“You can swim if you want.”

None of the boys said anything. They didn’t want to swim in front of her. She would have to leave for them to stay, but she didn’t want to. For some reason, she liked to look at them. And she’d liked listening to them when they hadn’t known she was there. She wished she hadn’t come out of her hiding place.

But now she saw that they expected her to say things to them. Maybe if she did, they would stay. “I like to swim here, too,” she said. “But today I was looking for insects.”

“Insects?” the orange-haired boy said.

“I’m feeding a bird.” She pulled the nest pouch out of her shirt. The boys drew closer as she opened the drawstring to reveal the baby jay.

“What kind?” the older dark-haired boy asked.

“Steller’s jay,” she said.

“You had it in your shirt to keep it warm?”

“Yes.”

“Why did you take it out of its nest?” the orange-haired boy asked.

“A raven killed all the babies but this one.”

“Damn ravens,” he said.

She didn’t like him cursing her father, but she couldn’t say anything about that to outsiders. She had promised Mama.

Jackie reached a finger toward the nestling. When the bird opened its beak, he withdrew his hand quickly.

“That’s the first time she did that!” Raven said. “She was asking you for food.”

“She was?” Jackie said.

“We should give her an insect to show her that was good.”

“Where do you find one?”

“Anywhere.”

Jackie got out of the creek to help. Raven tucked the bird into her shirt and showed him the best places to look. The other two boys searched with them.

“Here’s a moth,” the orange-haired boy said. He brought it to Raven with its wings pinched in his fingers.

Raven took the bird out of her shirt and opened the pouch. She pulled her beak stick from her pocket. When she took the moth and softly crushed it, the boys winced. Then she plucked the moth’s wings off and smashed its body onto her stick.

“Never saw a girl who’d do that,” the orange-haired boy said.

Raven cupped the nest in one hand and brought the insect on the stick toward the bird’s beak. The baby looked afraid of all the people standing around. Raven made the kissing noise with her lips. The bird opened its beak, and she quickly thrust it inside. It swallowed the moth and settled back into its nest.

“Cool,” Jackie said. “I have a caterpillar.” He held the brown insect out in his fingers.

“Do you want to feed her?”

“From my fingers?”

“She’s not old enough for that yet.”

“You do it,” Jackie said, handing her the caterpillar.

The orange-haired boy laughed. “He doesn’t want to squish it.”

“Yeah? You do it,” Jackie said.

“No, thank you,” the orange-haired boy said.

Raven killed the caterpillar, put it on the stick, and gave it to Jackie. “Get ready,” she said.

Jackie held the food close to the bird’s beak as Raven made the kissing noise. The bird opened her beak slightly, but Jackie was too slow, and the caterpillar fell into the nest.

“Oh no,” Jackie said.

“That happens sometimes,” Raven said. She took the stick, got the bird to open, and pushed the caterpillar far enough down to swallow.

“Okay. I think I’ve seen enough squished bugs for one day,” the orange-haired boy said.

The other older boy grinned.

“What’s your name?” Jackie asked.

“Raven,” she replied. Mama said she wasn’t allowed to tell people her whole name because she must never speak about being the daughter of a raven spirit.

“Are you joking?” the dark-haired boy asked.

“No,” she said.

“A bird raising a bird,” the orange-haired boy said. “Makes complete sense,” he said, grinning at the other older boy.

“I’m Jack,” Jackie said.

“But we all call him Jackie,” the dark-haired boy said, rubbing his hand in Jackie’s wet hair.

Jackie swatted him away.

“I’m Huck, Jackie’s brother,” the dark-haired boy said. “And this is Reece.”

“Nice to meet you,” she said, as Mama had taught her.

Reece said, “I’d shake hands, but you have bug guts all over your fingers.”

Raven smiled when they all laughed. Now she understood why Aunt Sondra said she should play with other children. It was fun.

“How old are you?” Jackie asked.

“Seven,” she said.

“Really? I thought you were older,” he said. “I’m eight.”

Raven looked at Huck, wondering if she could ask how old he was. He seemed to understand. “Reece and I are ten,” he said. “We’re babysitting today.”

“Shut up,” Jackie said.

“We are. Mom said to take you for a walk.”

“I go for walks by myself all the time.”

“Your mom lets you walk out here alone?” Reece asked Raven.

“Yes.”