. She examines it from all sides. “This is a weapon?”

  Jeep stands up and snatches it back. “Yes, it is. Please don’t touch it.”

  The sixth ghost draws back her
arms and lowers her chin. “I’m sorry, I was just curious. I wasn’t going to damage it.”

  Jeep’s expression softens. “I know, leopard girl. I’ll show you later, okay? Once we’ve captured the crows.”

  Kessley gives him a relieved nod. Then she turns back to the skeleton in disguise. “How are we going to hide his head?”

  Mona steps forward and blows a cloud of sparks over it. Bit by bit, the skeleton changes into a real person.

  Kessley watches the change with her mouth open.

  “That’s brilliant!” she says eventually.

  Mona gives her a smile.

  “Can you make it look like me?” I ask.

  Charlie gives me the thumbs up. “Good idea. Then the crows will definitely attack.”

  Once the skeleton has changed into a copy of me, Jeep sends it around the table one last time.

  Vicky rests her hand upon his shoulder. “You’ll do fine.”

  “It’s not me I’m worried about,” he says. “A lot can go wrong here.”

  Ginda joins the skeleton at the door. “Don’t worry about me,” she says to Jeep before nodding at Chloe, who is clenching her jaws so hard they crunch.

  “Ready?” I ask, standing up for a better look.

  “Yes,” Jeep and Ginda say in unison.

  Jeep starts his intricate hand movements again, and the skeleton steps outside. It strolls leisurely toward the protective circle. Ginda raises her hands too, ready to take on her part of the plan.

  Maël rises to her feet and takes her staff out from under her golden cape. “Here they come.”

  As one, the giant crows swoop down and land on the walking corpse. Jeep’s hand gestures get more frantic as he lifts both the arms to chase the birds away. At the same time, Ginda’s fingers weave their incomprehensible patterns.

  At first, I think it’s not working. There are no plants popping out of the ground. But then, the chlorokinetic witch pushes both hands forward hard, and seven flesh-eating flowers shoot up from the grass around the skeleton. With a couple more twirls of her hands, she instructs the plants to gobble up a crow each. Five of them are caught by surprise, wriggling inside to break free, but the other two flee into the air. Ginda’s hand shoots up, and one of the flesh-eating flowers grows at dazzling speed, folding its giant mouth around one of the birds. With her other hand, she steers three plants up at once. But the seventh crow is fast and smarter than its mates. It flies out of reach and toward the trees. I stand up, walk around the table, and come to a halt behind Jeep and Ginda. Chloe and Kessley barely notice me passing them. They wring their hands and watch with their mouths open.