Keeper of the Realms: Crow's Revenge (Book 1) (3 page)

With her mouth set in a determined line, she went from door to door, trying the handles and getting more and more frustrated as each successive door failed to open. Finally she found herself back at the smaller door that had led into the room.

‘Fine then, don’t open! See if I care!’ she grumped aloud.

Taking a last look at the strange room with all of its bewitching carvings, she sneaked back through the little door and hurried to check on her grandmother.

2

Cookies, Croissant and a Dark Visitor

Mr Crow sat alone at his desk. He was cracking his knuckles and using his long, ink-stained fingers to pick his nose. On sudden impulse the lawyer stood up and walked over to the enormous steel safe that loomed in one corner of the room. Entering the safe’s combination, he opened the door and stared at all the money stacked high inside.

‘Lovely, lovely,’ he crooned. His dark eyes blinked slowly as he ran his knobbly fingers gently up and down each bundled tower of notes. With the smell of money still lingering in his nostrils he locked the safe and returned to his paperwork and nose-picking. But his concentration was broken a few moments later when the safe gave a little tremor. Looking up, Crow stared at the steel casket with puzzled concern.

His safe certainly shouldn’t tremor.

Giving it a sharp look, the lawyer returned his attention to Charlie’s latest bank statements.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the safe shake and quiver for a second time.

Knitting his brow in puzzlement, Mr Crow stood up to investigate. Reaching for the door, he yelped and then fell over on his backside in alarm as the safe began to clamour and boom as though caught in an earthquake.

As the noise coming from the safe reached a crescendo, the study lights began to flicker and dim. Suddenly it fell silent, although not for long.

‘Open the door,’ commanded a voice that issued forth like rumbling thunder.

Crow stared at the safe. It sounded like the voice was coming from inside, but that was impossible.

‘Open the door, you bumbling Human, or face my wrath!’

The blood drained from Crow’s face. ‘Who’s that speaking? Who’s there?’ squeaked the lawyer.

‘You chittering, chattering fool! Open this Portal or I shall suck the marrow from your spindly bones and squish your brain!’ threatened the dark, growling voice.

The lawyer’s hands shook as he reached for the safe’s lock and entered the combination. With a violently trembling arm, Mr Crow pulled back the door.

The money had disappeared. In its place a dark shadowy figure emerged … and kept on emerging and emerging.

It was a man, or at least it looked like one. But Crow had never seen anyone as large as this before. The figure almost filled the room, towering over the desk and making the lanky lawyer look tiny in comparison. For the first time in his life Crow felt fear. Fear that snatched at his bladder, fear that sent cold waves screaming up his spine and locked all his muscles into a spasm. This … thing that now stood in his study could not be Human.

‘You will do as I warrant, you little wretch,’ spoke the hulking figure. ‘Fail to please me and I shall tear your skin into lengths, rip your hair into twine and use your fingernails as buttons. I will make you into a garment to be worn. Do I have your attention, you little squashy maggot?’

‘Yes, yes, yes!’ stammered Mr Crow. ‘All my attention, all of it, you’ve got it, yes, yes.’

‘Stop your babbling.’

Mr Crow’s jaw clamped shut. He stared at the menacing figure. It was almost as wide as it was tall, wrapped head to toe in black bandages, its head covered by a heavy cowl. Crow quailed as he stared into the dark depths of the hood’s shadow.

‘There is something that I desire and you, little maggot, shall be of use in my hunt for it.’

The figure continued to talk. Mr Crow, dwarfed by the hulking figure, grovelled and nodded his head in quick
agreement as the newcomer laid out his demands. At one point Crow interrupted, ‘But how will I recognize this if I’ve never seen one before?’

‘I will send one of my Shades with a sketch of its likeness. You may bide your time until then, but bear this in mind, little worm: I will suffer no failure on your part. Fail to please me and your life will be forfeit.’

Mr Crow gulped.

‘Understood?’

‘Y-yes!’

‘Yes, what?’ growled the figure.

‘Yes, er, lord?’

‘Good.’ The giant nodded his head. Turning, he strode towards the safe and, placing one oversized foot inside, he paused. ‘Something to remember me by, little worm.’ He upended his fist and a scattering of rubies tinkled across the wooden floor. ‘But a word of caution, greedy Human. My generosity is great, both in reward and in pain.’

Turning once more, the giant climbed back into the safe. One of his bulging arms reached out and pulled the safe door shut with a quiet click.

Mr Crow wiped cold sweat from his brow. He took an unsteady step forward, then hastily sat down in a heap before his shaking legs gave out. Surrounded by glinting rubies, his heart still hammering in his chest, he let out a long, long sigh.

The weekend arrived and Charlie had seen nothing more of the mysterious green Jensen from Bellania. Also, despite
endless searching, she hadn’t been able to find the strange domed room where he had disappeared.

She stumbled into the kitchen for breakfast. As usual, her hair was a mess.

‘Good morning, Charlie, my scruffy little angel. Now then, who’s got a kiss for her gran?’

Charlie gave her grandmother a hug and a big kiss.

‘Ooh, what a sweetie you are! And what have you got planned for today, poppet?’

