by Sarra Cannon
“I’ll be fine,” he shouted. “Get that girl. Don’t let her get away.”
I hated to leave him there in pain, but I had no choice. We could call Angela to help heal him when this was done, but for now, we had to focus on keeping these four crows here with us so they didn’t have a chance to warn the Mother Crow about what happened.
When I stood, I saw that Silas had conjured some kind of large black shadow that encircled the girl who had doused us with flame. She wriggled beneath its weight, trying to move her hands, but she was completely encapsulated, as if she’d been wrapped inside a blanket of darkness.
But where was Mary Lola? I turned in a circle, searching for the girl I’d met earlier, but there was no sign of her.
She would have had to run or fly past me to get to the exit, so she was still here in the village somewhere, but where?
The only structure in this tiny version of a crow’s village was a single blue house with a small porch and two rocking chairs. Had she run inside?
“Which way did she go?” I shouted.
“In the house,” Rend said. “Hurry.”
I shifted into my crow form so I could move faster and flew into the small blue house. I used my heightened senses to take in every room and every movement. Every scent.
When I didn’t find her downstairs, I flew up the steps and searched the small bedrooms.
I took human form in the last of the bedrooms, about to give up and head back downstairs, when I turned around to see Mary Lola standing in the doorway, a large dagger in each hand. Some kind of green substance dripped from the tips of each dagger, and Mary Lola’s eyes glowed with the same color of green as she stared at me.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” she said. “But I will if I have to.”
“I don’t want to hurt you, either,” I said, tentatively reaching for the dark power inside the core of my soul. Black shadows swirled around my hands and arms. “All I want to know is where the Mother Crow lives. Tell me that, and we’ll let all of you go.”
She sneered. “You really expect me to believe that?” she asked. “I know who those men are down there. Vampires. Blood-sucking demons who would drain us all of life before they’d ever let us walk away.”
“They aren’t like other vampires,” I said. “Do you think they would have left me alone if they were so bloodthirsty they couldn’t control themselves?”
She shook her head. “You’re just trying to trick me,” she shouted, lifting the daggers in her hands. “You probably told them they could feed on us as a reward for helping you today.”
Mary Lola took a step forward, and the wood under her feet turned green, as if moss were growing in her footsteps.
She had me cornered, but I really didn’t want to do anything that would hurt her. She was an innocent, just like so many others. She’d been fed so many lies, she didn’t even know what to believe.
But like a feral animal, her fear was dangerous.
“Listen to me,” I said as calmly as I could, keeping one eye on the green moss that seemed to be growing toward me along the floor. “I promise I won’t let anyone hurt you. I would never do anything to hurt someone in my family. Do you know how long I’ve wanted to know the women in my family? My whole life, Mary Lola. I won’t hurt you. Now, put those daggers down. I’m begging you.”
“I know all about you,” she said. The daggers she held in front of her dripped more green liquid onto the floor, and the liquid seemed to take on a life of its own, slithering across the floor and leaving a trail of green moss wherever it went. “I know you’re the daughter of a vampire. Demon-spawn. An abomination. I know you wouldn’t hesitate to kill me if you thought it could bring you power.”
I shook my head, disgusted and hurt by her words. Is this what they’d all been told about me? Is this what I had to look forward to when I met the rest of my family?
“You know nothing about me,” I said.
“I know you’re a traitor, just like your mother,” she spat. The dark green moss growing around her had now taken up more than half of the room and was starting to crawl up the walls around us.
“I’ve never even met my mother,” I said. “But I would like to. Just tell me where she is. Is she there with the Mother Crow? I just want to go home, Mary Lola.”
“Liar,” she yelled, throwing one of her daggers to the floor.
The green moss flowered out from the place where the blade embedded in the floor, spreading toward me rapidly. I did not want to find out what that moss did to a person when it started crawling up their body the way it was crawling up those walls.
Behind Mary Lola, Rend appeared in the doorway, but I shook my head, hoping he would trust me. I could handle this.
“Don’t take another step,” I warned her. “All we want to do is talk. But if you hurt me, I can’t guarantee your safety. Is that what you want?”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “You know as well as I do, it doesn’t matter what I want. I am nothing and nobody. I live to honor the Mother Crow, and I will gladly die before I betray her.”
Her words broke my heart. What kind of life had this girl had?
What kind of life had I been saved from?
She lifted her dagger and took another step toward me, the moss getting dangerously close to the tip of my shoe. I couldn’t let her come any closer.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
I tapped into the well of my power and breathed in, pulling as much air into my lungs as possible. I had never tried something like this before, but I was following my instincts for the first time, trusting that my power knew what it was doing.
I was listening to Silas’s voice in my head, telling me that in order to command the darkness inside of me, I had to embrace it. Accept it.
I rounded my lips and blew out, turning my head to the side as a cloud of black smoke poured from my mouth and covered the room.
