There’s a pattern.
Beak. Beak. Beak. Pause. Beak.
The flock hiccups; a ripple runs wing to wing. The syncopated pecking stutters, then repeats.
Beak, beak, beak. Pause. Beak.
Talon jerks forward so fast the couch groans. “Well, that’s new.”
“What does it mean?” I ask Pain, eyes closed.
“I don’t know,” he mutters.
Helpful.
I do the only thing that feels right. I send a message, soft as breath, to that dark glow inside me.
Help me. Once you do, I’ll help you.
The press of crows at the windows loosens half an inch, like the sea drawing back before another wave. Their message subsides. It gets quiet.
I take a second to read their movement. Nothing new or ominous. So I decide there’s no better test than skin. I open my eyes and head for the door.
“Skye,” Cassian calls almost immediately. “Where are you going?”
“I have a hunch I need to check.”
I move fast. Before he can catch me I’m through the main door and out onto the black, crow-covered concrete. Habit tells me to brace for an assault; I cover my ears and squint, then… relax. The crows don’t attack. I can walk among them freely.
“It worked,” I breathe, letting my hands fall.
My arms hang loosely and my feet carry me further down the stairs and before long, I’m standing among them like a drop of oil in inky water, hundred eyes watching me.
“Well, fuck me,” Cassian says behind me. The others echo it; I hear Talon’s breath, half-laugh, half-relief.
I test the new boundary. I step, then another, waving my hands to watch their reaction. They slide aside as if I’m their new messiah.
“I’m starting to think there’s a lot to my power I never discovered before,” I murmur, turning so their wings blot the sun for a beat.
“You’re starting to be right, then,” Pain replies. “You’ve only ever scraped the surface.”
The crows ripple when he speaks. A shiver crawls down my spine. I know he’s right.
There’s more to being a Grim Reaper than I ever thought. And I’m guessing the other Grims worked this out long before me.
Well, whatever message they’ve been trying to peck into my glass, it will have to wait. Seems like there’s vengeance to extract now. There’s nothing stopping us anymore.
With nothing in my way, my heart set, and my men at my back, I will blacken the whole goddamn sky before I bring it down on my ex-husband’s head.
The victim he made is about to become a deadly revenant.
And that revenant is coming for his sanity.
How much would you give to keep Rhea by your side, Talon?
The thought keeps bouncing in my head as I stare at her ceiling.
Hard to measure. Harder still when she’s lying right next to me, her head tipped back, mouth parted, fingers still loosely clutching the used bandage she peeled off me two hours ago and forgot to throw away.
