Call of the Raven (25 page)

She could see an ambulance, a cop car and
just pulling in was a fire truck. Whoever had called this time had
meant business. Usually the only ones that showed up were the same
two sober faced police officers, who explained in their monotone
voices, that until she decided to press charges there wasn’t
anything they could do to help her.

This time, Elle didn’t plan on staying long
enough to talk to them or explain that she was afraid to send Julio
to jail, knowing eventually he would get out and come looking for
her. Racing to her bedroom, Elle worked feverishly for fear of
chickening out and changing her mind. Anything was better than
staying in her current torment.

She cried in rage and pain as she dragged the
suitcase out from under the bed and threw it on the ugly purple
bedspread. Julio’s mother had very bad taste and they acquired most
of their things from her over the years.

Elle had no attachment to anything in the
apartment and she owned very little. It didn’t take long to empty
out her two drawers and grab the articles, her meager collection of
work clothes from the closet and tossed them inside, hangers and
all. She grabbed toiletries from the bathroom and the crackers from
the kitchen. She had need of nothing else. The gifts Julio had
bought her over the years, she didn’t want. Most of the time they
were cheap bribe gifts to get back in her good graces after he hurt
her. She wanted nothing that reminded her of him, nothing.

Just as she was about to grab the last item
she wanted, which was a book her grandmother had given her, she
noticed that in her panic she had turned over one of Julio’s boots.
She was on her knees before the closet and sticking out of the top,
clearly recognizable was a stack of bills wrapped in a paper band.
She pulled out the wad of money only to discover another behind it.
There had to be a couple of thousand dollars’ worth, more than
likely of drug money hidden away.

She looked inside the other boot and
discovered two more banded stacks, and all were one hundred dollar
bills. She couldn’t take the time to count it but either way it was
hers now. She’d hidden sixty dollars in the suitcase for a moment
such as the present, but with the extra cash her options were far
greater. She could take a plane, a train or even a bus to broaden
the distance between her and Julio. She had put up with his abuse
for far too long and he owed her this much.

Without even thinking about it, Elle took the
stacks of money and shoved them in the suitcase. She had always
dreamed of living someplace where it stayed warm all year,
someplace where no one would ever cause her pain again. She put on
her sneakers and coat and carried the suitcase to the fire escape.
She was counting on the fact that Julio was far gone. She had no
intentions of being stopped now.

Climbing out the window, Elle went to the
edge and dropped the suitcase down onto some garbage bags, and then
started her slow decent to the alley, and to freedom. Lucky for
her, even though there was a fair amount of snow on the ground it
wasn’t terribly cold. She had downed several rungs when the smell
of burning rubber filled her nostrils so thickly she could barely
breathe.

The source appeared to be coming from the
apartment below hers, where black smoke bellowed out through an
opened window. The commotion out front hadn’t been on the account
of her and Julio’s fight. Someone had called due to the fire that
was now in full blaze in Mary and Mea’s apartment. The heat was
strong enough that Elle could feel it on her face.

“Mary,” she gasped with a new urgency.

Hurrying now, Elle made it to the bottom and
quickly retrieved her suitcase. She carried it to the shed where
the landlord kept the lawnmower and hid it inside for safe keeping.
Orange flames shot out of the front of the building, large and
bright trailing upward to flick at the windows of the apartment she
had shared with Julio for the last couple of years. She cared not
that it was about to burn.

Several people stood around gawking from
nearby homes and firemen hurried to carry a hose up the front
stairwell. Elle had never taken the time to get to know her
neighbors, but she had grown to care about Mary and Mea, and only
now as she fretted over them did she realize that she was about to
leave them behind without saying goodbye. Poor Mea, she was used to
people leaving her.

At the sound of a fuss, policemen telling
people to get back, Elle turned to see two firemen carrying a woman
on a stretcher from the building. Her face was covered in black
soot but Elle clearly recognized the old woman who lived across the
hall from Mary. She was alive or they wouldn’t have put the mask
over her face.

