“Well?” the Crow King asked. “A result?”
“It…feels right.”
“There you are.”
“But…was this the same one you tossed from the roof?”
“It’s the one in your pocket, isn’t it?”
Another corvid laugh like thunder.
“Seriously. Is this the same acorn?”
“Consider the lesson. Stop trying to give away your power. Make the choice. Believe in the choice. You used the word ‘magic.’ Human, we will tell you this. The magic of this world is more reliant on meaning than objective reality. Fact may be a found thing, but meaning is a crafted thing. It requires your participation, your choice. If you require that acorn to be magic, then you must make it so.”
Green rubbed his eyes and shook his head.
Above the king, thousands of crows flew in a great spiral radiating outward from their lord. The Crow King looked up at his court, then back to Green. A blue fire flared to life in each of hisnostrils, sending a rising braid of dark smoke up into the coming evening.
“We cannot remain here much longer. Not while remembering our manners.”
Green suddenly felt very small and very conspicuous.
The king tilted his head and looked down at Valentina’s library.
“For your teacher and for our future friendship, we will say more than we might wish.”
Green felt something odd in the pit of his stomach, like he was in an elevator that couldn’t quite decide on a speed or a direction. Gravity was misbehaving.
Stretching high over the treetops, the king spoke up into the chaos of dark wings above him. The number of crows had multiplied many thousandfold. Looking at the shifting sea of ebon wings above the king, Green couldn’t imagine that many crows existed in the world. At least, not this world alone.
“It is not always in our power to decide what a thing is…But what a thing means? That power may often be claimed.”
The Crow King stood erect and fully extended profound wings that flooded the sky with perfect, starless dark.
“When the time comes, make the choice. Be the choice. Craft the magic you need. A beacon. An anchor. A wellspring of courage. Trust yourself in the crafting.”
There was a moment of total darkness.
The king’s voice faded into a distance that was somehow more than physical. His final words seemed to come from within Green’s skull.
“If you find yourself struggling on the doorstep, remember, desire may move us as sure as blood and bone and wing.”
Then, he was back on the library roof.
The oak leaf at his shoulder finished falling, spinning down to land on the hatchway beneath his feet.
“Mr. Green!”
Valentina’s muted voice came through the hatch.
High above, a half dozen crows croaked with laughter.
There was no handle on the topside of the roof hatch, but it didn’t matter. Valentina threw it open the moment he stepped aside. She was red-faced and her heavy breath puffed white like a steam engine.
“Get. In. Here.”
He frowned and followed her in. The hatch fell shut behind him.