The green moss wilted and died, and the glowing green liquid on Mary Lola’s dagger turned black and hardened into crystal.
Her eyes widened, and she threw the dagger straight at me. Still going on instinct alone, I reached my hand out and caught it just before its blade reached my chest.
Rend flew forward, circling Mary Lola’s body with ropes of black smoke and holding her in place.
I stepped toward her, the power within me like a high I’d never experienced before.
I pointed the dagger at her and raised an eyebrow.
“You know nothing about who I truly am,” I said to her. “But you’re going to tell me everything about you and where you come from.”
Not This Time
Franki
We bound the four witches with rope Connery had brought in his backpack, tying their hands behind their backs.
“Is this everyone?” I asked him. “Or is anyone else hiding nearby?”
He lifted his nose into the air and walked around the perimeter of the small village.
“I still catch the faint scent of a fifth witch, but she doesn’t seem to be here now,” he said.
“Who is the other crow who’s been here?” I asked the girls.
“We’re not going to tell you anything,” Mary Lola said. “You’re a traitor to your own kind.”
“You’re going to tell us everything,” Rend said, pulling the Dagger of Truth from his belt and slamming it on the table in front of them. “And you won’t be able to lie. Tell us where the Mother Crow is hiding.”
The youngest girl looked up at him, tears in her eyes. “We don’t know,” she said. “I swear it.”
Rend looked at me, and I shook my head.
I didn’t understand it, either. They shouldn’t be able to lie in the presence of that dagger, and yet I found it hard to believe they didn’t know where their own village was located.
“How is it possible you come from her village, but you don’t know where she is?” I asked, staring at the little girl in braids.
“She moves the village every six weeks,” she said. “
It’s a new location every time. None of us have been home to see our family since last October when we were sent here to watch you. The village would have moved many times by then.”
In my peripheral vision, I noticed Azure studying a tall wooden pillar at the edge of the village. When she met my eye, she shook her head, and I turned my attention back to the girls.
“Where was the last place you remember it?” I asked.
“A small town in the mountains of Tennessee,” she said. “I can’t remember the name.”
I shook my head and sighed. “Laurel?”
“Yes,” Mary Lola said.
“That’s one of the towns we already searched,” Silas said. “It was abandoned.”
So, these girls were definitely telling the truth. The Mother Crow moved on every six weeks, which meant she’d moved them at least three or four times since Laurel.
“What about the fifth witch my friend here says he can sense?” I asked. “Who is she? Does she live here with you?”
The youngest girl shook her head from side-to-side.
“What’s your name?” I asked her.
“Mary Janice,” she said. “But Mary Agatha is the one who comes here to see us. She doesn’t live with us, but she comes once a week to bring us food and give us orders.”
“Has she been here recently?”
Mary Janice looked to the sister with a high ponytail beside her who nodded.
“Where does this Mary Agatha live?” I asked. “Does she live with the Mother Crow in her village?”
The braided girl nodded.
“She comes to us through a small portal that only opens for a brief moment. No more than five or six seconds,” she said. “Just long enough and big enough for her to fly through before it closes again.”
“Why such a small portal?” I asked.
“Because the Mother Crow doesn’t want any of us trying to come home before it’s time,” the witch with the ponytail said, her voice cracking on the truth of it.
Who would treat small girls like this? I wanted to kill her myself if it wasn’t already Rend’s duty to do it.
“When do you expect her to come again?” I asked.
“We never know for sure when she’s coming or how long she’ll stay,” Mary Lola said. “But there’s nothing we can do to help you now. You should just go and leave us alone.”
I smirked. “The way you’ve been leaving me and my friend alone all this time?” I asked. “I don’t think so.”
Mary Lola looked away, her eyebrows pinched together.
“Do any of you know what the Mother Crow wants me for?” I asked. “What her plans are for me if I go to her?”
The girls exchanged looks, but eventually, they each shook their heads.
“She only told us to watch you and report anything we heard back to Mary Agatha,” she said.
“And what if you heard something particularly important?” Rend asked, stepping in. “Did you have a special way to contact her if you thought you had some really good information or something they would want to know right away?”
Mary Lola made a noise in her throat, as if she was angry Rend had thought of a question she didn’t want to answer.
He met my eyes briefly, and my heart rate kicked up a notch.
“Answer the question,” I said.
“We would leave something for her on campus,” Mary Janice said finally. “A small blue stone that she gave to us.”
“And when you put the stone in this special place, she would come to you?” I asked.
Mary Janice nodded, and Mary Lola shook her head in disappointment.
“How soon would you hear from her?” I asked.
“Within hours,” she said. “Usually no more than two. But she would never find us on campus. She would always come here through her special portal.”
I glanced at Rend. We had her.
All we needed to do was place this stone and wait for the other crow to arrive. Then we’d surprise her and force her to reveal the location of the Mother Crow’s village.
Hope rose into my heart.