Elle started toward them hoping to ask about
her friends when suddenly she caught a whirr of blonde hair darting
from the direction of an ambulance. She barely had time to respond
when Mary flung her arms around her waist and held on. She didn’t
have on a coat and her sweatshirt was torn at the shoulder.

“Mommy, mommy, you’re all right,” she cried
out loud drawing the attention of a paramedic.

“Ma’am the fire apparently started in your
apartment. Were you aware that you left your child inside
alone?”

“No, but,” Elle looked down into Mary’s
horrified expression. With every rigid muscle of the little girl’s
body, Elle knew something was wrong, other than the fact her
apartment was on fire and her mother was gone. Glancing around,
Elle quickly spotted the source of Mary’s distress.

Standing near a crowd of onlookers was the
leather clad man that had tried to snatch Mary from the library,
along with several others dressed in the same black jackets. She
realized then that they must be the Harley riding Blackbirds that
Mea had spoken of. Impulsively without giving the matter much
thought, Elle broke down crying. She put her arms around Mary
hoping that her acting classes back in high school would pay off.
“I’m so sorry Mary. You could have been killed. What happened
sweetheart?”

“The couch caught on fire. It happened so
fast,” Mary played along.

“Ma’am did you leave a cigarette burning?”
the paramedic asked.

“I don’t smoke,” Elle told him. She smelled
of cigarettes thanks to Julio so he remained dubious. “I had the
back window open and there was a candle on the end table. Maybe
that was it.” Elle held on to Mary as the paramedic left to go
speak to an officer. They would try to pin the fire on her now
thanks to the conniving tricks of a ten-year-old. “Do you want to
tell me what this is all about?” Elle demanded.

Mary’s large blue eyes scanned the crowd of
people, but the Blackbirds had gone. She wiped a tear from her
black sooty face. “You’ve got to get me out of here before they
come after me again. Please, you’ve got to take me away from
here.”

“I’m not going to let anyone take you.” Elle
wriggled out of Mary tight embrace. “But I’ve got to find your mom,
so I can get out of here.”

“She’s still gone. I was all alone when those
men came into the apartment. I heard them say they were going to
the library next, because that’s where I hang out, and then I
smelled smoke.”

Elle took Mary by the arm and started pulling
her away from the crowd and the burning building. “Are you sure she
didn’t come home without you knowing?”

“She wasn’t inside and I don’t know where she
is,” Mary exclaimed. “I’m telling you the truth Elle whether you
want to believe me or not. Those guys are coming for me.”

Elle couldn’t believe her luck. Her one
chance to get away and now she was responsible for a kid. “We’ll
search for her later, but first we need to get my stuff from the
shed where I hid it, and get away from here before Julio turns
up.”

“What do you think those men want with
me?”

“I’m not sure but if by chance that’s your
dad’s family and they’re the ones responsible for the fire, then I
wouldn’t want any part of them. Something really stinks and this
time it’s not you.” Elle patted Mary on the head. Even though
Mary’s hair stuck to the palm of her hand, Elle still smiled down
at her. “Don’t worry Mary I will look after you till we find your
mom.”

Chapter
Fifteen

Double Edge
Blade

Elle led Mary
past the row of houses
beyond where the police had roped off the street. She turned in the
alley and started back toward the apartment. Once there if she
found the parking lot was also blocked off, she planned to find a
hiding spot out of the way where she and Mary could watch the shed
until everyone had gone. She was determined that no one was going
to get their hands on that money but her.

“I’m scared Elle. What if they hurt my
mom?”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself Mary. You said
yourself she wasn’t inside when the fire started. Let’s just get
somewhere safe and then we’ll see if we can find her.”

Just as Elle reached for Mary’s hand she
noticed a bird coming straight for them. The bird broke off at the
last second, and Elle followed the winged creature skyward to a
huge black cloud of birds, just like it, hovering directly above.
Mary let out a terrified whimper when the cloud shifted and the
birds began to descend at a fast pace. With no time to run Elle
pulled Mary to her body, and held on tight, as the birds engulfed
them inside a black tornado.

