Crow - The Awakening (42 page)

The forest was a great relief from the bad news the day before. As he romped through the underbrush he felt the tensions bleeding away. James had been a dear friend, but life continued on and was all around him. Steven determined that he would live his life as completely as his friend would have wanted him to. The brush caressed him softly as he barreled silently through it. He ran along the top of a fallen tree, then sprung off a sapling into the air and landed silently on the ground, and continued his run.

Without James and his unorthodox treatment, Steven decided he needed to try to hunt down the ingredients himself. Asherah was in the greenhouse that morning, but she said nothing as she tried to blend into the jungle when he walked in to check on his search. He could tell she really wanted to reach out to him, and she cried as she restrained herself, feeling his pain. But even hidden mostly out of sight, her presence was still intoxicating to Steven. He felt helpless to resist and yet knew that he must in order to continue his work without the distraction.

Out in the forest all that seemed unimportant. Life was so rich, even this close to the city, that trivial stuff just didn't seem to matter. The trees were ancient by relation, seeing people live and die for ages and yet they remained, still growing and still witnessing the cycle of life going on around them. He sprung from the forest floor onto one of the trees and scaled up it, rapidly accelerating as he grabbed its bark and pulled himself up into the canopy far above the ground. He navigated from tree to tree, keeping an eye below for ingredients for his tea and dropping down to collect what he could find.

It didn't take long for him to find most of the items on the list. After all, he used to help his godfather collect wild mushrooms and had been doing this sort of thing for years. The various other herbs and barks were also easy to find as the list was largely prepared from local items. The forest seemed to help him, guiding him as he searched. No ingredients were hidden, but presented themselves to him as he approached. One special ingredient proved elusive, though. It's a particular mushroom that only shows itself under very specific circumstances and grows in very specific places. Since it was not a culinary mushroom, Steven had never really paid attention to it, though he had seen it before.

He dropped down to the forest floor to get a closer look for the diminutive fungus. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed a shadow that seemed to flit from tree to tree. He ignored it, now suspecting that it was Asherah. After all, he would know if it was any of the natural creatures of the forest. Sighing, he stood up and surveyed the forest floor. He did, however, detect a presence that didn't belong. He snuck through the forest stealthily and peeked through the underbrush to see a man rooting through the leaves and ferns on the forest floor, picking up items and putting them in his pouch. Some of the mushrooms looked familiar and Steven decided the man looked harmless enough and stood up.

"Whoa!" The man almost fell on his backside, as startled as he was, and Steven reached out to keep him from falling over. "Dude, where did you come from?"

Steven pointed back through the forest. "That way. Can I see those?"

The man shook his head. "I didn't even hear you coming. You must be a ninja or something."

Steven grinned, looking at the curious man. "Or something."

"You wanted to see these?" The man held open his bag. Some of the mushrooms he had picked looked close but were not what Steven was looking for. Steven sighed and looked around. The tea would not work without that ingredient.

Steven looked back at the man, who was apparently a wild herbalist. "I'm trying to find this." He showed the list to the man.

"You're not a cop or anything, are you?" The man eyeballed him.

"Do I look like a cop?" Steven was just a kid after all. The man didn't answer but noticed a mushroom in Steven's bag.

"You get me some of those and I'll help you out," he said, pointing at the fungus.

"This? It grows everywhere." Steven looked down at the mushroom and gave it to him.

"Yeah, up where I can't get to." The man pointed up.

Steven forgot that not everyone climbed. He looked up, spotted some, and was about to climb up when he stopped, feeling rude all of a sudden. "Oh, yeah. Uhm, I'm Steven." He held out his hand.

"Philip." The man looked at him, eager to see just how he was going to get those mushrooms so high up as he absentmindedly shook Steven's hand.

Steven grinned at his new friend, then started up the tree rapidly, grabbing the bark and crevices in the tree with his feet and hands until he reached the bottom branches, then swung up through the canopy of branches to the cluster of mushrooms. He broke them off and put them in his bag, then looked down for a place to land and descended rapidly until he was about twenty
feet
up, then pushed off and landed softly on the forest floor without making a sound.

