Page 103 of Elusive Promise

It was a stormy day when the hawk came down from the sky and went after the baby ravens, tearing their tree nest apart, attacking the mother, and forcing the babies to flee to a nearby ledge along the window of a classroom.

For days, the children pushed twigs and grass onto the ledge, so the baby ravens wouldn't starve. They waited and prayed for the mother to come back, but she never did.

The ravens huddled there in the wind and the rain, enduring storms that never seemed to end. They were trapped, too afraid to move.

But there was one raven who grew impatient, every day flapping his wings just a bit more. He didn't want to leave the others, but he also knew he couldn't stay on the ledge. He had to try to fly.

The clock in the bell tower was ticking off twelve bells for the noon hour when the children inside the classroom saw the raven strut back and forth along the ledge. He looked down, then up. They watched with bated breath.

And then he was gone, soaring into the heavens. At first, he was flapping his wings like a madman, but then he realized he could fly.

The skies opened up. The sun beamed down on the rest of the ravens, and one by one they followed the raven's lead, finding a new day, a new world—peace.

The hawk no longer controlled their destiny. They could be whoever they wanted to be. They had finally found the courage.

Everly didn't have a bell tower, but the tallest building she could see overlooked a large courtyard where students were eating, studying, talking at tables and benches. No one had any idea there was danger lurking.

She wanted to scream at all of them to run—but run where? She could be sending them into danger instead of away from it.

She had to find the Raven first. She ran into the lobby of the tallest building and dashed up seven flights of stairs, finding a door that led on to the roof. She pushed through it, coming to a crashing halt as she saw her former mentor, the man who had saved her life, standing near the edge of the building, wearing what appeared to be a vest filled with explosives.

He whirled around and put up his hand. "Don't come any closer, Parisa."

"What are you doing, Neil?" She stopped about ten feet away from him, shock still running through her that it was really him, that he was the bomber.

"Saving my family."

"What are you talking about?"

"I created a monster, and it is now devouring me. The storm will not lift until I fly."

"You're the Raven," she said. "Kaala Kaua. Isaac said the Raven would fly today." She looked into his tortured gaze. "I knew it was you all the way over here, but I kept telling myself I had to be wrong. I couldn't imagine that you were behind Jasmine's kidnapping, that you're a terrorist. My God, Neil! You're a terrorist?"

"It didn't start out like this."

"You need to take off that vest now."

"I can't. Stay back," he added hastily. "Or you will die, and I don't want that to happen."

"I don't understand, Neil. How did you turn into this?"

"It started about six years ago, when I began to teach at the university. The students would come to my house for study group. Elizabeth would feed them. And I would offer them help. Sometimes I told them stories in different languages to increase their skills. The raven was one of those stories. It inspired them to dream, to want more, to trust in themselves and their ability to change their circumstances. They were so energized, so full of hope. They wanted to make changes in Bezikstan; they wanted to be politically active, they wanted to make their country better. I thought it was good to encourage them. I didn't like what was happening with the government, either. Things got bad after you left. Bezikstan changed. There was more poverty, less opportunity."

"Are you telling me that Brothers of the Earth was founded in your living room?" she asked in astonishment.

"I didn't know what they would become. I tried to steer them back to their true path, but a few years ago, I started losing control. There was an explosion in Bezikstan, a car bomb, and they took credit for it. I told them they had to stop. They told me that Elizabeth and her mother would die if I ever said a word."

"Why didn't you leave? Why didn't you tell someone?"

"Elizabeth's mother was ill. She couldn't travel. I sent Ben here, to New York City. I wanted him far from the group. I thought he was safe. They said out of honor to my bringing them all together, they would leave me alone as long as I stayed quiet, which I did. But then Ben went to study abroad. I had no idea he would run into Sara in Paris, that he would fall in love, and that he would become a part of the horror I had tried to protect him from."

"He didn't know you started the group?"

"He knew nothing. He still doesn't. He's innocent."

"And Sara—how involved is she?"

"Sara doesn't want to be involved, but Isaac is her only living relative. And he is one of the leaders now, one of the most radical."

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