The Mark Beneath

ngering coil of breathless anticipation he couldn't shake no matter how tightly he

tself into the crevices of stone corridors and beneath the roots of gnarled tree

said more than words ever could-and Caelan found himself caught in the tide, pushed toward

bol drawn on the board stirred something in him-a flicker in his blood, a tightening i

else fl

the walls, as if the building itself had veins, and the students flowe

ors that didn'

owed skies too

d to breathe when

beside him without a word, and handed him a folded note s

t wait fo

arts tonight," and va

ed the no

. Midnight. Come alone. Do

he paper to the flame of a nearby candle and watched

s that rearranged their words when he blinked, hallways that doubled back on themselves, leav

go back to

to the

groaned li

nder and lightning and the

k fou

other wa

anded at his feet, its cover marked by the same crescent

t and o

s weren'

ink like veins waking beneath skin, and th

dow cast long before the first breath, of a mark placed by

there wa

gen as well as attention, and when he finally looked up, the lamps had dim

like sap, and even when he placed it back on the shelf, the weight of i

like a whisper

t check

mply

the corridors, down staircases that shouldn't exist, until he

d the cold beyond it greet

pel wasn't mar

ike a heart beneath ribs, s

isle, though none h

ared to life, flames that bent

ready ther

ken, no gre

sil

and and motioned

d

a blade i

to w

awa

kened, becam

red faintly, ancient runes pul

ut into his mind, voice thre

the thr

he storm's

the mark

ines across the stone floor, and the moment she touched his forehead with her thumb, the blade still p

itself, and in their place rose a low vibration that didn't come from sound, but from

from awakening-as though a part of him long dormant had stirre

expectation, as if this moment was always meant to happen,

to, and when she did, the candles went out all at once, plu

t, Caelan w

flo

wal

s

e echoing thr

n-l

re weaving through the chapel, etching new runes in its p

and with it came memory that wasn't his-lives lived in bone and shadow

, the fire ent

dn't

bou

lowing with the same blue fire, and plunged it into the altar ston

had opened, and from that wind rose a chorus of voices, each layered

n q

e

olu

n col

from

m t

d his eyes, h

apel w

d

h

t, still a

and red, and in the air was the s

n his chest now settled, like

e, but unmistakably the same crescent-serpent s

it with

lsed

pulse, he

he

i

not

de

ld

n flame a

ion away, but it

adn't been called to

t been s

d awa

ut wind, and as he stepped on

abse

cipa

e, until he emerged at the edge of the eastern grounds and

stood w

ew he was

the fire c

in the school's hea

t for w

or ch

nce more, but this time he

t like

i

it

ahead, it had already b