The Crow's Song

Prologue

Everything was still.

The only sounds that were made throughout the quiet house was Elspeth Winters' slow breathing as she rested tranquil in a cocoon of fluffy blankets.

Ellie's black hair was fanned out behind her, her pale skin illuminated in the moon's glow from her opened window. Every now and then, her eyes lightly twitched underneath her pale eyelids, making her black eyelashes flutter against her rosy cheeks.

Her mind was a dreaming mess, coming up with the most outrageous things that could in fact come true—knowing her secret talents that coursed through her crimson blood.

Ellie's eyes twitched as she felt herself suddenly being pulled from the grips of sleep, its long fingers unlacing from her wrist as she was moving slowly away from her placid subconscious.

She was beginning to become more aware of her surroundings.

She was acutely aware of the wind that blew carelessly through her window, taking up her curtains in its sweeping breath. . .but she was mostly aware of the beating eyes that were fixed on her.

She felt as if someone was pulling her from her sleep, making her awaken in the dead of night.

Without warning, a noise sounded in her ears, causing her to jerk fully awake and flick open her green eyes. At first, she didn't know what the noise was, it was very indistinguishable—that is until it sounded again, making a very loud screeching squawk that pierced her ears. She sat up quickly, looking around her dark room to try and see where the noise had come from.

Then she saw it.

A sleek, black crow rested on the sill of her open window, it's beading eyes fixed perplexedly on her. Ellie's breath caught in her throat, forming a lump and she begun to tremble a little. She clenched her fingers as It watched her with a cocked head and piercing eyes that glowed in the still night.

Its lustrous feathers glimmered in the light and shone with each twitch of its long, mighty wing. When Ellie moved and her old, wooden bed groaned beneath her, it would cock its head the other way, still watching her, then squawk loudly again, as if screaming at her for making such a noise.

Slowly and carefully, Ellie pried her covers from her body, moved to the edge of her bed and rested her feet on her cold, wooden floor. She then stood on her shaky legs and slowly pivoted to the crow, trying to move as slowly as she could and keep her weight balanced on the squeaky floorboards.

The crow screeched loudly, making Ellie flinch, but she held her ground and kept herself from shaking. She took a deep breath and as soundlessly as she could, she started to tip-toe toward the crow, slowly raising her hands in front of her to show she means no harm.

The crow begun to bellow wildly while flapping its wings madly, crying into the air as it jumped across her windowsill.

The crow leaped off the wooden sill and flew into her room, squawking an ear splitting shriek as it swooped around her as she spun in circles, keeping her eyes on it.

It maneuvered around her, almost knocking off picture frames or taking down lamps.

Ellie reached forward to snatch it in her hands, but her fingers slipped through the feathers as if water slipping through open fingers.

Then finally, it flew out of her window, flapping it's heavy wings to carry the bird away in the night.

Ellie stared out her window in bewilderment, but then something loud crashed below her, sounding like glass breaking. Ellie jumped and looked toward her door, her heart picking up its pace inside her chest.