The Children's Crusade by Carla Jablonski Page A

at him.
    â€œA medal, then, or a ribbon,” she said, “somesymbolic token of our affection and respect.”
    â€œWell, I’m not giving him one of my games,” Kerwyn said. “Maybe we can find him something in the library.”
    â€œGood idea. How about a first edition?” Griselda suggested. “My tutor was always quite pleased whenever he received such a gift.”
    Hm. A book sounds good , Tim mused, depending on what kind of story it is . “Why don’t you just ask me what kind of present I’d like?” he asked. He didn’t get an answer. By this time he had quit expecting one.
    Kerwyn looked worried. “We don’t have any first editions, do we?”
    â€œWell, you can’t just give him some old book,” Katherine argued.
    â€œI know!” offered Daniel. “Why don’t we give him Kerwyn’s talking stick. E’ll ’ave a lot of talking to do come the invocation.”
    Tim’s eyebrows rose. Invocation? What invocation? But he knew better than to ask.
    â€œDaniel, you really don’t have a clue, do you?” Katherine scoffed.
    They’re all clueless , Tim decided.
    Daniel looked ready to smack Katherine. “What did you say?” he demanded.
    Wat pushed his way between them. “Come, come, my friends,” he said in a soothing tone.“’Tis not meet that the one we intend to honor should find us squabbling.”
    â€œWat is right,” said Kerwyn. “What matters most is our plan.”
    â€œYes.” Wat nodded. “Soon enough all the children of the Bad World will be in Free Country.”
    Bad world? Did Wat mean London?
    At the mention of the Bad World, each of the kids shivered.
    â€œThey kill children there,” Daniel said.
    â€œThey think that because we’re smaller and weaker than they are that they can do whatever they want to us,” Katherine said.
    â€œIn the Bad World,” Griselda added, “all children live by adult rules. They choose if we live or if we die…if we are to be beaten, starved, or put to work at the age of eight.”
    â€œOr younger,” Daniel said in a low voice.
    â€œWith Timothy Hunter, we will have the power to end the tyranny,” Wat declared. “This is our mission. This is our crusade.”
    â€œOur crusade!” the others chimed in.
    â€œIf we have Timothy we have magic,” Kerwyn said. “And if we have magic, we have the master gateway to allow in all the others.”
    All of the children nodded solemnly.
    â€œWe will meet later, to finish choosing our words and ceremonies,” said Wat.
    And with that, the group dispersed without a glance at Tim.
    Tim stared after them. He felt completely invisible or at any rate deeply insignificant. “Bet this sort of thing never happens to John Constantine of the Trenchcoat Brigade,” he muttered. And Molly would never stand for their rudeness either .
    So now what? he wondered. How am I supposed to get home? And where is Marya? Obviously she’d been telling at least a partial truth: This group of kids wanted him for something. But the fact that she hadn’t returned with him could mean that she had plotted this whole thing as a way of escaping from Free Country. Which would imply there was something to escape from.
    After listening to that group of kids, it was clear to Tim that Free Country was where Avril’s brother, Oliver, had gone, along with all the other missing children. But did they come by choice? Or were they coerced or tricked or kidnapped? Tim had certainly come of his own free will, but if Marya wasn’t around to show him how to get home, how much free will did he really have?
    His would-be greeters had scattered in different directions. After being treated worse than a bug by that crew, Tim decided he didn’t want to follow any of them. He was on his own.
    â€œIf I were a gate to another world,” he said,