Elle’s hair fell free of the ponytail and
tumbled down into her face with the assault, making it impossible
to see. She felt wind, wings and claws as they brushed past her
skin. Still, as each frightening second passed she soon realized
the birds weren’t truly touching her, but instead it seemed they
were trying to separate her from Mary. And then just as soon as the
attack begun the blackbirds flew away. Heart pounding, knees
buckling, Elle looked down at Mary.

“I’ve seen a movie about attacking birds but
I never—” Unable to finish Elle just stood trembling as Mary looked
up with round blue eyes.

“They’re trying to get you to leave me
behind,” she said. “It’s me they want.”

Elle couldn’t think of anything to say. Even
though logically she felt the little girl was suffering from
delusion, she was about to believe anything at the moment. And at
the moment, all Elle was interested in was getting Mary as far away
from the attacking birds as possible.

Grabbing hold of her hand she started running
with her for the parking lot. With each step Elle quickly made
plans in her head. They could hide out in the gas smelling, garbage
infested shed. Then after dark when they would be less likely
spotted she would retrieve the suitcase and Julio’s money and walk
to the corner market. There she would call a cab and take that to
the police station to look for Mea.

Once Mea was found Elle planned to take the
next flight out. She would have time to think of what warm state,
what beach she would run to later. Now she just needed a place to
hide with Mary to escape the crazy birds.

Hearing a noise behind them, Elle looked over
her shoulder but Mary, loudly shrieking, caused her to instantly
turn back around. The same leather clad man and his biker buddies
were standing just feet in front of her, and they were very clearly
blocking her way to the shed. Coming to an abrupt stop Elle pushed
Mary behind her.

“Relax little bird we’re not here to harm
you. We just want the girl,” the man from the library said.

“You’re not taking her anywhere.”

Again Elle heard a noise and when she turned
around this time she saw a man standing directly behind Mary. She
screamed as he pulled the little girl from her grasp. Losing her
balance Elle fell to the gravel alley.

She took the brunt of the pain to her hip,
but she also felt the blow to her back where Julio had slammed her
against the kitchen sink. Yelling at the man to give Mary back Elle
jumped to her feet and went after her. Just as Elle reached for
her, he pulled Mary out of reach and since that made her angry,
Elle kicked him as hard as she could in the shin. When he released
her, she grabbed Mary by the arm and took off running.

As she passed by the man from the library, he
started to laugh in a deep baritone voice. Elle saw the yellow tape
across the parking lot and the firemen moving about pulling trash
bags from the dumpster. Falling debris had apparently caught it on
fire. And then as she stood trying to catch her breath, lungs
burning, she saw it, her suitcase lying on top of a pile of burning
garbage that obviously had been pulled from the now burning
shed.

“No,” she pleaded, eyes filling with
tears.

Everything, her hopes of leaving, her future
as well as her child’s future were gone. She let go of Mary and
covered her face with her hands, and started to cry. Somewhere
close she recognized the loud motor of Julio’s car but she no
longer cared what happened to her.

She was done.

She was through.

Fairytales were for other people, not
her.

Fire engulfed the pile turning it into an
inferno of bright red flames and the fireman hurried with hoses to
put it out. Numbly, Elle turned and started walking away.

“Where are you going?” Mary asked trembling.
Elle did not answer her. Tugging at her arm, Mary took turns
looking at the approaching men and the firemen, begging Elle to
reconsider. “The firemen can take us downtown. We will be protected
there. Please Elle save me.”

“There’s no one coming to save either of
us.”

Only when Mary stepped in front of her, tears
streaking down her grimy face did Elle stop. Her heart went out to
her and she ran a hand along her tangled blonde head.

“Please Elle help me,” she begged.

Suddenly a loud screech startled Elle and she
looked up to the rooftop to see a larger bird landing on the eves.
Oddly it stared down at her. She had heard how some peregrine
falcons were roosting on the roofs of the skyscrapers downtown, but
she had never seen one before.