Charlie sat on a stool as her gran took out a big wooden comb and began to pull the knots from Charlie’s bedraggled hair. Even though she did this every day, it was still a mess.

‘I’m going over to Tina’s. Her mum’s going to drive us to gymnastics, so we’re going to hang there for a bit, then spend the afternoon chilling back at her house.’

‘That’s nice, poppet. Be sure to be home before dark, OK?’

‘Of course, Gran,’ said Charlie. ‘Ouch! Have you finished with my hair, or were you planning on pulling all of it out by its roots?’

‘Oh, Charlie!’ laughed her gran. ‘Don’t be such a baby. I’m just making you presentable. It’s important, you know.’

‘Hhmpf.’

‘Your mother always complained as well.’ Gran’s laughter tinkled across the kitchen. ‘All right, there you go, my pet. Now then, off you run.’

Charlie, with her hair combed into two crazy-looking pigtails, gave her gran another hug. Sliding off the stool, she grabbed a croissant from the table and scampered for the door. Turning to say goodbye, she saw a familiar slackness shudder across her gran’s face.

‘Charlie! Good morning, my little angel. And where are you off to this beautiful day?’

Charlie struggled not to let her despair show. Running back to her gran, she gave her another big hug.

‘Nowhere special, Gran, nowhere special.’

Running out of the kitchen, she almost bumped into Mr Crow, who casually slapped her round the back of the head in passing.

‘Clumsy girl, watch where you step,’ he snarled.

Charlie’s turquoise eyes narrowed. ‘Sorry,’ she forced herself to say.

‘Sorry what?’

‘Sorry, sir,’ she grumbled.

Her reluctance did not go unnoticed by the lawyer. ‘Just remember, my little filly,’ he hissed, too low for her grandmother to hear, ‘if you don’t play ball with me I’ll have social services take you away. Then you really will be an orphan and your dear grandmother will have to look after herself. Now get out of my way.’

Charlie hurried down the corridor, feeling sick to the stomach and full of unvoiced anger. She hated confrontations with Mr Crow and despised his constant barbs about her missing parents. She still couldn’t believe that they had been in her life one day and then gone the next without even the smallest clue as to what had happened to them.

Part of the reason she hated Crow so much was that she was sure he knew more than he was telling her about their disappearance. He said he had organized an investigation – and she had certainly signed a form to pay for one – but not one policeman or detective had ever spoken to Charlie.

Stepping out of the house, she let loose a sigh as the front door shut quietly behind her. She began to feel better as she headed further away. By the time she reached Tina’s a smile had appeared on her face. She always enjoyed gymnastics and loved working on new acrobatic moves.

Tina answered the door to Charlie’s knock. ‘So, are you ready, then?’ she asked, hopping from one foot to the next. ‘I’m super excited!’

‘Of course! Anything that gets me out of the house and Crow’s way sounds good.’

‘Is that skinny old idiot still being a pain?’ asked Tina with a grimace as they went into her bedroom. ‘My neighbour had a run-in with him yesterday. Crow clobbered the poor man around the head with his umbrella when he didn’t move out of the way fast enough.’

‘Yeah, that sounds like the miserable fool,’ sighed Charlie. ‘I wish I was big enough to tie his skinny legs together.’

‘Ha! That’s at least a couple more years away, unless you’re planning on having a huge growth spurt,’ laughed Tina. ‘Come on now. I’ve got to go tell my mum we’re ready.’

Charlie always enjoyed being around Tina, who had a knack of making her forget about her home and all the problems it contained. They walked into the kitchen, where Tina’s mum was sitting at the table with her laptop.

‘Hiya, Mrs Bagley. How are you?’

‘Charlie, how wonderful to see you. I’m well, thank you. I’m guessing this means you’re ready to go, so why don’t you both grab a cookie for the car journey and we’ll be on our way?’

They filed out of the house, with Tina talking excitedly about gymnastics.

As she sat in the back of the car, Charlie thought back to her odd meeting with Jensen the previous weekend.

‘Mrs Bagley, have you ever heard of a place called Bellania?’ she asked.

‘Bellania? No, I don’t think I have. Transylvania sure, but never Bellania. Why, is it in Russia somewhere?’ she asked.

‘I’m not sure myself, Mrs Bagley. I heard it mentioned recently, on the telly, and I just wondered where it was.’

‘Maybe it was a movie or something,’ said Tina. ‘It doesn’t sound like a real place. Bit like you still believing in dragons, isn’t it?’

‘But dragons are real!’ protested Charlie.

‘Sure they are,’ chuckled Tina. Reaching over, she gave Charlie a playful punch on the shoulder.

3

An Angry Giant

Mr Crow was quietly sitting in his office. He couldn’t stop fidgeting. Every once in a while he would turn round and stare with nervous eyes at the safe. Going up to it, he would reach out to unlock the door, but each time his hand would start shaking so violently that he would have to return to his desk, sit down and wait for his nerves to calm down. Crow was fiercely annoyed. Fear of huge bulking giant had finally conquered his love for money and now he dared not open the safe, not even to play with his money.

Sitting there with his head held in his hands, the lawyer didn’t see the Shade as it slid under the door. However, the sudden drop in the study’s temperature caused Mr Crow to look up.