Hello, everyone! Here is the third chapter of "A5". I had hoped to get this done before Christmas came and went, and here we go.

DISCLAIMER: The 'Amulet' series is created and illustrated by Kazu Kibuishi, and published by 'Scholastic'. The author owns any original characters and custom elements included into the story.

Onward!


The morning after the silver raven's arrival into Caleb's life, it had not left him. Over the next few hours, while Caleb took his early morning run, the raven always stayed at least several paces by him. When buildings blocked its path, the raven flew above them with smooth motions, its red eyes flashing their lights like winking stars. When it got low to the ground, swooping in front or behind Caleb's position, it looked like a dart or blur, too fast for human eyes to clearly track.

The raven went from shadow to shadow, perch to perch, always near where Caleb went next. Having an observing partner, of a sort, with him was a bit disconcerting to Caleb; few people in his home neighborhood had ever gotten up with him for a run. Since the raven never attacked him or tried to fly away, Caleb quickly grew used to those extra sights and sounds as part of a new routine. This routine lasted until he got back to his apartment.

Leon stood in front of the door, his face dirty and his eyes narrowed. Those fox ears twitched sharply as the raven flew away from the bounty hunter's sight. Caleb came up to Leon and tried to ask, "What's wrong?" in a casual tone. He felt he had failed the moment those words left his lips.

"I had heard a robotic raven was flying around in Cielis," Leon said. His eyes looked to where the raven had flown away with conviction. "Looks like it's sticking by you."

There did not seem any point to keep the secret a secret. "Yeah," Caleb admitted, "it is. And I know who sent it."

Leon shifted his dominant foot forward. "Explain this at once." Caleb recognized the gradual motions of Leon's stance to show he was reaching for his sword. Subtle movements, but recognizable; and certainly not what Caleb wanted to see from his friend.

"Okay, first off," Caleb told Leon, "Do not draw your sword. The bird is not from the elves. Or any of their allies." On an impulse, Caleb held up his left arm, sticking the limb horizontally straight. Like a falconer on Earth, the raven flew down from its shadowed post and alighted on Caleb's raised arm. The metal talons scraped against his skin, leaving small marks as he winced in momentary pain.

Leon glared at the raven. "This had better be good," he told Caleb without looking away from the bird. The raven looked back at him, red eyes dimmed and beak shut tight. Its feet moved centimeters at a time, adjusting its posture as Caleb continued to hold his arm steady.

Caleb swallowed hard. A staring contest was not what he wanted right then, and his arm was starting to strain. "Have you heard of the Corvid?" he quickly asked Leon.

The fox-man finally turned to face Caleb. "No," he answered, a blunt but truthful answer.

Caleb's eyebrows came down in concern. "I thought you had. They claim that Silas Charnon brought them together—"

"Who are they?"

"—and they've been watching over Alledia since Silas left the Guardian Council."

"Who are they, Caleb?" Leon repeated in a louder voice. Caleb's arm instantly dropped down to his side, causing the raven to detach from the arm and flap about in abject surprise before landing on the stone walkway beside both two-legged creatures.

"Right. Sorry." Caleb took a cleansing breath, intimidated by Leon's concentrated anger even after months of being in his presence but not so scared he would show frailty in the moment. "The Corvid are all "cursed" humans with the appearance of ravens. Silas got them together, and then spread them out across different cities, like Kanalis and Nautilus. They even had an agent in Cielis, he got me out of Yarboro Prison, but he's gone now."

Leon twitched his nose, smelling something in the air that Caleb did not. Then he rubbed his hand over his face, echoing a human expression of weary anger. "This is troubling," he grumbled. "Miskit and Mrs. Hayes must know about this at once."

"I totally agree," Caleb said. "Let's go after I change out of these clothes."

"You should do that, yes." Leon gestured to the front door of Caleb's apartment, and Caleb took that as a sign he could leave. The raven pumped itself airborne again and zoomed into the indoor space while Caleb had the door briefly open.


