Gross Potions by Chris Rodgers

Author:Chris Rodgers [Rodgers, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-12-11T00:00:00+00:00

The boys give a thumbs-up. Ethan points to the flower, and Grandpa looks over to Anna, who is nearby but distracted by the busloads of tourists who have just arrived. Grandpa leans over the side and sees the flower. His shoulders sink. It's much too far for him to reach over and pick it.

Ethan and Gavin are vexed, unable to work out a plan quickly. Anna starts heading down the hill, and Grandpa follows.

"Let's find another," Gavin says, slowly walking away with his head down. "There's gotta be another one somewhere."

Ethan stays put. Deep in thought, he is startled by a large black bird that nearly hits him as it flies by. He watches the bird's path as it dives into the ravine before landing on the rock face opposite them, the same ledge the flower occupies.

"What's that crow doing?" Gavin asks.

"It's too big for a crow. I think it's a raven," Ethan says.

"What's it doing?" Gavin asks.

Before Ethan answers, the raven takes hold of the stem of the purple flower with its beak and pulls gently. The flower, stem, and root shake loose. Holding the bulb and root in its beak, it takes flight, heading directly towards Ethan, again nearly knocking him over. The bird flies low to the ground in a straight line away from the park.

"Run after it!" Ethan shouts while following the speeding raven.

"It's too fast. We can't catch it," Gavin says.

"We can't lose it," Ethan says, running as fast as his legs will take him.

They sprint downhill, but the bird is nearly out of sight. Gavin trips, rolls, and skins his knee. He yells out in pain but hops right back up with a temporary limp. Ethan runs along a dirt path, watching the bird swoop down behind another hill. Ethan and Gavin climb the rocky slope, but there's no trace of the raven.

The boys meander around giant boulders to the edge of a woodland area. At the entrance, they are startled by what appears to be the skeletal remains of a massive whale. They realize quickly they are wrong. The whale is a fallen tree, its trunk and limbs stripped of bark, leaving a line of bone-white branches that perfectly resemble a whale's rib cage. The boys slowly step through. At the whale's head, there is a grouping of black boulders.

Gavin points to a space in the rocks. "There!"

They move closer, carefully and quietly. The boys' lungs hurt from the run, but they suppress the pain for fear of disturbing the bird. In a hollow space within the rock grouping is a large nest with a very active raven.

"Let's scare it out. Then, grab the flower," Gavin says.

"Shh, it's still in its beak," Ethan whispers. "If it flies off with it, we'll never get it."

"What if it eats it?"

"It won't. It's gonna use it for its nest," says Ethan confidently. "Look."

They peek through to see the raven carefully weaving the flower and root into the side of its nest.

Once it finishes, it soars away. Gavin runs to the opening and descends.

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