Call of the Raven (7 page)

“I’m not gonna beg to get out of it Asher,
besides I enjoy every opportunity I get to throw you around.”

“We’ll see about that.” Asher’s smirk quickly
faded. “Ten years of putting up with your defiance is getting
rather annoying. I wonder what would happen if I decided to take
the keys to your new car. What would you do then hotshot?”

“Be my guest and while you’re at it drop it
off at the body shop. The garage door decided to jump in my way
when I was parking. By the way, you might want to do something
about that icy patch on the drive.”

Asher muttered something under his breath and
exhaled heavily. Nixon noticed it, the scent of mints drifting his
way and knew that Asher had a tendency to consume a whole tin of
them whenever he was nervous or really angry, and at this point in
time he smelled pretty minty.

Nixon knew he was treading on dangerous
ground since Asher was a master of practically every form of
martial arts there was. He made it his daily regiment to spend
hours in both physical and mental erudition. Asher never stopped
learning or practicing ever, but then that never stopped Nixon.

“What will it take boy, me putting you in
your place before you learn to respect authority?”

“Authority has to be worthy of respect
first,” Nixon dared. Asher shot a set of angry red eyes his way. No
matter how disturbing they were, especially after his dream, Nixon
made a special point to show that Asher’s eyes didn’t bother
him.

“If you want the car back the keys are on the
dresser. Take them and go so I can get some sleep.” Nixon noticed
Kennedy in the doorway and closed his eyes. He had figured the
little snitch would go squealing to her master when he saw her
sitting on the stairs. Asher hopped off the desk and crossing the
room snatched the keys off the dresser.

“Oh come on Asher.” Nixon slapped the
mattress top. He hadn’t really expected him to call his bluff. “You
don’t even drive. What are you going to do with a car?”

“Sell it.” Asher deposited the keys into his
pocket on his way out the door.

“You don’t always have to do what he says,”
Nixon told Kennedy once Asher had left. “It’s not like he really
cared about the meeting.”

“The meeting was cancelled. It was ten years
ago that Grant died.” She crossed to the window. “He went out there
again looking for him like he does every year since.”

“Oh, I see. In other words he went looking
for Grant’s ghost again. Man he really has lost his mind.”

“Nixon,” Kennedy said. “Asher won’t leave
Brokenridge. He won’t shift either because he thinks it drains his
magic.”

“Asher’s magic is his shield. He thinks it
will protect him from the Raven but what’s that got to do with
anything?”

“
I know
what Asher believes,” she
turned her brilliant green eyes on him. “Don’t you care about
anyone but yourself?”

“Actually at the moment all I care about is
getting some sleep.” Nixon yawned and reaching behind him, fluffed
his pillow. “But, since it looks like you’re planning on hanging
around, you wanna tell me what’s up?”

“I’m worried Nixon, some real crazy things
are going on.” She had his full attention now. “Someone broke into
Asher’s office and hit him on the head. I found him lying on the
floor knocked out cold this morning.”

Disbelievingly, Nixon shook his head. “That’s
just crazy. He’s a paranoid obsessive compulsive mental nut case
who changes his security codes daily, and there’s enough magic
circling this house to zap the first person who tried to get in
without his consent. How could you possibly expect me to believe
that?”

Kennedy faced him. “It is true. I felt the
lump on his head. He was knocked out cold!” she repeated with
emphasis. “I just don’t get it. I do everything for him and he
doesn’t even call me by my name. To him, I’m girl while you treat
him with disdain and…” she trailed off when she noticed his smiling
face.

He leaned back against his pillow as her eyes
narrowed in thought. “I can’t believe it, you vain manipulative
little snot,” he accused. “You pretend to care for him but truth is
all you want from Asher is a ticket to spring break freedom.”

Kennedy sighed, her thoughtful expression
turning somber as she stared out his bedroom window. “You’re just
like him, cold and selfish but you’re wrong Nixon. I do care.”

“Fine, look if you don’t have a reason to be
in my room I can give you one or,” he quickly added when she glared
at him, “Since I get the feeling you do, you can just tell me
what’s wrong?”

