Satin Rose and the Witch Hunters

13. Crow to the Day

I couldn't brace myself for that first breath. At least when a blade sliced you or you got pricked by a thorn you'd see the blood well from the wound and knew what hit you. This was nothing like I had felt before. With each heartbeat the needles clawed its way further along my body, a stabbing sensation that crystalized in my lungs and pinned me in time. I couldn't even fall to the ground. Involuntarily I had inhaled, inviting the needles to pierce freely.

Frozen in place, I held my breath, each second ticking by as if it wouldn't end. With all the concentration I could muster my eyes went to the only person with me. But the woman had her attention to the old man and his speech. I couldn't cry out, couldn't wave to make her look.

I couldn't hold my breath forever. Red seemed to tint everything I saw. Taking another lung slicing breath my feet were able to shuffle ever so slightly sending a wave that rattle the needles for wake up the sleeping pain. All this time the shadows were closing in ever so slowly. Trapped there, I could only watch as they glistened and boiled, eager to consume everything. The lights subduing into pinpricks that mimicked the eyes of a thousand monster.

"Kid. Hey Kid."

My eyes snapped to what was in front of me. It was a crow. Small, black, and slender, it had its head held to the right and looked at me with one beady red eye. Perched on my hand, I couldn't feel it's talons or weight through the haze and just stared blankly at it.

It's beak clicked, it's feathers ruffled and somehow from it came the sound of a high voice, "Say something. What's wrong?"

The shadows were getting eager. It had reached the end of where the light would no longer let it past. A thin line was between all the color of the world and total darkness. The thousand eyes fell on it, commanding it to move forward. Like honey in a cup, the shadows swirled taking in its shape and with sticky, glistening step it marched into the light spilling on the world.

"You're changing? Changing into what?" Jumping forward on my arm, the bird inspected me closely.

I wasn't breathing. I hadn't noticed, but I done it for a while. The pressure had built up so much and spread so far that my body felt like it was being wound up and torn apart from the inside out. It was a terrible choice. Stay silent and be split into two or speak up and feel the blades. I took a sharp breath. Every knife embedded into me moved at once and all I ended up with was one shaky word, "help..."

The bird's eye widened and it cawed so loud it seemed to shake the cavern, "Persephone! Cessa! Help!"

With a flap of its wings wildly. It flew, circling me and cawing to all. The woman had turned and was shaking my shoulder, but it was getting hard to concentrate. A thousand eyes were upon me and I couldn't look away.

The crow once again landed weightlessly on my hand again. "Pick something! Change!" It shouted, hopping up and down my arm frantically.

The shadows were here. They pooled and filled the river, writhing violently before calming down into a black void without a single ripple. From its depths, a single tendril extended and curled around my leg.

"Pick me!"

The bird jumped on my face. I fell backwards. The river of black surged forward, the eyes brightened into blinding suns, and a deluge of feathers, shouts, and caws assaulted me. My bones snapped, cracked, and popped. The knives finally pierced through my skin sticking out to cover me. I didn't care, I don't think I've ever felt this small.

"Satin!"

The world was a haze of feathers when I blacked out.

"Boy? My boy are you awake?"

Lying on my back, eyes closed. There was a minor headache, but other than that I was fine. I tried to bring a hand to my face and failed to bring it halfway up. Even moving my fingers were impossible.

"Is he gonna be like that forever?"

My feet were curled and.. sticking up in the air? I tried to roll over, without hands to do so though it was quite a challenge. My arms seemed to be getting in the way, spread out and thin.

"If he is can I take him home?"

I opened my eyes, squinting, the light almost too much to bear. They seemed to tower above me like giants, surrounding me in a small circle. Why hadn't they helped me up? I groaned for help and found my voice weak. Breathing didn't seem to hurt anymore. I wanted to say I was fine. With a big gulp of breath I tried to push my voice. Instead of words though a sharp and loud cry came from me and I jumped to my feet immediately awake.

The raven was in front of me again. It seemed to have also grown like others. It slowly blinked its eyes, "You're a bird."

"Of course not. We just need to-"

The cave suddenly started shaking, it was all I could do to keep myself upright. The cacophony of voices and animal noises started again. Pebbles rained down from above. Panic from the earthquake ensued. The floor shook as it was threatening to shatter right beneath our feet yet instead, the roof cracked open and light flooded in.