My breath caught, my muscles going rigid as the humming doubled, the vibrations dancing up my hand and arm all the way to my chest until they became one with my heartbeat. My doubts vanished; the crow inside was still alive. Gio let out a low hiss and clambered up Caylus’s shoulder.

The iridescent colors in the shell lit up, the entire thing encased in a golden sheen as the humming became a vibration.

Then the shell cracked.

“Saints!” My hand flew to my mouth. I stumbled back, a hand seizing Caylus’s arm. It was working.

The crack lengthened, traveling along the side of the shell. A piece broke off, revealing the sharp black beak of a crow chick. Then it vanished, replaced by a length of feathers.

I laughed. Once and sharp. My heart felt as if it might leap from my chest, like something huge and growing inside me was trying to get out. Joy, I realized. It was joy, as wild and powerful as a storm, and it was hope, as tentative and newborn as the hatching crow.

I flung my arms around Caylus’s neck with a scream of delight, his own coming around to encircle me. He lifted me off my feet, a deep, breathy laugh rumbling in his broad chest. I laughed again and kept laughing until the laughter turned to tears, and even then, I couldn’t stop.

Caylus set me back on my feet, but he didn’t let me go. He held me close as we watched the crow struggle. It took all the strength I had not to help it. But it needed this. It needed to fight, to grow stronger. And it did. With each movement, it cleared away more shell, minutes longer than any I’d ever experienced stretching out one after the other as it fought to free itself.

I crouched beside it, my fingers itching to pull the shell away. My legs burned, but I didn’t move, barely breathing.

After what felt like hours, the egg finally broke apart, and the crow pushed its way out in a bundle of black feathers. It tumbled onto the blanket, wet, chirping, and looking nothing at all like a creature meant to save us all.

I laughed again, the sound bubbling over me in a wash of relief and happiness that made me feel as if I could float away.

We’d done it.

I threw my arms around Caylus, and he held me tight. At his back, the sun broke over the horizon, flooding us with warmth. Still chirping, the crow swayed unsteadily, its silver eyes falling on me as Caylus released me.

A storm crow.

The hum of the magic had vanished, replaced by a small, comforting feeling in the pit of my stomach I could describe as nothing but a connection, like a rope strung between us.