Folding her arms over her chest, Kennedy
tapped a few angry beats with her sneakered foot before she focused
her attention back on him. “Ari didn’t come home last night and
Asher senses something’s wrong. He wants us to go look for him.
That’s what’s wrong.”

Nixon shrugged, “So what, he’s probably
telling Trisha good morning about now.”

“He’s not at the Plaza or the office.”

“Wait,” Nixon sat up and dropped his legs
over the side of the bed, “are you telling me that Ari missed the
Pillar Council meeting?”

“Nixon wake up and smell the coffee. I just
told you it was cancelled.”

“Yeah, but Ari wouldn’t have known that. Did
anyone call him?”

“Linn did. She said Ari was on his way home
to attend the meeting.”

“See, so he wouldn’t have known the meeting
was cancelled.” When Kennedy didn’t get his meaning, he rolled his
eyes at her. “Asher mentioned yesterday that his cell was missing,
so I used the payphone at the bar to call the house, but the house
phones were dead. Ari wouldn’t have been able to reach anyone,
unless Linn called him back herself to let him know the meeting was
cancelled.”

“She said she tried to call him last night to
complain about Asher but he didn’t pick up, and if you were using
the bar phone, does that mean your cellphone’s missing too?”

He gave her a nod. “What about yours?”

Kennedy slapped her hands at her sides. “I
put it on my dresser and now it’s gone and it was a gift too.”

“What makes you think that Ari didn’t go home
with someone?” he asked. Nixon knew though. Ari had been worried
about certain matters pertaining to the Union, and he would have
done everything within his power to get to that meeting, even if it
meant risking the weather to get there.

Looking out the window, Nixon noticed to his
misfortune, the sun was up revealing the truth of the storm. Thick
layers of snow blanketed the ground and weighed down the pine
boughs that bordered the woods. The service lane that led back to
the lake was completely concealed and he knew that the roads
couldn’t be much better.

“You know I really am tired,” he yawned.
Kennedy’s head snapped sideways and her glare expressed her
disgust. “But neither of us will have a moments peace until we know
for sure that Ari’s not out there somewhere. I got back all right
but not without problems.”

“That actually gives me some morsel of
hope.”

“Well don’t give me too much credit I really
did wreck the car into the garage, and I didn’t exactly wait for
the gate to open either.”

Nixon moved to the window and lifted it. The
wintry air that rushed in made him shiver. It blew the novel he had
been reading off the nightstand, and his lamp toppled over
sideways. Kennedy righted it and bent over to pick up the book. He
cringed when her eyes widened in amazement, catching sight of the
title. He guessed he wasn’t the
Gone with the Wind
type.

“Just what do you think you’re doing?” She
sat the book on the bed, looking back and forth between him and the
outdoors. Nixon smiled his answer. Realizing his intentions,
Kennedy started to swing her head radically back and forth.

“We can take my car Nixon. I think that was
more what Asher had in mind.”

“That little toy Cooper wouldn’t make it out
of the drive in this.” He removed the items off his desk, a huge
calendar which he never used, obviously, or he would have
remembered the meeting, a pencil sharpener and the lamp, and tossed
them on the bed.

“But you can’t exactly fly in this storm
either and you’ve been drinking. How do you know you can even
shift?” Kennedy went to the window and tried to lower it, but Nixon
gently pushed her aside. “Come on Nixon, have some sense in your
head for once in your life. You can’t fly. I…I won’t let you.”

Nixon winked at her. “Just watch me
babe.”

Despite the fact he was a fowler he still
possessed an inborn form which was the Peregrine falcon. Kennedy
had seen it many times. What about a gull? Nah, that was too
unassuming when an eagle would impress her so much more, except
they didn't fly well in storms. Sparrows were good at buffeting the
harsher winds, but what was the point of being a fowler if he
couldn't show off his business.

Sitting on the desk, Nixon shifted into an
eagle and launched out the window into the air, changing into a
sparrow only once he was out of sight. Behind him Kennedy shouted
for him to come back.

“Nixon darn you, we’re supposed to go
together!”

