Gabriel heard a harsh tap on the glass of his bedroom window. He pulled the curtain and saw a valraven’s sickly yellow eye staring at him through the pane.

“Paladin!” he called.

The raven flew to his shoulder and peered out. Gabriel, I remember this phantom. He’s Hookeye, Corax’s general. A very powerful and dangerous bird.

“What should we do?” said Gabriel.

Nothing. He’s outside and we’re inside.

But then Gabriel heard a faint voice.

“Gabriel, it’s me, Abby. I’m…I’m stuck inside this valraven!”

“Abby?” said Gabriel. “What’s going on? Why are you inside a—”

“Never mind,” she interrupted. “I did something incredibly stupid. Listen, Gabriel. Whatever happens, don’t follow this bird. It’s a trap to capture you! Don’t follow—”

Hookeye clamped his beak shut, cutting off Abby’s words. The old valraven smiled grimly at Gabriel and Paladin, then flew off.

“We’ve got to follow her,” said Gabriel, and he threw up the window and spread his arms, preparing to paravolate.

“But that’s exactly what Abby told you not to do!” said Paladin.

Gabriel looked at the raven with an anguished expression. “But how can I let Abby be captured?”

Paladin drew a resigned breath. “I understand. It’s just that we’d be flying right into—”

“I don’t care. Jump!” cried Gabriel.

In that instant, Gabriel merged with Paladin, and they took to the air. He felt the wind, thick as water beneath his wings, as they soared in pursuit of the valraven.

Hookeye flew a haphazard course, sometimes ducking beneath tree branches, sometimes gliding into open spaces. Although shrewd, he had the disadvantage of having lost many feathers, so he didn’t have the powerful thrust of a younger bird. His wings were sparse and he flapped with great effort. Within half a minute, Paladin had caught up with him.

“Hookeye,” he said.

The valraven glared at him. “Ah, Paladin, my friend. And do I have the honor of greeting the Finley boy, too?”

“Let Abby go!” cried Gabriel.

“Oh, don’t worry, human,” gloated the phantom. “I will—when I’m ready.”

“Do it now, Hookeye, or I’ll pluck every feather from your wings until you plummet,” Paladin said, and to show that he meant business, the raven dipped in the air and seized one of Hookeye’s tail feathers. The valraven gasped.

Abby chimed in now. “Listen to him, you horrible smelly beast! He’ll take every feather you’ve got. If you let me go, you’ll still be able to fly, but if you don’t, he’ll pick at you until you’re as naked as a plucked hen!”

Oh, I’ll let you go soon, my dear, muttered Hookeye.

“Jump!” Abby said. “Jump! Jump! Jump!” She remembered that Gabriel often said this when he wished to merge with Paladin—or separate. “Jump! Jump!”

Oh, you can say that all you want, but it won’t do you any good.

Abby jerked and squirmed inside the valraven’s body. “Why can’t I get free?” she cried in exasperation.

Because when a human merges with a valraven, it’s a surrender, Hookeye replied. You’re my prisoner and you must wait till I release you.

Abby squirmed again. “I’ll scream,” she warned. “Aaaaaaahh!”

Hookeye’s single, sickly yellow eye grew watery as Abby’s shrill cry rattled through his brain. He spiraled down toward a traffic intersection, barely able to alight upon the striped awning of a shop on Union Street printed with the words PLESHETTE’S EXOTICS.

Paladin circled above, looking for a hint of a trap. I don’t see any other valravens, he told Gabriel.

I guess it’s safe, then, Gabriel replied. But did you notice where we are?

Pleshette’s shop, said Paladin. That nasty little man who sells potions, animals, and mojo-mechanisms.

The moment that Paladin alighted on the other end of the awning, a robin fluttered down from a nearby tree and perched between Hookeye and Paladin. Snitcher! said Gabriel.

“Ah, so here is Paladin,” said the robin. “I presume that the Finley boy is with you?” He gazed with gleeful mischief from Paladin to Hookeye. “Now that I have you both together, let’s proceed.”

“First,” said Paladin, “Hookeye must let the girl go!”

“Very well,” said Hookeye. He stretched his wings and gave a vigorous shake.

The figure of a girl with twelve blond pigtails sprang free of the valraven and collapsed upon the pavement. Abby got up, dusted off her pajamas, and adjusted her glasses. The moment she saw the shop window, and the cages inside, she whirled around. “Paladin! Gabriel!” she cried. “Go—”

“Wait!” cried the robin. “Hear me out. If you and the Finley boy tell me where the Chamber of Runes lies, and how Corax can reunite with his body, you may go free.”

“Never!” replied Paladin.

“To be trapped and powerless is a miserable existence,” said a deeper voice speaking through the robin’s mouth. “Show him how it feels, Snitcher.”

“I’ll never help you, Corax,” said Gabriel through Paladin.

A brilliant flash of blue light burst from the torc around Snitcher’s neck.

Hey, what’s happening to me? cried Paladin. I can’t move my wings or my head!

Gabriel felt the same sensation, as if they were held in a viselike grip. Maybe I can jump free, he said. He attempted a mental jump, but nothing happened.

He tried again. Nothing.

Then Gabriel saw Abby’s horrified expression.

“You’re in a cage,” she said. “It’s shaped exactly like a raven, with wire, rivets, spikes, and a metal beak. It’s a horrible contraption!”

Paladin squirmed frantically to escape, but the cage held him tight. His desperate movements caused it to fall off the awning and strike the pavement with a clatter.

Abby crouched next to it. “Are you guys okay?”

“We’re okay,” said Paladin.

She was startled by Paladin’s voice; she had longed for the raven to speak to her, but this was an awful time for such a privilege. “I’ll carry you home, and get help,” she said, but when she tried to pick up the cage, one of her fingers caught on a sharp set of spikes. “Ow!” she cried, flinching.

The cage’s metal fastenings were barbed to discourage an outsider from freeing its victim.

“This is terrible,” she said.

“Please try to get away before Snitcher harms you,” said Paladin.

“But, I can’t leave you—”

The cage vanished as Abby spoke.

“What’s going on? Where…”

A bluish glow emanated from the shop window. Abby peered inside and saw its source. High in the rafters, Paladin’s metal cage shone among many others of all shapes and sizes. Then its glow faded and the cage disappeared within the dark interior.

“Gabriel, I’m so sorry,” she whispered quietly, as a hot tear rolled down her cheek.

“He’ll change his mind soon enough and tell us all we need to free Corax,” chirped the robin.

“But he doesn’t know anything,” Abby wept. “I promise.” She wiped her cheeks with her pajama sleeve.

“Oh, calm down,” said Hookeye. “Your friend will come to no harm.”

Abby glared bitterly at the phantom. “It’s a store,” she replied. “He could be sold by that creepy man.”

“Not if he keeps his mouth shut,” replied Hookeye. “Nobody wants a silent raven.”

She turned to Snitcher. “You know that he’ll never help you, don’t you?”

“I’ll give him a week,” replied the robin.

“And then what?” asked Abby.

But Snitcher had already flown away.