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“Nell is in danger!” I spat out my words like they were molten lava.
“Nell?”
My heart rate quickened, and my hands shook. “Nell, or Pax, or you. One of us or all of us is in mortal danger.”
“You know this because?” With one hand, Jade drummed her fingers against her mug. The other white-knuckled the handle. Rage, fear, disappointment, and disbelief rumbled in her expression. Her green eyes glinted with the cocktail of emotions.
I swallowed, forcing down my self-preserving fear, and began. “The Raven.”
“The Raven?” Hearing Jade speak the title broke off a chunk of my bravery. “Sounds ominous.”
Little did she know, I thought. “Yes, the Raven. He appears and marks people in my path.”
“Marks them for what?” Jade asked.
“Death,” I confessed.
Jade bubbled over with laughter. She tossed her head like a dramatic villain from daytime TV. I gave her a moment. The truth was hard to swallow. When Jade sighed her way to normal, her watering eyes met mine, and her smile fell.
“I know you’re not joking,” she said, “but it’s too much to stomach.”
“Tell me about it.” I snorted.
“Okay.” Jade placed her hands palm down on the table. “Explain it to me.”
I nodded, grief-stricken and guilt-ridden, before I told Jade my story, leaving out minor details. I started with the Raven. How he’d plagued my life since childhood. My dad and Christie graced the main stage of my life, but I didn’t have time to linger there. We had to get the subject to more immediate issues.
“Wait,” Jade said as she slumped in her chair. “You mean the people you’ve been telling me about—your foster brother, his sister, and the others—they’ve been victims of the Raven.”
“Yes,” I confessed. “They died because of me. Since wherever I go, the Raven follows.”
Jade commiserated with my situation. “That’s quite a bundle to shoulder on your own. No wonder you look like a steamroller has smashed you every time you speak of your lost friends. You blame yourself.”
I choked up. The worst was almost over. “Now, because of your kindness, the Raven is aiming at you and your sister and Pax.”
Jade clinked her nails together as she thought. “A dog can’t catch two rabbits at once. Let alone three.”
“Meaning?”
“There’s no way your bird is targeting us.”
“I’ve seen it before.”
“Yes.” Jade rose and scooted in her chair. “Although never to people in completely different locations.”
That wasn’t exactly right, but I appreciated anything Jade could think of to help us out of our current troubles. “That doesn’t mean you won’t land up in the same spot within the next twenty-four hours.”
“You're right.” Jade shuffled to the kitchen carrying her mug. “However, I think it’s more likely the Raven is honing in on one of us. Not all of us.”
“How will we be able to tell which one of us he’s targeting?” I asked, still unsure of Jade’s reasoning. The Raven wasn’t keen on logical outcomes.
“Elimination.” Jade set her mug on the kitchen counter. “I’ll be right back,” she said as she fled the room. “Go get yourself ready for the day.” Her command was firm even though her voice was muffled from a distance. “I need a moment. Then we’ll figure this out together.”
Jade reacted to my confession similarly to how Titus had responded. Except she was in danger. The Raven hadn’t marked Titus. Yet. Thank God.
Guilt slapped me aside as I walked to the guest room. Was I wicked? I’d purposefully ditched the man I loved to save him. Even though he knew was in peril, he’d stuck by my side. Jade and Nell knew nothing of the sort. I risked their lives with every shared meal and inside joke.
I glanced at the wall clock in the bedroom. “Two hours down.” If Titus were here— “That’s enough!” I yelled at my reflection. “No more pinning. No more whining. It’s not your life you’re playing with, Penny! Get it together.”
Spades knocked around on the bed, ignoring my tirade of self-depreciation. I swiped at my angry tears with equally angry hands. Red and puffy bags replaced my sunken sleepless look. With a fit of fury, I tore through my bags and rummaged out my clothes.
Light layers were the wisest choice. In thwarting the Raven, running was bound to happen. Clumsy girls like me didn’t need to worry about fashion.They needed flexible attire that didn’t impede flight. I tossed on my normal black attire. Instead of fussing with my hair, I tossed on my borrowed wig. The mood mirrored the darkness that mocked my efforts. I smiled at my morose self. I was as ready as I could be to take a stab at stopping the Raven. One more time.
Jade met me in the living room. She’d duct-taped a large poster board to the wall. In thick black marker, a timeline sliced the board in half. Jade tapped the cap of the marker on her temple.
“We’re going to beat this beast,” she said with much more confidence than I could muster. “No one messes with my sister.”