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  The bird let out a rasping, muttered caw. The baby cooed and waved his hands toward the bird, but Marian kept him still and out of range. The food disappeared quickly. Onyx moved along the edge of the table, his head cocked so he could look her over with that ebony void of an eye.

  “Go on,” Marian said. “I’ll have more for you another time.”

  The bird hopped, lifting itself into flight, and circled her a time or two before flying toward the trees. Halfway there, it turned and headed back. It swooped down at her, not maliciously but with obvious intent. For a heart-stopping moment, Marian thought it was going to land on her shoulder. She couldn’t have allowed it. The thought made her skin crawl. She tensed, ready to scream and knock the bird away.

  But it didn’t land on her. It merely flew around her three times and landed once more on the picnic table. Onyx tilted his head, looking her over with that steady, unblinking stare. He cawed once. Then again.

  “Goodbye, Mama.”

  “Go on now,” Marian said again, this time in a softer, gentler voice. “I’ll have more for you…”

  Tomorrow, she tried to say, but her throat had closed and no words would come out. Baby Mikey started to fuss, and she gathered him close to her chest. She pressed her nose to the downy, fine hair that smelled of baby shampoo. She breathed him in, her eyes closed, hot tears tickling the corners.

  When she opened them, Onyx was gone.

  Marian looked at the baby in her arms and kissed his sweet, fat cheeks. She stood. She looked once more at the forest, but although she thought she heard the faint and rasping caw of a raven, she couldn’t see anything but the trees.

  “C’mon, baby boy. Let’s go back inside.” And then, with tears in her eyes but a smile on her lips, Marian added, “We’re all going to be fine.”

  About this book

  This is a FLAME TREE PRESS BOOK

  Text copyright © 2019 Megan Hart.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  FLAME TREE PRESS, 6 Melbray Mews, London, SW6 3NS, UK, flametreepress.com

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  Thanks to the Flame Tree Press team, including: Taylor Bentley, Frances Bodiam, Federica Ciaravella, Don D’Auria, Chris Herbert, Matteo Middlemiss, Josie Mitchell, Mike Spender, Will Rough, Cat Taylor, Maria Tissot, Nick Wells, Gillian Whitaker. The cover is created by Flame Tree Studio with thanks to Nik Keevil and Shutterstock.com.

  FLAME TREE PRESS is an imprint of Flame Tree Publishing Ltd. flametreepublishing.com. A copy of the CIP data for this book is available from the British Library and the Library of Congress.

  HB ISBN: 978-1-78758-117-3, PB ISBN:978-1-78758-115-9, ebook ISBN: 978-1-78758-118-0 | Also available in FLAME TREE AUDIO | Created in London and New York

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