Page 232 of Sigils & Spells

She took to the sky in the direction she had come from, hoping, somehow, she’d make her way home. Yet a tingling sensation overcame her, and she had no choice but to descend to the woods below. No galloping headless riders in sight, but she still had trepidation over being lost in there. Naked. In the cold autumn night.

Her skin felt tight, and she fluffed her feathers. She was changing back. Why couldn’t she control it long enough to go back to campus? Something told her a rideshare back wasn’t going to be likely.

So very much to learn. Ravyn had ran, not walked, to escape the very people who had the answers she now needed. Perhaps she’d been too hasty in her decisions.

Rustling behind her froze her in place, and she turned her head to look. The threat of predators, whether she was in human or bird form, loomed heavy. She didn’t like being vulnerable, yet there was no escaping it. A figure moved among the trees, darker than shadow, as dark as the night itself. A faint outline of a man-shaped figure and wings so large she doubted she really saw them made her tremble in fear. A pair of red eyes, glowing like embers, the only color the figure seemed to possess.

Moths circled her, almost aggressively, except…no, that wasn’t right at all. Protectively. The moths formed a ring around her, growing denser in population until she could see nothing but wings on all sides.

Her body started changing, no matter how much she willed it not to. Footsteps thundered close by, but she couldn’t see the being. Was it the same figure Daniel had seen back on Kasper Island? States stood between that location and this one. Was it…following her?

“Who—who are you?” she asked once she was back in her human body. She sat on the ground, knees drawn up in front of her for modesty. Shivers racked her without wings to keep her warm.What are you?

“I am a watcher.”

Eww.“So you’re a pervert?” She hugged her knees tighter against her, thankful for the moths still swarming around her.

The creature, whatever it was, sighed long and exasperated. “Young one, I have no interest in carnal delights. A great evil rises, and you are the key to preventing it.”

The moths broke their ranks and fluttered in every direction, most in the direction of the figure, now standing over her, yet still indistinguishable in the dark. His eyes, as his voice was masculine and deep-timbred, held her captive. Dread did not fill her, but curiosity. What was he?

“Are you…the Mothman?” He fit the description well enough.

“I’ve heard the name murmured to describe me, yes.”

“Do you control moths?”

The eyes narrowed into red slits. “You’re preoccupied with the wrong questions, young one.”

“Areyoua moth?”

A rumbling growl came from the figure. “I choose this figure because most cannot look upon my true one. Moths are drawn to me, and it seemed like a good enough form when I had to take it. But that isnotimportant.” He knelt in front of her, brushed a lock of hair from her eyes with a hand as colorless as shadow. “Coronis, an old soul trapped in the youth of this era. An old evil returns. A goddess incites war to stop him. You need to wake up. You are the key.”

He pressed his palm against her forehead, and a jolt of power shot her backward.

CHAPTER13

“Ravyn!”Daniel shook her by the shoulders. God damn it, why wouldn’t she wake up? After she’d ditched him at the cafeteria last night, he’d gone back to his dorm, confused about what had gone wrong. If she had gotten sick, why not call him and tell him? And did it have something to do with the woman screaming like a banshee?

He’d gone to sleep, somehow, but the last thing he expected was to wake up with Ravyn in his bed. Naked.

She had not returned with him. He’d have noticed a naked woman climbing into bed.

Wouldn’t he?

“Ravyn!”

Her eyes shot open and she screamed, bolting upright. Wild-eyed, she stared around the room. “M-Mothman. Where’d he go?” She lifted her hand to her forehead and she frowned while feeling around the front of her scalp. “The hell did he do to me?”

Uh…what?

“Mothman?” Was she picking up their conversation from dinner the night before? “What is going on, Ravyn? What happened after you went to the bathroom? Where are your clothes?”

She had gone in. Dean Caelen had come out, fumbling around a leather tote bag and shooting him a strange look. Ravyn had never come out. He would never admit how long he waited for her to. Even to himself.

“I saw him, I—” She blinked at him, color draining from her face. “Call your brother.”

He recoiled, more surprised than anything. “Why?”

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