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“I was going to send word later. What’s your schedule like?” he asks me.
“I’ll be done at four.” Why am I not lying? I should say five, six, seven.
Never.
“Hm. How about the rest of the week?”
I detail my schedule out like a parrot.
When I’m done, Reiks nods and walks after his friends—or subjects. “Wait for my raven.”
CHAPTERSIX
THE HEIRS
Idon’t wait for an actual raven. A raven generally refers to a direct message on the Raven app.
Science and demi magiks don’t necessarily mix, hence why we don’t have much technology in the Darklands, but over the last five decades, they’ve come up with e-stone tablets and phones that don’t interfere with the wavelengths of spells, so we demis are just as well connected to the globe as everyone else.
It’s mostly useless to my cousins. Loading spells on sites, or even just scanning the pages of grimoires, has made more than a few gadgets explode. They have to do their research the old-fashioned way: in the library. I get to cheat and check articles online when I’m stuck on papers. Although many demis guard their secrets jealously, so finding information on their anatomy isn’t always easy.
Though Reiks never asked for my number, I expect him to reach me online. He could look for my social media handle. I was oh so original, and opted for @alisfrejr.
All day, every day, I check my e-stone, both relieved and frustrated to find no message from him. I hate waiting for the other shoe to drop. I want to know what he wants from me.
As the days pass, the only person who does reach out is my mother, with her well-meaning encouragements. How depressing.Perhaps I ought to extend my circle of friendship.
But I do have friends at home. They just don’t spend their lives on social media. And admittedly, they’re quite content to forget about me the moment I leave their periphery. The folk are funny that way.
On Luprday, I’m blissfully dreaming of joining them in a fairy circle, when a high-pitched scream pulls me out of the dance.
I crack one eye open and groan. It’s still dark out; darker than when I usually get up around seven thirty.Dazed and confused, I decide I must have imagined the sound, so I put my head back on the pillow. Almost immediately, the screaming resumes, so loud my eardrums vibrate.
Seriously?
I glance at my golden toad-shaped alarm clock and sigh. It’s not even four thirty.
“Grrr!” I can’t ignore him anymore.
Dragging myself out of bed, muttering under my breath, I walk toward the direction of the racket: my window. I open my curtain and find a bird staring at me on the other side.
Black as night, with iridescent plumage, the smallish bird is rather handsome. I still could pluck its feathers and roast him over a pyre for interrupting my sleep.
Indifferent to my ire, the raven yells once more and taps his beak against my window.
Does that bird have a death wish? I pull the window open and glare at him. “You’re going to wake up the entire floor. What do you want?”
It settles on the windowsill and extends one of his feet. I notice the note attached to his skinny leg, and take it.
Meet Talon. Follow him now. ~ NR
As I get dressed, I reconsider my stance toward murder. Right about now, it sounds like a marvelous idea.Natheran Reiks achieved what the likes of Chira, Caelin, and Camil never could. He made me want violence. Crave it. I wouldn’t just poison him or curse him in his sleep. Oh, no. I’d use a knife, twist it in his guts and watch as warm blood trickles down his legs. I wonder what color he bleeds. I’ll find out.
Then I’d call my fairy circle and we’d dance on the corpse.
I follow the enchanted raven. The bird is yet another proof of the hypocrisy of the Reikses. They turn their noses up at their heritage, and pretend to stand with the Pillar on their disapproval of demis, but they’re equally happy to pay witches to bond them to familiars.
In the still darkness, we barely meet anyone. A few servants sweep the courtyard. Guards patrol the grounds, though they blend so well into the shadows, they’re gone between one blink and the next. The raven leads the way back to the main building and up the greater staircase, until we reach the library.
