Chapter Text
|-Wednesday Morning, March 20th, 2024. The Cordelia, 4721 Azalea Landing Drive, Room 3G, Wilmington, North Carolina-|
I'm woken up by the sound of someone tapping on my window. Through groggy eyes and I start looking and eventually see Maddy outside my car. She looks worried. I start lowering my window, and her questions begin.
"Cam, are... Are you okay?" She asks, her voice almost trembling. "Yeah, I'm fine." I respond, knowing it won't convince her.
"If you're fine, why did I find you passed out in your car?" Is the next question I hear her ask. "Couldn't sleep last night. Went out driving for a bit." I say, still knowing it won't be enough to convince her.
"And so you decided to just... sleep in your car when you got back?" She's interrogating me now. "Sleep finally caught me." I say as I get the strength out finally get out of my car. I push the door open and step out into the morning light, the sheer brightness almost blinding me to the point I need to cover my eyes briefly. Hate that shit.
"What time is it, anyhow?" I ask, still unsure of the hour. I watch Maddy get her phone out and check.
"Seven twenty five. When did you get back?" She then asks, still interrogating me. "I don't know. Like, four o'clock." I don't need to wait for Maddy's response to that. "Oh. My. God. Go inside, take a shower and then a nap."
A nice, hot shower. Just what I needed. I get clean. I get warm. All the tension from the night being washed away. I already feel better. Don't know how long I've been in here, but that heater is working overtime to keep this water warm. The steam continues to rise as I get the bar of soap I brought with me so that I can lather up. All the grime and sweat, gone in an instant. Next is shampoo and conditioner. Slap that on my head. Scratch my scalp like I've got a rash. Boom, down the drain a minute later. Next thing I know, I'm drying off and putting on some clean clothes. Now, I'm laying on the couch, and I feel sleep clawing at me again. That beast you can't resist for too long. But I try. And I succeed. At least for a bit. But I start flubbing. Overreaching. And that's when it strikes. It's so sudden. So fast. I didn't even see it coming.
...
...
...
...
...
I wake a few hours later, unsure of the time, groggy and dehydrated. I need some water. So I get up and head to the kitchen. I grab a glass and fill it up. Then I drink. It's cool and refreshing. Just what I needed to hit the spot. Already my throat feels better. I head back into the living room and grab my phone, mostly to check the time. 10:30. Damn. Out for three hours. Not bad for a nap. I sit down, not really wanting to lie back down but still relax. Thinking about it, this is the most relaxed I've felt since I got here. Haven't thought about that damn "bird" in a hot minute. That is, until I bring that up. And just like that, I'm thinking about it now. The little golden bastard. Fuck. There goes my peace. It was nice while it lasted. But beggars can't be choosers, I suppose. So I decide to do some research. Look into this Him and how this "bird" is connected to Him. But almost immediately, I run into a roadblock: Where the hell do I even start with something like this? How do I search up "Him" and get the results that I want? What did the exhibit compare Him to? Rumpelstiltskin? That seems like a good place to start. Little imp from Europe that takes people's first born children in exchange for the... services he provides. Kinda fucked, honestly. But there's nothing here that's tangible. All I can put together is that they're both small and help people. That's it. Not much to go on. So I decide to dig into that "bird". I search for 'folk tales involving a golden crow'... and actually get some results. It's not much, but it's better than nothing so I'll take it.
I'm sat down at Maddy's desk, using the currently empty space since she took her laptop with her, giving me room to place mine there either until she gets back or when I jot down everything I need to. Never thought I'd ever be browsing occult forums or archives, but here we are. I continue reading a few more websites and jot down more notes as I go, four things in particular:
- Whatever this "crow" ends up being, it does, in fact, serve Him, whoever He may be. That special exhibit in the museum didn't really say that much about Him, only that He has two servants, grants wishes at both a price combined with three gifts and originates in Europe.
- The crow can take the form of a large, golden crow with bright red eyes. It does specify crow. It will never appear as a raven. Only a crow. But it also has a more humanoid form. I hope I don't ever have to deal with that.
- The crow uses magic to manipulate people for it's own end or for Him. This magic causes both auditory and visual hallucinations. These hallucinations can even affect one's dreams. I don't like where that thread is going.
- The crow has it's own domain. Something called the 'Ceramic Grove of Wheat'. The crow's magic can also lead people to this grove. That's... That's not where I was in that dream, is it?
