Page 45 of Corvus and the Broken God

Just at that moment, Darryl began to struggle, causing my grip on him to slip. I didn’t have much time to confirm no one could see us, but I did a quick sweep of the area. When my grip loosened, his tightened on me. He wrapped his legs around my torso, like some twisted lover.

Only I was much stronger than him in my new form. I peeled his hands off me, holding his wrists in one hand while the other wrestled with his legs. He was persistent, and now that he knew my true intentions, he was determined to find a way to survive. So, I tried a different tactic. Twisting his body so he had no choice but to look down, I folded my wings close to my back, angling my body into a sharp dive. Darryl’s legs lost their death grip on my hips, and I flung him away from my body, my wings snapping loudly outward and catching the wind like a parachute. I forced myself to watch him plummet, feeling the sharp sense of terror as he faced his death. In a few seconds, he hit the ground with a thud. I had been moving upward when it happened, when I killed my first person, my heart choking my throat.

I landed nearby, completely unaware of my surroundings. The only thing I was aware of was my Monster’s presence. Even as distressed as I was, filled with remorse, I couldn’t ignore his magnetism.

Corvus, come.

This time it was an order. My body obeyed immediately, wings and legs pushing me into flight, where he waited for me. He didn’t say anything else, and I complied in silence, certain he could sense my inner turmoil. We flew for a long time, far from home or in circles, I hardly cared. But when we landed, the terrain was unfamiliar. He didn’t give me much time to wonder, instructing me to change into a crow. Once again, I obeyed without thought. It was easier to do as he told me, since we both knew I would give in eventually. Killing Darryl had robbed me of any inner fight, but some distant part of me hoped it was not gone for good.

We didn’t fly far this time, just to the edge of another unfamiliar ridge. The sun set in the distance, but my attention caught on the cliff facing us. About halfway up the sheer face was a ledge, and on the ledge was a massive nest. A nest big enough to comfortably contain us both in our largest Monster forms.

My Monster was silent, and for once, I was content to be left in the dark. My thoughts were truly loud this time, although I could only sense them from afar, as if I had retreated into a deep tunnel inside my soul. A place where I was forced to sit with my new reality. To take a hard look at who I really was as opposed to the false, polite, too-good façade. To look at the line I had crossed with both feet; one I could never cross back.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Extreme Flight

We spent the night in the tree, two black birds far from their roost. We didn’t speak, which gave me time to digest the reality of what I had done, who I had become. I was a murderer. I had killed a man to protect a Monster. Had Camazotz been responsible for the skulls on the hill? Did it matter? And what now? Could I go back to life as a human? To face someone good and pure like Mindy? Did I want to? The more I tried to figure it out, the less I knew what I wanted, what I deserved, until finally, worn out, I succumbed to sleep.

I hardly slept, the discomfort of the perch, the chill of the wind, and my guilty conscience all adding up to a miserable night, but I must have slept some. For a moment, when I woke, I basked in the beauty of the pale pink sky, the colors revealing themselves in layers, until I remembered everything, and the horror of what I had done came rushing back. Camazotz was still there, only a few inches away from me. I let out a breath and fluffed my feathers. The beauty around us had no power over me. I felt scooped out on the inside, hollow. Unsure of my place in the world, I forced myself to look at my companion, as ready as I could be for whatever he had planned.

Look at the nest.

Mimicking him, I stayed still, only my eyes moving up to the massive nest on the facing cliff. Perched on the edge were three brown eagles. Golden eagles?

Bald eagles. Those are the young. They will not grow their white head feathers for a few years.

I focused on the youngsters. They seemed restless, squawking and trying out their wings. We were a good hundred feet away, but if they were clear in our crow sight, then they could definitely see us too. Probably why we were so still. At least our dark feathers helped us blend with the bark around us. Did eagles eat crows?

A piercing cry sounded from high above us, followed closely by another. I tilted my head to see the parents, so high they looked like specks against the lightening sky.

One speck lunged toward the other, but instead of dodging, they attached somehow, becoming one creature. As they fell toward the ground and us, I saw they were connected by one talon, tied together leg-to-leg as they spiraled toward the earth. My breath caught, my guilt momentarily forgotten, as I watched the magnificent creatures plummet in a crazy spin.

That is how well you will need to be able to fly if you hope to convince me to take you with me.

Wasn’t it enough to kill for you? Will the tests ever end?

There are no more tests, Corvus. I need to know you can survive when facing extreme circumstances. So, quiet now, watch.

Another command. Still, this time he had explained himself, and that counted for something. It helped that I couldn’t look away even if I wanted. The pair of adult eagles untangled themselves long before crashing and had flown away. It was the youngsters who were next to play in the sky above us. The largest one held something in its beak: a stick. He burst out of the nest and caught an upward draft. His siblings stayed on their perch, watching him as he circled higher. At some point, he released his grip on the stick, throwing it down and flying even higher. The two perched on the nest lunged for the stick in a blink, brawling with one another to get to it. The winner let out a jubilant cry, soaring in a celebratory loop before returning to perch beside its siblings on the cliff’s edge. I felt his gaze and turned to him almost involuntarily.

Ready?

For what?

To play with the eagles?

I looked over at the young raptors. They appeared to be preparing for another round of catch the stick. When I looked back at Camazotz, he had already transformed into a large, brown-feathered eagle.

Despite him saying earlier he wasn’t testing me, he was. I needed to be able to change into more than just a crow. And besides, it would be beneficial to know how to be an eagle. He hadn’t turned into an adult for a reason, not one he’d shared with me. No, that would’ve been too much to ask.

Focus, Corvus.

I folded my black wing in front of my face. I didn’t have a middle finger, so I rustled my feathers at him instead, hoping he would get the insult. He just hopped onto a different branch, ready to leave me behind.

I did my best, asking my body to transform itself into a carbon copy of the first young eagle who had dropped the stick. I grew a few inches, the most obvious change in my feet. Instead of slender black crow's feet, I now had beefy talons. I clicked my beak. It was hooked. I gave myself a mental high five and hopped down to the branch below me, testing the strength in my new wings.

He didn’t even look me over before launching into the sky. I jumped after him, enjoying the new power of my wings. This bird body handled completely differently from my crow one, a higher-performance version, like I had upgraded from a Jeep to a BMW. I was large, and my wings were powerful, but still maneuverable. We headed toward the giant nest, where three brown eagles watched our approach.