He steps out of the shadows. A long fur hangs on his shoulders. In one hand he has a stick to help him balance, but mostly I’m just lookin at his eyes. Only, not his eyes, cuz he hasn’t got none no more. Where they used to be is all dark and twisted with knots of skin. It’s a hek mess of a face, like somethin ripped it all apart. Even though he can’t see no more, he looks straight in my direction.
“You, my child,” he ses, “are going to be my new eyes.”
It is the nighttime and it’s dark. I am lying on my bed and I should be asleep but I’m not. I have a plan. I am the hero so I have to do it. The first part of the plan is that I need to wait. Everybody needs to be asleep for me to do the plan. I can hear from all the snoring that lots of people are asleep already but I wait some more just for being sure.
I don’t like it in this bothan. It is not like the Hawk bothan in our enclave. There are people from all the different duties in it and even children. Also the bed is not comfortable. I want to go back to our enclave and live there again. The Raasay people need to leave and we need to make them leave. Maistreas Eilionoir says we can only do that if the Clann-na-Bruthaich people help us. Tomorrow is the vote to see if they will and I hope that they will.
It is enough of the middle of the night now. I get out of my bed. I am already wearing my clothes and my boots which is very clever and no one knew. I walk to the door of the bothan and I am quiet. No one sees me go because they are all asleep. It is cold outside. I should have put my cloak on too. That was not the clever part. I will be quick so the blood does not freeze in my veins.
I know where Catriona’s bothan is because I remembered. She is like an elder so she has a bothan that is only for her. It is next to the meeting bothan. I put my head down and I do the quickest running I can. I do not want the night Hawks to see me. I know where the night Hawks look and those are the places I don’t go. All of the plan is clever because I thought about it a lot.
I stop outside Catriona’s bothan. There is one window. I look in but it is too dark to see if she is inside. I think she is. It is the middle of the night so where else would she be? I open her door and no one stops me. It is very easy. I go inside.
I can see her now. She is asleep like I thought. Her bothan is small. It is only a bed and a chair and a chest. I mustn’t wake her. That is the most important thing. She will hurt me if I do because I’m not supposed to be here. She is good at fighting. The best one. That is why Kenrick made her a leader person when we came back from Norveg even though she is younger. One of the other Hawks told me that. She does not look scary now. Her hair is a mess and not nice. It is the same color as the straw that is coming out of her pillow. Her face is scrunchy like she is thinking bad things.
I cannot see the necklace. It is dark in this bothan so it’s hard to see. The necklace is not on the chair and it’s not on the chest. Maybe it’s inside the chest. Or maybe she is wearing it still. Yes, that is what I think. That makes the plan harder but I can do it.
I walk to her bed. Her blanket is over her neck so I have to move it to see if the necklace is there. I shut my mouth because my breathing is too loud. I reach down and am going to move the blanket when all of her body moves. I step back and think I will scream but I don’t. She is still asleep. I reach out for the blanket again and this time I move it. Only a little bit. Enough so I can see her neck and what is on it.
The necklace is there.
It’s the first time I have seen it close because when the Nice Queen Nathara was wearing it I didn’t see it close. The stone is big and black and shiny. I don’t know how all of the shadow things fit inside. It is not big enough for them. I need to get the necklace and throw it in the sea so it will be gone forever. That is what Maistreas Eilionoir said we should do with it when we were in Norveg and she is right. If it is in the bottom of the sea the shadow things cannot get out and hurt anyone or me. They are very bad things. I don’t know why Catriona took it. It is not hers so she should not have done that. It is stealing and it is wrong. Also it is dangerous because what if the shadow things come out again? They tried to get me once and it was bad very bad. After I throw it in the sea Maistreas Eilionoir will say that I am the hero again and so will everyone else because I did protecting my clan and am clever.
There is a twist part on the chain that is how you get it off. I move that part away from Catriona’s neck and try to click it so the chain comes open. It is hard to do with my fingers. There is wet in my eyes that is sweat. I wipe it away with my hand but some more comes. The part on the chain won’t come apart and I can’t do it. Catriona moves again in the bed and I think she is going to wake up soon. I have to be so so quick. I cannot do the small twist part on the chain so I have to do a different way. Maybe if I pull really hard and it breaks. Then I will have it. That is the new plan.
I pick up the necklace stone and hold it in my hand. It is warm a bit. My hand is warm too with the sweating. I am strong and I can do it.
I pull as hard as I can.
Catriona’s neck lifts off the pillow and her eyes open. The chain does not break. I pull again. It’s still not broken. Catriona is awake and she is looking at me. She is all confused on her face and then she is angry. She grabs the necklace with her hand to stop me taking it. I pull once more my biggest yet and this time the chain breaks. It goes through Catriona’s hand and I fall backward onto the floor on my bottom. It hurts a bit but I have got the necklace in my hand and now I need to get out.
I go for the door but Catriona is there already and she is standing in front of it so I can’t get out. I step back so she doesn’t reach me. There is the window but it is too small to go out through there. I am trapped.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” says Catriona. Her eyes are big and her mouth is a tight one. “Give it back.”
“No!” I say.
“You’re going to be in so much trouble for this. I’ll have you whipped to within an inch of your life.”
“It’s not y-y-yours,” I say.
“Give it back or I will take it back.”
She is going to hurt me. She wants to hurt me. I step onto the bed to be farther away from her.
“Fine, then we do it the hard way,” she says.
She comes toward me slow slow and then very very fast. I fall onto the bed. I am screaming and she’s on top of me. I try to kick her with my legs so she goes away. I’m holding the necklace with both my hands so I can’t use them for helping me. Catriona is digging into my fingers to get them apart. I try to bite on her knuckles. She pushes hard at my head. It goes backward and hits against the wall and hurts a very lot. She has a hold on the chain now. I still have the stone part and I fall down off the bed to get away but she keeps pulling the chain harder and is tugging it.
Something breaks on the necklace and I don’t know what but when it happens my hand flies quick in the air and I let go of the black stone. It hits the wall and falls on the floor.
I don’t move and neither does Catriona. We are both looking at the black stone. It is making a hiss sound.
“What have you done?” says Catriona.
Something black is running out of the stone like water. It goes up the walls and all around. The sound gets louder and more horrible which is when I know it.