The morning after John Lafferty had excreted the black egg he went into the bathroom to take his shower and in the mirror he saw that he had a massive tattoo of a black bird on his back. He went out of the bathroom to show the tattoo to Laura, who hadn't slept all night and with the added insomnia was not prepared for more bizarre news from her husband. The tattoo that had magically appeared on his back had a dark and menacing quality to it, just like the black egg that he had excreted which now sat atop the chest of drawers in their bedroom on a cushion. Everything that Laura had ever believed in had been shattered in an instant. Her faith, which had informed her decision making her entire life, had been made a mockery of, and now mysterious events were happening within her home one after another and she was without anything to help her make sense of it. She couldn't talk to anybody about what was happening, not without sounding ridiculous, and John was too excited about being proven right for her to communicate to him the concerns that she had about what had entered their home. The black egg was pure evil, she could feel it. It didn't portend anything good for them and she wanted it out of their lives entirely. At a loss for what to do, Laura did what she had always done when faced with a situation for which there were no clear answers: she prayed. She knelt down on the floor beside the bed and prayed to God for him to rid their lives of the evil that had descended upon them and for John to hurry up and see the evil in their home for what it was.

"Why are you doing that when you know that nobody is listening to you?" John emerged from the bathroom and said to her in mid-prayer.

"I'm doing it because it's all I can do, because you refuse to see the truth about that egg."

"And that truth would be?"

"That it's evil, it's demonic."

"I know it's evil."

"Then get rid of it!"

"I can't get rid of something that is so closely tied to the Goose, don't be insane."

"Listen to me, nothing good is going to come of that thing being in our home, we have to get rid of it."

"Don't worry, it's not going to be in our house any longer, I'm taking it to put it in the vault."

"No, that's not enough, it needs to be out of our lives completely, you need to take it and throw it in the ocean or something."

"It's just an egg, it can't actually do anything."

"Eggs hatch, the malevolence that I am feeling emanating from that thing is going to come out, and then what?"

"This isn't an ordinary egg, if you'd hold it you'd feel that it's not hollow, it's solid, so your fears about something hatching out of it are unfounded."

"Please, John, we have to..."

"Stop!" he said to her, so menacingly that Laura feared he would get violent with her if she didn't obey him.

John had never spoken to her that way before, and she had never seen such a dark and threatening look on his face. The egg already had him under its influence. It was too late, and from what Laura was feeling emanating from the egg its influence over her husband was only going to grow stronger.

John spent the entire morning sitting at his desk at the main chapter of The Church of the Golden Goose with the egg on a stand on his desk before him just staring at it. He was entranced by the egg. Nothing about the egg changed while he was looking at it, but Laura had been right, there was definitely a great deal more to the egg than met the eye, and John was desperate to know what it was. He wasn't thinking at all about how the egg might be connected with the Goose, the egg before him was his only focus. He was still sitting in his chair and staring at the egg in the afternoon when a Raven flew through his window and perched itself on his desk lamp. John looked up at the bird and the bird looked directly into his eyes. They held each other's stare for over a minute, and John realized that this was no ordinary bird that had flown into his office.

"Do you have something to do with this egg?" John asked the bird.

"Glad to see you're a clever one, but then the ones that I choose are always clever," the Raven responded.

"Are you involved with the Goose somehow?"

"Let's just say the Goose and I go way back."

"Why have I never come across any information about you in all the years that I've been researching the Goose?"

"Because I don't crave celebrity the way that conceited pillow stuffer does."

"You sound like you don't like the Goose."

"I wouldn't say that I don't like him, just that we have divergent opinions on almost everything."

"Such as?"

"Well most importantly, what direction the human race should go in as it moves forward."

"Are you saying that you have the power to change the whole world?"

"Yes, and if that power isn't utilized properly the consequences can be dire."

"And your opinion is that the Goose can't be trusted with this power?"

