Free The Owl Keeper by Christine Brodien-Jones

planned for you, Max."
    "That's not true! I was born with this," he growled. He'd had enough of Rose and her talk about the High Echelon. "Mrs. Crumlin says my sun mark is lucky."
    "I don't know about that, Max. How can it be lucky if you're allergic to sun particles?" She tossed him the cap. "I hate to give you the bad news, but you're branded."
    "What are you talking about?" Max jammed his cap on his head. Why did Rose talk in riddles all the time?
    "Where have you been, Max Unger, on another planet? You weren't born with that sun tattoo! The High Echelon gave it to
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    you because you're a Night Seer, so they can keep track of you and send you to some far-off place underground for your apprenticeship. They hate Night Seers!"
    "I'm not a Night Seer." Max whipped his scarf back on, knotting it tightly around his neck. "You've got it wrong, Rose. Gran told me all about Night Seers. They were magical beings who spoke the language of owls and they lived in olden times, but not anymore. Night Seers are a thing of the past."
    Had Night Seers been real? he wondered, suddenly unsure. Or was he remembering characters in a fairy tale?
    "Shows how much you know," Rose shot back, her voice brimming with self-assurance. "Remember how weird vapors and parasites were released after the Great Destruction, and all of a sudden people had night blindness and phobias--like fear of the dark?"
    "I know about that stuff," bristled Max, not admitting that he'd forgotten the details.
    "After the government threw the Misshapens into the forests, nobody went out at night!" Rose held his gaze with her green eyes. "But some people weren't afraid of the dark, like you and me, and your gran. Didn't you ever wonder why the night doesn't faze us? We love the dark because we're Night Seers!"
    Max stared at her, marveling at this unexpected information. He thought of all the nights he'd spent with Gran hiking through the countryside, searching for plants and animals, remembering how the darkness always gave him a feeling of peace. These were memories he hadn't lost--not yet, anyway.
    "Night Seers are born with a tiny birthmark on the back of their
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    necks," said Rose quietly. "The government goes to the hospitals and checks all the newborns and that's how they find us."
    "What kind of birthmark?" he asked. This was beginning to sound a bit far-fetched.
    "It's an owl," she replied. In a dramatic voice she added, "They call it the Mark of the Owl."
    The owl stirred, giving off a low hoot. Max felt a shiver go down his back. It made sense, he thought, because Night Seers and owls were connected. And the Mark of the Owl sounded like an olden-time expression.
    "But I don't have an owl birthmark," he said.
    "Yes you do! They tattooed over your owl, just like they tattooed over mine! They want you to forget you ever had an owl birthmark!" cried Rose. "Night Seers are bottom-feeders in this society. We get all the miserable apprenticeships, like working underground in the mines."
    "Not me," said Max huffily. "I'm going to be an owl tracker." He knew the moment he said it how ridiculous it sounded.
    "An owl tracker?" shrilled Rose. Max winced at her smug, high-pitched laugh. "You crack me up!"
    "I'll never work for the High Echelon!" Max blustered. "Besides, I have to find the Owl Keeper." Why had he said that? He struggled to remember. "There's an ancient tower and I--I have to go there! I have to go soon, before it's too late!" He took a deep breath, startled by the intensity of his words.
    "You're going to go into the forest, looking for some broken-down old tower?" said Rose, sounding skeptical. "You'd be scared out of your wits."
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    Max closed his eyes, trying hard to call up the past. What was it Gran had told him? Something about the Frozen Zone and the Owl Keeper, something about Absolute Dark.
    "Fine, Max. After all, you can't hang around the owl tree forever, seeing as the High Echelon's going to chop it down. So go ahead," Rose sneered, "do something