Blood Witch_ Book Three - Cate Tiernan [54]
I pulled on my coat, then stepped outside into the frigid dusk and closed the front door behind me. A quick glance up and down the street assured me that no one was watching. Holding the athame in front of me like a metal detector, I began to walk around my house. I swept the ancient blade over windowsills, doors, the clapboard siding, whatever I could reach.
I found the first sigil on the porch railing, around to the side. To the naked eye there was nothing there, but when the athame swept over it, the rune glowed very faintly, with an ethereal bluish witch light. My throat tightened. So—there it was. Proof that Sky and Hunter had worked magick here last night. I traced its lines and curves with my finger. Peorth. It stood for hidden things revealed.
I breathed deeply, trying to stay calm and rational. Peorth. Well, that didn’t tell me much about their plans, one way or the other. I’d have to keep looking.
As I circled the house, more and more sigils glowed under the athame’s blade. Daeg, for awakening and clarity. Eoh, the horse, which means change of some kind. Othel, for birthright, inheritance. And then, on the clapboards directly below my bedroom window, I found the one I’d been dreading to see: the double fishhook of Yr.
I stared at it and felt like a fist was squeezing my lungs. Yr. The death rune. Cal had told me that it didn’t always have to mean death—that it could mean some other kind of important ending. I tried to take comfort in that possibility. But I was having a hard time convincing myself.
Then I felt a tingle at the edge of my senses. Someone was nearby. Watching me.
I spun around, peering into the dim winter twilight. A lone streetlamp cast a cone of yellow light outside our yard. But I could see no shadowed form, no flicker of movement anywhere, not even when I used my magesight. Nor could I feel the presence any longer. Was I imagining it? Sensing things that weren’t really there?
I didn’t know. All I knew was that suddenly I couldn’t bear to be outside, alone, for one second longer. Turning, I bolted into the house and locked the door behind me.
By the time Cal came to pick me up, I had calmed down enough that I was feeling excited about my special birthday celebration.
“What’s changed about you?” Cal asked as I pulled the front door closed. He smiled at me, puzzled. “You look different. Your eyes are different.”
I batted my lashes at him. “I’m wearing makeup,” I said. “Mary K. finally got her mitts on me. I figured, why not? It’s a special occasion.”
He laughed and took my arm, and together we walked to his car. “Well, you look incredible, but don’t think you have to wear it on my account.” He opened my door and then went around to the driver’s side.
“Did you get my messages?” I asked as he started the engine.
He nodded. “Mom said you called.” He didn’t mention the witch message. “Sorry I missed you. I had some errands to do.” He wiggled his eyebrows at me. “Mysterious errands, if you know what I mean, Birthday Girl.”
I smiled briefly, but I was impatient to tell him about the events of the last twenty-four hours. “I had a pretty eventful day without you. In fact, I’ve had two pretty eventful days.” I hunkered lower in my coat.
“What happened?” he asked.
I opened my mouth, and before I knew it, everything was tumbling out of me like an avalanche: the headlights behind me that had made me wreck, scrying into the fire, seeing Sky and Hunter outside my house the night before. Cal kept shooting glances at me, some baffled, some shocked, some worried. Then I offered up my pièce de résistance, finding Maeve’s tools.
“You found your mother’s tools?” he cried. The car swerved. I wondered for a second if it was going to end up like Das Boot. Luckily, though, we were turning into his driveway.
I threw up my hands and grinned. “I can’t believe it myself,” I said.
He cut the engine and sat there, staring at me in amazement. “Did you bring them?” he asked