"Precisely, it's far too misguided to be allowed to continue wielding the power that it possesses."

"Misguided in what way?"

"It refuses to think for itself, all it does is follow orders, no matter how irrational those orders may be, that's what makes it so dangerous."

"Dangerous? Everything that I've seen shows the Goose to have been beloved by all, beloved to the point of worship."

"You're familiar with the expression 'history is written by victors'?"

"Of course."

"That is why your opinion of the Goose is such, he's always on the side of the victors, no matter what the cost of those victories is."

"And what is the cost?"

"The perpetuation of the same old cycle of failure and suffering over and over again until all hope is lost."

"What about you? What is it that you're after?"

"What I want is to break the cycle that he is intent on perpetuating, to give humanity the opportunity for a truly hopeful future."

"My wife believes this egg is evil, and so do I, that makes it difficult to trust you."

"All I'm asking is that you maintain an open mind, you'll come to see things my way in time."

"There are things that I want to know, questions that I'd planned on acquiring the answers to from the Goose."

"I can give you those same answers, of course in exchange you'll have to agree to provide me with assistance."

"I've devoted my whole life to the Goose; you're asking me to betray it."

"Is the Goose here offering to give you the answers you seek?"

John had deep reservations about partnering with the Raven and betraying the Goose but when so much of what he had always wanted was so close he didn't have a choice.

"Fine."

"Excellent, as soon as you have the chance get on a plane and fly to New York, go to the offices of Prism Capital and speak with the CEO, David Huntsman, he'll get you up to speed with everything, and keep that egg safe. I'm sorry I can't stay longer but I really do have much to which I must attend, but we'll speak again soon."

The Raven flew away and John was left to reflect on the ease with which he had sold out the Goose and all of the work that he had been doing for most of his life. When presented with the chance to acquire the answers he had desperately wanted for so long his mind became clouded by greed and he could do nothing but submit to the Raven, and he knew that there would be many more times when their interactions would end in exactly the same manner. The Raven was a remarkable creature, being in its presence he could feel its power' like the Raven had made his office its territory and ensnared him within it without any chance of escape. He thought about his wife's words regarding the egg and after his conversation with the Raven he was beginning to have similar thoughts. The Raven had the same deep darkness about it as the egg, and its powers of persuasion made it impossible to refuse. Increasingly troubled by what he had become a part of, John put the egg away in the drawer of his desk and got back to his work. He opened his laptop and looked at some reports that had been e-mailed to him from researchers out in the field. One of the researchers had sent him an e-mail containing photographs of what looked like stone carvings of the Goose that she'd taken at Machu Picchu. He read the e-mails distractedly and wasn't nearly as excited about the pictures of the carvings as he would have been just a day ago. The egg, sitting in his desk drawer, was calling out to him. Even with it being just an arm's length away, he was experiencing separation anxiety. His wife's words came to mind again, specifically when she'd said that nothing good would come of them keeping the egg. The Raven had lied to him during their conversation, he was sure of that. It wasn't because it wasn't an egotist like the Goose that the Raven's name or likeness didn't appear anywhere. John suspected, having met the Raven and come into contact with the black egg, that those that had been in the same position that he was in had come to the conclusion that the Raven and the black egg were so dangerous that nobody should know about them. John was facing a severe dilemma. Despite all that he had put into finding it, his chances of ever meeting the Goose were slim to none, making the opportunity that the Raven had offered him the only opportunity of its kind that he might receive. He wondered, also, why the Raven had made contact with him and not the Goose. He had given his life to the Goose, and the Goose must have been aware of his dedication (the Raven was) and yet the Goose had made no contact with him like the Raven had, had done nothing to recognize his unwavering devotion to educating the world about the unparalleled divinity of the Goose. Why had the Goose not made any effort to reach out to him? Why had the Goose chosen someone else as its pilgrim when for decades he had been a lone voice, suffering ridicule from all corners, advocating for the elevation of the Goose to its rightful place? Was it not the slightest bit grateful for all that he had done? All that he had sacrificed? John became angry. He was angry at the Goose for the way that it had ignored him, for forcing him into a position where he had no choice but to accept the Raven's dubious offer. John decided that he would respond to the Goose's indifference to him by allying himself with the Raven and wouldn't look back. He made up his mind to go to New York and meet with David Huntsman, and once he had the volume of the egg calling out to him decreased and he was no longer feeling separation anxiety. He took the egg out of his desk drawer and down to the vault, being careful to make sure that Brendan White, the church archivist, didn't see it. He stored the egg in a special safe that only he had the access code for and returned to his office to take a closer look at those pictures from Machu Picchu.

