His eyes darkened. “Yes. If I’d known they would pull that stunt, I never would’ve—”
“It’s fine,” Trey said quickly. His hand cupped his wrist, where his tattoo had been burned off. “It would’ve happened even with you there.”
Another meaningful glance between them. I wished I could be inside their heads. I bet it was a real circus in there. Ayaz met my eyes, the intensity of his stare starting a fire blazing across my chest. “Hazel, I couldn’t find any trace of that sigil you saw.”
“It was there, I swear it. And it lit up when the fire started.”
“I believe you, but I didn’t see it. And that made me wonder why.” Ayaz turned the book toward me and pointed to a symbol on the page. “Is what you saw something like this?”
I squinted at the circular sigil. It did look familiar – seeing it in the book made me realize that it had been different to the others I’d seen around the school. The shapes and lines inside it were a unique style. “I think so? Honestly, I might not remember all the details perfectly, considering that at the time I was a little bit busyrunning for my life.”
But Ayaz wasn’t listening. “It wouldn’t be exactly like this one, because it’s unlikely what you saw was ever written down. We never found a sigil like this in Parris’ book because it’s not one of his sigils. It’s the sigil of another magician. Rebecca Nurse. She used to be part of Parris’ inner circle, but she later became one of his biggest detractors. She went on to study medicine, even though she was forbidden to practice as a woman, and she became an early agitator for abolishing slavery.”
“What does it mean that her symbol is drawn in a cave on Parris’ land?”
Ayaz threw up his hands. “I don’t know. I have a theory, but you’re not going to like it.”
“It’s got to be better than long division,” I slammed my textbook shut and leaned across the table, running my hands along the edge of the image. “Hit me.”
“Parris doesn’t detail what caused his falling out with Rebecca, but I’m willing to bet they argued over the Great Old God. We know Parris wanted its power, but maybe Rebecca wanted to send it back where it came from? Anyway, I think that maybe Rebecca was using her sigils to plant some kind of weapon – something that could destroy the god or bind it so Parris couldn’t use its power. If she did, then she might have placed some spell on the sigils so that no one in Parris’ inner circle could see them.”
“Sigils? You think there’s more than one.”
“From what I can make of this, there has to be.” Ayaz ran his hand over the book. His fingers brushed mine, and a surge of heat ran up my arm. “My guess is she didn’t finish whatever spell she was trying to work, because otherwise, the god wouldn’t still be here. But maybe that sigil you saw is all that’s holding the creature in its prison.”
“That’s a whole lot of maybes. Get to the part I won’t like.”
Ayaz cleared his throat. “One of two things happened – either someone destroyed the sigil, or there’s a reason you can see it and I can’t. It might be because you weren’t yet a full member of the Eldritch Club, because you hadn’t completed the initiation, and neither was Zehra. But there’s only one way to find out.”
“Oh no, no way.” I jerked my hand back. “I escaped that once. I’m not going back.”
“It’s our only choice.”
“Take someone else. Take one of your grotto girls. You could have a little party on the way.”
He shook his head sadly. “You know that I can’t. It has to be you. For all we know it has something to do with your power.”
“Power?” I feigned innocence. “What power?”
“Come on, Hazel.” An edge cut through Ayaz’s voice. “I read your file. I know you’re lying about the fire.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I folded my arms across my chest. My thumb found the scar on my wrist, pressing into it so hard it hurt. I faced off against Ayaz and Trey, who both tried to stare me down – one with eyes of ice, the other with a fire blazing inside him.
“Really?” Trey smirked. “Because you told the police that your friend went to find your mother to tell her you were being hurt by a gang, but the gang followed him and threw a molotov cocktail through a window in the apartment complex. And yet, the police found accelerant on your hands.”
No.
That’s my secret. And I’m not giving it to either of you. I’m not trusting anyone, ever again.
“I don’t have to listen to this.” I stood up and slammed the chair back into the table. “I have to go.”
* * *
For the rest of the day, I fumed in silence. My final class was English Lit. I sat with Andre but he ignored all my notes asking him about where he’d been disappearing to. That was one of the advantages of being mute – you got to keep your secrets.
The bell rang. I gathered up my things and walked toward the door. Tillie stuck out her foot and tripped me up. I went down hard, books flying everywhere. My knee cracked against the marble floor. Tillie’s friends tittered. Well, all except for Loretta, who packed up her books without a word.
“Look at her, down on her knees,” Courtney smirked. “Where she’s most at home.”