Once Caleb had cleaned himself off and changed into proper attire for daily activities, he and Leon fast-walked to Karen's apartment. To their surprise, Miskit opened the door and let them in; he stated he and Karen had just been preparing a breakfast for her. They quickly added two additional servings to their meal, the contents being savory buns that reminded Caleb of hash browns along with ripe fruits shaped like cherries and tasting just as sweet. Combined with some glasses of purple juice that rolled across the organic creature's tongues, it was a light but flavorful meal. Miskit, being a robot, quietly drank the contents of a jar of oil as large as his white paw.

Once breakfast was finished and the dishes put away, the four allies sat around Karen's kitchen table. The object's square structure and simple wooden posts gave enough room for everyone to get some legroom but still feel somewhat constricted. The mood grew heavy after Leon pointed out the Corvid's raven balanced atop the kitchen counter and told Karen what he had learned about her deceased relative. He ended the explanation with what sounded like an accusation, but with kinder words.

"My grandfather was a what?" Karen asked Leon incredulously whilst sitting up straighter in her seat.

"A spymaster, Mrs. Hayes." Leon's ears flicked back, his eyes glancing over at the silent avian emissary. "At least, that is our suspicion." He looked at Miskit and Karen for any further clues to confirm or deny what he had just said. Karen remained offended at the mere thought of her grandfather working with potentially illegal sources; Miskit just looked confused.

"Master Silas never talked about this "Corvid" group after he had built me," the rabbit told the others. "I'm amazed he would keep such a secret from us."

"He must have had a reason, Miskit," Caleb responded. Then he slumped in his chair. "Too bad we can't ask him about it. Old people on Earth tend to talk a lot about their lives when you get them going. Or they stay silent and grumpy to everyone they meet."

Miskit turned to look at Silas' granddaughter for confirmation of what Caleb had revealed. "You're not wrong, Caleb," Karen remarked to Caleb with her arms crossed over her chest. "But you are not allowed to demean my grandfather like that from now on."

Caleb muttered a quick, "Sorry, Karen," and kept his mouth firmly shut.

"Regardless of how Silas acted or was viewed," Leon remarked when he saw the conversation changing topics, "that man helped create the Resistance and this "Corvid" faction. As Caleb said, he must have had a reason for creating two separate forces to fight against the elves."

The big problem was finding out the reason on its own. Everyone around the table tried to think of something or some way to get that reason. The silver raven just watched them all, saying or doing nothing to draw attention to itself.

Miskit was the first to speak up. "Charnon House might have some records hidden inside a cabinet or drawer. Only, we cannot get back there quickly at this point."

Caleb latched on to that idea; better than none at all. "Morrie, Theodore, or Bottle may have clues," he told Miskit. "It's worth a shot."

Miskit did not look convinced. "There is a distress beacon we can use, but no way to talk to anyone in the house. Not even a handheld talkie like the one we had there, unfortunately. And Charnon House cannot get to Cielis on its own."

Caleb held back a curse word and instead grumbled, "So much for that idea."

Leon turned to Karen. "Mrs. Hayes, did Silas leave anything about his time in Alledia on your world?"

Karen bristled slightly, as if Leon's question was another attack against her family's name or reputation. "I didn't have much time to explore the place before being kidnapped," she said tensely, "so I don't know." She did not need to state the obvious fact they could not get back there to explore it further because there was no way to do so.

"In that case," Leon surmised while gesturing to the others, "using the process of elimination, we will need to look for records about his time on the Council. The city library might give us something useful. Let's start there."

Miskit, Karen, and Caleb all nodded, agreeing to the plan with minimal objection. They had the rest of the day to look through things, so the library sounded like a great place to start. As they got up, gathered any extra clothing for a colder morning, and left the apartment, they shared a mood of tense excitement. The silver raven kept close behind them, flying mostly unseen.


When everyone got to the library, they all split into different sections of the many shelves that space had. They all agreed beforehand to inform everyone else if they found any information about Stonekeepers, the Mother Stone, or the "Corvid". Leon slipped into the role of leader relatively easily, since no one complained about his advice and instructions. The silver raven flew to the top of a bookshelf, apparently wanting to participate in the search as well.

