Page 100 of Slayer

Stay strong. Okay. Avoid the urge to touch the magic stone.

Check.

A door stood ajar to our left, and Akari slipped inside a small room as I followed.

Oh. I stopped when I saw the setup, surprised that it resembled a tattoo parlor. There was a black leather chair next to another chair, which was in front of a little table that held a few items. Ink, a long needle-looking thing, and the mortar and pestle, which held a white powder that I knew was the crushed Veil Stone after talking to Celia.

“Not what you expected?” Akari sat in her chair and motioned that I sit in the black leather one.

I shook my head.

“I expected, like, a circle of senior hunters chanting in some foreign language or something,” I told her honestly.

She grinned, chuckling. “That’s funny.”

I sat down, eyeing the white powder in the bowl and the black ink. “So it’s just like a tattoo?”

She nodded. “Yes, but the type of rune tattoo I place on you and how much Veil Stone I use will depend on what your body can handle.”

I swallowed hard.

“I heard you ingested a Celestis Astra wafer and didn’t get sick, so I’m guessing you can handle a lot. Now this isn’t like ingesting Veil Stone. Getting it into your bloodstream is different. I’m going to push your limits here, Stella, because ultimately, it’s going to make you a better hunter.”

“Okay.” I released a shaky breath.

She held my gaze. “How this works is that I use my gifts to sense how much Veil Stone you can take into your bloodstream and what runes you can permanently handle, but you are in control, Stella.”

My heart thundered in my chest. “Okay.”

She began to mix some of the white powder in with the black ink, and it swirled pearlescent and then glowing blue. “If it becomes too much, you can say stop.”

If what became too much? The tattoo pain?

“I’m good with pain. I broke my wrist in third grade and didn’t even cry,” I told her.

She gave me a look, a look that said I wasn’t understanding something. “That’s good for the pain from the needle, but the Veil Stone… Stella, do you know what it does once it’s in your bloodstream?”

I shook my head.

“It tests your strengths, which is good and helps me know how to choose your runes. I’m very sensitive to the Veil Stone. But it also magnifies your weaknesses and insecurities, searches them out. It’s a bit of an uncomfortable experience, especially for those who have had a hard life.”

My face fell.

Oh.

Oh!

No wonder Asher told me to be strong.

I sat up a little straighter then. It was going to search out my weaknesses? What were my weaknesses? I was told I talked too much in class once, but I doubted the Veil Stone would care about that.

“Ready?” She held up a long bamboo stick with a fanned-out cluster of more than twenty needles glued to the end. It looked like a sharp paintbrush, the kind you’d never want anywhere near skin.

“No fancy tattoo gun?” I asked nervously. “No disrespect, but that thing looks like a torture device.”

She smiled, calm and unbothered. “I told my mother the same thing when she did my hunter marks. I assure you, I am well trained in this style.”

I swallowed and held out my arm, nodding, because at this point, I just wanted it done.