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“With midnight wings, I take flight,
‘Cross a canvas of ebony night.
Silent as whispers, I soar unseen,
A creature born of night serene.
A specter in the dark,
Essence of shadows, an ember’s spark?
What am I?”
Vespera licked her lips nervously.
“Think,” Odessa whispered. “Take your time.”
I said nothing.
Below, Vespera was tugging anxiously on her long brown braid, and clearing her throat.
“You... You are...”
“Yes?” The creature’s hands jerked and shuddered, as if impatient for the answer.
“You’re... a raven,” Vespera said, her voice growing louder.
She glanced up at the crowd watching and I saw her smile.
She looked confident. She believed she had the correct answer. Good, I decided. I had no wish to see her fall to this miserable creature of shadowy horror.
There was a pause. It stretched, becoming longer than the one which had followed Draven’s answer.
I glanced at Odessa.
“False,” the creature’s voice hissed. “Owl is the answer.”
There was a swift motion, then a piercing scream.
The scream went on and on. It seemed as if it would never end.
The crowd was murmuring around me. Had the creature even moved?
I blinked.
Vespera stood below, clutching her hands to her face. Blood streamed down her cheeks.
Her mouth was still open, screaming in wordless horror.
Across from her, the creature chewed.
“It took her eyes,” I gasped.
The riddle-giver’s fingers were dripping with blood. A wide, cracked rimmed smile with bloody jagged edges covered its face as it chewed and chewed on its prize.
“What can she do now?” I asked Odessa wildly. “Can she try again?”
Odessa’s face was impassive as she shook her head slowly.