"You a monkey or something?" The man looked up the tree, dumbstruck by what he just saw.

"Naw. I just like climbing trees." Steven held out the fungus, eager to get the last component of his tea.

"That was incredible. I couldn't even dream of climbing up that." He patted the tree and tried to grab some of the bark, but it peeled off for him.

"No, no, no. Don't pull it out like that. Pull straight down, like this." Steven showed him, lifting himself off the ground and Philip pulled on the bark without ripping it off, but was unable to lift himself up.

"I just can't imagine climbing up like that. Wow." Philip walked around the tree looking up until his neck hurt. "You climbed that thing faster than I can run."

Steven had never really given it a second thought. He grew up in the treetops, so it was an everyday thing for him. He felt more comfortable up there in the canopy than on the ground.

Philip shook his head and looked at Steven. "You wanna help me with the rest of my gathering? We might come across some of your fungus out here."

Steven nodded and they spent the better part of the afternoon out there rooting around the underbrush and Steven climbing up in the trees. By the time they were ready to head back, Philip's bags were bulging.

"I run a little holistic apothecary in town. Did you drive here?" Philip asked as they were walking back to the trail.

"No, I took the bus then walked the rest of the way." Steven noticed his shadow darting from tree to tree. He couldn't spot her directly, but always out of the corner of his eyes. It was like she knew when he was looking directly in her direction and avoided being where he was about to look.

"Cool. I'll give you a ride then." They emerged from the forest onto a fire road and walked up to an old pickup truck that reminded him of his godfather's truck. The ride out of the forest was jerky and bumpy and Steven had to hold on tightly, but it wasn't long until they pulled out onto a gravel road, then finally onto a paved road and headed to town.

His little shop was a workshop at the end of his driveway in an older neighborhood of Seattle. Steven noted the sign on the door for his business, and as they entered he was assailed with a cornucopia of scents. It was almost dizzying. Herbs were hanging from the wall, packed in jars on shelves, and laid out on screens to dry. There were also large bins of various concoctions of herbs as well as rows of smaller bottles and essential oils. Steven looked around in awe. Sally's medicine pantry didn't hold a candle to this shop.

"Wow. This is just... wow." Steven looked around.

"I've spent years putting this all together. Everything has medicinal value. Virtually all vegetables - broccoli, tomatoes. Even hot peppers." He pointed to a string of dried chili peppers. "But I've collected the most natural and potent herbs I could collect or grow. Powerful stuff."

"I've mainly focused on mushrooms and stuff. I had no idea..." He walked around, engrossed by the diversity. With a diet like his, he had little need for medicines, but from what Philip told him, his diet was probably why.

Philip occupied himself with unloading his bag into trays to process later when some people walked in.

"I think you have customers, Philip." Steven pointed, only to be moved to the side rudely.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Philip walked out of the back. "I've complied with everything you asked me to."

"I'm sorry, sir, but it's been determined that you are selling medicine without a license," a stern looking woman told him.

"They're just herbs," Steven interjected. He suddenly felt that his chances of getting that last ingredient was at risk. Police officers filed into the small building with their weapons drawn as the woman gave him a withering stare, then turned her attention back to Philip. Steven was stunned. A raid...now...as if the man was some sort of rabid murderer? "What do you think he's going to do? Hit you with a mushroom?" Steven said, indignant.

"You've got to be kidding me," Philip said as one of the officers cuffed his hands behind his back. "I'm not selling drugs or anything. Just herbs. You can't do this."

The woman turned her attention to Steven and his bag of mushrooms and she pointed to him. Someone behind him suddenly grabbed his arms and pulled them back and put on cuffs before he could react. His bag was removed and pockets searched. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"We need you to come with us." The officer pulled him out of the shop and pushed him up against the car as another officer searched him more thoroughly and emptied his pockets and put them into a large bag.

"I haven't done anything. What are you arresting me for?" Steven was incredulous, looking around. This was not how he planned to end his day.

