Crow - The Awakening (29 page)

A large bear suddenly emerged from the underbrush, ambling over to where Steven was hiding, and Steven had to scoot out of its way as it re-entered the forest while giving him a solid bump, knocking him over and out of the underbrush with its massive shoulder as it moseyed by. Steven could swear he saw a grin on the bear as it looked at him and grunted. His cover blown, he clambered to his feet and turned to the couple who were still frozen, and waved sheepishly at them.

"Um...hi?" Steven offered, resisting the temptation to give the bear a swift kick for outing him as he picked his bag up off the ground. The lady waved as if automatically as they stared at the bear that silently disappeared back into the forest. There was a can of pepper spray sitting by them but they had been taken so much by surprise they did little more than gape. Steven coughed and they seemed to wake up and notice him. The lady's eyes got big as she realized that he'd been knocked down by the bear.

"Are you okay?" the man asked, concerned for his safety as the woman reached down for the pepper spray and held it close while she scanned the forest for the bear.

"What? Me?" Steven was a little taken aback by the question. "Well, the bear did knock me over but I think he did that on purpose."

They both looked at him, so Steven tried to explain. "I was just passing by and saw you and the bear saw me hiding in the bush and..." he trailed off, realizing how that would sound to people who had no idea how connected he was to the forest. "Um. Yeah. I'm okay," he answered, nodding.

"Come here," the lady whispered loudly, waving him over with her free hand. Steven looked around then walked over. She grabbed his hand and looked past him at where the bear had gone. "You're safe now. The bear is gone."

"No, he's hanging out about fifty feet that way eating some berries." Steven pointed. He noticed their quizzical look and it dawned on him that these were not his godparents or people who knew him. "But we're safe. Really," he assured them. They looked at each other. Steven suddenly felt awkward and coughed, looking around uncomfortably. This encounter wasn't planned in the first place, and now it was getting just plain weird.

"Well, I should be going now. I'm really sorry to have bothered you." Steven walked over and picked up his staff, then started back into the forest to where the bear was. The berries appealed to him. He was starting to get hungry again, and some berries to go with his remaining mushrooms sounded like a good dinner.

"Wait!" the woman called after him as he started to slip into the forest after the bear. She looked at the man then back to him. "Are you... hungry?"

"Well, I was going to grab some of those berries before the bear hogs them all," Steven answered, looking over his shoulder. He started walking again. He had no idea how many were left on the bushes.

"Want some fish?" the woman offered quickly. Steven stopped and looked back. Did they actually seem concerned for him? But the fish offer did sound tempting.

"Well, that does sound pretty good." Steven's stomach grumbled. He looked over where the berries were then decided the fish made for a better dinner tonight. "I'd really hate to be a bother, though."

"No bother at all," the man said, waving him over.

Steven walked up and looked at the fish. Trout, and plenty large enough. “I’ve got some mushrooms that might go good with that,” he offered, putting his backpack down and digging in one of the pockets. He pulled out some of the mushrooms that he had picked earlier in the day.

"That sounds yummy." The man looked at the mushrooms, examining them. "Yeah, these are edible."

"You know mushrooms?" Steven grinned. "Cool."

"I'm Charley Windsong, and this is Sarah," Charley introduced himself, reaching out a hand.

Steven shook it. It was still wet from the fish and he smiled as Charley realized it just as Steven shook it. "Oops, sorry," Charley said as he grabbed a rag and handed it to Steven.

"No problem," Steven smiled, laughing as he wiped his hand. "I'm Steven."

He knelt down and started cleaning one of the fish. Sarah stared at him for a moment, a perplexed look on her face.

"Why weren't you afraid of the bear?" she asked directly.

"Why?" Steven asked reflexively, looking up as he finished the fish. Charley retrieved it and they walked over to the grill and he pulled out his seasoning kit and got to work grilling the fish.

Sarah didn't know how to answer that. She started to respond, but stopped herself. She thought to answer 'because it was a bear,' but didn't want to appear rude. Such a strange kid, she thought to herself.

"So, where are you headed?" Charley asked, making small talk as he cooked up the fish.

