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Esther Finch’s husband was unfaithful. He begged for her mercy before he died, so did the mistress, although she begged differently. Not for herself, but for her baby at home. A bastard, fathered by Esther’s lying husband. By all rights, he should’ve been hers, so she keeps him. A trophy of her descent into magic. Not needing a child, she turns him into a crow and ties his soul to her magic, her new familiar, and she moves deeper into the forest, away from villagers who ask questions.
Once a month, in the few days leading up to the full moon, Esther leaves Monty to do a ritual for her youth. It’s the only time she breaks the spell keeping him in crow form, though she keeps him locked in a tower until she returns, for safety. (he never asks what she does or why she returns smelling faintly of blood)
It’s Monty’s favorite time of the month, when he can stretch, read, and, his favorite, view the stars. Every night he spends staring out his window, taking it in and charting the stars. By the time he’s 15, he’s created full maps and learned to recognize the constellations throughout the year.
Monty understands why Esther keeps him as a crow. She’s his mother, it makes sense she’d want to keep him safe. And that’s why she forces him into crow form. To keep him safe. It’s what she always tells him. It’s to keep him safe.
He always knows before she returns, as her proximity forces his joints to constrict, his body to morph, and his brain to shrink.
He always dreads her coming back.
Until one day a few people around his age come stumbling into the clearing with his tower, not long after Esther’s left for the her trip. They claim to be a detective agency in town, looking for a lost girl, but Monty can’t help.
He wants to. He really wants to. For the missing girl, but also for the incredibly beautiful boy who keeps asking questions. He wants this boy to like him more than anything.
But he’s never left his tower, so how would he know where she is? He wishes he could join them, help them look, but he wouldn’t want his mother to come back to him being gone and worry.
He doesn’t find out what happened to the girl, but Esther returns early, spitting mad and talking about revenge, looking no different than when she left.
But he doesn’t return to crow form this time. Esther has a plan.