Page 24 of Corvus and the Broken God

“Seriously? You’re going in?”

“It’s too late now. We’re here. And I’ve always wanted to try out some natural hot springs.” Mindy slid off her pants, underwear, and bra and slipped into the warm water. "Oh, Freya, you have to come in. It feels heavenly. Years of stress are just melting off my body.”

I hesitated a bit longer. The blue light was hardly bright. Since I couldn’t see any bulbs, I had no idea if they were powered by electricity or magic. I didn’t mind taking my clothes off in front of Mindy, and my Monster had seen me naked a few days ago, when he had left me near the airport. Hell, he had even transformed my body, but I still felt shy. With that thought in mind, and with another glance at my friend, who had settled into the water with a blissful look on her face, I decided to go for it.

I tied my long hair into a knot and slowly walked into the murky liquid. The water came up to my waist, but Mindy had found a place where she could sit with only the tops of her shoulders and head exposed, so I swam over to her, pretending that not being able to see below the surface didn’t bother me. Hopping up onto the natural shelf, I leaned my head against the stone behind me and let the warm water work its magic.

“Now what?” I asked the cave, surprised I had spoken aloud. Every fiber of my being seemed to be asking this question. I had worked so hard, for so many years, only to have driven my career off a cliff. I’d always been someone who had a plan, who knew not only the next steps for my life but also the five or ten steps after those. Now I felt adrift.

“Tell me again why you don’t want to stay here,” said Mindy after some time had passed.

“Here in the caves?”

“No, here, in the mountains. With him.”

“Because I thought I’d have to be a crow. He didn’t exactly invite me to move in with him.”

“Yeah, changing you into a crow was an extreme reaction. But he seems happy to have you here now. Making us both feel welcome. Inviting you into his world.” Her voice was peaceful, as if we were relaxing in a luxury resort instead of a demon’s cave. “And now?”

“Now, what?” I asked, deliberately dense.

“Do you want to stay here? If it’s an option.”

“Now, I don’t know what I want.” For the first time in my life, my path had veered out of sight.

CHAPTER EIGHT

The Proposal

After relaxing in the warm water long enough to drift off for a few moments, I convinced Mindy to spend the night in my room. We snuggled under the thick down duvet, faces warmed by the fire. Unlike the last few nights, when my thoughts kept me up for hours, I fell asleep quickly.

I had no idea of the time when I woke since the thick curtains kept the room dark, but Mindy was missing. I washed my face, brushed my teeth, and went to find her. She wasn’t in the other bedroom or the kitchen. I checked the den, which served as the front of the inhabitable portion of the house, but it too was empty, only a few embers left in the fireplace.

It was so like Mindy to go exploring in the devil’s lair. And why did I think of him that way? Sure, he met the archetypal demon form, so why was I drawn to him? Attracted to him, if I were being totally honest. Was it enough to have evenly proportioned features? Of course, he would be pleasing to look at. He had the ability to manipulate his looks. Chaac had proven that when he changed forms. But there was something more there than attraction, a feeling that I had known him before, a strong familiarity beneath the foreign façade. Something beyond even the bond that allowed me to sense his location. I could admit that I wanted to be near him.

I let out a sigh and walked down the long hallway leading to the front of the house. I tried some of the doorknobs to rooms leading off the hallway, rooms I’d wondered about, but they were all locked.

“Mindy?” I called out, pausing my steps to listen for a response, but heard nothing except the birds singing outside. I leaned close to one of the long open windows. Bright light made me blink, the sun high in the sky. A crow flew above the tree line, and for a moment, my heart yearned to join him.

I kept looking for Mindy, coming to the giant front room spanning the width of the entire building. When I had first seen it, I had been a crow, and last night there had been no lights. Everything had seemed large, mythic in size. Now I could appreciate just how big it was. And how beautiful, despite its state of disrepair. The high ceiling was arched, with the highest point in the middle running the length of the room, nearly two hundred feet, and supported by crossing beams that created an intricate pattern, like a cathedral. The front tower was empty, and light poured in from the open spaces. No bell hung from the top, only a thick beam and an arched ceiling.

He had basically admitted the run-down condition of the front of the house was to make the place look uninhabited. Abandoned. This made sense to me. If he only used the back half of the house, then this way, he had a smaller area to defend. But who did he need to defend it against? I was still worried about my missing friend, but I wanted to see the right wing of the house. It backed up to where my current room and his quarters were, but that left about a quarter of the house unaccounted for. Where the left wing unfolded with a wide arched doorway, open and, if not welcoming, then at least easy to access, the right wing of the house hid behind a giant wooden door. It had medieval-looking metal straps across its top, bottom, and center. And, big surprise, it was locked. I tried rattling it by the handle, but the door didn’t budge.

The sound of approaching footsteps caused me a moment of panic, but it was only Mindy. She looked winded but otherwise cheerful.

“I left my power cord in the rental car,” she explained, breathing hard from the exertion of climbing the hill. “I get why you parked it near the bottom, but I hope we don’t have to get anything else out before we leave.”

“Power cord? Where did you plan on plugging it in?”

“Into the outlet in my room, silly.”

“You have got to be kidding me.”

“Nope. I’ll show you. Plus, I’m starving. Have you eaten?”

“Not yet. I woke up and went looking for you.”

“Oh, well, I’m fine. I do have a juicy bit of gossip for you, though.”