BOOK 3: GOD MEN
Chapter 15: Death Has A Sound | Chapter 16: Confronted | Chapter 17: Conspiracy Theory | Chapter 18: The Crows and the Man in the Sky
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Kasira Vang had been staring at a black and orange koi fish so long that the animal had ceased to register as a living thing and had become just a swirl of color drifting about in a dark void... |
When her mind drifted like this, her mother, Marigold, would usually slap the back of her hand and tell her quit daydreaming. Her mother and father, both very serious-minded people, were not prone to reveries. Imagination, flights of fancy, fascinations — whatever you wanted to call them — were not for people who had to work for a living, they’d say. Success, whether it was in school, work, or life, depended on keeping your head clear and out of the clouds. What they had never understood about their eldest daughter was that her "daydreaming" was almost always intervals of deep reflection and imaginative thought.
Over the years, Kasira had had many arguments with her parents about the importance of imagination, none of which had yielded positive results. "Y'know," she once told them, "Albert Einstein once said that imagination is more important than knowledge because it embraces the entire world and gives birth to evolution."
Her mother hadn't restrained her laughter. “Einstein?" she chortled. "What did he ever do that was useful to the real world? He did math so much he forgot to comb his hair, that’s what!”
It was at times like these that Kasira remembered that, in just a few years, she’d be better educated than anyone in her family had ever been. She was already smarter than all of them, and probably the smartest Vang since her great grandfather had established a criminal empire, making him the most powerful person in Hidden Rock during an era when Chinese people were openly persecuted. And while her parents definitely encouraged her academic pursuits, all three of them knew her success in school made her an outsider in her own family. This idea had ceased to bother Kasira. In fact, she was now looking forward to the day when she was defined on her own terms rather than by the pedigree of her family.
“Kasira!” a voice boomed in her right ear. It was her 12-year-old sister, a child who frequently appointed herself their mother’s proxy and enforcer. With a dramatic stamp of her left foot stated: “Mother says you need to stop daydreaming and bus tables!”
“Piss off!” Kasira retorted, feigning a lunge at the girl which startled the koi fish more than the child.
As her sister scampered off to inform on her, Kasira leisurely rose from the edge of the fountain. She’d managed to hide in the largely unused banquet room for almost twenty minutes before being discovered. But now that she'd been caught, she’d be carefully monitored the rest of the evening. As slowly as possible, she fetched the rolling cart from where it was parked near the kitchen doors and began to clear half-eaten plates of food and empty tea cups from the tabletops.
As she worked the perimeter of the Dragon of the Jade Pool’s main dining room, her mind wandered back to her encounter with John Gervais two nights before. She’d spent a lot of time thinking about John. He was even invading her dreams to the point that he now occupied the place in her brain previously reserved for her Zac Dryden obsession. Her preoccupation came partly from her inability to reconcile John with logical facts. Kasira was a scientist at heart. She was vice president of the Science Technology Engineering and Math Club and champion of numerous academic decathlons. She could tell you how an atom worked but was incapable to explaining why John wasn’t affected by the “sleeping sickness” at the arcade, or how he could climb trees up a steep hillside in the middle of a rainstorm. It was as if the laws of nature had excluded him somehow.
As she fished a crumpled napkin out of a discarded bowl of hot and sour soup, something thumped hard against the pane glass window nearby. This was followed by two more thumps and what could only be described as a loud fluttering. Kasira scooted into an empty booth and peered through the window into the street beyond. The sun had mostly set, leaving only a thin blue cast above the buildings to the west. Amber-colored street lights made the avenue look old and spooky. Weaving in and out of this patchwork of light and dark were dozens — no hundreds — of feathery shapes. The rapid flicking of so many wings sounded like a gusting wind and rattled the restaurant’s windows. Almost immediately, some of the customers began assembling around her.
“What are they?” a woman to her left said with some alarm.
“Crows,” Kasira answered drily.
“Crows!” the woman exclaimed. “What’re they doing?”
“Flying,” snorted Kasira.
“But why so many? Where’d they come from?”
Over the years, Kasira had had many arguments with her parents about the importance of imagination, none of which had yielded positive results. "Y'know," she once told them, "Albert Einstein once said that imagination is more important than knowledge because it embraces the entire world and gives birth to evolution."
Her mother hadn't restrained her laughter. “Einstein?" she chortled. "What did he ever do that was useful to the real world? He did math so much he forgot to comb his hair, that’s what!”
It was at times like these that Kasira remembered that, in just a few years, she’d be better educated than anyone in her family had ever been. She was already smarter than all of them, and probably the smartest Vang since her great grandfather had established a criminal empire, making him the most powerful person in Hidden Rock during an era when Chinese people were openly persecuted. And while her parents definitely encouraged her academic pursuits, all three of them knew her success in school made her an outsider in her own family. This idea had ceased to bother Kasira. In fact, she was now looking forward to the day when she was defined on her own terms rather than by the pedigree of her family.
