I blinked. He lifted his head gently, as if checking that I was looking, then let it flop back down.

“Is he okay?” Caylus asked.

A low rumble in Res’s throat mirrored the vibration of feeling he sent down the cord between us. Something that translated loosely to food food food.

I groaned, dragging my hands down my face. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” I crossed my arms. “You’re not getting anything until you make some more lightning, you overgrown chicken.”

Another cooing noise reverberated in Res’s throat.

Caylus turned, withdrawing the box he’d tucked the chicken into. The moment the air caught the scent, Res snapped upright, flaring his wings to flip himself over in a show of agility that left me staring. Caylus tossed him a chicken slice, and he caught it, swallowing in one gulp.

“Sucker,” I muttered.

“More after you’re done,” Caylus told him.

Res straightened, and like a dam releasing a river, lightning erupted around his body, singeing the air in a crackle of sparks and jagged cracks. Caylus leapt back, but I grinned wildly as the yellow-white energy surrounded Res like a spiderweb. Then as quickly as it came, it vanished.

I expected Caylus to be afraid, but he was staring at the crow with a mix of bewilderment and utter fascination. Leave it to him to be curious about something that could fry him alive.

Res clicked his beak, cawing softly, and I turned back in time to see Caylus break from the trance he so often lost himself to. He tossed Res another chicken piece, and the crow gobbled it greedily.

Caylus went to toss Res a third piece, but I stepped between them. “Hold up! I said a spark, not a ball of lightning. You have to be able to control it.” Erupting into a flurry of searing energy hardly seemed conducive to crow riding.

Res huffed but did as I said. Or tried to. Every time he made to coalesce the lightning, it sputtered wildly. More than once, Caylus and I had to duck behind the island to avoid getting shocked. It took several more tries before Res managed to maintain the energy in a spark at the tip of his beak before releasing it in a snap of sizzling air. Caylus gave him the next chicken slice, and around we went. We worked on the spark of lightning several more times before doing a few wing exercises to help strengthen his muscles.

It would take a while for Res to truly master the basics of his powers, but we wouldn’t be able to try anything more advanced until we were away from Illucia.

That storm had been too close a call.

* * *