Page 10 of Brambles and Bellflowers
The face was difficult to make out, but I saw a faint floral pattern etched upon the cover. How intriguing.
Still, I was no fool.
“Stop it!” I dropped the blanket from my face and covered my eyes. “Don’t hypnotize me! Julian will avenge me if you do anything weird.”
“I’m not trying to hypnotize you,” he drawled, exasperated. “I’mgivingthis to you.”
“I don’t need it,” I responded, pointing my elbow to my bedside table. “I still have Julian’s watch!” Miles had snuck it back into my room after we defeated James Cole.
“It’s not a watch. Can you just look at it?”
I squinted my left eye open and peeked through my fingers. Finn’s expectant gaze captured mine before my attention returned to the item.
It looked like a watch, but how he held it was unnatural. I’d seen something similar on my second favorite paranormal program:Passionate Paranormal: Love’s Unsolved Mysteries. It was a most exciting program because of the fortune-telling, tarot readings, and other such mysterious matters.
Finn resembled the host who interviewed the suspects. His sudden air of confidence, his arm outstretched, and his regard for the heavy object on a chain as it swung through the air suggested that it could only be one other thing…
“Is it a pendulum?”
This time, there was no sarcasm in his expression or voice. Only a short, quick twitch of his lips that I might have missed if I hadn’t been searching for it.
My heart echoed in my ears.
“No,” he answered, and the humor masked over once more. “But itcouldbe used that way.”
I could hardly breathe. He was doing that weird thing where he was being honest about his abilities.
It was the strangest thing ever.
“Do you use pendulums?”
I wasn’t entirely sure what onmyoji did. I’d asked Damen once, but he kept talking for what felt like forever, and I didn’t understand any of it. The only thing I’d gotten out ofthat conversation was his distaste for DJs and celebrity fortune tellers.
Finn tilted his head, his mouth twitching. “Yes, I do. But, once again, this is not about me. Just stop making everything awkward and take it.”
“What—” The question died on my lips as he gently tossed the item in my direction. I had no choice but to catch it before it slammed into my chest.
“Don’t throw things,” I admonished.
“Just open it.”
I pursed my lips but obeyed, turning my attention to the small latch and popping the cover open.
Distrust turned to bewilderment as, instead of a watch face, there was the smooth surface of midnight glass.
I touched the top, and it felt cool as the surface seemed to hum under my fingertips. “What’s this?”
“Obsidian,” Finn explained. He shoved his hands back into his pockets and cracked his neck. “It’s been blessed by Jin—the witch in my quintet. He’s a crystal witch. They collect gemstones, which play a central part in their practice.”
I bit my lip, remembering some of the swag hidden in Miles’s chest. “Does that mean Miles also collects rocks?”
Spectral Secretshadn’t covered this. It primarily focused on hauntings.
“First of all,” Finn frowned, lowering his voice conspiringly, “don’t tell a witch their crystals are rocks. They take personal offense.”
But theywererocks…
“Secondly…” Finn’s posture straightened. “Yes, Miles is the Xing. That means that he, like you, possesses the abilities ofallpractices under his tutelage. Although,” he muttered, stroking his chin, “you seem to have more than you should. Which iswhywe’ve been having these discussions.”