“Kasira!” a voice boomed in her right ear. It was her 12-year-old sister, a child who frequently appointed herself their mother’s proxy and enforcer. With a dramatic stamp of her left foot stated: “Mother says you need to stop daydreaming and bus tables!”
“Piss off!” Kasira retorted, feigning a lunge at the girl which startled the koi fish more than the child.
As her sister scampered off to inform on her, Kasira leisurely rose from the edge of the fountain. She’d managed to hide in the largely unused banquet room for almost twenty minutes before being discovered. But now that she'd been caught, she’d be carefully monitored the rest of the evening. As slowly as possible, she fetched the rolling cart from where it was parked near the kitchen doors and began to clear half-eaten plates of food and empty tea cups from the tabletops.
As she worked the perimeter of the Dragon of the Jade Pool’s main dining room, her mind wandered back to her encounter with John Gervais two nights before. She’d spent a lot of time thinking about John. He was even invading her dreams to the point that he now occupied the place in her brain previously reserved for her Zac Dryden obsession. Her preoccupation came partly from her inability to reconcile John with logical facts. Kasira was a scientist at heart. She was vice president of the Science Technology Engineering and Math Club and champion of numerous academic decathlons. She could tell you how an atom worked but was incapable to explaining why John wasn’t affected by the “sleeping sickness” at the arcade, or how he could climb trees up a steep hillside in the middle of a rainstorm. It was as if the laws of nature had excluded him somehow.
As she fished a crumpled napkin out of a discarded bowl of hot and sour soup, something thumped hard against the pane glass window nearby. This was followed by two more thumps and what could only be described as a loud fluttering. Kasira scooted into an empty booth and peered through the window into the street beyond. The sun had mostly set, leaving only a thin blue cast above the buildings to the west. Amber-colored street lights made the avenue look old and spooky. Weaving in and out of this patchwork of light and dark were dozens — no hundreds — of feathery shapes. The rapid flicking of so many wings sounded like a gusting wind and rattled the restaurant’s windows. Almost immediately, some of the customers began assembling around her.
“What are they?” a woman to her left said with some alarm.
“Crows,” Kasira answered drily.
“Crows!” the woman exclaimed. “What’re they doing?”
“Flying,” snorted Kasira.
“But why so many? Where’d they come from?”
These were not questions Kasira could answer, nor did the woman expect her to. Crows were common enough in Hidden Rock, often gathering around the Jade Pool’s dumpsters looking for an easy meal, but Kasira had never seen them act like this. Their numbers alone were staggering, and within seconds the birds began colliding with each other or the buildings and cars in the street. One spun like a kite that had lost its updraft and smacked headlong into the other side of the window where Kasira was knelt. Its neck snapped upon impact and it dropped limply to the sidewalk. Other bodies quickly joined it.
“They’re killing themselves!” the female customer shrieked.
Kasira’s desire to slap the woman was stifled when she spotted another shape moving through the darkening sky. A first it was just a smear blotting out stars — but it was definitely not a bird. It was a man, gliding like a dandelion seed over a meadow. The figure sailed quickly over the restaurant and headed toward the Stitchwort River. Kasira’s gasp was lost among the clamor of the people standing near her. It took a moment for her to realize that no one else had seen the man. Seconds later, the remaining crows seemed to organize themselves and immediately cleared the street.
As soon as the last surviving bird flew off, Kasira bolted out of the front door. This second abandonment of her restaurant duties would merit swift punishment from her mother, but Kasira didn't care. A pitiful caw-cawing filled the air as she picked her way through a carpet of dead and dying animals. Some of the crows had impacted so forcefully with cars and buildings that they had cracked windshields or left scarlet smears against brick walls.
By the time she reached the river’s edge, the sky was too dark to see the floating figure anymore. But it was clear that he had headed downriver toward the large hill where she and Ben and discovered John lurking around. The same hill where Zac Dryden lived.
Kasira’s desire to slap the woman was stifled when she spotted another shape moving through the darkening sky. A first it was just a smear blotting out stars — but it was definitely not a bird. It was a man, gliding like a dandelion seed over a meadow. The figure sailed quickly over the restaurant and headed toward the Stitchwort River. Kasira’s gasp was lost among the clamor of the people standing near her. It took a moment for her to realize that no one else had seen the man. Seconds later, the remaining crows seemed to organize themselves and immediately cleared the street.
As soon as the last surviving bird flew off, Kasira bolted out of the front door. This second abandonment of her restaurant duties would merit swift punishment from her mother, but Kasira didn't care. A pitiful caw-cawing filled the air as she picked her way through a carpet of dead and dying animals. Some of the crows had impacted so forcefully with cars and buildings that they had cracked windshields or left scarlet smears against brick walls.
By the time she reached the river’s edge, the sky was too dark to see the floating figure anymore. But it was clear that he had headed downriver toward the large hill where she and Ben and discovered John lurking around. The same hill where Zac Dryden lived.
