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I held my water bottle out as if I was toasting them. They just stared at me, their beady eyes catching the light.

When I moved to get up, my hair got caught in the tree. I pulled my long, blonde strands away from the bark and tied it back with a loose elastic band. My hair was very long and heavy and ponytails gave me headaches, so I usually just left it alone.

As I brushed dirt and dead leaves from my leggings, I scanned my surroundings. The crows flapped their wings and lifted into the air in one massive, dark cloud. Tracking the birds, I watched as they flew east.

After checking the time on my phone, I decided to follow. It’d been years since Grandpa died but crows were scavengers. They might know something I didn’t.

There wasn’t any kind of discernible path, so I shoved through branches, navigating rocks and logs. This particular area was foreign to me, but I'd left my phone map open and tucked it in my pocket so I could easily find my way back when it was time.

Several minutes went by and then I felt my device vibrate for several seconds before it stopped. Pulling it back out, I went to flick it on to see what the problem was. The screen lit up and then promptly went black. I held the side button down, but nothing—the device was dead. And I always left my apartment with my phone fully charged. I made sure of it.

The prudent thing to do would have been to walk out of the woods and see if I needed to buy a new device or not, but that wasn’t what happened. I pushed through the forest and then stopped when I spotted a wall.

The ten foot tall, heavily weathered barrier was constructed of smooth stone. The roof and bowers of a home sat just beyond, all beige and tan stucco and matching brick. It wasn’t supposed to be here—it wasn’t on any map. A thrill ran through me over the realization there was a whole new area to explore with infinite treasures to be discovered.

From what I could see, the place appeared large, and if I was right about the general area, there was an excellent chance no one lived inside. I would be able to search and dig around without anyone bothering me.

Crows hopped around on the roof, cawing and fluttering their wings, doing the whole crow-thing where the birds scream at each other that there’s a dangerous human nearby.

I had to laugh. I was about as dangerous as a ladybug.

The wall loomed, and I paced back and forth a bit, trying to figure out how I could scale it. The bricks were indented in a few spots, maybe enough for me to shove the front of my boot in. That would give me some leverage. But those spots were still too high above my head compared to my short stature. I was going to have to jump.

I jogged several feet back and then ran full tilt at the wall, leaping into the air and scrambling for purchase. While my foot grabbed the nook perfectly, my hands couldn’t find a single thing to grip onto. I landed on my ass.

Never one to quit when things got hard, I dusted myself off and tried again.

Again, I fell, but this time I landed right on my hip. Two more tries and I broke a nail, but I was able to stay plastered to the wall. I hugged the bricks like I was glued to them while I tried to catch my breath. When I peeked up, a crow was peering down, his head canted like he wanted to ask me a question.

“Stop staring at me, you weirdo,” I groaned. The bird tilted his head the other way.

The ledge was within reaching distance, and I dug my steadier hand into the brick to keep myself in place while I used the other to pull myself up. I highly doubted I could afford another tumble. When I got a hold of the rim, I carefully lifted one leg and felt around for a cranny to shove my foot in.

That gave me the leverage I needed to haul myself on top of the wall. Fortunately, it was just wide enough that I could sit for a moment to catch my breath.

Unfortunately, I discovered I wasn’t alone.

“What are you doing?”

I twisted around, searching for the voice. A man that looked like the devil himself stood below me, wrapped in multiple layers of black. He had heavy white and black makeup covering his face, and his nails were gleaming ebony.

Holy shit.

Screaming, I lost my balance and fell.

The impact was so hard that the wind was knocked out of me. When I opened my eyes, one of the crows was right there in my face, maybe six inches away.

“Personal space, bro. Personal space,” I mumbled and flapped an arm at the bird. It hopped backward before screeching its outrage at me.

The fall made my hair wrap around one of my arms, and I disentangled myself while I tried to assess the damage. I was going to be sore for weeks. A thirty-year-old body took a lot longer to recover than a thirteen-year-old one.

When I lifted my head, the pale man was crouched in front of me, resting his arms on his knees.

“Fuck,” I said. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to trespass.” I was riveted by how gorgeous he was, he didn’t look real.

He lifted a single eyebrow and glanced at the barrier before eyeballing me again.

“Okay, yeah, I meant to. But I didn’t know anyone lived here,” I defended my actions. He didn’t say a word. “Does this place belong to you?” I asked.