The Raven Conspiracy

Chapter 17 - I Learn the Truth

Chapter 17 – I Learn the Truth

“What do you mean?” I asked, staring at him.

“For me, Anna and so many other people who live in this neighbourhood, writing something down can bring it into existence. That girl had the ability too...But she didn’t know about it or she wouldn’t have gotten that tattoo.”

“So, because she had the ability to give words their power, and she had a tattoo that meant death, it killed her?”

“Precisely. I knew you’d catch it soon enough.”

“So, how do I know that this actually works? I haven’t seen any proof of it yet...Real proof – there are other explanations for how that girl died. I want to see this magic for myself.”

Kairo and Jen exchanged a glance.

“Fair enough,” he answered. “I need a pen.”

I fished one out of my bag. He extended his hand to take it from me, but I yanked it back.

“Not you. I don’t trust you enough. I want Jen to do it.”

There was a sudden, tense silence.

“What?”

They exchanged another look – only this time Kairo’s eyes flared with anger.

“That won’t be possible,” she said.

“Why not?”

“Because I gave up my abilities.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Really now? That’s awfully convenient.”

She gave me an annoyed look.

“Well, it’s the truth. I had to surrender them when I joined the Parliament. Ever heard the expression “power corrupts”? They take it very literally at the Parliament. And it was more of a hassle than a benefit anyway.”

I stared at her, dumbstruck,

“How can you call special abilities a hassle?”

“When it prevents you from ever writing anything down, ever reading anything out loud...It really makes life complicated.”

“You’re exaggerating, Jen,” said Kairo. “It’s not that difficult.”

“Outside of here, it is. It’s why I’m stuck working for the Parliament.”

“No-one told you to work for the Parliament.”

“If I didn’t, I’d be stuck working for you!”

I needed to interrupt before their bickering got out of hand again.

“Okay, I get it. With this magic of yours, you can’t write anything. What happens if you do?”

“It depends on what you write, and in what language,” she explained, turning to me. She looked relieved to have a distraction.

 “Older languages are more powerful, but English still has a strong effect. Some of us resort to using text-speak if we need really need to have something written. It’s new, so it’s weak.”

“Makes sense, I suppose. So if you had to write in, say, Latin, something would happen?”

“Definitely,” she answered. “Latin is quite powerful, but there are other languages that are even stronger.”

“So why don’t you just, I don’t know, learn these other old languages and be super-powerful?”

She sighed,

“It’s not really that simple, you know. Those older languages are closely guarded by the Parliament. And they’re not exactly easy to learn. One misspelling, incorrect pronunciation or misuse and you could easily be dead. Most of them are volatile, because they’re not understood.”

She had a good point. I’d tried taking a second language at school and failed miserably. It was difficult to do – especially fiddling around with grammar. The popular, “Let’s eat, grandma” example popped in my mind. If someone using their power forgot that comma, I could see the serious consequences.

“Okay. That makes sense. So that’s why you needed that Hana girl to translate for you, Kairo?” I asked.

“Yes. I don’t understand Japanese, but she does. She’s just one of my sources.”

A thought popped into my head,

“So if you basically can’t write anything down without it happening, how did you get through school? You did graduate and stuff, right?”

“Our school was very lenient with us – they understood the situation and did most tests orally. And yes, I did graduate.”

“Only just,” muttered Jen.

“I was busy with a case,” he explained to me. “I didn’t have that much time to spend studying.”

“What was the case?”

“It wasn’t anything special. Someone put a curse on the principal’s car that made it to appear on the field every time he tried to start the engine. I interviewed dozens of suspects, only to find out that it was Jared and a bunch of my classmates pulling a prank. I was supposed to be in on it, but the day they planned it I was home sick and no-one told me afterwards.”

I laughed,

“Did they get into trouble?”

“No, I couldn’t sell my friends out. I blamed the troll.”

“And the principal believed that?”

He shrugged, “He had to. It might be difficult to believe, but I was one of those weird students that the teachers actually trusted.”

“That is difficult to believe,” I agreed.  I frowned, “the teachers at school trust me and I’m not weird...At least I don’t think I am.”

“You are weird if you still refer to yourself as at school. Didn’t you graduate already?”

“I did...You’re right, that is weird of me since I got my results already.”

“Straight A’s, right?”

I blushed and nodded. I didn’t like people bringing up my results.

“I thought as much. You do look like the studying type.”

“Uh, thanks.”

I wasn’t sure what the “studying type” looked like, or how he guessed my results so easily until I remembered that he was a detective.

Jen’s cellphone rang at that moment. While she was distracted, I lowered my voice and asked,

“Are you really doing that Parliament case? What is it?”

“They’re telling me that it’s a murder, but I think there’s something that was stolen with it. They’re probably hoping that if I catch the murderer, they’ll have their thief. I’m already obligated to do the case, so we’ll see.”

Jen returned from her call, looking pale.

“I think you two need to come back with me. There’s been an unexpected development...And it’s not good at all.”