"You're not under arrest just yet. We are detaining you for questioning," the woman explained as he was stuffed into the back seat of the squad car. Philip was in another car and they looked at each other. He mouthed, "Sorry," as the car pulled away.

The interrogation room was little more than a large closet. There was a table bolted to the floor, a chair, and a plastic cup of water on the table. It was a little chilly in there, the lighting was greenish, and one of the fluorescent lights was flickering. Steven looked around wondering how much of this was on purpose to make him uncomfortable, and how much was just outright neglect. He figured the whole thing was to affect him psychologically. He frowned, wondering just what they expected from him.

A middle aged man wearing an inexpensive suit and tie walked in with a folder and sat down, reviewing the contents. He circled some items with a pen while Steven waited. "Okay, it looks like your ID checks out," he said circling another item on one of the pages. "Steven Crow, right?"

Steven nodded.

"Thirsty?" He pointed at the cup.

Steven shook his head.

The man looked at him for a second. The air was dehumidified and very dry. Usually that made stressed and uncomfortable suspects thirsty, which made it easier for them to collect DNA. "Fine. Okay. I just need to ask you a few questions about your relationship with Mr. Colin." He looked at the page again and raised an eyebrow. "I never noticed that before. Philip Colin." He grinned and shook his head as if to some internal joke. "Okay..."

"I don't have a relationship with Philip," Steven insisted.

"Apparently you did. You were at his home and had a bag full of his product."

"Those were my mushrooms. I collected them and came across Philip out there. He..." Steven hesitated. Psychoactive mushrooms weren't exactly on the approved list, "...wanted to show me his setup. I like herbs."

"What were the mushrooms for?" The man checked off something on the page.

"Culinary. I can give you a list of excellent recipes if you want," Steven offered. "The ones I had would be great sautéed and baked with fish."

"What ailment are you trying to treat?" the investigator pushed on.

"I'm not sick. Do I look sick?" Steven responded.

He leaned back and looked at Steven. "So you're selling him mushrooms?"

"If he were cooking up a steak, I'd happily give him some mushrooms," Steven insisted. Remembering what they said about licensing and medicine, he decided to stick with the culinary angle. "What's he supposed to have done?"

The investigator didn't answer as he continued. "What's the value of those mushrooms?"

"What mushrooms?"

"The ones in your bag." The investigator looked irritated for a second, but regained his monotone composure.

"I've never purchased mushrooms before. I don't know." Steven knew very well since he helped his godfather with his mushroom sales but also knew a trap when he saw one. "Are we almost done?"

"Just needing to verify some facts first. Are you feeling okay? You look a little tired." The investigator smiled amicably as he picked up his own glass of water and took a deep drink.

"I feel peachy," Steven responded dryly.

"Where do you work?" The investigator asked.

"I'm a minor. I don't work." Steven couldn't answer that with a more acerbic tone, remembering the unending frustration that little fact has caused him.

"What do you do?" The man flipped through some pages.

"I'm a student. I just graduated and am about to register for postgraduate classes," Steven lied.

The investigator looked up sharply trying to see if Steven was joking.

"Yeah, I get that a lot. I finished early. Big deal." Steven shrugged his shoulders.

"What do you do for extra cash?" the investigator pried.

"I repair computers sometimes," Steven answered. "If you have a trojan or anything, give me a call."

The man looked at the final page of questions, tapping his pen, then closed up the file and left the room. Steven sat there wondering how much longer he was going to have to stay there.

The woman came in and handed Steven a bag. "I'm sorry to have held you but we had to clear some things up."

Steven accepted his bag and looked in it. His bag of mushrooms was empty. "My mushrooms?"

"We're keeping those for testing," she answered curtly.

"Sure. Well, they are great with butter and oregano," Steven quipped, irritated to have a day's collection swiped like that. She rolled her eyes and stepped aside as Steven continued while walking out. "I like them with scrambled eggs, too. Or shredded as a garnish for grilled fish. They're also good in a sauce with sautéed onions and just a sprinkling of Burgundy."