Ultima Nostra!They cry in unison before their voices continue in rapid, panicked succession:
Fury, you are in danger.
Do not linger.
Fly home. Now!
I spin back to the woman, only to find her gone.
My eyes widen at how quickly and quietly she slipped away, even though I was only distracted for a second.
I’m left staring at broken bottles and listening to the soft drip of alcohol from the toadstool’s edge.
I’m about to answer my sisters’ call, concerned enough by their fear to risk rushing into the air without checking my surroundings, but then I sense something else…
A dark force calls to me from a spot right ahead of me.
But there’s nobody else near me, only the statue.
I step a little closer to it, focusing on one side of the toadstool.
A shadow mars my vision at that spot, a dark blur, but I have no explanation for it… Except that something could be hidden within the stone.
The woman was located between me and this spot at all times during our interaction—even when she was kneeling, she was in the way—so I can only assume that her presence was somehow masking this object, whatever it is.
“There’s something dark…” I whisper, but again, my sisters’ voices sound in my mind.
Do not touch it!
That object has been hidden there for eighteen years.
It must not be disturbed.
It will only corrupt your mind.
“Do you know what it is?” I ask, trying to force my questions to occur silently within my mind, but my voice kicks in against my will.
This darkness… It’s beyond powerful…
And it’s calling to me as strongly as the White Wand did.
13. PEYTON PRICE
Sister! Stop!
The other Furies’ cries break through the trance that was taking hold of me.
I jolt back, away from the statue, as their voices continue within my mind.
Do not touch that dark object!
We do not know what it is.
We have not looked at it.
We know only that it repels us.
I narrow my eyes at the statue. Whatever dark thing is hidden here, the power radiating from it warns me that it’s as deadly as the White Wand.
