Page 8 of Poison Sun

The Blood Coven. My sisters, Zara and Willow, who are so obsessed with becoming immortal that they’re losing themselves in the process.

My heart aches at the memory of leaving them and the others behind in that creepy, abandoned cathedral.

But I can’t think about them right now. I can’t let my emotions distract me from my mission.

And so, I push them from my mind and focus on the path ahead. It winds upward, leading me away from the lantern-lit streets of Zermatt to a quiet, secluded overlook.

Here, the town sprawls below me, a patchwork of lights in the shadow of the towering Matterhorn. The mountain stands as a sentinel over the town, and the waning moon hangs bright against the sky next to it, casting a mystical silver glow over everything below.

But I didn’t come here to sightsee.

It’s time to focus.

I observe the area around me, checking for anything—well, more like anyone—who could be lurking nearby.

Nothing. It’s dead silent.

Which means there’s no time like the present to do what needs to be done.

Kneeling beside a flat, gray rock, I draw the point of my dagger across my palm, letting my blood drip onto the rock’s smooth surface. It stings, but I don’t so much as grimace.

This is something I’m used to by now. I’ve been doing it my entire life.

After enough blood is spilled, I focus on my determination, and the essence of my quest. The memories of Amber drinking the potion, and the need to get it out of her before it’s too late.

How do I help her? I think to the universe.

It already led me to Zermatt. Now, I need to know where in Zermatt it needs me to go.

The blood darkens the stone, the night air thickening around me. Birds in the nearby trees chirp louder. Magic sparks inside me, tugging at my veins, flowing through me, ready to get to work.

I close my eyes, willing the visions that dance behind my lids to come into focus.

Then, I re-open them and study my blood.

Disappointment presses down on my chest at what I see. Well, more at what I don’t see. Because the images are murky. It’s like they’re hidden at the bottom of a muddy pool, and they won’t come to the surface, no matter how much I try to coax them forward.

Come on. I stare into the blood, begging it to bend to my will. Show me more.

I hold my breath, waiting.

Please work.

I can’t have come all the way out here just to get stuck before I can truly begin. The universe can be cruel sometimes, but it wouldn’t toy with me like that.

At least, I don’t think it would.

Finally, the top layer of blood lightens. Not by much, but enough for me to see a book floating beneath the dark surface.

It’s old, the cover worn, but the power radiating from it is unmistakable.

Before it can sharpen, the image fades, replaced by a pair of fiery eyes that burn with an otherworldly, captivating intensity. They take my breath away, and I reach for them, drawn to them in a way that feels both familiar and dangerous at the same time.

Those eyes, I think. Whose face belongs to those eyes?

The vision dissolves before I can find out.

I lean back and huff, pushing the rock aside and watching the slit in my palm knit itself back together.

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