Page 6 of Messenger of Death
“I was going to kiss him, but that didn’t happen.”
“Then, I guess you’ll have to work on that.”
“Yeah, but I really liked snuggling with Khalid, too. And I know he’s a lot, but there’s something about Lucian.”
“The supernatural world isn’t like the one you came from. Most of us have multiple partners. Elliot and Petros are my boyfriends, and I’ve got a third mate out there, but it’s complicated.”
“Really? Distract me with your drama.”
Morgana threw a pillow at me.
“Not so much drama as he’s a big, stubborn hunk of man who takes our age difference more seriously than he should.”
I gasped and threw the pillow back at her.
“A professor? I kind of love you.”
She started giggling.
“You aren’t what I expected when I was told I was going to be rooming with a pastor’s daughter. In a good way.”
“Thanks. Um, can we order anything we want and have it delivered here? I was thinking of upgrading my phone and laptop.”
Because my phone was kind of sluggish and my laptop was from high school. The only person who could take the parental controls off my laptop was my father, and he certainly wasn’t going to do that after he kicked me out.
“Yeah, but you’re going to want to use certain links. Human delivery drivers can’t find this place. It looks like ruins to them,so they don’t know to drop packages here. They should have been added to your phone.”
I was less upset about that than Lucian was, but I could understand why he was.
“Honestly, all of this is really cool. I just wish the murder stuff weren’t happening. You said you grew up in a witch family, right? Do you know whatanyof this means?”
“No. And I’m really good at history, too. Maybe not as good as Khalid since I needed to focus on magic, too, but I’ve never heard of this. My familiars haven’t, either. You could try asking yours.”
Oh. I hadn’t even thought about the three crows that were now living in my dorm room. I guess wedidneed the windows open. We were on the third floor, so unless someone could fly or were really good at climbing the tree outside our window, they’d have trouble getting in.
“What do I do?”
“You can talk to them out loud or in your head. You’ll learn more in your familiar class. Find out what they like. They are crows, so if you give them things, they’ll give you things back.”
The crows hopped over to where I was sitting on the bed. I held my hand out tentatively, and they danced closer. I stroked the one closest to me on the chest.
“Oh! You are so soft. Do you have names?”
“We are the Morrígna. Unique aspects of you and your magic. We were originally called Badb, Macha, and Nemain, but we’ve gone by many names in many of your lives.”
“What do you want to be called?”
“The only one ever to ask us this was the original Morrigan. Those were the names we chose then. There is power in a name, little one. We’ll have to think about it. I’m associated with the frenzy of battle. Patrick isn’t a fitting name at all, but I was given that once.”
“No, definitely not Patrick. Think about it, and I’ll call you whatever you like. Is there anything else you want or need?”
“A place to nest, scraps to eat, and your willingness to learn.”
“Done.”
“You haven’t asked about the evil that has arrived at Ouroboros Academy.”
“You said you couldn’t talk about it. I don’t want to be a bother.”
