Chapter 17 of The Crows is online today!
CW for gore, bird death, physical intimidation of an older vulnerable man, murder, body horror and drunkenness.
CHAPTER 17: REVENGE SERVED COLD
Links on my podcast page.
Chapter 17: Revenge Served Cold
…in which Ricky finds a tongue and all hell breaks loose…
Harry Bishop laughed in cracked, wheezing gasps, coughing up mirth. “Idiot boy! You never could see what was in front of you, all that farsight turning your brain. Fairwood won’t give up the Pendle Stone to you, it’s using you, can’t you see that? Once it’s got what it wants it’ll reject you, keep you locked out for good.”
This missile, well-aimed, stung worse than the first.
Ricky Changed.
He couldn’t help it.
He ripped off his clothes before he ruined them irrevocably, human skin shredding into raw, bloody rags with the pulsing pressure beneath. He let himself be seen in all his writhing beauty. His eyes opened onto the wyrd, myriad, legion.
Harry gagged on nothing, light years away.
“Christ!” he moaned, but Ricky wasn’t that sort of saviour.
Where’s the tongue, Harry?
He tore the truth from Harry Bishop’s brain, taking it by the corner and ripping it out of his memory. His attention turned to an antique drinks’ cabinet in the shape of a globe, lovingly painted but sun-bleached and cracked with age. A tendril went to work on the tiny keyhole, cunningly hidden by the pink lines traversing the north coast of Africa.
“Jesus!”
He isn’t coming, Harry. It’s just us.
~ C. M. Rosens, The Crows, p. 359
A really short chapter, this one has the audio of my Dec 2020 Q&A at the end. You can find the video versions of me answering Qs1-10 on my YouTube channel and the blog post for the written form on my website (videos embedded).
CWs include gore, bird death, physical intimidation of an older vulnerable man, murder, body horror and drunkenness.
C. M. Rosens 