As Caleb browsed his section of the shelves, he remembered why he did not like looking through books to find information. Nonfiction books were so dry on Earth, and Alledia appeared to have the same problem. The Guardian Council had records written by numerical order, but they did not use the Dewey Decimal System. Instead, the numbers had their own categories; he had inadvertently chosen to look through the 500s and 600s rows. These contained lots of books on old Alledian recipes, a few titles on diseases, and many books about Alledian history. The history books, judging by their titles, were describing things far too back in time to match the "Corvid" and their creator's time in this world.

A quiet thud came from a few shelves over. Caleb paused in pulling out the next book in the row he was currently on and tried to turn his hearing in that direction. Some shuffling came from over there, the lack of ambient noise in this underground space amplifying those particular sounds. Then, a second thud sounded from the same general area.

Miskit came around the corner of that row of shelves, looking bemused as he spotted Caleb. "Your robot bird is pulling books off the shelves with its beak and talons."

"Huh? Okay," Caleb told the robot rabbit, "I'm coming over." Figuring he would get more answers by seeing the problem with his own eyes, Caleb put the book back on the shelf and dashed over to Miskit's position. The rabbit led Caleb to the 900s rows, where the raven was on the floor nipping at the covers of three books with its beak.

Caleb took a few aggressive steps towards the bird. "Hey," he loudly told the creature, "get away from those books! They are very old, don't damage them!"

The raven gave Caleb a look, despite not blinking its eyes. It gave three low croaking sounds, making Miskit flinch in surprise. It then hopped onto one of the three books and began pecking at it. Miskit raced over to try and get the bird away while Caleb went to the other two books for closer examination.

The first book had a light-green cover with a decal of curling vines around the cover's edges. The title read "All Together: Alledia's unique multi-headed plant life". The author's name, "Simone Medren", was printed in a ring around a central image of a twin-headed flower with thick stems. Caleb looked for some kind of blurb or information in the front cover but found nothing there. Then he flipped to a random page in the middle area. He saw sketches of three flowers, each sporting sharp-ended petals but having different numbers of blooming pistils connected to those stems.

"Get off that book!" Miskit ordered, still trying to get the raven to leave that object alone. The raven squawked as Caleb glanced up just in time to see Miskit knock the bird away with his paws. Metal was not as easy to damage as skin and bone, so Caleb was not so concerned about any lasting injuries.

The second book had an ocean-blue cover and the title "Giant's Stew: A quick guide for long-lasting food". The title was the main thing on the cover; the author's name, "Karl Vetalock", was printed as steam rising from an unseen object placed beneath the cover's borders. Caleb assumed it was a bowl of warm food, probably stew or even soup. He could not figure out why this book had the word "Giant" in its title. A quick flip through some pages showed detailed recipes for different stews, along with drawings and pictures that looked very realistic.

"Master Caleb," Miskit hissed from nearby, "look at this!"

Miskit held the third book in his paws, tilting it towards Caleb for him to look at. It had a simple brown cover with silver lacing around the edges and spine. The title was a simple one: "On Stone Power". The biggest thing that got Caleb's attention was a series of metal plates wrapped around the cover flaps; connected to those plates were six metal rings showing English letters. The name of the book's author was visible at the far bottom of the cover: Silas Charnon.

Caleb looked at the author again. Could it really be him? He then looked at Miskit, pressing a finger against the author's name like a knife. Is this…? Miskit's eyes widened with clarity as he read the title and author and he nodded emphatically. Yes, it is!

Caleb thrust the book into Miskit's paws and raced to the end of the row. He cupped his hands over his mouth to better amplify his voice. "Everyone," he called out, "Miskit and the raven found something!"

In the near silence of the library, Caleb's voice sounded very loud. It was certainly loud enough to get Leon and Karen running over to the same row of shelves. Caleb brought them to the three books on the floor, the raven resting on a shelf between the bookend and the solid wooden wall of that shelf.

