This is actually cowritten by three indivuals. Alise was based after me, and thus, I write her POV, Jetta is Kayli, and Justin is Garrett. The first chapter is written in short POVs to aquaint you with the characters. Enjoy. :D


The Precarious Exploits of The Crows

Book One: The Rising

B r e . K a y l i . G a r r e t t

Various.


"It's okay to be different—it's good to be different. We should question ourselves before we pass judgment on someone who looks different, behaves different, talks different, is a different color." –Johnny Depp


Hey. Hi. Hello. Aloha. Howdy. Greetings. Bonjour. Blah. Blah. Blah. It's doesn't matter how you say it, the point it, we're acquainted now. I suppose the question is, who are you acquainted to, now? Well, the answer is simple. You're acquainted to The Crows. Yes, The Crows. It was something that happened purely by chance, and it stuck. I'm pretty sure it was directed as an insult to us, but well… it's catchy. And crows are quite remarkable creatures. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. Perhaps we should rewind to before the three of us were branded with that name.

I had always wondered if it was fate that brought us together, or it was pure chance that we ran into each other. And I mean that in the most literal way. We had, quite frankly, ran directly into each other. It was a crowded place, and I always hated crowds. Perhaps that's way I was running for my life. Or, perhaps it was for other reasons. My reasons for running were hardly the point. Hardly the point at all.

I often think back to the time I met my two best friends. I think the Fates were high on some sort of hallucinogen, to be honest with you. I'm sure if they had been in their right minds, we would have never met. But then again, if we had never met, that mall wouldn't have been blown up. Also, I wouldn't have ended up in military school. It's funny how things work out, isn't it?


Alise

"Why is she at this store?" a high voice whispered.

'Yeah," someone else said. "The Goth store is like, down the hall." Laughter sounded from somewhere behind me. I sighed, looking down at the pink jacket in my hand then to my own clothing—a black Alice Cooper shirt, dark skinny jeans, and a pair of florescent green Converse. It wasn't like I was buying the coat for myself. Gosh dang it, it was for my sister!

I quickly walked to the cashier, refraining from looking at the group of girls. I was not in the mood to talk to ignorant people. And well, they didn't sound like Einsteins to me.

"Is this a gift?" the cashier asked, placing the magenta hoodie into a box. She punched a few numbers into the register, then told me the total.

"Is it that obvious?" I asked, quickly glancing over my shoulder at the girls. The cashier just rolled her eyes and handed me the box and my change. She wished me a good day, though she didn't add a 'come back soon' to it. Some people… I swear.

I was about to exit the store, when I heard a low, gurgling sound behind me. I won't repeat exactly what was running through my mind, as I'm sure you have a pretty good idea. Raising an eyebrow, I slowly turned around.

"Oh my—" In front of me, not more than ten feet away, the group of girls that had been harassing me, had disappeared. Or rather, they were in the process of disappearing. Though, they weren't exactly disappearing—they were forming together into one giant… thing.

The girls were slowly morphing together, their skin turning green, sickly green. Their necks were lengthening as their bodies become one big mass, their legs fusing together. A massive tail swung out behind them—correction: it. One of the heads opened, revealing rows of razor sharp teeth, teeth that wanted to rip me to shreds. A low, grumbling roar sounded from deep within one of its meaty throats. Eight sets of beady eyes turned in my direction.

I frowned, then did something completely irrational—I waved. I waved! "I uh, I need to be going," I muttered, edging closer to the door. "Like you said, I don't belong in this store. I'll just be heading to the uh, Goth store. Yeah, okay?" I reached towards the handle of the door, and turned my back for a split second.

Not the brightest move, I admit. Though it did get brighter—just not brighter in the way I intended. Not a helpful 'brighter' either. Ah, I just love my luck.

I opened the door, and glanced over my shoulder at the beast, who had all its toothy maws opened, bright balls of fire heading towards me.

Well, that can't be good.


Jetta

"The boy who lived…"

"Wow. How crazy is that?" I muttered, waving my arms in the air for emphasis. I slowly looked around, mentally cursing in the process. Apparently I had said that a tad bit louder than I thought, as there were several eyes trained on me. My face reddened as I burrowed further into my book. Oops.

I tried to get engrossed in my book—no, The book. The mother of all books. The big dog daddy of all books—to no avail. At a snail's pace, my eyes rose above the ivory pages. You know when they say you can feel it whenever someone's watching you? Well, it's true.

"Hey, how's it goin'?" I asked the growing crowd of children gathering around me. Their eyes widened as I said that. I cracked a wolfish grin, and gave a wink. They scattered.

Now then, I thought to myself. Back to Mr. Harry Po—I looked up. Something wasn't right. I looked around. There wasn't a soul in sight, which was very uncommon in the bookstore. Usually, it bordered on claustrophobic.

Um…

"Hello? Anyone—" I choked on my breath, then sucked it back in really quick, as a scream sounded—very faintly, but a scream none-the-less.

Don't involve yourself in matters that are not your own, my inner consciousness urged.

"And why not?" I asked to no one in particular. Though, I suppose it wouldn't have matter who I had directed my question at, since there was NOBODY AROUND!

