Page 8 of Kat Bethel

I cleared my throat when I could swear a noose was tightening around my neck. My fingers ran along my skin, looking for a rope, only to come up empty. It was just the energy in the air.

Suffocating.

Other than that monstrosity, I found crumbling foundations, piles of rubble, and a sagging wall here and there. I stayed on the clear path that the kids took, until it led to the biggest foundation in the place. It was significantly larger than any other one.

Big enough to assume it belonged to nobility.

Where there was noble blood, there were usually skeletons in the closet.

I walked around the foundation and found evidence of the kids that stayed here. Trash littered the place. Abandoned equipment and bags were haphazardly placed around, like they’d been in a rush to leave.

Great. Not only did they break the rules, they were disrespectful when they did it.

Cracking popped behind me, and I aimed my light at the ground. Cracks splintered through the foundation, moving like a snake, and stopped half an inch in front of me.

I pressed my lips together. Another breath went across my cheek from where the last crack was.

Fuck. I was off my game today.

I twisted forward again, even though it was too late to pretend I didn’t notice.

One wall still stood on the east side of the slab. I eyed the thing for any signs it would give up and fall over, but it was in surprisingly decent condition. I frowned, walking over to it.

Why would one wall fare so much better than everything else?

Once I was up close, I saw why. It was wood, not stone. Not just any kind either, witch’s tree. “Hello. What are you doing here?”

It wasn’t common to use elderwood in house building, unless a witch had a say in it. A breath of cold air went over the back of my neck again, even closer than before.

On the wall, above my head, plants withered from a vibrant deep-green, to brown, to black right before my eyes. I paused as a clear shape came into view. A huge handprint.

As if they were leaning over my shoulder, onto the wall. The height was a solid six-foot-high or taller.

Considering I was five-foot-two on a good day, that meant this entity towered over me.

I forced myself to continue looking forward, even though I wanted to get a gist of what it was. I brushed away the overgrowth on the wall and found carved symbols in the wood.

That’s what I’m talking about.

I held the vines back to get a better look.

My sister, turn back. Death awaits you here.

Vera Rinah

My stomach sank.Rinah.

The first name was familiar, and I mentally chugged through the family tree to figure out where I knew Vera from. It took five seconds too long to figure out the answer. A second cousin I only saw at a distance at family reunions.

She took a blade to her wrists ten years ago.

I went to her funeral. She’d been a hunter like me.

Did she escape here just to lose the fight at home?