Part 53 (1/2)

”Rayven said that I was different, Asher, the last of ori, could he? I ic, do they? And this Grigori did, soori Slon, tell rey wolf; for I do not know of it” said Asher

”It felt fah I had seen it before, but couldn't reht be one of theRayven It's like he's a shape shi+fter, but a wizard as welland I ht be too potentially”

”Have you ever experienced 'the Calling'?” said Asher ”It's what happens to a young shape shi+fter, before they turn At birth a tutelary spirit watches over therey ers, in your case: Don't discount the possibilities Everything ht under the trees ht I still had Ballard's blood on me I didn't think it would ever wash out In the back ofBallard fighting the Grigori, dueling Rayven Now I got a sense of hi the Dark Side We all were Rayven must be one of them A member of the Dark Order, an ene, Risky, what have I done to your nephew?

I was filthy, starved; I needed a change of clothing Compared to Ballard, however

I noticedA bowl full of soht spread before me It was a moment before I realized it was midday, time ceased to matter in Stromovka I felt my Wiccanness awaken under the canopy of trees No earthly place I had been to was like this Hollow A tributary of the Vltava trickled through it, the s, silver fish, before it reached the river that ran through the heart of old Prague, plunging through the Districts of Magic, the places I needed to go

As I passed through the Stroles of Moonfire, concealed in the elder trees It was Golden Hourthe time of day when the mysteries of the world seemed at their ripest, proof time moved differently here

Could it be? Had the Dioscuri meant for me to find Stromovka? They were Seers, after all The oldest kind Perhaps they sawfor Theh my head I willotherwise I putyou What is it?” said Asher

”Magic, ave it toAdept really But now this thing's out there, what s And then there's Fledged and who knohat that'll be Nothing's easy anyic, shouldn't I be able to manifest, to invoke? To banish, transmute, do aith, alter levitate, entrap part? To is, project, shi+eld, ward, des you would expect froifts My curse, therefore, is to knohat I don't know; or, rather, to knohat I a what I am capable of; to knohat has escaped me and will not come back ”My parents, and Risky” I said

”And I know And I hate it I hatethis to happen to uided In short, I a to think, I may never be found What do you think about all of this?”

”That you shall You shall be found, Miss Rookmaaker I do promise you that,” he said

I looked at him, skeptically

”No,” said Asher ”Don't be like that Don't be sullen Very few people, ical or otherwise, have the ithal to find the answers that they seek; you should be glad that you do I have seen it in your face In the way you've lost yourself here in the Stros out”

I could not honestly say that I had been doing any of that More, just randohed It reminded me of the old ti upon me

”I wouldn't be surprised,” he said, ”if you should solve this mystery Which is theat all Don't discount the possibilities”

”You know, sometimes you are spectacularly awesoe Just bang

”That is what happens when you unburden youran to hear the murmur of voices; until now, they had been concealed behind shadows and the figures of trees Looking up frohttih The ss were not as they appeared outside or within the Prague forest

In a sense, the Stro place, a respite, of sorts, froure out hts twinkled in the trees Rose frorowth There were vines and creepers, a whole alien world It sed me whole

”Welcome!” said Asher ”To the home of the Benandanti!”

Dark eyes peered at Asher and I as we passed They looked scared Like soet Ballard back I didn't ithout hiister Equitum At which point, the burden of what to do next will be decided A lot has happened, since last we irl ran up to reen and gold, in her skin, and other exotic colorations ”Is she?”

”An eclectic,” said Asher, atched her run away ”Her naain, she was gone But then her eyes poked out and I saw Sienna peeping at me Just extraordinary It was like she was a chameleon

I was suddenly nervous Ballard should be here, I thought I was runner-up I couldn't parlay with the Magister Equitu alow in the trees It had a roundand sparkle lights But also a bed, wardrobe, and writing desk I could peek through theas I wrote in my diary The doh up

Asher was anxious towith the Benandanti for a long tiister Equituht be, Asher replied, ”Who can say? We haven't caught hihts I had seen in the trees The effect was like e drawback

Selwyn

Even now, he ue The ME said ere very near to it

There wasn't a thing about it I could do My orders were to stay put Rayven see about the spell he had done If I should wander, and be caught If Rayven should catch e I was looking for A part of me realized how backwards this was Trial and error wasn't exactly the best protocol for learning how to duel Was it going to take ure out which spells could kill you? I was suddenly thrust into the real world and I was unprepared for it

That was the entry I had o We were now into March I bit r noctum, I wrote; that was the spell Rayven had used to almost kill Ballardbut he had pointed it at r noctum meant, but Ballard was in deep trouble

I put a question mark beside it, and then I wrote re

Rayven had shown me a mereat rounds filledtrees It ampy underfoot Filth and decay were everywhere It looked Dead

Rayven stooped and I got a close-up of his clawed hand In it was a sign, covered in o this had been? Why was he showing it to n, but clearly delineated were tords He howled and the h thetrees

The sign said HOUSE ROOKMAAKER

Why had Rayven wanted me to see this, and when had he ever been tome to find House Rookmaaker The et the rounds, anytime soon

It was real and it was in ruins

So else, and it made me nervous