Unhappily Ever After

Chapter 66 - Tick Tock

Lmao it's midnight and I'm so tired that I just published this chapter on the wrong book so sorry if you got a notification xD

"Here we are," Eira said as she pulled over.

"Are you sure?" I asked. The cottage in front of us looked very rundown. It wasn't the sort of place Scott might choose to reside. The roof seemed to be falling in, the scuffed walls were begging for a fresh coat of paint, and the garden wouldn't have looked out of place in the Amazon rainforest.

She turned off the ignition and threw me an irritated look. "Yes, I'm sure."

I had to squint at the sign, which was the only part of the entire house that looked like it might not predate the fifties. I worked out the first few letters and guessed the rest based on the scrap of paper in my hand. "Forranach House."

"Told you, didn't I?"

"I was just checking," I said defensively. "Right. Get comfortable. We're staking this place out for as long as it takes."

"Or," Eira drawled, her hand inching towards the door handle, "we could go inside, kill the bastard, and be home in time for supper."

"I've tried that before. It didn't work. But by all means — kick the door in. You can come and help me track him down all over again tomorrow."

She threw her head back, and she growled at me, but she didn't argue again.

***

"I don't think he's coming home," Eira told me in a voice that was somehow both sleepy and filled with disdain.

Her lip was curled. Dawn had come and gone, and we were taking turns to watch now. And by that, I meant that I was doing the overwhelming majority and Eira would grudgingly agree to keep an eye open whenever I had to go for a piss.

I leant forwards to squint at the lifeless house. "No, you might be right. I'm going to call Ebby, and then I'll check he's not already inside."

"Couldn't we have done that, like, fifteen hours ago?" she demanded.

I ignored her and instead closed my eyes. In truth, I'd only just thought of it — watching a pigeon peck his way up Scott's drive had given me the idea. We used Ebony to scout when we were raiding, and she'd become very adept at it.

The only problem? She was at Lle o Dristwch, and I couldn't exactly whistle for her. Instead, I had to reach out through the link and find the dim, muted speck of energy that comprised her mind. Over this kind of distance, I didn't hold a hope in hell of getting inside, so I had to settle for tugging the link hard and praying she'd take the hint.

We didn't have to wait very long. Twenty minutes passed with Eira making a point to heave impatient sighs every other breath, and then Ebony landed on the open window and squawked at me.

"Yeah, yeah," I laughed. "I've got your mealworms, but you'll have to work for them."

Crows were clever birds. I could point, and she'd fly in that direction. She also knew to come wheeling back towards me when she saw someone. Today, what I needed was a little more specific, so I nudged her mind, planting the idea that she wanted to fly over and sit on Scott's windowsill.

And then all I had to do was sit there and enjoy the ride. Flying never got old. It didn't matter that I wasn't in control — I could still feel her stomach free-falling with every dive and enjoy the sensation of the wind against her feathers.

She perched on the window ledge and tucked her wings against her sides. One glimpse of the inside was all it took to convince me that we were wasting our time here. I withdrew from her mind and found myself staring at a grimy windscreen. Ebony came fluttering back towards us and started pruning herself.