Chapter Five

Discovery

Snowflakes blasted Nixon
in the face
as he frantically flapped his wings against the fierce winds.
Funny
, he thought. He only had a few drinks but his smaller
form definitely struggled with the adverse effects. His tiny heart
pattered madly and he was having a hard time judging the distance
between tree branches. He nearly missed one that could have easily
pierced his heart.

The blustery weather was far more forceful
than Nixon had anticipated so he shifted into a falcon. With more
strength he was able to rise quickly to find the airstream.

Spreading his wings and tail feathers he
steadied himself slowly and began to allow his body to drift
downward, gliding in big circular patterns. During this time he
used his superior eyesight to scan the roads below searching for
Ari’s silver Nissan GT-R. When he had covered a fair amount of
ground, he rose up and started the process all over again. On his
second sweep his eyes caught movement.

Closing his wings, Nixon plummeted to the
ground, his streamline body acting as a mini-torpedo. As he passed
over the tiger’s backside he grabbed fur with his right talon. The
tiger’s mouth opened in a loud roar of warning and sunlight flashed
off two large canines. In ani-shift form, unlike pale Linn, Kennedy
was an orange Bengal tiger and she was beautiful. Nixon banked
upward to put himself out of the reach of an angry paw, and he
caught a glimpse of glistening metal.

Again he began a descent. This time he
allowed the air to cushion his landing in the center of the snow
laden road. Shifting back was a shock once Nixon realized he had
failed to think about grabbing a coat, and the brutal wind was
playing havoc with his thin tee-shirt. He had to move quickly and
not just for his sake. Ari’s car lay in a ditch at the side of the
road, and the windshield was completely covered in snow. Apparently
it had been there awhile.

Nixon heard the growl first before he spun
around and felt the power of the tiger as it pounced on top of him.
Even though the ground was covered with snow, it came hard
underneath him. Grabbing fur, Nixon pushed the tigers fangs back
away from his face. She never meant him any true harm, but either
way, a full-grown tiger on top of him was pretty frightening.

“Get off me tigress, I don’t have time for
fun,” he teased as she changed back into girl-form. Having Kennedy
suddenly on top of him was even more of a shocker than the tiger,
especially when he stared upward into her green eyes.

“Why do you always have to be so annoying?”
She looked down at him. Her long orange-red hair fell forward,
surrounding her thin perfect face. Snow clung to it and it smelled
of something flowery. A slow smile crossed Nixon’s lips. Maybe
having Kennedy on top of him wasn’t so bad after all. He definitely
was a lot warmer.

“Even under the current circumstances, I find
this
very
pleasurable.” On impulse Nixon wrapped his arms
around Kennedy’s waist. With one deft move she elbowed him in the
ribs, and then proceeded to use his chest as a means to push
herself off his body.

He grunted with each jab, realizing she was
intentionally trying to cause him discomfort. Kennedy put her arms
over her coated chest and watched him as he stood and brushed snow
from his backside.

When he turned in the direction of the car
she let out a gasp of recognition and headed for the ravine.
Reaching out and grabbing her by the wrist, he pulled her back. A
part of him was jealous that she was so concerned for Ari, the
other was just as concerned, but he knew the part that always
won.

“I think I should probably have a look
first,” he told her. “It looks as though his car has been there a
few hours.”

“So is Ari in there or not?” she barked.

“Give me a moment, your highness; I haven’t
even reached the car yet.” Nixon no more finished his words when he
heard a cracking sound and realized too late that he was standing
on ice. He slid, lost his balance, and even though it was his
bottom that hit the hard frozen ground, the pain racked upward to
his head.

Tired of his futile attempts, Kennedy marched
down the ravine, sliding her feet under the snow to keep in contact
with the ground. Hitting a slippery spot she stiffened and slid the
remainder of the way, right into the driver’s side door.

She tried the handle but the door refused to
give. Looking as though she were about to cry, she sent a pleading
look his way. Sighing, he started for her. He could tell by the way
the car was wrapped around the tree that Ari had lost control.

The sweet smell of antifreeze filled his
nostrils. He trudged to the window and with a bare hand wiped away
the two inches of snow accumulated there. Once he cleared a big
enough spot, Nixon leaned over and pressed his face against the
glass. There was no sign of Ari.