Chapter 13

I was already at the front door. I closed it behind me, cutting off mom's distant protests, and stepped out onto the front porch. And stopped.

All the bad feelings of the morning rushed over me again. The anxiety, the fear. And the certainty that something terrible was about to happen.

Charles Street was deserted. The tall Elizabethan houses looked strange and silent as always, as if they might all be empty inside, like the houses on an abandoned movie set. They looked as if they were empty people, but full of strange-looking things. That was it; something was watching me. The air was stifling and I could feel that someone or something was watching me.

I caught sight of something dark in the branches of an old quince tree in front of the house.

It was a crow, sitting as still as the yellow-tinged leaves around it. And it was the something watching me.

I tried to tell myself that this is ridiculous, but I have seen crows like this in the shadow world. It was big and sleek, with rainbows shining in its black feathers. I could see every detail of it clearly: the greedy dark claws, the sharp beak, and the single glittering black eye.

I dropped my backpack and picked up a stone from beside the driveway. "Get out of here," I said and heard the shaking anger in my voice. "Go on!"

"Getaway!" With the last word, I threw the stone.

There was an explosion of leaves, but the crow soared up unharmed. Its wings were huge, and they made enough racket for a whole flock of crows. I bend over, suddenly panicked as it flaps directly over my head, the wind of its wings ruffling my hair.

But it drove up again and again, circling a black silhouette against the paperwhite sky. Then, with a harsh croak, it wheeled away toward the woods.

I straightened up slowly and then glared around, self-conscious. I couldn't believe what I had just done. But now that the bird was gone, the sky felt ordinary again. A little wind made the leaves flutter, and I took a deep breath.

Without a backward glance at the quince tree, I began to walk as quickly as I could down the street.

***

A crow crashed through the top of a billboard, and a young man's head jerked up reflexively. When he saw that it was only a bird, he relaxed.

His eyes dropped to the limp white form in his hands, and he felt his face twist in regret. He didn't mean to kill it. He would have hunted something larger than a rabbit if he'd known how hungry he was. But of course, that was the very thing that frightened him: never knowing how strong the hunger would be, or what he had to do to satisfy it.

He stood beneath the ancient oak trees, sunlight filtering down onto his curly hair. In jeans and a T-shirt, Corner Miller looked exactly like a normal high school student.

He wasn't.

He licked at his gums and lips carefully, to make sure there was no stain on them. This pretense was going to be hard enough to pull off as it was.

For a moment, he wondered, again, if he should just give it all up. Perhaps he should go back to the shadow world, back to his life where he supervises bloodsuckers like him. Then he remembered why he came to the human world in the first place: to look for the chosen one and take her back home, to where she belongs. To her father... the ruler of all bloodsuckers.

Passing through the barrier was not easy for him and his brother, but thanks to the witches, they got through.

A bitter smile curved his lips.

Corner realized he was still holding the rabbit. He laid it down on the floor near the tree.

Moving almost silently among the dead leaves and dry brushwood, he made his way towards the edge of the woods. His car was parked there. He glanced back once and saw that the crow was on the rabbit.

He decided that if he encountered the bird again, he would look into its mind. Just now, he teared his eyes from the sight of it and hurried on through the woods, jaw set. He didn't want to be late arriving at Eulogia Academy.