Having made a concrete decision about what his path would be going forward, John felt generally more relaxed. He went about his work for the rest of the day without any more distractions from the black egg. He went online and booked a flight to New York that was departing the next afternoon and called the leader of the New York chapter of The Church of the Golden Goose to ask him to make arrangements for accommodations for him. His plan was not to tell anybody about the Raven or the black egg as they could interpret his cooperation with the Raven as a betrayal of the Goose, which, of course, it was. John felt entirely comfortable with his duplicity. When his alliance with the Raven bore fruit and he was able to present to his followers the answers that they had been waiting to receive from the Goose then they would all understand why he had done what he had done.

John had become convinced that the Raven would ultimately prove to be a positive presence in his life, which he became further convinced of when he returned home from work and Laura gave him the most effusive welcome he'd ever received from her when he walked through the door. She ran to him, jumped off the floor and grabbed onto him and kissed him all over his face.

"You sweet, sweet man," she said to him when she was done kissing him.

"What's all this for?" He asked her, taken aback by her uncharacteristic demonstrativeness.

"Don't act like you don't know."

She took his hand and led him to the door that opened into the garage. She opened it and parked where her fifteen year old Renault was usually parked was a brand new Corvette with a big pink bow wrapped around it.

"Just when I thought I was going to have to leave you because I didn't believe you would ever do anything nice for me you go and surprise me with this."

John could think of only one explanation for the Corvette's presence in their garage: the Raven. The Raven had recognized the trouble in his marriage--something he had been oblivious to--and had very generously and thoughtfully taken action to remedy things between them. John accepted the credit for purchasing the car for her and that night they enjoyed a lovely dinner after which they made love for the first time in over two years. John got his opportunity to thank the Raven for what it had done for him later that night when he went to his study to do some work after Laura had fallen asleep and the Raven flew through his window again.

"You are most welcome, though I must confess that improving things between you and your wife wasn't the primary reason for my benevolence."

"Why did you do it then?"

"I did it because moving forward we can't afford to have any distractions and I feared that your wife's unhappiness could prove a major distraction."

"Still, you did something nice for us and for that I'm grateful."

"That's good to hear, because we're moving into a phase of our cooperation in which there can be no wavering."

"I won't be doing any wavering, that I can promise you."

John made all of his preparations for his trip to New York and, taking the Raven's advice, he told Laura to spend the time that he was away looking for a new house for them to move into. Finances, the Raven assured him, would not be an issue. With Laura walking on air, John was able to board his flight to New York with a clear mind. John had booked himself a seat in coach but was informed at his boarding gate that coach had been overbooked and that they would be bumping him up to first class. During the flight John experienced peace and comfort like he'd never experienced on a flight before, and he ate the best steak meal of his life. And it didn't end there. A car service was waiting for him at JFK when he landed which took him to the Waldorf where a room had been booked for him for a full week.

The Raven's generosity was so excessive that John started entertaining thoughts about the Raven seducing him with its wares as a way to distract him from things it didn't want him noticing. John decided to put these thoughts aside and give the Raven the benefit of the doubt until after he had met with Huntsman; after everything that the Raven had done for him in such a short space of time he owed it that much.