Outside, a crow with her shadow for wings waited on the church roof. It cawed once — a sound almost, but not quite, like Albkanaleapk .
“A story,” the creature said. “Not told. Lived. You will live a life that never happened. A false life, beautiful and full. In exchange, you may pass through me once, to the place where language began. You will see the first word ever spoken. You will never be able to speak it. Do you accept?” albkanaleapk
Mira should have stopped. But she was a scientist of the impossible, and the map showed a location: the coordinates of the very church she stood in, but with a second set of numbers — a date. Tomorrow. Outside, a crow with her shadow for wings