Free Raven by Abra Ebner Page A

it’s something to talk to him about. He might snap.”
    I laughed. “I can handle it, trust me.”
    “ Shall we clean up all this?” She looked down at the piles of books.
    “ Yeah.” I knelt down and began to gather them, placing them back onto the shelves. I blew off each cover, moving pile to pile. It was then that I picked up a red book and dusted it off, suddenly intrigued by the title: Armageddon .
    “ Did you pull this one?” I showed it to Margriete and she narrowed her eyes, putting a book on the shelf before giving me her full attention.
    “ Oh, I guess I did.” She let out an uneasy laugh. “Sort of fitting, isn’t it?”
    “ That’s what I thought.” I pulled it to my chest, feeling the tonnage of the subject in my hands. “I think I’ll keep this one.”
    Margriete shook her head in disbelief as her hair fluttered around her. “Not a bad idea.”
    I stacked it with the iridescent book about our kind, and set it aside. After placing all the books back on the shelves, Margriete and I both looked at each other as our stomachs growled in unison. We laughed for a moment and then slowly headed down the ladder to the kitchen to rummage for some food, the supplies getting lower every day.
    We found the room empty, leaving me secretly disappointed. What had happened to Edgar and I? What had happened to the fairy tale love that seemed to bloom before? It was as though he no longer missed me as he had, the intoxicating touch we once shared, the electricity of our existence. I used to hover in that dream world forever, and a part of me still wished I was without our soul. I wished I could depend on him again, like before.
    Margriete dropped a copper pan onto the granite floor, the sound reverberating in my ears, bringing me back to the present. I shook away my sadness, feeling more independent with every day I spent in this separation with Edgar.
    I sighed, opening a cabinet. I began to push around empty boxes, hearing only bits of grain or crackers rattling inside. Today was eventful, despite the tension that had grown even thicker. Later I would confront Edgar—I had to. His ignorance and distance had infuriated me for the last time and I would not allow it to continue. What Matthew had done to Margriete was never far from my thoughts, leaving me hoping that Edgar was not headed for the same jealous doom.
    I finally found a can toward the back of the cabinet, heavy with it’s contents. “Here.” I tossed it to Margriete. She caught it behind her back with one hand, as though she’d expected me to throw it. I laughed.
    She poured the contents into the copper pan and placed it by the fire. When it began to bubble around the edges she poured the soup into two bowls, too anxious to wait for a rolling boil. Besides, it was always too hot that way.
    As Margriete and I chatted over the meal, I saw in her the best friend I had always wanted, and the family to love. Though Edgar was stuck somewhere I could not see, I knew I would have her at my side, like a sister. The coming task sat in the pit of my stomach like a ball of dough I could not yet digest. I was not ready to lose this again, and I sensed that what was coming was bound to be my fight—yet again. I had faced one challenge after the other in this world, and though I had never asked for it, it was my burden to bear.

    VISITOR
    Edgar

    “ What are you reading?” I walked through the door of Elle’s room where she lay on her bed. Her feet where crossed at her ankles and a she had a book in hand, resting on her stomach. Seeing her like that made a small flicker in my heart ignite, my mind flashing back to when she used to gaze upon me with such adoration. She glanced away from the page and at me, her eyes full of disdain. I felt an invisible knife stab my heart.
    I was acutely tuned into her movements as her lips parted and she spoke. “A book.” She looked away from me and back to the page. I was no more than a fly on the wall to her—an