RISING (#2, of Crows and Thorns)

Chapter 64

After my peculiar encounter with Master Sirro, I'd lain in bed and hadn't slept. I'd kept a close eye on my aunt who spent a few hours contentedly knitting. She'd made great progress on my scarf, the clack-clack of knitting needles soothing me, the ball of pink wool bobbing on the floor as she tugged it for more length and wove the yarn around her needles, poking through a loop and stitching row after row.

While I lay in bed watching her, I swore I felt something watching me, yet it was just her gazing out behind those dark green eyes.

Had I seen what I had a few hours earlier?

Had that thing been briefly present within my aunt during daylight?

Time marched on and with every reassuring smile from my aunt, I could no longer be sure. I'd curled up beneath the blankets wondering, thinking, trying to pick through everything over the past 24 hours. I reflected on those strange moments surrounding my aunt last night. In the bathroom, I'd seen something ripple down her spine as if boned spikes were poking against the material of her dress. Later, lingering outside the Banquet Hall it had pushed itself to the forefront, its head snapping to the side with pin-prick pupils, staring down the hallway that led to the entrance and the Great Room where the Deniauds received guests. Could the timing of it all be when Master Sirro first arrived at the mansion? When he'd spent time in the Great Room greeting the Deniauds?

Later, it had been drawn to Jurgana.

And finally to Master Sirro too.

A shudder worked its way down my spine when I thought back on my aunt's knobbled fingers morphing into a curved talon. The swift movement as the talon slashed out and she swallowed a scrap of Sirro's dark power.

But there had been a moment before it stole from Master Sirro, that something keenly-edged flashed within its pin-prick eyes, stunned understanding, I was sure of it. What it meant, I had no idea.

As the sun rose higher and morning sunlight bathed our bedroom, we arose and Aunt Ellena went back to looking after the children while I assisted with the cleanup out on the back lawns. My aunt glowed with health and buzzed with renewed energy, and there was a bounce in her step. I should have been thrilled, but instead, it left me with a greasy, uneasy feeling.

Mrysst had gifted her with revitalization. But what had it stolen from Sirro? Dark magic. A sliver of Horned God power. Did it benefit my Aunt or that thing that lurked beneath the surface?

So many questions spun around in my mind, questions that I didn't have an answer to, as I led my aunt deeper and deeper through the tangled forest.

Glimmering silver eyes watched us from the undergrowth and up amongst the boughs of crooked trees. The Bloodhound was alert, its senses were spiraled out all around us keeping watch. Its snarls vibrated against my skin when it growled low to keep something with a menacing nature at bay.

My own ears were cocked, listening. A rustle. A creaking. Tiny feet scraping on fissured bark. A chitter and a broken yawning noise like rope rigging. All of it was distorted and hard to pinpoint. An abrupt distant noise had the hair on the back of my neck rising and pinched the air tight in my throat. Perhaps it was a howl, or perhaps my senses were playing tricks on me.

Silence.

I pushed onward, ducking beneath a latticework of spindly branches that draped low. Turning sideways I held the branches aloft so my aunt could easily walk through the narrow gap between trees, then took her hand in my own and gave her a confident squeeze.

It was strange the way Master Sirro had stared at me this morning when he'd first spied me trying to retreat and hide amongst the flaxes in the garden. The swift emotion of shock and astonishment had chased one another across his features. The way his complexion had lost its lustrous sheen.