The Crowmaster

The Crowmaster
Barry Hutchison

After Kyle's ordeal at school, his mother packs him off to the safety of the countryside, where there will be no temptation to use his powers, and he can forget the bad things - like the fact that his dad is a monster determined to destroy the world.But here's the thing about the countryside: it's full of nature, and nature sometimes has claws.Followed by a spindly figure in the woods and attacked by crows, Kyle is about to discover that NOWHERE is safe from the invisible fiends…

BARRY HUTCHISON

INVISIBLE

FIENDS

THE CROWMASTER

For my big sis, Carol Anne.

Sorry for turning your Bucks Fizz record into a clock.

But it was 18 years ago.

Let it go.

Contents

Cover (#u28de8f0e-7076-598f-b9d4-33674492d2e7)

Title Page (#u13c43f47-556c-58df-8372-a07920d81179)

Prologue

NINETEEN DAYS EARLIER...

Chapter One - BROUGHT TO LIFE

Chapter Two - OF MONSTERS PAST

Chapter Three - A GOODBYE

Chapter Four - JOSEPH

Chapter Five - MEETING MARION

Chapter Six - LOST

Chapter Seven - UNDER ATTACK

Chapter Eight - DRESSING UP

Chapter Nine - RUDE AWAKENING

Chapter Ten - SHEDDING SKIN

Chapter Eleven - THROUGH THE SQUARE WINDOW

Chapter Twelve - GUARDIAN ANGELS

Chapter Thirteen - CAUGHT BY THE CROWS

Chapter Fourteen - A FALL TO RUINS

Chapter Fifteen - INTO THE BIRDHOUSE

Chapter Sixteen - FLAMING CLOSE

Chapter Seventeen - DEMON IN DISGUISE

Chapter Eighteen - SNEAK ATTACK

Chapter Nineteen - THE MAST

Chapter Twenty - THE MONSTER WITHIN

Also available in the INVISIBLE FIENDS series

Copyright

About the Publisher

PROLOGUE

What had I expected to see? I wasn’t sure. An empty street. One or two late-night wanderers, maybe.

But not this. Never this.

There were hundreds of them. Thousands. They scuttled and scurried through the darkness, swarming over the village like an infection; relentless and unstoppable.

I leaned closer to the window and looked down at the front of the hospital. One of the larger creatures was tearing through the fence, its claws slicing through the wrought-iron bars as if they were cardboard. My breath fogged the glass and the monster vanished behind a cloud of condensation. By the time the pane cleared the thing would be inside the hospital. It would be up the stairs in moments. Everyone in here was as good as dead.

The distant thunder of gunfire ricocheted from somewhere near the village centre. A scream followed – short and sharp, then suddenly silenced. There were no more gunshots after that, just the triumphant roar of something sickening and grotesque.

I heard Ameena take a step closer behind me. I didn’t need to look at her reflection in the window to know how terrified she was. The crack in her voice said it all.

‘It’s the same everywhere,’ she whispered.

I nodded, slowly. ‘The town as well?’

She hesitated long enough for me to realise what she meant. I turned away from the devastation outside. ‘Wait… You really mean everywhere, don’t you?’

Her only reply was a single nod of her head.

‘Liar!’ I snapped. It couldn’t be true. This couldn’t be happening. She stooped and picked up the TV remote from the day-room coffee table. It shook in her hand as she held it out to me.