Now What?
"Jack, what are you doing?" Annie's voice pitched high with concern.
Jack answered, but his eyes stayed on Inuyasha. "Do you want to get back home?"
"Well…yeah…but this doesn't seem like the way to –"
"That jewel shard is it. Men seek it, demons fight it, and it's got tremendous power. That's our treasure and we're taking it!"
Without another word, Jack ran headlong at Kagome, ignoring the half-demon that stepped in his way. But before Inuyasha could cuff him, the boy felt his feet being suddenly dragged out from under him. He fell to the ground with a light thud.
"Boys," Sango clucked, reeling in her catch with a weighted chain. Annie stared; she hadn't seen Sango carrying that when she arrived.
Her brows knit together, Kagome knelt to Jack's eyelevel, the shard cupped in her palm. "So you need this to get home? Why didn't you just say so? I'll come with you, then just return here. No big deal."
"Yeah, quit acting like a baby," Shippo chimed in.
Jack sat up, trying to wriggle out of the chain. "But we've never taken anyone back with us." He kicked off the rest of the links and scrambled to his feet. "And I don't see the tree house anywhere so long as you guys are holding the fragment."
"Let me hang on to it, then," Annie suggested. "Maybe it needs one of us to hold it. And I promise not to run away," she added, glaring at her brother.
Kagome looked doubtful and Inuyasha snorted, but finally the shard was placed gently into Annie's hand.
She looked over her shoulder. No tree house in sight. She walked a few steps close in the direction they'd come, Inuyasha's group close behind. "I don't see it."
"All right, give it back," Inuyasha ordered.
With an unhappy little frown, Annie stepped forward to obey. That became impossible when a giant set of claws clamped down on her shoulders. Annie screamed, clenching on to the shard tighter, as grossly disfigured and ridiculously oversized crow lifted her high into the air.
"Annie!" Jack grabbed his sister's legs, but it didn't help weigh the bird monster down. It flew away quickly, threatening to fling off Jack with every powerful flap of its molting wings.
Inuyasha cursed, Kagome dashed to grab a bow and arrows, but it was Sango who flung her giant boomerang with a battle cry.
"Hiraikotsu!"
The weapon buzzed over the bird's head, grazing a few feathers. The returning arch would have nailed it for sure, but the demon acted unexpectedly; at the last second, it enfolded its wings and let itself drop, mere inches below the boomerang's deathline.
"Kirara!" Sango called to her pet. Her fear on hold, Annie watched in awe as instantly the kitten exploded in a burst of flame into a humongous saber-toothed cat. The boomerang in one hand, both Sango and Miroku climbed aboard the furry back and Kirara took off after the flapping target.
"Kagome, fire!" Inuyasha called from somewhere below. An arrow whizzed Jack saw sizzling feathers breeze past his arm. He prayed the next shot would hit.
Suddenly, the bird swung around, facing its pursuers. Cawing, it opened its beak and a rancid odor spewed out. Kirara growled, closing her eyes and trying not to buck out of control. With his sensitive dog nose under attack, Inuyasha collapsed into a coughing fit. Easily, the crow monster circled over and flew back on course.
Now hundreds of feet overhead, Jack and Annie called futilely for help. Maybe it was all the wildlife shows he saw on TV, but Jack had the terrible suspicion they were being carried off for lunch, probably for this thing's chicks. And that, worse than the bird's breath, did not sit well with Jack.