I shielded my eyes as it spit wood dust and leafy bits.
“Nice!” Pirate said, ducking behind me. “Here I thought those were strictly for killing bad guys.”
“So is that as good as MacGyver?” I asked, reaching to catch my weapon as it boomeranged back to me.
“Well, it’s no hang glider made of duct tape,” he said, while I sheathed my star.
At least he was honest.
I shoved at the trellis, forcing it back through the undergrowth on the other side, grunting as the aged metal creaked and protested. My hands grew sweaty and my entire body itched.
“You’re doing great, Lizzie!” Pirate said from behind me.
“I always wanted my own personal cheerleading squad,” I said, managing to shove it back a few feet.
My knees still felt a little wobbly from the wedding dress fiasco. Or maybe I was simply strung out. I gathered my strength, braced one hand on my switch stars, and ducked around the corner to see what was on the other side.
More dense garden. A couple of bees.
Frick.
“Maybe it’s buried,” Pirate said, inspecting the garden-turned jungle, kicking at the dirt.
In that case, we’d need Indiana Jones as well as MacGyver. For lack of a better idea, I kicked at the dirt with him. We found nothing.
I glanced up, hands on my hips. The sun was beginning to set. We didn’t have a ton of time left.
My dog brushed through the undergrowth. “Oooh…I definitely smell something dead over here.”
“No dead things,” I said, automatically, ignoring his overly dramatic sigh.
I didn’t get it. “Why would the ghost take us out here if there wasn’t anything to find?”
She’d shown up when I was being poisoned. She’d helped lead me to the abandoned observatory. I wouldn’t be shocked if that was her in the graveyard at the market.
“What do you want to do?” Pirate asked. “Because in a minute, I’m going to need to start rolling in the leaves over by that dead thing. I can’t help it. And you’re going to get all mad. And you’re going to give me a bath. I hate baths. But I can’t help it. Haven’t you ever heard of instinct?”
Hells bells.
“Okay, come on,” I said, heading for the path.
He popped his head up, scattering leaves. “We’re going back?”
“There’s nothing out here.” Cripes. “At least it’s nothing I can detect.” I’d never missed my demon slayer intuition more.
“Cheer up,” Pirate said, taking the lead, “at least we know nothing’s gonna eat us this time.”
Small comfort.
We wound back up the path, past all three twists. I kept an eye out, although I didn’t know what I expected to find different this time. Whatever it was, I didn’t see it.
“We missed something,” I said, once we’d reached the dry fountain.
It was the only explanation.
It killed me. We were blowing a big chance here. This could be the break we needed. If only I were in tune enough to see it.
Pirate turned in a circle and sat. “So what are you going to do if we bump into something creepy? Or find one of these markers?”
Hopefully not run for my life.
Something was here. I knew it, even if I couldn’t sense it anymore. It was evil. It had already infected at least one person I cared about, and it wanted me.
I needed to learn more about the threat before I had any hope of discovering exactly what was happening here.
He stood and shook off. “Okay. Well, let’s try another path.”
“That’s not the solution,” I said, a little harsher than I’d intended.
“You got a better plan?” My dog asked, rounding the fountain and taking off down a different trail.
“No,” I said, following. He disappeared around a corner. “Hey,” I said, picking up my pace, “Don’t get too far ahead.”
But Pirate had begun to run. Curse it. His ears flopped, his tongue lolled to the side as he took one corner, dashed hard and took another one.
“Wait!” I stopped cold.
I took off after him. If I had to guess right, we’d round a third corner—which we did. Before the dead end.
Pirate sat in front of a wall of ivy, exactly like the one we’d broken through. He was panting, happy. “Nothing to see here!” He said, a little too gleefully for my taste.
“Wrong, buddy,” I said, catching my breath, a wave of dread crashing over me.
There was a reason the air felt heavy here, why plants died and no insects screamed. I hadn’t noticed the utter, deeply disturbing silence before, probably because I’d been so consumed by the ghost. Now, it was all I could do not to escape, run and keep going.
“Pirate, we found the third marker. Remember the way it looked back at the observatory? The centerpiece, the six wavy lines coming off it. Three turns each.”
We weren’t looking for it. We were standing on it.
***
I have never gotten out of somewhere so fast in my life. I didn’t even care that a startled Dyonne saw me racing back into the house.
She almost dropped the platter she was rinsing in the sink. “You’re supposed to be in bed.”
I blew past her and barged down the hallway to the sitting room.
“Where’s Rachmort?” Groupings of Dimitri’s relatives looked up from their tea and coffee. I must have missed dinner entirely.
“I’m here,” he said, emerging from the dining room, pipe in hand. “You ran right past me.”
I really was losing my edge. “We need to talk. Somewhere private,” I added glancing at the crowded sitting room, the group playing cards over in the dining room.
He nodded, as if this were not at all unusual. It made me wonder exactly what he did in his normal job.
Meanwhile, Pirate had found Ophelia and her leftovers. I left him to it.
“This way.” Rachmort led me up to the second floor, then down the hallway to a small doorway that led to another, more stark landing.
“You know this house better than I do,” I mumbled as we began to ascend the steep, narrow servant’s stairs.
“My room is up here,” he said, with his trademark good humor.
“We can get you switched.” I was embarrassed my mom did that.
He shook his head. “I asked for it. I like my privacy,” he said, producing a small vial of liquid from his coat pocket.
The hallway was undecorated, the doors stark and old. We stopped at the third door down and Rachmort dabbed a fingertip’s worth of the liquid on the lock. It clicked open and he led us inside.
His room was Spartan, containing only a small bed and a dresser. I didn’t feel comfortable sitting on either one, so I remained standing. “I found the second marker.”
He nodded solemnly. “I thought you would.” He looked at me closely, caging his words. “Dimitri showed me the photo you took of the first marker. I’ve seen it before.”
“It’s bad, isn’t it?” I could tell by the way he was acting. “Don’t sugar-coat it. I need to know what I’m dealing with here.”
He nodded, still watching me. “The markers are very specific calling signs. They’re meant to gather power, to direct it.” He stepped closer, towering over me. “Lizzie, I’m afraid these markers are pathways, designed to enable a demon to cross over.”
Oh my God. “What if we destroy them?” I could take a hatchet to the stone one. Maybe. I didn’t know how
