"Do you hear that?" Ahriman asks us as we sit in the gazebo in the backyard enjoying the beautiful scenery of the still blue ocean.
"Yes…" I reply, listening carefully.
"What is that?" Patheos asks, almost to himself. Standing up he walks to the edge of the opening at the top of the stairs and looks up.
"Crows?" Martheos says while listening intently.
Smiling to himself, "Ah, she found her way out of the hole." Patheos informs us still looking towards the sky.
"So it would seem." Ahriman says in his monotone voice. Not taking his eyes off the page of the book he is currently reading, Dante's Inferno.
In the distance a dark mist-like flock of birds begin to come into focus. They are a murder of crows. Within the murder I am quite atonished to see a silohette of Marissa Cardwell.
"It would seem that she is able to control the crows." Patheos observes.
Tell me crows. Why do you listen to this child? I ask them as they steadily approach us, taking a sip of my ice tea.
Because she is a sad child that called for our help. One of them with a high pitched voice answers me. It appears to be a female crow.
"Ah….they feel sorry for her. ...And also, feel a kinship of some kind with the girl." I inform everyone of what was told to me and of what I can now sense from murder of crows descending to the ground 20 meters from the stairs of the gazebo where Patheos and I stand.
"What is this," Patheos begins, "The little bird has returned to her nest...and with a murder of crows no less."
"Why was I thrown down a hole on the other side of the world?" she demanded. Looking quite fierce and unafraid of us.
"Oh…" Ahriman mutters, still not looking up from his book, "We wanted to see what you would do in that kind of situation. It would appear that you did better than expected."
"Yes, she even learned to speak with animals and get them to do her bidding." Martheos chimes in.
"Another TEST?!" she exclaims in a loud voice.
"Why yes. Is there a problem?" I answer.
"YES, there's a problem! Who exactly are you people and what have you done to me?"
"Oh, we just wanted to perform a little experiment with one of our creations' mistakes." Ahriman states, taking a sip of his hot tea.
"What gives you the right to experiment on me? On anyone for that matter!" she shouts. The anger lines starting to appear on her face.
"Do you wish to pick a fight with us young one." Patheos says calmly, descending down the stairs.
Sensing the danger Marissa begins to back up slowly. Her eyes dart quickly to the crows surrounding her. They immediately swirl up into the air as one unit and descend almost just as fast, aiming steadfastly at Patheos.
The crows are scattered as they hit an invisible wall surrounding him. Marissa stumbles catching herself as she looks on in awe. The crows then attempt to fly around him only to find that there is an invisible wall-like force surrounding the gazebo. Patheos grins at Marissa and the crows as they make their way back to her. I giggle a little, placing the back of my left hand in front of my mouth gaily.
"You and your crows are too weak to fight with us." Ahriman says, finally looking up away from his book, "You should go play somewhere else."
And with a wave of his hand Marissa and the crows disappear from our sights.
"Aaaahh...I was just about to have some fun with them." Patheos groans, placing his hands inside his pants pockets before turning around to walk back up the stairs.
"Are we just going to leave her like that father?" Martheos asks Ahriman, turning to look at him.
Ahriman has gone back to reading his book and takes a sip of his tea before saying, "Learning to communicate with other living beings is a development I never considered...given Kastiah's reluctance to communicate even with his masters. I would like to see how this goes for that one."
Ahriman marks his page and places the book down on the table. Standing with his tea in one hand and the other inside of his pant pocket, he walks to the window opening next to the stairs of the gazebo. Placing the forearm of his right arm holding the tea on the ledge, he looks up to the sky. Following his example, all of us look up.
"I'm eager to see how well she grows." He says in a low voice that is almost a whisper.
"This should be fun." Patheos smiles mischievously, standing atop the stairs once more.