"Seattle," Steven answered, sitting down in one of the chairs they had positioned by the grill. The fish smelled good. Steven handed Charley more of the mushrooms and he prepared and grilled those too.

"You're walking there?" Sarah looked shocked.

"Well, yeah." Steven was actually running but that was close enough. "It's not that bad though."

"Through the forest?" Charley looked at him, noting the leaves that clung to him.

"All by yourself?" Sarah asked, looking at Charley then back at Steven.

Steven nodded, perplexed. "Of course." He shook his head and looked at them. "Why?"

"Don't get us wrong. We love nature and everything. But the bears. Mountain lions. Wolves," Charley explained, listing off possible dangers of walking through the forest.

"Snakes," Sarah added.

Steven opened his mouth then shut it. Explaining that would probably take all night, so he just shrugged.

"Well, you're just going to have to ride with us," Sarah said as she picked a third plate from their picnic basket and handed the plates to Charley. "We're going back tomorrow."

"Oh, that's okay. Really. Going through the forest is no problem for me." Steven felt sheepish all of a sudden.

"Don't be silly. It's no problem at all," Charley said. Sarah nodded emphatically. Steven looked at them for a moment, humbled by their generosity. Suddenly he didn't feel so alone. A ride to town would save him a lot of time, too. He smiled as he received his plate. The fish smelled delicious.

"Well, okay then. Thanks," Steven said, then dug into the fish. He was famished and it wasn't long before his plate was cleaned off. They sat back and enjoyed the evening as their food digested.

"Do you play guitar?" Charley asked. Sarah disappeared into the RV and emerged with a couple of guitars.

"A little." Steven wiped his hands and took one of the guitars and tuned it. Charley and Sarah smiled at each other as Charley tuned the other guitar.

"So, what do you want to play?" Charley looked at Steven.

Steven grinned. "Have you heard of the little teapot song?"

Sarah and Charley stared at him.

"Just kidding." He absentmindedly strummed on the guitar and realized that he was playing the song that Asherah used to sing to him. He stopped abruptly.

"That was beautiful!" Sarah exclaimed. "Play it again."

Steven looked down at the guitar. He really didn't want to. It reminded him of Asherah. But he didn’t want to disappoint his hosts. So after a moment to collect himself, he began playing the song again. Charley joined in and Sarah improvised words to the song, her lilting voice filling the forest as they strummed away. Steven smiled and helped with the lyrics since he knew the song well, though Sarah was confused by the Elvish. Steven said it was Gaelic and she seemed satisfied and went with it. Her tone wasn't quite the Celtic sound Steven had grown accustomed to from Asherah, but her own quirky lilt added a new quality to the song and it wasn't long before Steven was lost in it, not realizing that he was singing to a love that was, to him, a fantasy. Fantasy or not, he still liked the song and apparently his hosts did too.

The sun set on them as they worked that song out then played several others. Steven couldn't help but remember his evenings with Sally and Jonah, and how similar this one was. He was homesick, but at the same time, thankful for Charley and Sarah. It was like life knew that he would be all alone and stepped in to fill the void. Sarah even looked remarkably like Sally.

After they cleaned up the dishes, Steven started off into the forest.

"Where are you going?" Sarah asked.

"There's a good spot over there for me to sleep for the night," Steven said, hiking his backpack up.

"We have room inside the RV."

Steven smiled. "No, that's okay. I'll be fine." He disappeared into the woods before she could respond. He preferred the forest to a cramped RV and didn't know how to explain to them that he was perfectly safe. There was not an animal in the forest that would harm him.

Sarah stood there for a few moments, then walked back to Charley who had finished cleaning off the grill. Steven had a feeling they would have some questions for him the next morning. The bear met him in the forest and followed him to his chosen spot where he folded the ferns over to form a little bed and laid down for the night. The bear grunted and lay down nearby, keeping watch. Steven reached out and scratched it behind the ears. He appreciated the bear, but didn't sense anything in the forest that would remotely be a threat to him. It did occur to him that during his trot through the forest he was almost never alone, as if the forest was protecting him. From what, he had no idea. But he still felt very safe nonetheless, and for the first time in a couple of days, he felt at peace.

