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The braid rises above me. Up, up, up.
Split apart, flying. Blue jay and cardinal soar together. Honeyed song. No words, but I understand. Laughter.
They sing upon the branch. My song. The song of my sister. Movement, morphing. Serpent appears, slithering toward the pair. Must warn them. Move. Fly! The snake opens its maw and waits. Blue and red fly into the dark cave.
Ruby eyes sparkle against black scales. Frozen. Mouth opens. A flash of bloody iron fangs. The skeleton clock is ticking. Ticking. Ticking.
Wind whips up like the serpent’s tail. Scales scald my skin. Forked tongue licks away tears. No. NO. NO!
Iron fangs flashing, piercing, sucking. Blood first, then body. Sliding down forever.
Solid gives way to void. Water dripping. Cold, clammy fear. Black everywhere. Shadow upon shadow. Souls whisper from beyond, “We will obey.”
The midnight dogs emerge from the gloomy crossroads. Eyes of fire beckon, command me to follow.
Into the cavern. Deeper. Blood drips from stalactites into the pool. Dark whispers. Darker laughter. A black swan glides across the mirrored surface. Faces reflected. Ones I knew. Ones I loved. Ones I killed.
She rises from the water. Dry white robes flutter in an unfelt breeze. She is lit from the inside. Untouchable. Ethereal.
Fall to my knees. Forgive me.
Sobbing now. So sorry. Kissing her hem.
Butterfly lips on my skin. Gone, she’s gone. Again.
The skeleton clock is ticking, ticking, ticking. Time to go.
A male appears. His face is hidden in shadows. Unknown yet known. Dead yet alive. He takes my hand. Together, we fly.
I am the breeze on my face. I am the serpent’s tail. I am the end and the beginning.
I am the night.
I am the night.
I am the night.
9
The room was silent when I finished talking. I was relieved Damara had taken Giguhl for a tour of the grounds to give us some privacy. It was bad enough telling Maisie and Rhea about my freaky visions. What was worse, the stoic expressions on their faces when I finished told me I wouldn’t like their interpretation.
Maisie cleared her throat. “You’re certain that’s everything?”
I nodded. “I think so. Why?”
Maisie and Rhea shared a look. “The symbols you recounted confirm a vision Maisie had several months ago.”
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” I was leaning toward bad, since the darkness of the vision still clung to me like a shadow. The females were silent, as if weighing how much to tell me. “Will someone please just tell me what they mean?”
Rhea smiled serenely. “Sabina, what do you know about the Praescarium Lilitu?”
“The book of prophecies?” I crossed my arms. “Adam told me in California you guys believe some of the prophecies Lilith outlined in the book are coming true, whatever that means.”
“He’s right, they are coming true,” Maisie said. “And your vision quest confirms it.”
“Wait.” I waved an arm. “How do you know? Adam told me the Caste of Nod is rumored to have the only copy of the Praescarium Lilitu.”
The Caste of Nod was supposedly a mysterious cabal of dark races. From what I could tell, no one really knew what exactly they did besides protect the book. However, their name had been invoked for centuries to scare kids—the dark-race version of the Boogey Man.
“It’s true we don’t have access to the sacred text, but over the centuries, parts of the prophecies have been leaked. Maisie’s visions over the last several months corroborate what we’ve been told about them.”
“So what does all this have to do with me?” All this talk of secret sects and prophecies made my skin feel too tight.
“The images you shared just now confirm you’re a Chthonic mage.”
Rhea looked at me like she’d just made some huge revelation, but I had no freakin’ clue what a Chthonic mage was. “And?”
“A Chthonic is a type of mage who manipulates dark energy to manifest magic,” Maisie whispered helpfully.
“Dark energy? You mean like black magic?”
“The concepts of white and black magic are constructs of superstitious mortals,” Rhea said. “In truth, there is no absolute good or absolute evil. Chthonics tap into ancient, primordial energy of the earth. We’re talking the heavy stuff here: death, fertility, the underworld, the dark feminine.”
“Chthonic powers are very rare,” Maisie added, “and the fact you have them is a big deal. Lilith and Hekate are both Chthonic goddesses, and your powers are heavily connected to their energy.”
The two females looked at me expectantly, their eyes glowing with excitement I didn’t feel. “That’s funny. I don’t feel Chthonic.”
Maisie frowned, clearly not amused. “That’s where Rhea comes in. She’s going to train you to harness all that energy. And once you do, you’ll be a formidable mage.”
I sighed. “Look, I get that you guys think this is a big deal, but I have trouble buying it. If I’m so powerful, why haven’t I ever been able to do magic?”
Maisie blinked. “We’ve discussed this. You have done magic. The mere fact you can not only summon a demon, but keep one as your minion, is proof.”
I rubbed my chest absently. “Okay I’ll give you that, but how does all this tie in to the Lilith prophecy?”
Maisie held a hand toward the door. “I need to show you something.”
Smudges of dread appeared in my stomach. Some part of me understood the import of all this, but my mind had switched into skeptic mode out of self-defense.
She led me through the house and upstairs to a round room set in a tower. Rhea followed silently and stopped just inside the doorway. The indigo ceiling had been painted with stars to look like the night sky. On the floor, a circle of blood marked this room as a place of magic. And in the center, a large table sat like an altar. Except instead of being an actual altar, the surface was covered in tubes of oil paint, rags, and canvases. The scent of turpentine hung heavily, but I found it a nice reprieve from the constant onslaught of sandalwood I’d been exposed to since I’d arrived in New York.
“What is this room?”
“I call it the Star Chamber. I use it as my studio when I’m here. Being so close to the ley line tends to make my visions come more often than when I’m in the city.”
She walked across the room, to where a sheet covered an easel. “This painting is the one I did after I had the vision of you a few months ago.” She lifted the sheet slowly, revealing swirls of color inch by inch. Finally, the entire painting was revealed and I caught my breath.
