Page 3 of Twi-Flight (Ghostlight Falls #6)

“I understand completely.” Eggward cuts me off.

“I don’t mean to be unsympathetic.” My chest squeezes.

“It’s a big favor. I know.”

A chicken at his feet makes a loud noise of protest.

He huffs loudly and turns back to face me. I can’t make out his expression in the darkness, but I can feel his gaze weighing on me, judging me.

“The thing is, I have a way that I could pay you.” A long moment of silence stretches between us. “But it wouldn’t exactly be regular money. And I’m sure a bank wouldn’t accept any kind of contract I drew up.”

“Not money? What are you going to pay me with? Sexual favors?” I joke without thinking and then wince.

He steps toward me until he’s towering over me. “Without any official documents, you’d just have to trust me. Can you trust me, Mina?”

“Y—Yeah—” My voice stammers, but my heart is certain. I nod to attempt showing the strength of my conviction. “With my life.”

His head flicks to one side. I can’t see his expression, but I do spot the silhouetted curve of his nose. The tip is sharper than I expected. A strong hook of the bridge ends in a sharp point. But the weight of his pause feels almost unbearable.

“The chickens say I can trust you.” His voice is extra gruff.

“Well. They have good taste.” I say without really questioning how he could know what chickens are saying.

“I need to show you something.” The dark heat of the room seems to follow him as he moves deeper into the coop. “I want to introduce you to my family.”

“Your family…” I say slowly, the hen house is full of hens.

“Adopted.” He follows up more carefully. “You’ve already met Alice.”

A familiar bird is gently poking at the hem of my jeans. I reach down, and she nuzzles into my hand.

“She likes you.” Eggward’s voice is appreciative.

“She’s sweet.” I say.

“She’s very picky. She doesn’t peck just anyone.” There’s a smile in his voice. “She’s special. All of my rescues are. That’s why it’s so important what I’m doing here.”

“Special how?” I ask.

“She can tell the future.”

I look up to see if he’s being serious, but there’s nothing revealed in the shadows of the hood he wears.

“Not to doubt you, but how can you possibly tell? She’s a chicken.

” I glance at her again; her dark eyes seem to stare back into my soul, like she can read something in my very being that I didn’t even know existed. “She is just a chicken—right?”

Eggward makes a noise that almost sounds like a squawk. I realize he’s laughing at me.

“Here.” He picks a speckled brown egg from a nest and holds it out in a flat palm toward me.

I pick it up gingerly, Alice cooing quietly at my feet. The egg is light, weighing almost nothing. But the shell is whole. No signs of tampering. “Is it empty?”

Eggward shakes his head. “Open it.”

I shake the egg and hear something soft rattling inside it. Still, I can’t help feeling a little silly. “Is this some kind of trick?”

“Crack it open.”

I turn and tap the egg on a random beam until it breaks. I carefully pull the shell apart. Inside it’s completely smooth and clean. Empty. Except for a small rolled-up piece of paper. I unfurl it to read in rough chicken-scratched lettering, “Jace Blake will betray you.”

Alice clucks something. I glance down at her, and then back to Eggward.

“And you really think this is accurate?”

“What does it say?”

I shake my head. “You’re saying you don’t know?”

“This is how I knew where to find Alice the other day. When you needed help.”

“Wow. That’s…” I stare at the small sheet of paper for a moment.

I knew Ghostlight was weird but I’ve never seen anything like this.

If anyone else, anywhere else in the world had told me this, I would have thought it was a strange prank.

I don’t know Eggward well, but he wouldn’t joke about something like this. “That’s amazing.”

“This is something that no one else in Ghostlight has seen, Mina.” Eggward says.

“Just me.” I nod, feeling the intensity of the secret. “All of Alice’s eggs are like this?”

He nods. “Every single one. Some are more cryptic than others but they are always right, eventually.”

“How did you find her?”

“She found me.” Eggward says quietly. “And we found the others together.”

I glance around, there are a couple dozen chickens visible sleeping in their boxes, the place is crowded. He really does need more space for them all. “And all their eggs are like this?”

“Not exactly…” Eggward takes a deep preparatory breath and then moves to the next box, where a large black hen broods. She clucks a casual protest at being disturbed as he reaches beneath her.

“I’ve never shown anyone this.” His fist reappears, clutched tight to hide what’s inside. I suspect it won’t be a normal egg. “But I’m trying to be more—trusting.”

His hand turns over and opens suddenly. A glittering gold orb in the center of his palm.

“Eggward?” I can’t quite bring myself to ask the thing I am actually thinking. A chicken who lays golden eggs. I glance at the black bird. She looks totally relaxed. Her eyes closed, completely unperturbed by anything happening here.

“This is how I keep the rescue running. How I keep all these mouths fed.” He says quickly. “But I could give you eggs, for the land.”

“Oh—okay.” I can barely utter the words.

He gestures for me to hold out my hand, and then tenderly places the egg into it. It’s heavier than a normal egg, but not as heavy as I expect it to be.

“Not—solid gold?” I manage to ask, trying to even pretend to calculate how much money that would be.

“Just the shell. 24 karat. But that’s enough to feed everyone comfortably, even at the pawn shops I usually take them to.”

“And you want to give this to me ?”

“One every week. For a year.”

“An entire year?” I can’t take my eyes off of the egg. But my brain finally catches up to what he’s offering. “That’s way too much.”

“It’s not.”

“It absolutely is. What if—What if I also come here? And work for you?” I say it in a rush.

“I could use a job. A better job. Something to put on my resume. I think you could use some help around here. Right? This place is huge. And if you’re going to expand.

You’ll need more hands, more money—” I feel myself rambling, but every part of me aches for him to agree.

I don’t just need money. I need something to pour my passion into.

I need something to keep me in Ghostlight.

I need to belong here. I need him to say yes.

He steps towards me. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why not? I know all your secrets now.” I blurt. My heart flutters, but I don’t move away from him.

“Not all of them.” He starts to turn a shoulder to me.

“Please.” I reach for his arm. Still clutching his egg in my other hand. “I want a reason to stay in Ghostlight. This place is special, I know it. I feel it. And I want to be a part of it! I want to help!”

I’m begging. I feel like a fool, but it feels like the most important thing I’ve done in a long time.

At our feet Alice lets out a loud cluck.

And in a moment she’s joined by another clattering chicken, and then as the rows of sleeping birds wake up, the whole flock weighs in.

We’re surrounded by scolding squawks, purposeful clucks, and irritated coos.

“Fine! Okay?” Eggward yells loud enough to be heard over the cacophony of fowl protests. He turns so his arm pulls from my grasp and juts one hand out from his cloak toward me.

I stare for a long breath before realizing what he wants, then slip my fingers into his firm grip and shake his hand.

“You’re hired.”

The birds seem satisfied with his decision, taking a moment to settle back into an easy silence. Eggward pulls his hand back from mine, almost reluctantly.

“You won’t regret it.” I assure him. Hot tears prick at the corners of my eyes, and I’m briefly embarrassed. This small level of acceptance has me tearing up.

“Keep that—” He gestures at the egg still in my hand.

“For your first weeks’ pay. And I’ll see you here on Monday.

” All of that is a command, not a request. But I don’t have any problem nodding in agreement.

I practically run from the coop, trying to escape his gaze before I truly start crying with relief.

I didn’t know how much it would mean to me.

A reason to stay.