This is a lot to take in. Way too much if I'm being honest and I don't really know what to do with this information. How do I even begin to process this? Maybe I can start to formulate plans to defend myself from this thing. Maybe even fight back if I need to. But regardless, one thing is for certain: This shit goes deeper than I thought.
|-That afternoon. Fisher Student Center, University of North Carolina Wilmington-|
I always end up eating lunch late on Wednesday. That advanced marine biology class goes to 12:30, so I get pretty hungry when I come out of it. Fisher's got a few places I can grab some food. Might try Hawk's Nest. Been meaning to for a while. Heard the wings aren't all that bad. I reach my destination and order my food. It comes out pretty quick and with that, I'm satisfied. I eat at a pace, wanting to enjoy myself while I browse a few things on my laptop:
Research notes.
Class notes.
Research topics.
But there's one thing not in this note file that keeps nagging at my mind: That feather. I can't quite seem to purge it from my brain. And it's getting frustrating at this point. First all those crow feathers start appearing around Dobo Hall, then I find that. Finding it seems to have slowed the rest of the feathers, only finding them occasionally, but...
I've looked the feather over time and time again. Double checked. Triple checked. Even quintuple checked. It matches what I'd expect from a carrion crow, just bigger. And the color... It had to have been cast, right? It can't just be like that. No way. Yet when I run my finger along the side of the feather, it feels like a feather. If it was metal filament or metal plated, I would have felt it. It's too flexible. And too light. The feather looks like it's made of solid gold. Something like that would have a noticeable difference in weight. Yet it doesn't. It weighs more or less the same as the other feathers I've been finding. Then there's that snake skin. Common European adder, but larger than the largest known individuals. And in that skin I saw the same golden gleam that the feather has. It's draining how much of my mind this takes up. So against my better judgement, I turn to the internet to try and get some answers, knowing where it could lead me. I don't like it, but if it helps me sleep at night.
I search for 'golden carrion crow feather' and find nothing at first. So I go through a few of the search pages and find something interesting. 'Odd European Folklore' is the name of the article. Seems like a good place to start. I start taking some notes, wanting to keep track of the things I'm reading. The article details several different beings from Central Europe, namely Rumpelstiltskin and one other. The article doesn't give him a name, not a proper one at least. The Strange Boy. The Wishmaker. Him. Why is that in bold and italics? What makes Him so special? And who is He? I'll need to look into this some more. I open a new tab and start my search. Surprisingly, I get a few articles and websites about Him. But of course, they're linked to the occult. As someone
studying science, I hope I don't need to clarify why I'm opposed to this. But I also do need the information. I start reading the articles and take in the information:
-He can grant one's deepest desire, but at a price. But what exactly is that price? None of the articles and exposés give that part.
- In His court, there are two servants. A Crow and a Snake. Why does that fill me with dread?
- No one exactly knows where His court is, but there are ways to be granted entry. Three specific gifts are to be prepared and showcased, at which point He will grant the person's wish. But again, no mention of what it will cost you.
I lean back, wanting to take a few breathers before I go on. I'm not occult-minded. It runs antithetical to everything I know as a woman of logic and science. But I will admit, the stories are fascinating. But they're also just that: Stories. No way they can be real. But my mind keeps going back to that feather. How the gold coloration shined in the light at just the right angles. It's... Tempting to find out more. So once again, against my better judgement, I dive back in. This "Crow". I need to know more. And I find a few things.
- The Crow has it's own domain called the 'Ceramic Grove of Wheat'. No mention of where this grove is or where you can find it.
- The Crow has it's own magic that it uses to manipulate people through auditory and visual hallucinations. This magic can also bring people to the grove. That's... ominous.
- The Crow is a servant on Him. One of His marquises, alongside the Snake.
I'll need to look into these a bit more. My brain is getting wracked by all this information. I pack up my things and start to head out, but now I'm thinking again. About Cam. He's been acting weird ever since he arrived. He's been on edge. Any slight movement gets his attention. And certain topics can make him anxious. I remember how he froze when I mentioned finding those feathers everywhere. I don't want to be doing this, but maybe... Maybe Cam had an encounter with this "crow". And he's trying to work past how it affected him. Why else would he be showing signs of narcolepsy? Why else would he have trouble sleeping at night? Why else would he go out on a "drive" at three in the morning? But then again, he's had a pretty stressful few weeks before he left Philadelphia. Maybe it's still getting to him. But what can I do to help him? Cam's always been quite reserved. Never one to really talk about his problems. Always taking things on his own. 'I'm more than capable' is what he'd always say. I just need to get him to open up more. But then the feather re-enters my mind. What if... No. Don't be stupid, Maddy. It's nothing. This is nothing. There is nothing that can't be explained by logic.