Page 70 of Last Witch Attempt
“A lot of things are impossible,” he replied. “That doesn’t mean they really are. We’re talking about Tillie. If anyone could find a way around the rules, she can.”
“Any ideas on how we get Millie back across once we find her?”
“If Tillie did it once, she can do it again.”
“Then why does she need the sword?”
“She’s probably just angry.”
Back at the clearing, we split up to look around. I kept finding myself near the central tree, the only one where the blood runewas bright enough to still see. The mark had faded on the other two trees.
“What are you thinking?” Evan asked as he joined me.
“There’s something familiar about this. Thistle has been trying to identify it.”
“Doc has been trying too,” Evan said. “I swear it seems familiar to me too and yet…” He trailed off as he shifted his head to study the image from a different angle.
“What is it?” I asked, picking up on a shifting of his mood.
“Have you reversed it?”
“What?”
“The image. Have you isolated the rune and reversed the image? Sometimes the best way to see something is to look at it from the other side.” He took out his phone and drew a copy of the rune in one of his apps. Then he flipped the image, as if looking at it in a mirror.
We both sucked in a breath.
“Wait a second.” I grabbed his phone and looked at the rune more closely. “I recognize it. I’m not sure from where, but I know I recognize it.”
“Don’t strain yourself,” Evan replied. “I can tell you exactly what that is.”
I didn’t say anything.
“It’s the mark a naiad uses when claiming a territory.”
My heart skipped, and I looked at the symbol again. “You’re right. I saw it in a book Aunt Tillie was reading. She said we couldn’t look because it would give us nightmares.”
“Naiads aren’t for the faint of heart.” Evan’s hand landed on my back. “We need to shift the research. I’m familiar with the symbol. I haven’t crossed paths with a naiad since I was in Detroit … and that one was more interested in playing games with a group of mobster-like witches than anything else. I didn’t actually communicate with her, I just heard about her.”
I was taken aback. “They have mobster witches in Detroit?”
Evan chuckled. “They call themselves the hags, and they’re ghouls to boot.”
“Sounds lovely.” I stared at the rune. “Did the naiad or the hags win?”
“The hags. The naiad did a lot of damage on its way down, though.”
“Why do you think we have one here?”
“I don’t know. We’d better figure it out, though, because the only thing I can say with any certainty is that she’s likely not done.”
17
SEVENTEEN
When Evan and I returned to town, Aunt Tillie was nowhere to be found. We went to Hypnotic after coming up empty on our loop through the Main Street area.
“It’s not possible,” Clove insisted, shaking her head. She didn’t even look at us as we entered. “There’s no way there are two Aunt Tillies. It’s just not possible.”
