Page 1 (2/2)
That was it; so her The sky overhead was not blue but iant bowl turned upside down
The air was stifling, and Elena felt sure that there were eyes on her
She caught sight of so dark in the branches of the old quince tree in front of the house
It was a crow, sitting as still as the yellow-tinged leaves around it And it was the thing watching her
She tried to tell herself that this was ridiculous, but soest crow she had ever seen, plu in its black feathers She could see every detail of it clearly: the greedy dark claws, the sharp beak, the single glittering black eye
It was so ht have been a waxthere But as she stared at it, Elena felt herself flush slowly, heat co in waves up her throat and cheeks Because it was looking at her Looking the way boys looked at her when she wore a bathing suit or a sheer blouse As if it were undressing her with its eyes
Before she realized what she was doing, she had dropped her backpack and picked up a stone from beside the driveway "Get out of here," she said, and heard the shaking anger in her own voice "Go on! Getaway !" With the last word, she threw the stone
There was an explosion of leaves, but the crow soared up unharh racket for a whole flock of crows Elena crouched, suddenly panicked as it flapped directly over her head, the wind of its wings ruffling her blond hair
But it swooped up again and circled, a black silhouette against the paper-white sky Then, with one harsh croak, it wheeled away toward the woods
Elena straightened up slowly, then glanced around, self-conscious She couldn’t believe what she had just done But now that the bird was gone, the sky felt ordinary again A little wind made the leaves flutter, and Elena took a deep breath Down the street a door opened and several children poured out, laughing
She sh her like sunlight How could she have been so silly? This was a beautiful day, full of pro to happen
Nothing bad was going to happen-except that she was going to be late getting to school The whole croould be waiting for her in the parking lot
You could always tell everyone you stopped to throw stones at a Peeping Toive thelance at the quince tree, she began to walk as quickly as she could down the street
The crow crashed through the top of the massive oak, and Stefan’s head jerked up reflexively When he saas only a bird, he relaxed
His eyes dropped to the liret He hadn’t er than a rabbit if he’d kno hungry he was But, of course, that was the very thing that frightened hier would be, or what he ht have to do to satisfy it He was lucky that this time he’d killed only a rabbit
He stood beneath the ancient oak trees, sunlight filtering down onto his curly hair In jeans and T-shirt, Stefan Salvatore looked exactly like a norh school student
He wasn’t
Deep in the woods, where no one would see hiuly, to make sure there was no stain on them He didn’t want to take any chances This h to pull off as it was
For a ive it all up Perhaps he should go back to Italy, back to his hiding place What ht?
But he was tired of living in shadows He was tired of the darkness, and of the things that lived in it Most of all, he was tired of being alone
He wasn’t sure why he’d chosen Fell’s Church, Virginia It was a young town, by his standards; the oldest buildings had been put up only a century and a half ago But hosts of the Civil War still lived here, as real as the supermarkets and fast-food joints
Stefan appreciated respect for the past He thought he ht come to like the people of Fell’s Church And perhaps-just perhaps-hethem
He’d never be accepted completely, of course A bitter smile curved his lips at the idea He knew better than to hope forthatThere would never be a place where he could belong completely, where he could truly be hi to the shadows
He slapped the thought away He’d renounced the darkness; he’d left the shadows behind hi afresh, today
Stefan realized he was still holding the rabbit Gently, he laid it down on the bed of brown oak leaves Far away, too far for hunized the noises of a fox
Coht sadly Your breakfast is waiting
As he slung his jacket over his shoulder, he noticed the crow that had disturbed him earlier It was still perched in the oak tree, and it seeness about it
He started to send a probing thought toward it, to examine the bird, and stopped hiht You don’t use the Powers unless it is absolutely necessary Not unless there is no other choice
Moving als, he e of the woods His car was parked there He glanced back, once, and saw that the crow had left the branches and dropped down on the rabbit
There was sos over the li sinister and triuhtened, and he almost strode back to chase the bird away Still, it had as ht to eat as the fox did, he told hiht as he did
If he encountered the bird again, he’d look into its ht of it and hurried on through the woods, jaw set He didn’t want to be late arriving at Robert E Lee High School