The lights in the house were still on. Lohet stood by the workshop, looking around the corner at the Crow's home. There was a person still there. They had stayed out of sight and waited through the day for the rest of the agents to finish their search of the home.

Migalo crouched on the roof of the shop, looking over the rest of the property. Sirel was somewhere high above. Penipe was right outside the house looking in through the windows. They had been waiting for a while and the occupant was showing no sign of being in a hurry to leave. Sirel landed beside Lohet, grabbing his sleeve as she leaned against him.

"The house is bugged," Lohet said.

Sirel nodded. She could detect both audio and video bugs.

"Loop the video output and disable the bugs. We can't wait any longer."

Sirel giggled and skipped across the yard to where Penipe stood. She grabbed a piece of equipment from Penipe's belt and calibrated it, then stuck it to the porch support. Penipe looked back at Lohet who nodded. She slipped silently into the house, sneaking up behind the man who was sitting on the couch flipping through a magazine. She looked at him for a moment, then just barely touched his face. He fell limp almost instantly.

"There's no vehicle here. Someone may come to retrieve this person," Lohet said, seemingly materializing next to Penipe as if from a mist. The rush of air from his sudden arrival blew papers off the table. "We need to be quick."

The three split up, searching the house for clues. In spite of the effort by the agents to put things back in order, they could tell that the house had already been thoroughly rifled through. Lohet frowned, knowing that others were hot on Steven's heels, too. He found the college transcripts and put them in a bag and continued the search.

Penipe found more drawings in Steven's bedroom and flipped through them, gasping. He had documented Asherah through the years and Penipe was able to see her grow up from a young child to a young teenager by the progression of drawings. It dismayed her that Steven had seen more of her growing up than her own mother. Penipe touched the pictures, crying and missing her daughter. Sirel came up behind her, hopped on the bed and looked over her shoulder at the drawings.

"Will I see her again?" Penipe asked as she stared at the pictures. Sirel didn't answer. They both knew that the odds were against them. Instead, Sirel embraced her from behind, wrapping her arms around Penipe's shoulders and squeezing tightly. After a moment, Penipe wiped her eyes and put the drawings in a bag and patted Sirel's hands. "Did you finish the other room?"

"Of course, Penny," Sirel answered softly, moving around to Penipe's side and holding her hand. Penipe smiled wistfully at her friend, wondering which question she was answering.

"We need to leave, then." Penipe looked around Steven's room again. There wasn't much more there that they didn't already know.

Outside they met by the workshop. Sirel had extracted the jamming device and the bugs were reactivated. Penipe accessed the spying devices with her computer and tied the bugs into her own surveillance system so they could see and hear everything their owners could. They waited briefly to see that their presence had not been detected. The agent had woken up and was trying hard not to nod off while he waiting for his ride. Other than that, all was quiet.

"We must go to Seattle," Lohet stated the obvious. Migalo growled in distaste and the girls looked at each other. The big city was very hard on them. It was devoid of life, which they found extremely unpleasant. "Sirel, go get our infiltration kits," Lohet continued. They were going to have to pass as Terran. He would need makeup and Migalo and Penipe needed a shave. Sirel was actually the most Terran looking of the quartet, as long as she didn't smile widely. There were faux teeth she could wear but she hated them.

"Same safehouse?" Sirel asked.

"Yes," Lohet answered. They had a residence they used the last time they were there that was close to the outskirts of the city and near the forest. With a little whoosh of air, Sirel disappeared up in the sky. They watched her disappear in the night sky for a moment, then likewise disappeared in the forest.

The agent looked out through the window, peering into the darkness then at his watch, then sat back on the couch and picked up a magazine. He was rather surprised that he dozed off and hoped he wasn't in trouble with his boss.

"All done!" Steven sat back on the RV bench, looking at the last page of the finals he just finished taking on his laptop. He hadn't planned on completing them this soon and figured he would do it once he got to Seattle. But after finding Sarah and Charley, he suddenly had a case of nostalgia and got motivated to go ahead and get the tests out of the way. Once he got to Seattle, he was sure the resulting degree would be useful when he started the internship program and may even help him command a higher wage.