I rubbed my neck, trying to get rid of the feeling of Millicent’s arm wrapped around it. “I didn’t know spirits could touch us like that. She felt so real.”
“Not all of them can, but she was a full body apparition. Some of them feel as real as you and me.”
“How can you tell the difference?”
Alara stepped behind me, helping me wring the disgusting water out of my hair. “Sometimes you can’t.”
“Damn.” Priest winced and shook his wrist in the air. “I must have cut myself.”
It was worse than that.
When he pulled up his sleeve, I saw lines carving themselves into the underside of his wrist. It looked like they were being guided by an invisible blade, leaving deep bloodless indentations behind.
I gasped. “Oh my god.”
It looked like another paranormal attack.
Jared squeezed Priest’s shoulder. “You’re getting your mark.”
What was he talking about? And why was he so calm while something sliced into Priest’s skin?
I pointed at the lines. “Does someone want to explain that?”
“When the original members of the Legion summoned Andras, they carved part of his seal into their flesh to bind him,” Lukas said. “It was supposed to help them control the demon. When a member of the Legion dies, their part of the seal transfers to the person chosen to take their place.”
“Why wasn’t it there before?”
“You have to earn it by destroying a paranormal entity.” Priest stared down at the mark in awe. There was something wrong about a kid killing a vengeance spirit before he went to a high school dance.
Alara twisted her eyebrow ring, pouting. “I still don’t have one.”
Lukas nudged her. “You will. Maybe you can take down a pink milkshake.”
“Eventually our marks will form the seal,” Priest said.
“How?”
Jared pulled up his sleeve and Lukas did the same. The skin on the insides of their wrists was smooth and unmarked. Priest held out his wrist, too. Where there were deep depressions a moment ago, the skin had completely healed.
I grabbed his wrist. “Where did the cuts go?”
“Wait.” Jared nodded at Alara.
She scooped a handful of salt out of her pocket. The guys offered her their wrists and she rubbed them with the crystals. Within seconds, the indentations appeared in their skin, the lines blackening like they were filled with ink.
How is that possible?
I examined the shapes etched into their skin. None of the designs resembled the demon’s seal until they bent their wrists, Lukas and Jared lining up theirs side by side, and Priest pressing the heel of his hand against Jared’s. It created an L shape that transformed into three-fifths of the seal. After a minute, the lines faded again.
“So you don’t have one?” I asked Alara.
She brushed the salt off her hands. “Not yet. My grandmother was overprotective. But I’m not going to be last.”
“I don’t think you have to worry about that.” I had almost gotten myself killed again today. I obviously wasn’t ready to destroy a vengeance spirit.
“You still don’t believe you’re one of us?” Priest asked, shaking the water out of his hair. He saved my life. This fifteen-year-old kid I barely knew.
I looked back at Priest and gave him the only answer I could. “I don’t know what I believe.”
CHAPTER 20
A Sliver of Light
Priest wiped off the disk, revealing the red glass in the center of the silver ring. I sat on the ground wearing Lukas’ jacket over my wet clothes. This time I was too cold to let my pride get in the way when he offered.
“We should go back to the van or you guys are going to freeze to death.” Two near-drownings had transformed Alara from hard-core to maternal, but Priest didn’t seem like he wanted to be mothered.
“No way. The clue to finding the next piece has to be out here.”
“Where? In there?” Jared stopped pacing and gestured at the well.
“You think?” Priest raised his eyebrows.
Alara shoved him affectionately. “Don’t even joke about it.”
Lukas peered over the edge of the well. “No one’s going back down.”
“Maybe it’s in the house,” I offered.
“At Lilburn, the disk and the clue about this place were together.” Priest sounded skeptical. “The house is pretty far away.” He rolled the circle of glass between his fingers, fascinated. “Whoever designed the Shift must’ve been a genius.”
As he rotated the disk, a slash of light appeared on the side of the well.
“Did you see that?” I pointed at the spot on the gray stones.
Priest looked around. “What?”
“I saw it.” Lukas gestured at the disk in Priest’s hand. “Turn it again.”
Priest rolled the glass one more time. The light caught in exactly the same spot as before, appearing almost fluorescent. He bent down and ran the disk along the stones, and letters appeared like they were written in glow-in-the-dark marker. “No way.”
DYBBUK BOX, SUNSHINE
“What’s a dybbuk box?” I asked.
Alara shook her head. “Don’t ask.”
“Wait. I know this.” Lukas paced in front of the well. “My dad told me a story about one.”