The Raven Wars, Book Two: Chapter 1

Below is a chapter rewrite from Book 2: The Raven Wars of The Raven Dreams Trilogy. If you’d like to read the original series, you can get it here.

Subscribe now

Book 2: The Raven Wars

Chapter 1: Eva

Eva watched Ren Dunvar’s finger drag across the table for what felt like the fourth time, tracing a line only he could see. The argument wasn’t complicated. Someone’s new wall was going up where his fence used to be, and now there was nothing left to prove it but his word.

Ren wasn’t hostile, exactly. Just immovable. He answered Simon’s questions in short, flat sentences and kept his eyes on the table between them. Eva had seen this before: men like Ren didn’t come to council to be helped. They came to be heard, but still saw fit to take matters into their own hands.

Simon knew this and offered to send someone out immediately to measure before any more building happened. This ensured Ren wouldn’t have time to self-initiate a resolution, which always ended in an unneeded argument. He pushed back his chair and left without ceremony.

Eva watched him and thought, briefly, of Isaak. He was home with Aron today, fixing the broken shutter on the back window. Small, ordinary work. She told herself that was enough.

The hall was quiet after Ren left. Simon leaned back in his chair, and Eva felt the particular ease that had grown between them over these months. It was the rhythm of two people who had learned each other’s silences as well as their words.

Open council days were like this. Small grievances, careful resolutions. Nothing like what they’d faced before. Eva wasn’t sure yet if that was a comfort or if it just made her feel further from herself. She never wanted to be the new leader, yet she was the one Amortera elected.

With Simon on the Dysmortia council, it made sense. But that didn’t mean Eva felt at home being a leader.

“We should go,” Simon said. “Hazel will have started without us.” Eva knew he was right. Hazel was on a mission to brighten everyone’s mood, and that meant a celebratory gathering in Goldengrass Meadow.

As Eva reached for her parchment, a teenage boy pushed through the entryway of the Hall of Meeting, his eyes fixed on a point across the hall with an intensity that made the surrounding noise go quiet around him. Eva thought it strange that she didn’t recognize him. She knew every Vitalist in Amortera.

Behind him, an older woman moved fast to keep up. She caught his sleeve once and let go when he didn’t slow down or lose his determination. Eva watched her cross the threshold, also certain she’d never seen her before, and yet there was something so familiar in her face.

Eva wasn’t the only one staring. Near the far wall, Sol Graham had turned toward the entrance with an expression Eva had never seen on him before. Old Woman Willow stood beside him, frozen mid-sentence.

Simon touched her arm. Eva realized she’d been gripping the edge of the table. She let go and stood, and the hall seemed to rearrange itself around the two strangers.

The boy stopped moving. He stood in the middle of the hall with his head tilted slightly, like he was listening to something. The woman reached him and put her hand on his back. Then she looked up and found Eva, and Eva found her.

“Can I help you?” Eva asked because she was a council leader, and that was what council leaders said, even when their voice didn’t sound quite loud or certain enough to be a leader. The woman’s expression shifted between what looked like grief and relief.

“My name is Mady,” she said. “I’m your mother’s sister.”

Eva heard the words, but together they didn’t make sense. Her mother didn’t have a sister. That was simply a fact, the same as any other fact about her life. “I’m sorry,” Eva said. “What did you say?”

Simon appeared at her side. He didn’t say anything, just stood close enough that his arm was against hers.

“My mother’s sister,” Eva said. She repeated the words to see if they made more sense the second time. They didn’t. “That’s not possible.”

“She did,” Mady said. Her voice was steady, but her hands weren’t. She finally had hold of the boy’s sleeve, who seemed restless about something. “I know what you’ve been told. And I know I must sound crazy to you.”

“I haven’t been told anything,” Eva said. “There was nothing to tell.”

“That’s because I made sure of it.” Mady glanced around the hall—at Sol and Willow near the far wall, at the small cluster of Vitalists who had gone quiet and were looking anywhere but at them. “There are things I need to explain… but not here.”

Eva wasn’t ready to agree, or to move this somewhere private. Yet, when she looked at the woman’s face again, she felt the same pull she’d felt from across the hall.

Simon’s hand settled at the small of her back, bringing her back to center enough to keep from floating away into the other world unfolding around her.

“Where is he?” The boy’s voice was devoid of urgency, cutting straight into the discomfort. His head was tilted slightly, the same way it had been when he first came through the door.

“Gavit,” Mady said quietly.

He didn’t seem to hear her. “Someone here is wrong,” he said. “Not sick. Something else.” He turned and looked at Eva directly, unhurried. “Where is he? I don’t know his name. I’ve never met him. But he belongs with you, I think.”

Eva looked at him. “Who do you mean?”

“I don’t know his name,” he repeated, scrunching his brow. “But he’s close. He was here.”

