The Fox & The Crow

Chapter One

A thin slip of wind rushes past my ear in a whisper as I lurch forward into an upright position, pulled from my dream as the train comes to a stop. A chipped sign reading Coombe Halt hangs from the top of a small train stop. It's quite underwhelming now that I'm actually in the countryside.

"This your stop?" The large boy sitting across from me asks. He's got drool on his chin and he struggles to sit up after sleeping so long on his wrinkled carpet case. He grins up at me while I stand, his red cheeks puffing out. He reaches his hand forward, brushing it against the bottom of my skirt. "Let me at least shake your hand, miss."

"No, thank you." I make sure he sees my grimace, hoping he'll take offense and stop talking.

"What, you don't want to be acquaintances?" He makes a mock pout and I huff out a breath, picking up my suitcase with my better wrist, quite tired of this nuisance.

"Not particularly," I say, pushing past his outstretched hand and walking from the train car. As I go, the reflection of a small girl staring out of the window stops me and I pause a moment.

"Excuse me," Someone pushes past, pulling me back to myself and I mumble an apology as I move forward.

A train attendant helps me down the steps onto the platform of Coombe Halt; The whistle blows, the train pulls away, and I am left alone.

I walk to the end of the platform and sit on the steps, stretching my sore wrist. The bandages wrapped around it are tight and I try in vain to loosen them.

Whoever has been sent to pick me up is running late. I put my chin in my hand and slump down, tired from the train ride. My eyelids droop as I stare at a purple flower, bending in the cool summer breeze. Thunder rolls in from a distance and the reeds shake in response.

My eyes shut for a moment. The bitter winter wind follows me, sweeping through the trees that reach their limbs forward, desperate to ensnare me within their branches. The cherry tree's blossoms have fallen, the boughs now bare. Its cherries fall around me, the juice splashing onto my light hair, now a deep red. A piercing scream echoes through the forest.

Thunder rumbles, waking me from my dream. The wind has picked up, warning that a storm is soon to come.

"C'mon. Whoa, steady now."

I turn my head, watching as an older woman pulls up to the train stop, slowing down in front of me. The horse she controls rears its head and cries out in fear of the lightning that flashes across the sky.

"I'm Mrs. Macready sent by Professor Kirke. Are you Elaine Lawrence?" The woman cries out against the wind.

"I am, ma'am," I say, standing. My hair whips around my face, obscuring my vision of her, but I take notice that she wears quite a lot of brown.

She scrunches her face and looks me up and down. Immediately uncomfortable, I grit my jaw and stand stiffly in place.

"There's not much to you, is there," She says. Lightning cracks and she flinches. "Hurry and get in the back. I don't fancy getting caught in this weather."

I do as I'm told, jumping in the back of her cart and squeezing myself next to a sack of potatoes. She clicks her tongue and pulls us around quickly, throwing me from my position. I sit up before a small barrel of lamp oil crashes into my head. Frantically, I grab onto the sides of the wagon for support as the groceries and I are tossed and turned by the Macready's expert driving.

We pull up to the Professor's manor as the sky breaks, thoroughly soaking us. I cover my eyes and stare up at the dark house, watching a single light flicker from a large window. Four shadows take shape against plum curtains. They push against one another to peek out the window, meanwhile completely unaware that their forms are illuminated by the candle behind them.