“Give me the stone,” I said to Mary Janice. “Do you have it?”
“It’s inside,” she said.
“You can’t have it,” Mary Lola said. “You’ll set a trap for her, and it will get us all in trouble.”
I crouched down beside Mary Janice. “Will you get the stone for me if I let you go?”
She glanced at Mary Lola and nodded. “Promise you won’t let them hurt me anymore?” she whispered.
My heart tightened in my chest. How had they hurt this poor child?
“I’ll tell them what you did,” Mary Lola said. “The Mother Crow will eat your soul for this, you traitor.”
Mary Janice’s eyes widened, and she looked to me. I shook my head and freed her hands.
“I won’t let them hurt you,” I said. “And the Mother Crow won’t be eating anymore souls if I have anything to do with it.”
The little girl didn’t quite look convinced, though. No doubt she’d seen people oppose the Mother Crow before and lose horribly. But not this time. Not if we could help it.
I untied her bindings and walked with her into the house, reaching for my power as we stepped onto the porch. I wanted to believe this little girl was innocent and trustworthy, but at this stage of the game, no one could ever be fully trusted.
I followed her into the small makeshift kitchen.
“I have to fly up to get it,” she said.
My muscles tensed. Was this a trick? If she tried to escape, I would have to act fast.
“Okay,” I said. “But please don’t try to do anything unexpected. I want to trust you, Mary Janice. I want to help you.”
She nodded, her face tilted up toward me with such innocent, clear blue eyes.
She closed them and took a deep breath, then shifted into crow form. She was a tiny little bird, and she flew up to the top of one of the long white cabinets.
I gathered my power into my hands, praying I wouldn’t have to use it.
She pecked at something on top of the cabinet, finally bringing a small blue stone up in her beak. Carefully, she flew back down toward me and dropped the stone into my hand.
When she shifted back, she closed my hand around the stone and smiled.
“Mary Lola’s right, you know,” she said softly. “If they find out I gave you that stone to trick Mary Agatha, they’ll kill me. I’ve seen it happen before.”
I crouched down to meet her eyes, running a hand along the porcelain skin of her cheek.
“I’m going to take care of you, Mary Janice,” I said. “And when this is all over, I’m going to make sure you and all of your sisters are free.”
She smiled, tears welling up in her eyes.
“I believe you,” she said, placing her tiny hand in mine.
Together, we walked out of the blue house, hope shining in our hearts.
Our Only Hope
Rend
I let out a breath of relief when Franki reappeared in the doorway of the house, the little girl’s hand clasped in hers.
She nodded to me and held up the blue stone. It wasn’t a sapphire, like I’d expected, but more of a painted pebble. I motioned to Azure, who was still standing by a tall wooden column at the edge of the village.
She walked over to me, shaking her head.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I don’t know, but there’s something about that pedestal,” she said. “It’s giving off a strange energy. Portal magic, I think.”
“When Mary Agatha comes to visit you, does she always appear near that column?” I asked.
The girl with the ponytail nodded. “The portal always appears just on top of it,” she said.
“Is it open now?” I asked.
The little girl shook her head. “Not now,” she said. “But it’s never open for long.”
Okay, so we knew where Mary Agatha would appear when she came, and we knew how to summon her. Hopefully wit
hin the next few hours, we’d have the location of the current crow village, and we’d be able to surprise them with an attack.
I motioned for the others to join me near the village’s entrance.
Franki said a few words to the little girl and left her sitting on the front porch steps as she walked to join us.
“You have the stone?” Connery asked.
“Yes, and I know where they put it,” she said. “It’s not far from here.”
“This is it, you guys,” I said. “Azure, if you’ll go with Franki to place the stone in the right location, the rest of us will stay here to make sure these girls don’t go anywhere. We can’t have anyone warning the Mother Crow that we’re coming.”
“Should we gather anyone else to help us make a raid on the crow’s village?” Franki asked. “Maybe I should contact Mary Anne and see if she and Harper and the rest of them can help. It’s good that we’ll be taking them by surprise, and maybe we can get more information from Mary Agatha about how to—”
“She’s here!” Mary Janice shouted and stood, pointing toward something.
I spun around, catching sight of a woman standing on top of the little blue house, her eyes fixed on the wooden column just ahead of her. She jumped from the roof, her body shifting to crow form just as she took off toward a small ball of light forming on top of the column’s platform.
The portal.
Which meant that woman had to be Mary Agatha. Had she been here the entire time, listening to us?
If we didn’t catch her before she made it to that portal, our entire plan was lost.
Franki acted faster than any of us, her body turning to black smoke in an instant and soaring through the air toward the portal. I shifted with her, only a second behind her form.
From somewhere behind us, bright pink light shot through the air toward the portal. It hit its mark but didn’t seem to affect it at all.
I pushed as hard as I could, but there was so much more distance for us to travel than the crow witch, even though we were five times as fast.