Simon gently rested his hand on her shoulder, easing her back to him. Eva realized she’d been leaning forward, as if getting closer to the boy would make his words clearer. She straightened. Simon leaned in close to her ear. “Come on,” he said quietly.

She turned to him. As she did, she caught him glance toward the far wall with a small lift of his chin in Sol’s direction. Sol looked once at Eva, then at Mady, and started toward them. Willow was a step behind him.

“Mady,” Sol said cheerily as he approached. “What an auspicious turn of events, seeing you here.”

“Sol.” Mady met his eyes and glanced at the elder woman arriving behind him. “Willow.”

Eva stood there watching the three of them. The ground shifted under everything she thought she knew.

“I just need—” Eva started, but the sentence had nowhere to go.

“I know,” Mady said. “It’s all right.”

Willow turned to Eva, her voice reassuring. “This will all make sense soon. I’ll take them home with me tonight and get it sorted out.” She said it like a promise. “Go.”

Eva looked at Mady once more. Then she walked beside Simon out of the hall.

Simon let her have the silence for a moment as they walked down the path, his presence as close as he could get it without actually touching her. It was his way of showing her he was there while honoring her moment to process.

“I don’t know what to do with that,” she finally said. “Any of it.”

“You don’t have to do anything with it right now.”

“She looked so familiar.” Eva stopped herself. “From the moment she walked in.”

Simon didn’t answer right away. He knew better than to fill a silence with something that wasn’t useful. “Like your mother?” he asked.

Eva looked up at him and nodded, the heat rising in her eyes. Simon wrapped her in his arms.

“Why don’t you go home and take some time for yourself? I’ll cover for you with Hazel.”

Eva shook her head. “I don’t want to be alone right now.”

Simon nodded and continued walking close, not forcing further conversation. Eva was beginning to feel the ground under her feet again when she noticed the plants along the east path, wilted and colorless.

“When did that happen?” she asked.

Simon shook his head. He didn’t know either. “I’ll ask around tonight.”

They walked the rest of the way without speaking.

When Hazel opened the door, Eva could tell immediately that something was wrong—not with the preparations, but with Hazel herself. She had the look she got when she was keeping something in. “Oh, good,” she said, pulling the door wide. “Come in.”

The kitchen table was barely visible under the decorations. Hand-painted leaves, stacked lanterns, and bundles of ribbon had spilled onto the floor. Hazel was already back at the counter, moving a yellow flower from one side of a clay pot to the other, then back again.

Eva tried twice to get her attention. Hazel held up one finger without turning around, moved the yellow flower to the left side of the pot, changed her mind, and put it back in the middle. Then she straightened, satisfied. Simon caught Eva’s eye.

Hazel turned around then, as if noticing them properly for the first time. Her eyes went straight to Simon. “Mindel’s out back loading the wagon. He could use the help.” It wasn’t a question.

Simon kissed Eva’s cheek before she could say anything and slipped outside.

Baby Ivy slept in her bassinet near the window, nearly four months old and unbothered by her mother’s frazzled energy. Hazel moved from the table to the counter and back, pausing at a large lantern on the side table. Without breaking her count, she passed her hand over it lightly. The fireflies inside lifted all at once, filling the glass with soft, shifting light. Eva watched her. She hadn’t slowed down once since they’d arrived.

“Hazel,” she said. “Are you all right?”

Everything happening to me right now can wait. This is Hazel.

“I’m great,” Hazel said, not stopping. “Everything’s great.”

Eva folded her arms. “Hazel.” She paused for effect. “Is it Mindel?”

Hazel set something down harder than necessary. “Mindel and I are fine.” She didn’t look up. “I know what you’re doing. Drop it. Please.” She finally looked at Eva. Something in her face was asking her to let it go, just for tonight.

Eva nodded. “Okay.” She unfolded her arms. “Another time.”

Hazel’s shoulders dropped slightly, the tension going out of them. She pointed at the pile nearest Eva. “Start with those. And where’s your brother? He and Aron were supposed to be here an hour ago.”

Eva didn’t answer right away. It wasn’t like Isaak to be late, and they both knew it. She picked up a stack of folded cloth and began lining the flower baskets.

Her mind wandered to the mysterious woman who claimed to be her aunt and the boy who seemed to be looking for Isaak, though she had no idea why. Then she stewed over Isaak. Where was he? Eva wasn’t sure how he’d react to learning that these two Vitliasts seemed to be forgotten family. He was so quick to anger these days.

One thing at a time, she told herself.

Book One of The Raven Dreams rewrite is complete.

• Read all the chapter shares and behind-the-scenes from Book One and Book Two here.

• If you’d like to read the original version of The Raven Wars to see how the story evolves and changes in the rewrite, you can get a copy here.

If you’d like to explore my dark feminine novels, you can do so here.

Remote shadow work readings are open. Book here.

Some journeys ask us to go deeper than we expected. If you’re in one of those seasons, I’d be honored to sit with you through the cards.