around,” said Selina, obviously mistaking his gaze for fear. “It’s safe.”
She jumped on the boat, and Caw followed her. It rocked slightly under his weight. Selina went to the padlocked cabin door and took something out of her pocket, her tongue held between her teeth in concentration as she worked at the padlock.
“What’s that?” he said.
“Swiss army knife,” said Selina. “Never leave home without it.” With a click, the lock cracked open. She grinned and began to unloop a chain from the door handle. The sound was deafening against the river’s silence. “How d’you think I got through your back door?”
“Maybe we shouldn’t …” said Caw.
“Chill out,” said Selina, heading inside. Caw shot a glance around, just in case, then crept after her. She was already crouched beside one of the boxes, using another of the knife’s tools to prise open the lids. She strained for a second, and it popped open. Caw saw stacks of tins inside.
“Urgh! Mushroom soup,” said Selina. She moved on to the next. “That’s more like it!” she said. “Biscuits!” She stood up and tossed two packets to Caw. He caught them clumsily and put them in his inside pocket. At least they would make the crows happy.
“Hey, look what I found!” said Selina. She was kneeling over a crate containing some sort of round fruit. She tossed one to Caw.
He caught it, and sank his teeth into the flesh. Juice exploded in his mouth.
“Wow!” he said. “What is it?”
Selina snorted through her nose. “You’ve never had a peach before?”
Caw shook his head, taking another bite. “This is the best thing I’ve ever—”
A crow’s shriek split the air above. Selina jumped, and Caw heard Shimmer from outside. Danger! she squawked.
Caw dropped the remains of the peach and grabbed Selina’s hand. “Someone’s coming,” he hissed.
“How do you know that?” whispered Selina.
He was just beginning to creep back towards the cabin door, when he felt the boat shift again beneath his feet. Someone else had climbed on board. He pointed towards the back of the cabin. “Hide!” he said. Selina looked terrified, but did as he said, sneaking out of sight behind a stack of crates.
Caw noticed there was a smaller door to the rear of the cabin. He stabbed a finger towards it and Selina nodded. As Caw peered through the crack in the main door, he saw two figures standing on the prow.
They weren’t police – he could see that at once. One was a woman – it was hard to tell how old – wearing ill-fitting patchwork clothes of several textures and styles. She had wild hair sticking up at strange angles and her top teeth peeked out over her lip. The person at her side couldn’t have been more different. He was impeccably dressed in a white suit so bright it seemed to glow. He must have been about fifty and his slightly jowly, lined face would have been friendly but for his small, chilly blue eyes. He wore a white cowboy hat.
The woman twitched. “We-we-we know you’re in there!” she stammered in a high-pitched voice. “C-c-come out, little boy.”
Caw’s breath was building in his lungs, and he tried to let it out slowly. He knew he could probably get away with the help of the crows, but what about Selina? The woman had only said “little boy” – perhaps they didn’t even know Selina was inside. He had to cause a distraction so she could escape.
He pushed the door open slowly and stepped out. “Who are you?” he said, trying to sound unafraid.
“Allow us to introduce ourselves,” drawled the man in the white suit. He took off his hat, and beneath it his hair was white too and neatly combed.
“My name is Mr Silk, and this esteemed lady goes by the name of Pinkerton.”
“What do you want?” said Caw. He looked around for his crows, ready to give the word.
“A few birds aren’t going to help you now,” said the man.
Caw flinched. If they knew he was the crow talker, that could only mean one thing.
“You’re ferals,” he said.
The woman with the wild hair began to chuckle, and the deck came alive, shifting in many parts. Hundreds of eyes glinted up at Caw, as a swarm of rats rushed towards him.
Caw reached out and snatched a wooden pole with a metal hook at the end. He swept it across the deck, scattering as many rats as he could. But soon they were on the pole as well, scurrying along its length. Caw hurled it away. He hopped up on a barrel and on to the top of the cabin, landing in a crouch. He saw that the woman’s eyes had rolled back in her head, revealing bloodshot whites that flickered as she controlled the rodents. They attacked the sides of the cabin in waves, piling on top of each other as they scrambled up and fell back, unable to gain purchase with their clicking claws.
“Do you have any comprehension,” said the man in the white suit, “of how quickly these creatures could devour you? A rat will eat until it is incapable even of moving. They aren’t picky either – muscle, bone, cartilage – it’s all the same to them.”
Caw looked around for an escape route, but the rats were everywhere. There was only the water, and he couldn’t swim. And what about Selina? Had she managed to get away through the other door yet? “Just tell me what you want,” he said.
Mr Silk spread his arms. There was something strange about the material of his suit, Caw thought, but he couldn’t work out what it was.
“Don’t play games with me, boy,” said the suited man. “It’s the stone we want.”
Caw swallowed.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.
Mr Silk smiled. “Come, come,” he said. “Let’s not waste each other’s time. Pinkerton?”
The woman twitched a hand and the rats went into a frenzy, piling on top of one another, forming a ramp at the side of the cabin. One managed to scramble up and on to Caw’s foot. He kicked it away.
Then, with a thought, he summoned his crows. Their black shapes gathered in his consciousness and he sent them swooping towards Pinkerton.
Screech, Glum and Shimmer dived through the air. At the same moment, Mr Silk’s jacket seemed to burst outwards. Hundreds of fluttering creatures peeled off the material and flew up to intercept the crows. Moths …
I