It will only end in heartbreak, the voice whispered quietly.

Oh… Why did my mind have to bring that up? As my psychologist had so kindly put it, I needed to let go. Live on. Forget the past. Live in the present—

A low grumbling broke my thought process. Hot, dank breath tickled the back of my neck, a scent like rotting corpse filled my nostrils, and some mystery substance dripped down onto my neck. Me, being the curious young lady I was, reached back to feel what was towering over my head.

Big mistake.

My outstretched fingers connected with fur, though it wasn't fur I had ever felt before. It had a hard feeling to it, like it was metallic fur.

I'm going insane. Metallic fur? Really?

Slowly, I raised my head, and felt my eye twitch. My mouth opened in a silent scream, and the world around me started to blur.

Don't pass out now, you dummie!

I scrambled to my feet, and eyed the beast in front of me. It was tall—pretty dang tall, and muscular, like… think of the beefiest kid at your school. Now, multiply that times one thousand, and you've got the thing in front of me. Its mouth snarled, revealing super sharp teeth, and its beady eyes stared down at with such hatred.

"What are you, a lion?" I asked it. Its nose twitched. I took it as a yes. "Awe, well you're not so bad," I whispered, reaching forward to pet its snout.

It probably would have let me, too, if it hadn't heard the rather annoying scream of, "HOLY CRAP!"

Its eye twitched, and its mouth opened in a tremendous roar, the exhale of its seriously stinky breath blowing my hair around me.

"Uh, so I guess now would be a good time to run?" I asked the not-so-friendly lion. I could have sworn it gave me a small nod. "Then I bid you farewell, Sir Lion." I bowed quickly, then took off, my short legs propelling me faster than I thought possible. Of course, it wasn't quick enough. My lion buddy was right behind.

Nice.


Justin

"HOLY CRAP! Are you serious? This is the price for a measly pair of shoes?" I stepped forward, throwing my arms in the air, all the while holding the black and white Jordan's. "Two hundred bucks for a pair of Jordan's with a scuff on them? Why?" I turned away from the cashier, and back to the horde of impatient people behind me. "Do you believe this guy? Two hundred bucks for this?" I held up the scuffed shoes for everyone to see. "This is a big corporate scam, trying to get the little guys like you and I—"

"Sir, I've called security. Leave this store peacefully, or be forcibly removed," the nasally voice of the cashier behind me said.

I promptly turned back to face the deeply tanned face, my head held high. "Sir, I am a very peaceful man. I was born and raised in a respectable house, I was taught my manors, I was taught what was fair, and most importantly, I was taught what was not. This fine place you have here—" I paused, looking at confused man's nametag—Carl. "Carl, this is not fair. Now I suggest you lower your prices, or my friends—" I gestured behind me at the throng of people. "—And I will not be shopping here again!"

I waited to hear the cheering from the crowd, and… nothing. "Oh, come on! You guys!" I turned back to face my so-called-followers, who were all standing there with bored expressions on their faces. "Come on! Who's with me?"

Again, no one responded.

"Alright," I mumbled, throwing the precious shoes onto the counter. I leaned forward, against the counter, and towards the man behind it. "How's about you cut a bro some slack? You give me a discount, and I'll throw in a little something for you, eh? How's that sound?"

I raised my brows, waiting to see what his response was. He simply pursed his lips and shook his head. "I'm sorry sir, but the price on the tag is the price you pay. That is, of course, without tax. Now then, I suggest you pay, or—" He gave me an arrogant smile. "Next!"

"Come on now," I pleaded. "What about one fifty? Is that acceptable? It's more than what they're worth, what with that unsightly scuff. Hey, I'm doing you favor taking them off your hands. Whatcha say?"

The cashier turned his attention back to me once more, this time examining me. He looked back at me, then smirked. "You know what, there might me something you could do for me." He gave me a wink, and pulled out a piece of paper. He scribbled down a series of numbers, then handed it to me. His whole tone changed as he said, "You call me after I'm off work, and we'll see what you can do for me, okay?" He gave another wink, and started to reach forward towards my face.

What the fudge monkeys? "Uh… I um—My gate doesn't swing that way, dude," I quickly mumbled, high-tailing my way away from the checkout line, towards the exit. My arm outstretched towards the door, only to be intercepted by someone else's.

I glanced up at the owner of the hand—he was huge, I'm talking eight feet I-can-slam-dunk-a-basketball-like-there's-no-tomorrow huge. His arms were hairy, muscular, heavily tattooed, and did I mention huge?! That pretty well described the rest of him—hair, muscular, heavily tattooed, and huge. He wore a very tight version of a security guard suit, and his uniform had Joe Bob stitched in.

"Erm…" I struggled to come up with any sort of anything that resembled the English language. "You know, I was just leaving. There's—there's no need to escort me out. I'm—I'm good," I managed to stutter, trying to ease past the security-guard-on-steroids.

Joe Bob made a deep grunting sound, and lunged forward. Thankfully, my many years of basketball had paid off. I rolled to the side, and somehow managed to get on the other side of the hairy man. With a fleeting glance over my shoulder, I jumped through the glass door, Joe Bob hot in pursuit.

Today just isn't my day.