Free Crow Boy by Maureen Bush Page B

enough for me to touch, sometimes rising high above us.
    I searched for water, knowing we all needed to drink, and that Aleena especially needed water, but there was none.
    There was a tunnel at each end of the cavern. One sloped gently down: it was dark, and the magic thick.
    The other curved up quickly, with steps cut into the steep slope. When I tried to climb the steps, I couldn’t. My knees moved, but my feet wouldn’t lift, as if they were glued to the ground. I could step away from the tunnel, but not into it. I tried sneaking at it, sideways and backwards, but whatever I tried, my knees could not lift my feet off the ground.
    I walked back to Maddy and Aleena, hoping they were feeling better. If anything, they looked worse, Aleena slumped and thin, Maddy gasping.
    I had to do something. I stepped into the lower tunnel and breathed in the thick magic. Using it, I sketched in the air, searching for an answer. Suddenly I felt an aliveness, a presence. I continued sketching until I had a name. Then I called out, “Earth, may we speak with you?”
    Maddy and Aleena stared at me like I was nuts.
    But the earth answered.
    A low, husky voice resonated from the rocks all around us. “Human children and a water woman and the nexus ring. How very interesting.” I heard a smile in the voice.
    Maddy slipped her hand into mine. Aleena shivered, and drew closer to us.
    “Maddy and Aleena are sick,” I said. “They can’t stay here.”
    “The nexus ring must go deeper,” the voice answered. “It is safer here than above, and safer below than here.”
    “We can’t,” I said. “Maddy and Aleena need to get to the surface.”
    The voice was silent. I waited. I was about to speak again when the voice said, “The water woman and the human girl? They are sick here?”
    “Yes,” I said. “I think your magic is too powerful for them.”
    “But not for you?”
    “No,” I said. “I love it.”
    The voice chuckled. “Yes. I can see that. You have – you have a great potential. To be what, I do not know. It will be interesting to see what you become.” The voice sighed. “Very well. You shall take the ring as deep as you can, and they may walk to the surface.”
    Split up? Me, go deeper? Maddy and Aleena walk all the way back? I didn’t know which I should be more upset about. Then Maddy bent over, struggling for air. She had to come first.
    “It’s too far for them to walk,” I said. “It will take too long! Can’t you send them back the way you brought us here?”
    “No,” the voice said, flatly. “You must take the ring deeper. You must take the ring to a safer place, where the shifting of rock and magma cannot bring it back to Gronvald. For every step you take deeper into the earth, they may take one step to the surface.” The voice smiled. “This is more than fair, four feet up for two feet down.”
    I glanced at my feet and swallowed. That sounded pretty harsh to me. But when I looked at Maddy and Aleena I knew there was nothing else I could do. If I didn’t start immediately, they wouldn’t have the strength to walk out.
    “Maddy,” I said, “Just keep walking. Whatever happens, just keep walking.”
    “Aleena,” I continued, “when you get to the surface, will you promise to take Maddy to Keeper?”
    She shook her head, her eyes huge. “Not Keeper,” she said, her voice dry and scratchy.
    I remembered how much she feared him. “The otter-people?” I asked.
    She nodded.
    “Promise?” I demanded. “No matter what happens, no matter how sick you are, how close to death?”
    She nodded again. “I promise.” She slipped the nexus ring off her finger and handed it to me. “Thank you,” she said, her voice rough.
    She paused. Then she said in a louder voice, “Earth, what will happen to Josh?”
    I knew how much that must have cost her, to speak past her fear and desperation to escape, her lips cracked, her throat parched.
    When Maddy turned to her, puzzled, Aleena said, “Every one