My chest tightens. ‘For real?’
‘Yeah, ravens too. Though you don’t get many of them up here. Crows, though…’
They’re everywhere on the estate. Their caws have woken me up every morning. ‘You’re not seriously saying that those birds are…’
‘The therianthropic manifestation of the goddess of death?’
‘Seriously, these words!’
The crow caws again and a memory flickers. ‘Oh shit.’
‘What?’
The screech of the herring gull echoes in my ears as it looked up at the… ‘The black feather in my vision. Could it be a crow?’
Meg’s eyes widen. ‘It was them. This is amazing.’
‘Is it?’
‘They’re trying to communicate with you, Michael!’
‘Wait,they? Is the Morrigan non-binary?’
‘What?’ She laughs then stops. ‘No! I mean, who knows, right? If they were, then that definitely would have been stamped out by early Christian retellings.’ She leans forward. ‘No, it’s “they” because the Morrigan is a tripartite goddess.’
‘Sorry?’
‘She has three aspects.’
My head is hurting. There’s so much information being rammed inside it there’s no room for any more. I swallow. ‘So, there are three goddesses of…’
‘Death and war, yeah.’ She takes out her phone and starts tapping. ‘There’s actually quite a few goddesses of death in Irish mythology. Like six, I think.’
‘That feels like a lot of death.’
She flicks her hand in the direction of the city. ‘When in Rome.’
‘Fair. How do you know all of this?’
‘My nan taught me. So, yes, the Morrigan is the actual goddess. But she appears in stories as three different goddesses: Badb, Macha and Nemain. There are maybe others too, but that’s the three I know. They’re all the Morrigan, but are, like, different aspects of her.’
She passes me her phone and there’s an article on them, accompanied by an image of a woman with pale skin and long hair. Dark and red, like the woman in my photos. Like the woman in my dreams.
‘So, are there one or three of them? I still can’t get my head round this.’
Meg bites her lip. ‘I mean, we don’t really know because so much of the mythology was wiped out. But, yeah, she is multiple and one at the same time. It’s ancient magic – you probably aren’t meant to get your head round it.’ She tilts her head. ‘Though maybeyouneed to.’
I shudder. ‘OK, but for the purpose of not being overwhelmed by dealing with three goddesses can we just refer to her as one?’
‘I guess.’
‘So kind.’ I rub my temple. ‘So,isshe like the grim reaper? Is someone going to die?’ I’m surprised by how calm I sound.
Meg shakes her head. ‘She’s not really like that. We don’t have that type of thing in Irish mythology, no Charon or Hel or anything. The Morrigan might prepare you for death, but she’s a goddess with the power to kill, start wars, inspire warriors and terrify soldiers, shapeshift and also…’ Her mouth drops open.
Even though I’ve only known her a week, this is never a good sign with Meg. ‘What?’
‘Prophecy.’ She starts tapping on her phone again. ‘One of her aspects is famous for the gift of prophecy. Yes, Badb. The battle crow. She was a seer, a prophetess and… Oooh!’
