A few minutes later, he catches sight of Red in the distance and jogs off to meet him. Ivy and I head back toward the house.
The scent of oranges and earth wraps around me the closer we get. Tobias is outside with Jericho and Evan, bundled in a too-big sweater as he takes pictures with his camera. His cheeks are pink from the cold. I loop around the yard to surprise him, nipping his backside. Tobias yelps, then breaks into giggles as I circle around his feet.
“Rowen, you dork!”
God, the things that laugh does to me. I haven’t heard it enough lately.
I tackle Tobias to the ground, and he rolls with me, breathless and grinning. I lick his cheek as he shoves at me, laughing harder.
“Okay, okay. Stop.”
Jericho throws a small fireball at a makeshift target fifty feet away. Yesterday, he was practicing his fire portals. After the trip to Prodigy, he’s been more focused. Everyone has… except me. All I seem to think about is Tobias.
I rub my face against his, and Tobias wraps his arms around my neck. He doesn’t let go as he sits up, his hood falling back. I lick his cheek again. He kisses my nose.
A sharp cry splits the air directly above us. We all look up.
The raven has followed us back. It’s spiraling erratically above the trees, its wings beating so fast they’re almost desperate. It cries again, then dives straight at us.
Jericho reacts instantly, flinging a fireball at it. The raven dodges the blast, flying back up to circle above us twice more. When it spots the drone, it bolts for it, and we all watch in stunned horror as the bird attacks the piece of metal with its talons and beak. Sparks rain down from the machine, then the drone crashes into the snow with a heavy crunch.
“What the—” Grant leaps from the porch. “Damn bird broke it!”
The bird seems to hover in the air, wings a blur of inky movement. Something about it is unnatural and makes me shiver. Jericho launches another fireball at it, but misses.
With one last furious cry, the bird wheels upward and disappears into the gray sky.
Evan shakes his head. “What the hell was that about?”
“No idea,” Jericho says.
“The footage might give us some clues? If it’s not totally destroyed.”
Grant rushes over to the wreckage, and Jericho and I join him. The drone is in pieces—half the rotors snapped and the camera housing split open. A total loss. Grant is both gutted and absolutely furious. “Fucking bird. I’m going to wring its neck if I see it again!”
“Let’s take it inside,” Jericho says. “See if we can find anything useful.”
While he takes the mangled drone to the office, Tobias sits down with his camera on the nearest sofa. He scrolls through his photos rapidly. I pull a shirt on and sit next to him.
His lips are pressed so tightly together they’re nearly white.
“What’s wrong?”
“I think I’ve seen that bird before.”
“We all have.”
“No, I mean—” He flips through images quickly, stopping on one. “This. I thought I was losing my mind the other day when I saw this… but look.”
I hesitate before taking the camera. He’s been using terms like that lately.Losing my mindandgoing crazy.It worries me.
Tobias zooms in on the bird’s head. “Seriously, look.”
At first, it’s just a blob of feathers and shadow. But then I see it—faint lines across the bird’s head. They aren’t normal for a bird. More like the remnants of a shifter’s human traits showing through the skin of their shifted form.
My heart sinks, and I glance up at him. “You think it’s a shifter?”
“You’ve told me some shifters can show markings from their human selves, right? It’s not common, but it can happen. What if this…” he trails off, eyes darting between mine. “What do you think?”