Leon looked more annoyed than glad of what had just happened. "The raven was on the right track. I should have known that right away."

Miskit held the book in his paws and stared closely at the plates. "There's a combination lock keeping the book closed. We need to get the right sequence of letters to open it."

"That was just on the shelves?" asked Karen. "Why didn't someone else try to open it?"

"Because it's a book the Council already know about," Miskit told her, his face tightening with emotion. "Master Silas told me he had written this very book while the Mother Stone was still here. He must have had multiple copies printed and distributed to different nations, including Cielis before it was forced off Alledia's crust."

Karen did not look convinced. "The lock did not encourage people to try anyway?"

"Master Silas might have put the lock on before he left the Council." Miskit looked closer at the lock and its various parts. "I am sure he also kept the book here on purpose. A library has lots of books, and no one has enough time to look through every one."

"That's right," Caleb piped in. "In my high school, we have to do research papers, and that requires us looking through books in libraries. We only pick ones we need to read or believe will help us. This book does not seem helpful to people except Stonekeepers. Also, this city is isolated from Alledia, making it even harder to find."

"Good points, all of you," Leon told everyone. "Now let's get this book open." Leon sat down on the floor with his legs crossed, taking the book from Miskit and putting it in his lap. "Six letters to the lock. Which letters to use?" He looked up to the others for suggestions before he tried anything himself.

"Try "Amulet"," Caleb quickly suggested. "That has six letters. Will that work?"

Leon twisted the individual letter wheels one by one. When he spelled out the letters "A-M-U-L-E-T", he tugged at the lock's bindings. The lock did not move. "Not right," he said.

"Council?" Miskit gave. "As in the Guardian Council?"

Leon tried it, but the lock refused to budge. "No luck," he told Miskit. "Let me try "Corvid" next."

Caleb looked up from the shelf to check on the raven's position as Leon worked his paws to get the right letters placed. The bird was on the topmost shelf, tucked in a space between the shelf's end and that shelf's row of books. It looked down at the scene with those unblinking eyes.

Leon grunted as he tried to open the lock. "Still nothing," he said with growing irritation. "Perhaps "Corvid" would be too obvious."

"What about "Emilia"?" Karen asked. When Leon looked at her in confusion, she explained, "That was the name of Silas's wife, who was also my grandmother."

Leon got the letters into the lock, everyone else watching him expectantly. When Leon tugged at the bindings, a quiet "click" sounded as the lock sprang open to reveal the book's pages tightly pressed together within.

"It worked!" Leon proclaimed. "Well done, Mrs. Hayes!" he told the older woman. Miskit and Caleb shared the same appreciation moments later with similar comments. Karen repeated her thanks several times to them all, blushing and smiling at her accomplishment.

As Leon opened the pages, his paws moved carefully between them. The book's pages had cursive writing on them, put in clean lines with little spillover. There were also diagrams and pictures of Stonekeeper amulets, and a sketch of the Mother Stone. "This is Silas's handwriting," Karen said when she saw it. "Now I'm glad my mother taught me how to read and write cursive."

"How fortunate," Leon said, "because I can't read it myself. Can either of you two?" he asked Miskit and Caleb.

"With difficulty, I could," the teenager admitted. "I learned some cursive in grade school."

Miskit's ears swung back and forth to match the motion of his head. "I was not programmed to read it," he told Leon, "and I figure we do not have time to learn it."

Leon's nose twitched as he stood up from the floor. "Then let's bring this to a place we all can review it in private. Would your apartment work, Mrs. Hayes?"

"That's fine," Karen said. "We can have lunch there if we need to spend more time this afternoon."

"Excellent." A confident smile spread onto Leon's face, that same emotion spreading to the three compatriots as they exited the library together. The raven, like before, followed behind, flying near the library's ceiling, and taking in additional information. Each of the four in the group looked back once to catch the raven, and none of them fully objected to it being there. It had helped them, after all, and it could help them again.


Alright, that's all for now. What is in the contents of this journal/book will be coming up next.

As usual, any feedback and constructive criticism is appreciated.

Draconos is taking off!