The White Mage

Chapter 20

The sky had become abnormally overcast while we had been at lunch. It was vaguely ominous. The large flow of crows didn't help. White stood next to Shade, her arms crossed, as she watched the crows. She must have heard our approach as she seemed to address us.

"I hate this drama crap. I can't even get one normal day."

"What do you mean? What's up with the crows?" I asked.

"If this is by Black Angel code, and I assume it is, it's a declaration of war. I'm guessing a force of at least a few hundred, since one crow equals roughly twenty people."

One crow startled me by landing on my shoulder. I was very aware of its talons threatening to break through my shirt and into my skin. It had a little scroll tied to its leg. Pulling the little slip of paper off, I unrolled it.

You know what I want. You have a chance to end this before it begans and save innocent lives. I know you'll go through with it, you hero good guys types always do. Walk away from White and everything will end. If you don't follow through, I swear I will kill you when it comes time.

"Wow, very original. Death threats if I don't walk away. Honestly, that's kinda lame."

"Seriously? That Crow douche is sending death threats?" Cain laughed.

"You shouldn't take him so lightly." White warned.

The crow had moved to a tree branch and was staring at me. But its eyes had gone from black to a redish brown.

"You've got to be kidding me. There is no way in hell I'm going to walk away, so screw you, Crow. Come at me all you want but I will win."

"Collect the five!" The crow cawed.

The birds all started to caw at once and flapped their wings. They scattered in all directions as they flew away. White put her hand on my shoulder.

"What five was Crow talking about?"

"That wasn't Crow, it was the actual crow. In the beginning, those crows were loyal to only me, and it seems some of them still hold some loyalty. The five are the five sources of aether, they'll give us an advantage over Crow. You, me, Cain, and Abby will leave tomorrow."

"Why just Cain and Abby?"

"Because I know they'll make a big fuss until I let them come. And I can't endanger Landon and I need Kayla to stay to help him and Genevieve."

*****
"We shouldn't be sneaking around at night like this." Landon said.

"I agree, do you know what kind of trouble we can get in?" I questioned.

"Come on you two, don't be wusses. This is cool, moving around the castle at night when no one's around." Cain said.

Landon and I sighed. It was pretty cool, the lack of students and darkness of night gave the castle a different feel. We walked through an outer hall, open to night air. We were head down to the grounds, because for some insane reason, Cain wanted to go into a dangerous forest in the middle of the night when no one could help us if something happens. But we went along with it.

Just like the castle, the forest was different at night. The moonlight gave everything a silvery glow and the sounds of animals moving could be heard. A loud hoot sounded above us, and there sat an owl. But it wasn't a normal owl, it gave off a faint red glow.

"What is that?" Landon asked.

"A firefly owl. They're not that uncommon actually. Nocturnal like most owls, but they also glow in the dark." I answered.