Page 5 of Collected By the Crow

Zero pushed past her and wobbled to a gothic red couch, where he feebly climbed up with a puff of dust and lay down, cuddling his tail. Cass snorted inwardly but returned her attention to the weird setting.

Two grand staircases lined the wide entry room. Red carpet draped the steps, pouring onto the tile like blood. The swirling design on the handrail was a combination of rusty red and black, and converged in an unsettling rendition carved into the balcony railing. People, but they were eating each other? She squinted and stepped closer. Vampires? It was surprisingly warm inside, too. The house didn’t seem to be made for show, but if it wasn’t, then why were there so many creepy things jammed inside?

“Who dares enter?”

The voice surrounded her, sounding as sinister as the devil himself. She searched the corners for a speaker system.

“I, uh—I didn’t mean to trespass. I thought this place was abandoned. My dog ran off, and the crows . . .” She glanced around. “Where are you?”

A figure stepped from the balcony. They stopped there, still bathed in shadow, a cloak hiding their features.

“Leave!”

A crow flew to the person’s side and landed on their shoulder. It let out a long, low sound.

To fight the panic racing up her spine, she braced her palms together. She glanced at the bundle on the couch. “My dog is sick. I’ll leave as soon as he’s rested. Please.”

The rustle of wings was the only sound for an eternity. She took the silence as an answer and started toward the couch, shrugging out of her shawl. A red envelope crinkled in the fabric.

“Wait.” Events clicked in her mind. The crows at her workplace, the letter, more crows leading her here. “Are you the one who sent this letter?”

“Have you changed your mind?”

She gaped up at them. She couldn’t make out anything of note. The cloak jutted out abnormally from their back, like they had a hunch. Their face was too far away to discern any features, but she glimpsed gray skin. Were they sick?

“No.” She watched for a reaction, but they remained as still as the gargoyles on the front porch.

“Then it doesn’t matter.”

“Why would I take credit for something I don’t know the answer to? How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

The figure didn’t shift, didn’t move a fraction, but made a huffy sound. They muttered something too low for her to hear. All she could make out was Borelli, mumble mumble Tesla, mumble mumble Galilei and never denied, mumble mumble.

Cass laughed. “You’re gonna have to speak up because I thought I just heard you name drop the leader of the scientific revolution. In the seventeenth century.”

“Silence!”

Something in the person’s voice, the edge it used to slice through her laughter and render the room ice-cold, made Cass wince. There’s something wrong with this person and their weird castle. She glanced at Zero, wishing she had the strength to carry him all the way back home.

“Your pup won’t live through this pandemic without my help.”

Cass curled her hands into fists. “I’ll save him.”

“Not soon enough.” Their tone wasn’t patronizing. It was sad, empathetic maybe, although flat.

“I won’t blindly trust someone. Especially not someone who won’t even show me their face.”

Cassandra stood her ground even under the weight of their stare.

“Will you accept my help if I show you my face?”

“Maybe.” Her heart thudded faster. “But only if we work together. I won’t sign my name on something I had no part in.”

More mumbling. They turned to the side and lowered their hood.

Their profile was shocking.

A tuft of black feathers sprouted from a peak in their forehead and framed their face, with jet-black hair threaded through. The feathers were identical to the wings that had blotted out her window, sleek, black, proud feathers that stood straight and strong. Their skin was the color of titanium, with deep-set eyes cast in a shade close to black where they were carved into the strong planes of an angular face. Dark and keen, their gaze pierced straight through her.

---