Page 118 of Crown of Darkness
The second I step through the lintel stones onto the slate circle, my heart falls.
There’s no buzz.
No whiplash of energy.
Nothing.
It feels like the Hallow’s been sucked dry.
Curse it. Hallows need at least an hour to recharge after they’re used as a portal, but whatever I did last night seems to have drained it.
I stare at the spine of mountains in the distance, an icy wind stirring the silk of my skirt. Thiago will be frantic, but there’s no help for it.
“I guess I’m just going to have to wait,” I tell the cat.
* * *
Night falls,and with it comes shadows moving up the mountainside.
I slip through the trees, shivering despite the summer blood that warms my veins. I didn’t want to leave the Hallow, but clearly the ray of light I shot into the air last night served as some sort of beacon.
I’m being hunted.
One knife. Limited magic. No Hallow to draw upon.
And no idea of what’s out there.
I slit my skirts apart, tying the ends around my calves so they form a simile of trousers, and pin my hair into a tight knot. And then I head into the trees.
There’s a stream burbling nearby, and I’ve spent enough time in the mountains to know that if I follow it downhill, I should come uponsomesign of civilization. If there’s a Hallow here, then there are fae.
Or there were fae, says the cold, practical part of my mind I can’t deny.You saw those glyphs. Something chipped them out of the stone. A long time ago.
The cat meows plaintively at me.
It’s following me.
Curse the night, but this little bastard is going to get us both killed. Shooting it a glare, I try to silently shoo it away.
It blinks those lambent yellow eyes at me, then licks its paw, which I take to mean is its version ofeat nightshade.
There’s nothing I can do. Perhaps it will grow weary of tracking me if I continue past the boundary of its home territory.
Wishful thinking.
Meow.
The high-pitched call echoes through the woods.
Meow. Meow. Meow.
My hand clenches around the hilt of my knife.Mother of—
But no, we’re not thinking of her.
I slowly turn around.
The cat levels that unblinking stare upon me.
