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Now, what was I going to do with the baggie? There was nowhere to safely hide the napkin where the Fae or their staff wouldn’t find it. I shoved the pouch inside my bra, squeezing and molding the plastic so I didn’t have any weird lumps with my boobs.

The only thing left to do was find the crows.

True to his word, Adrian had encased the building with some type of force field, and I couldn’t do as much as wiggle a finger through an open window without hitting an invisible barrier. Since I’d ingested a small bit of his blood, I had hoped that it would counteract his magic. It did not.

I ended up yelling, “Crow, hey crow,” until my throat was sore, hoping there was no soundproofing and that one of the birds could hear me.

The large crow landed on the windowsill after a while and cocked his head at me. “Oh, hey, thank you for coming,” I said.

“What do you want?”

I fell on my ass and glanced up. The fucking thing actually spoke to me. Or, did it? Because that would be crazy weird.

“Are you talking to me?” I asked. Heat spread across my face, and I could only imagine I turned ten shades of red.

“You summoned me,” he said, twisting his head to peck at a beetle crawling along the window frame.

“I can’t believe I’m talking to a bird. Who would have thought?” The crow turned to face me, with a black bug with wiggling legs firmly clamped in its beak. Then, it swallowed it. “So, the Fae blood worked.”

“Yes,” he said, ruffling his feathers.

He looked at me expectantly. “Can you say anything other than ‘yes’?” I asked.

“Yes.”

I couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or if he was simply answering the question. “Are you one of Kiam’s crows?”

“I am in service to him.”

That was a relief. “Cool. Where is he?” The crow stared at me. “What was the whole point of me eating Fae blood then? You’re not very helpful.”

The bird stretched out his wings and bobbed his head. “I am unable to answer certain questions.”

Oh. Ohhhh. That made perfect sense. “Are you the same crows that watched me die in a hole?”

“No, but I saw you.”

“How’s that?”

“Linking. You must protect your blood. The Fae will not like this.”

That was something I hadn’t thought of, but I should have. “Will they be able to tell?” My blood ran cold. “Crap. What do I do?”

The bird hopped away after a red butterfly, caught it, and swallowed it whole. I watched as he flew over to a tree, cawed a few times, and then flew back. “They will know. They have formidable magic.”

“I only ate it because you suggested it. What am I supposed to do now?”

“Don’t make them angry.” The crow hopped side to side, swiveling it head around.

Crossing my arms, I replied, “The fact I’m alive pisses them off.”

“Yes.”

“Shit,” I mumbled under my breath. “Wait, does this mean I can talk to any animals?”

The crow laughed, and I had to wonder which of its sounds that would have translated to had I not acquired this puzzling and potentially useless ability.

“You thought of me, so me it is.” The bird flapped its wings and flew off into the woods.