Toby was a great bestie for things like that.
Chapter 5
Corbin
I woke with the sunrise,and after some stretching, some quiet meditation, and some tea, I decided to check our land. The tarot deck was whispering softly to me, but it could wait; I didn’t want to deal with its snark first thing in the morning.
I threw on some shorts, because we did have humans living near us now, and they expected clothing most of the time. When I stepped outside, Crow flew over and settled onto my shoulder. She was back from her morning visit with our little reaper, and I gave her neck a gentle rub.
“Hello, my daimon. How is our Sebbie doing this morning?”
Crow ruffled her feathers, leaning her head into my petting. We stood for a moment, reconnecting with one another, before I turned my attention to the soil beneath my feet.
I was barefoot, which suited my purposes. I closed my eyes, breathing in and letting the land’s energy flow into me. Here, so close to our homes, the earth was saturated with our pack; we had claimed Paradise Falls as our own, and the land welcomed our protection.
I started walking, eventually falling into an easy run. I would’ve enjoyed being in my hellhound form to traverse the forest behind our homes, but I remained human. My hellhoundgrounded with the earth, but in a different way. I needed my witch senses for my current work.
Thea had said things felt “weird,” and she was intuitive in her own way. Perhaps it was nothing, but perhaps there was something to this feeling she described. Hopefully it wouldn’t reach so far as to touch our land, since Thea hadn’t been in town, but it never hurt to be careful.
As I ran further out, I felt my connection to the land fading. Crow flew overhead, and I heard her caw, feeling the same thing. I had lost track of distance—the state forest was large, and it extended beyond Paradise Falls—and I’d been running for well over an hour. It was beyond the boundaries of our town that I got a sense of… something.
I stopped, and Crow landed on my shoulder, her claws digging in a bit.
“Yes, I know. Our hold doesn’t extend as far as I’d like. We’ll fix that.”
Crow cawed softly, leaning in and preening a piece of my hair with her beak.
I closed my eyes, and I heard the ruffle of feathers overhead. The murder was joining us, and their sounds soothed something I hadn’t even known was unsettled. I let my feet sink down, feeling the earth reaching up toward me. I breathed out, calming my mind. It was the trees I heard first—their calm whispers and soft conversations with one another. Then the land spoke, a sort of low hum, like a gentle tingle, flowing up. I could sense where there were rocks as opposed to soil—the rocks of the northeast were old and dense, and they gave off a deep, low rumble, like a low, content purring to be in existence.
It was the air that was uneasy. It didn’t smell of hellbound souls—I would have sensed that sooner. It wasn’t… settled, though. The breeze didn’t dance like it should. When it didcaress my skin, it was too tentative. It was too still, too heavy. It was weighed down in a way that air should not have been.
I tilted my head, and Crow dug in deeper on my shoulder.
“Yes, I feel it. The air is uncertain.”
The crows all cawed around me, their cacophony filling the forest. Air was logic and thought. It was freedom and adaptability. It was life, but it was also change. Air was represented by the suit of swords in the tarot, and I had drawn a sword card last night for Sebbie.
I stood and let the air speak to me, but it had nothing more to say. Something was odd, something was changing, but I didn’t know what. If the air knew, it didn’t share that knowledge with me.
Eventually, Crow’s claws dug into my shoulder again as she gently ruffled her feathers. Yes, it was time to connect to the land. Living here and walking here would eventually do it, but it was a slow process. I knew there were quicker ways.
I looked at Crow and nodded. She flew off, and I knelt down, letting my bare knees connect to the earth. Before long Crow was back, landing in front of me with a stone in her mouth. I took it and examined it. Shale—a perfect choice. Not only was it an old rock, good for grounding and deep earth energy, but it could also be sharp.
Crow had found me a stone with a very sharp edge, and I took the rock and dug it into my hand. When blood welled up, I pressed my palm down onto the ground.
“Nurture us and give us your strength, and we shall give you our protection and our fire,” I whispered.
I felt my blood soak into the ground, and I lifted my hand to see the cut already healed. The earth would accept us, as I had expected. I stood and looked at Crow, nodding again. I held out my arm, and she stepped onto it, digging her claws in until I bled. She cooed softly as she did it, unhappy to see me bleed,even if this was the best way. Marks from her would not heal as quickly.
We headed back towards home, my arm dripping blood on the land as I went, leaving a connection and a mark. I wasn’t usually so casual with blood, and blood magic was generally something I avoided, but sometimes the oldest ways were the most effective.
Thea had been right—something was odd. It was better to be protected.
By the time I was nearly done, there were black spots fluttering in my vision, and I knew I was stumbling a bit. Crow had sat on my shoulder for most of the way, gently cooing and preening my hair, but she was following me now, flying from tree to tree so I didn’t have to carry her.
I could’ve used hellfire to close the wound and heal myself, but I would let this heal on its own, despite the discomfort of it. Sometimes sacrifice was required. Besides, it would take minimal time to heal once I stopped actively keeping the wound open.
Crow cawed loudly when we got within sight of the house. She was telling me something, but I sensed no danger. The entire murder started crowing with her, so I wasn’t terribly surprised when the back door was flung open. I expected Jude to be in the doorway, ready to help me inside, only Toby was standing there instead.
