Bagsy Beetlehorn and the Vampire Affairs (The Bagsy Chronicles 4)

Return to the Shadows

Mezrielda was in a forest with a blood-red sky and black trees like leafy tombstones. Small black creatures sat hidden amongst the foliage, watching her with beady eyes. Mezrielda recognised crows and ravens amongst their number, as well as other black coloured birds.

Corvids.

'Do you want something from me?' she asked, holding her wand out as if that would do anything.

The birds were silent as they watched her. The air was dry in Mezrielda's throat, and the crunch of the soil below her feet disconcerting in the near perfect silence. Why had she stepped through the shadows? It had been a foolish idea.

She walked for a while, finding that no matter where she went, or how long she went there for, there were corvids cushioned between the leaves, their prying eyes following her every movement. Mezrielda wondered if they'd been sitting here since Mistress Foncée had died, waiting in the ominous quiet of the red-lit wood.

Mezrielda reached a clearing, the dirt beneath her feet changing to overgrown cobblestone.

That was when she heard the voices.

'You have something we want,' they said, over and over.

'Something we want...'

'Something we want...'

'Yes, yes, something we want...'

Scanning the trees, trying to find the speakers, Mezrielda narrowed her eyes. The corners of her vision told her a crow or a raven was moving its beak, but when her gaze slid onto them they were as still as stone.

'And we,' a voice announced, closer this time, 'have something you need...'

'What do you have?' Mezrielda held her wand tightly.

'We can offer a gift...'

'A gift? What sort of gift? And why? What do you ask in return?'

'A gift of your choosing,' the voices murmured. 'A gift that destroys, or a gift that reforms, or a gift that returns... the choice is yours.'

'Can you return people?'

The birds clacked their beaks, as if laughing. 'No,' they said. 'People cannot be destroyed or reformed or returned, but many other things can.'

For the briefest of moments, Mezrielda thought of her memories. If she could have the memories of her spells returned this entire operation would become a breeze. 'What can I offer you, then?'

There was a pause, and one of the birds fluttered down to land in the centre of the clearing, a few paces from her. Unlike the crows and the ravens, this bird had shapes of white and hues of blue and purple dancing on its feathers.

A magpie.

'We want you,' the birds said in a soft tone that ruffled the leaves.

It struck Mezrielda, then, that magpies were corvids.

'Show us,' the birds murmured. 'Show us... show us you belong... show us you were destined to rule...'

Mezrielda sucked in a breath. So, this was what they wanted. A replacement for Cora Foncée. 'You mean for me to be your new queen? Is this your wish?' She should have realised sooner. Corvids had been following her and giving her odd looks all year. She felt like a blithering idiot.

'There is so much power here, so much stored power in the corvid family,' a voice next to her ear whispered.

She spun, expecting to see Foncée looming over her, or a bird fluttering away, but found only air.