Page 61 of The Crow Games

Nott batted at a stray leaf with his big paw.My friend Asher has taken a great interest in you, and I’d like to know why.

“Well, he’s . . . um.” My mind went blank. I glanced at Ruchel, who couldn’t help me at all because she had no idea what was being said.

She showed me her palms and shook her head.

In my long life, when I felt unsure how to respond, answering a question with a question often served me best to grant me more time. “My lord, Asher is your friend, but isn’t he a traitor to all of the gods?”

His chuckle rumbled darkly in my ear.Well yes, but I love misfits and traitors the very best. And if Asher is interested in you, then the Old One is interested in you. That fascinates Mara and me because the Old One is interested in . . . nothing. Ever.

I stammered out an incoherent response, and my stomach plummeted. Asher swore he wasn’t a spy. I believed him, but I disliked the idea of him being bonded to Death even in reputation. What if his loyalties remained divided by his maker? What were weeks he’d known his coven compared to the centuries he’d known his god? “I take it you are aware of how I came to be a prisoner on the Schatten, my lord?”

Yes, he purred.A riveting tale.

“I believe that is the reason for their . . . curiosity.”

I suspect there is more to it than that. There’s always something more with them. If you and Asher were up to great mischief, you’d tell me, wouldn’t you, pet? You wouldn’t leave me out, I hope.

I recalled my first interaction with Nott, how Asher had cautioned him about me. I’d thought he was trying to poison the god against me, but I was now certain that he’d said those things to make sure Nott showed me favor. That was the clue I needed.

Play his game and keep him happy, Lisbeth’s voice said in my ear.

My demeanor transformed. I attempted one of those wide, Otherworldly smiles. “If I told you what we were up to, it would ruin the surprise, my lord.”

Ooooh, I love surprises. The messier, the better.Nott rose up onto his paws, and he prowled from one end of the branch to the other until the limb leaned low. He leapt down from it, landing soundlessly on the soil. My coven mates backed away from him, but I held my position as an act of respect.

“It’ll be messy,” I said.

When do I get to see this surprise? It can’t take too long. If it’s too long, I’ll get bored,he warned.He hit me with another feline grin full of too many teeth. Then he bounded closer, curling around me, rubbing his back against my legs in the way of cats.When I get bored, I get unpleasant. You don’t want me like that.

No, I most certainly did not want that. The skin of my arms pebbled. “How long istoolong?”

His tail flicked up to curl around my shoulder and brush against my chin. He made me scratch behind his ears.Hm. Hard to say . . .

“Well then, I’ll . . . be quick.” I’d been trapped in the Otherworld for just over two weeks, and it felt like I’d been imprisoned for decades. Of course I’d move quickly.

Nott stepped in a wet patch of mud and fussed over his dirty paw.I need a nap, he said, yawning in my mind, and he slinked off, disappearing into the brush.

When he was out of sight, I let out the breath I’d been holding, and then I shared a warning with my coven that Nott was poking around about our escape plan. The uneasy silence that followed felt loud. They were all in their heads, blankly alarmed expressions plastered on their faces. I was in no better shape.

“Did Asher tell him?” Blue demanded. “I won’t deny that having a reaper join our coven has been useful, but we’d be fools if we assumed we could trust him implicitly. If the gods learn of what we’re attempting, the punishment would be . . . I don’t even want to think about what’s worse than the games.”

“I thought the same as you,” I told her. “But what else could he possibly be after if not an exit at this point? Hurting us hurts him too.”

Blue’s chest heaved. “I don’t know.”

“That’s just it,” Ruchel said. “There’s nothing worse any of them can do to us now. We’re already stuck in the games.”

Liesel interrupted the doom and gloom with a brilliant idea that made Ruchel hug her so hard around the neck that she coughed. We took the path away from the muck, closer to the flowing river. We gathered fallen logs and dragged branches with us. Emma and Liesel lashed them together with earth magic, molding the wood to their will with their connection to the element they shared. We built two rafts large enough to lie across, and we let the current carry us downstream.

No more hiking. No more mud sucking at every step. No more geysers spitting sulfur and surprise sinking sand, just a gentle glide downriver.

Blue spotted a collection of tomato vines growing wild by the bank. She sat up so suddenly she nearly caused her raft to capsize. Wood wobbling beneath her, she cheered as Emma and Liesel begged her to be still. Using her wand, she guided us to shore, commanding the water with her gift from Alwin.

The sisters stayed with the rafts to keep them from floating away. The rest of us accompanied Blue to fill our packs with as much fruit as we could carry. They were excellent for trading because they were highly valued as a traditional offering for the gods. They made a perfect addition to the midday meal, and the tomatoes were so juicy, they could help replenish some of the energies of both a water witch and a red.

Green vines crawled across the ground, dotted by the fat little fruits that were small enough to cup in my palm. I picked the tomatoes beside Ruchel but started when she jerked upward, eyes scanning the trees for trouble.

“What is it?” I asked her softly.

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