It was the dim lighting of hospitals that always got Quinn. They just freaked her out. They made what was already creepy even creepier. Only now, she wasn’t one to talk. She couldn’t see anything now. There’s nothing like shutting your eyes against the light of a stupid hospital. There’s nothing like sitting around in the dark. How did she know that she was in a hospital? She could smell it. The smells always got her too.
“Quinn…? Miss Quinn? Can you hear me?”
The voice was that of a doctor, short and professional. Quinn nodded an affirmative.
“You were in a terrible crash. Do you remember anything?”
Quinn shook her head. She was lying. The truth was that she did remember. She was riding in the back of a Chevy Tahoe when some jackass on a moped slammed right into them.
“Your parents… didn’t make it. I’m so sorry. I understand that you’re fifteen now. A demon could have come for you soon. I guess you don’t have to worry about that now, thank the Lord.”
He shuffled out and locked the door behind him. Quinn sat back against the bed, feeling the bandages around her eyes.
“The healer… is a weak fool.”
Quinn lowered her hands. This voice was soft, eerily soft, like wind blowing through a hollow log. It didn’t belong to anyone she could distinguish easily. “Who are you…?” she whispered, reaching out in front of her. “I can’t see, who are you?”
A hard surface pushed itself into her palm. She felt feathers, nostrils, a beak. Is this a bird? How big of a bird is this? “Who are you…?” she asked again.
“I am all, and I am me. I am the flying star in the daytime. I am the sound of foreboding death. Humans hear my cries and write legends of them. I am The Crow.”
“The Crow?” Quinn whispered. She reached out further, feeling the soft feathers between her fingers. “How tall are you, Crow…?”
“I am a phoenix, ten feet tall. Does it not please you?”
“No… it pleases me. I just wanted an accurate description.”
“You favor accuracy, tiny human. Very well. I am jet black, with stars sewn into my feathers, and entrails between my talons.”
“Even I can tell that you don’t have entrails in your feet.” Quinn chuckled. She almost couldn’t believe it. A ten foot tall space phoenix was sitting on her hospital bed, curling its head onto her palm. “Are you… a demon?”
“I am.”
Normally, she would have not given the matter another thought. However, there was a slight problem with this. Quinn was newly blinded. She had nothing to offer this demon in exchange for her body, unless it was okay with an even more handicapped host. In the light of this whole ordeal, she was almost certain that a demon wouldn’t approach her now that one of her five sense has already been taken from her. “What does a noble demon want with me…? I have nothing to offer you, mighty Crow. My sight… has been taken from me by chance. Were you to take anything more from me, I would be a vessel unfit for your use.”
“Do you think that I have not willed it?”
Quinn lifted her head, as if she could face the demon. “Wha…?”
“If you are blind, it is because I wished it. If you were in a car accident, it is because I willed it to happen. Since you were young, I’ve set my eyes on you, human. Every tragedy that has befallen you is because I wished it to, hoping for you to come out of each like this.”
Quinn felt her bandages dampening. “So… you killed my parents… and an innocent man on a moped… just to have me make it out…? Why…? You truly ARE a demon if you are that evil…”
“On the contrary…” Crow whispered, pressing her beak harder into Quinn’s hand. “I am truly weak… because as the time grew near for the Offering, I had not the courage to face you and steal your sense by force. Now, as you are, I do not have to take anything from you… you have already given your sight up to my name when the shards of glass struck you.” She wrapped her dark wings around Quinn. “I wish to inhabit you upon equal terms.”
“Then come, Sound of Death. I accept you.”
Crow pressed her head to Quinn’s forehead. The bandages around her eyes began to burn and crumble into ash on the bed. “You may call me Crow… do not fear. The power I grant you for your sacrifice is well worth the agony.”
Quinn opened her once brown eyes, now glazed over in a periwinkle fog. The fog melted away as a sinister glowing red replaced it. Quinn turned her head. She could see. She could see!
“You now have my eyes. Use them well, only once a day.”
“Thank you…” Quinn’s eyes fogged up once more. She now sat alone in her hospital room. Her hands moved up to touch her eyes.
“Do not fear…” Crow’s voice echoed through her mind. “I shall always be with you, until death do us part, or angel tear us asunder.”
“Then may I be forever damned.” Quinn whispered as she jumped out the window of the hospital.