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When I couldn’t take it anymore, I rushed out the door. I’d nearly magicked myself to the pit before common sense took over. Things were shaky enough without me beckoning even more eyes.

As I reached the edge of the pit, I peered down, my gaze quickly perusing every nook and cranny until my heart slammed into my ribs. I blinked, and still, the hole was empty. I rubbed my eyes, my fingers coming back streaked with black shadow, but the woman was gone.

My head spun, and the crow I’d sent with the message landed on my shoulder, cawing in my ear as I lowered myself to sit on the ledge. The weight settled around me, the pressure of my own making. A Kakian signature was resoundingly absent. Either Brittney was secretly a highly athletic witch, which I knew she was not, or she’d been transported out.

The crow hopped off my shoulder and landed on my lap, eyeing me with the force of a thousand birds. I could feel his lecture, his accusations, and his urgency. I didn’t want to think about it, but the truth hung in the air.

Brittney hadn’t been transported by anyone or anything other than my own mistake, and she was no longer in this dimension.

CHAPTER 10

Brittney

Night fell and the shadows loomed, dragging over me like a blanket. I pulled myself across the dirt, into the far corner where I could hide beneath the mat of branches and sticks that formed a crude roof overhead. It wasn’t safe by any stretch of imagination, but I’d be harder to spot, should a bear or other wild animal go creeping by. Granted, they could still smell me, if they were so inclined, but I figured if they couldn’t see me, it increased my chances of survival.

My entire body hurt, from my ankle, to my head, my hip, and my throat. I was likely dehydrated and I had some water left, but I knew I needed to ration it. At one point, I’d given in and peed in a corner after digging a shallow hole. I covered it up with loose dirt before I realized I would have to stick my hands in it the next time I needed to relieve my bladder.

Screaming had done nothing but cause the crows to linger, making sounds at me that nearly felt as if they were meant to be soothing. Whatever their intention, it worked because I stopped, but now my throat hurt like hell.

There was no way to get truly comfortable, and I was lying on my side with my knees bent and one of the wooden poles by my belly. I couldn’t get my arms in a restful position as they would either be trapped by my sides or stretched above my chest.

One of the crows bounced around my head, occasionally stabbing its beak into the ground, foraging worms and bugs. It hopped on top of my head a couple times, ruffling its wings, and I didn’t have the strength or the wherewithal to tell it to go away.

“I’m a dumbass,” I whispered to the creature. “I thought he was hot and interesting. I’m such an idiot.”

The bird cawed loudly and I heard the beating of wings in the distance. Probably his friends, wondering why he was down here in this hole with me. I didn’t know, myself. He must have been waiting for me to die so he could pluck out my eyeballs and feast, just like Kiam had said.

Whether the man had been in the house or not, my behavior wouldn’t have changed, he’d just been what I’d thought was a cool bonus.

“I still would have tried to bring the piece of bone back, I swear.” Why I was trying to convince a bird of my innocence, I had no idea.

“Sure, the guy is a little strange but it's not a bad strange. At least I didn’t think so. Obviously now I know it’s a bad strange. He doesn’t look like a murderer.” I arched my back, trying and failing to stretch. “Actually, maybe he does. But more, like, what you always hope a murderer looks like? Makes it a bit more palatable, don’t you think?”

I pushed my legs out until they hit another post and bent my feet, trying to relieve some of the pressure but causing a bolt of pain from my ankle to pierce my nerves instead. I gagged, nearly coughing up bile.

“I’m losing my mind,” I muttered, my throat burning. “Hot serial killers are just as bad as the weird, ugly ones.”

The bird landed in front of my face and bent forward, cocking his head. He blinked and walked forward, and his beak lightly dragged along my forehead, pushing my hair from my eyes before he bounced backward and stared at me again.

I was losing my mind, and quickly.

“Can you give my parents a message for me? Tell them I said, ‘fuck you,’ for leaving me all alone my whole life.” My bones would likely be dust before they found out I was gone. That is, if anyone other than Quality Propane ever realized I disappeared.

Annoyance filled me as I thought about how they would fire me instead of sending out a search party. Not once did I miss a day of work, show up late, or leave early, but that wouldn’t stop them. There was a whole line of people waiting to take my spot due to the shortage of jobs and they did not care what happened to me. Nobody did.

Well, maybe Vance. I’d texted him five times since I’d been in this hole and not heard a word. There was no cell signal, but I’d hoped a message somehow got through and now my phone was dead.

Between hating Kiam, anger at my parents and the entire world, and my injury, I was exhausted. For the sake of survival, I fought against falling asleep. It was too dark and I wouldn’t be able to see any predators coming. Slumber was surely the fast track to death.

My spirit had sunk deeper than this pit, and I bemoaned the fact that I'd never get to do any cool shit. It figured that the moment I’d found the things I’d always suspected existed, they’d be torn away from me. Magic really was real, and I’d held it in my hand. It was miraculous, and I felt justified in all of my esoteric pursuits.

Maybe that’s what my life had been about, proving to myself that those instincts were correct and now that I’d accomplished that, well... I would have liked to have taken it farther. Perhaps experimented with it.

Kiam had used telekinesis to retrieve the bone from my hand. How did he do that? If he could, I would be able to do it as well. Clearly, he didn’t want me to learn anything else, or he wouldn’t have left me here. He’d thrown me away like a piece of garbage.

The crow moved closer to me, brushing my shoulder before he tucked his head under his wing. He didn’t provide me with any warmth, but it felt like that was his intention, and it almost seemed like he wanted to cuddle.

A tear I couldn’t afford trickled down my cheek, and I glanced at my finger, remnants of glitter from the magic doused bone sparkling in the meager moonlight. At least I would die surrounded by magic and I hoped I would wake up somewhere where it was an everyday, normal part of life. I refused to believe this shitty world was all there was.