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The sigil hadn't appeared out of nowhere. I knew that much. My Magic had caught hold of something hidden in the Ether and dragged the ugly bastard into the light. Whatever it was, somebody had gone to a hell of a lot of trouble to conceal it. It hissed and spat, recoiling from my Light like a living, sentient creature being burned by acid.

I stumbled. My eyes were wide with horror as I stared at him. "Oh, my Great Goddess, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to…"

But Knox wasn't angry. Actually, he was completely paralyzed, staring down at his arm. Then he started murmuring, “Has this shit been there for a hundred years? Did that motherfucker, Mammon, brand me like a cow?”

He stared at the lingering, shimmering pastel bits of Alicorn Magic still floating lazily around my hand. I looked down, too, my defensive walls instantly slamming right back up as I noticed the unmistakable shimmer.

"That's not sparkly," I snapped immediately, my cheeks getting hot from embarrassment.

Knox looked at the glowing air, then met my eyes, his voice deadpan. "It is literally sparkling."

Not to be deterred, I lifted my chin aggressively, refusing to back down. "It's tactical sparkle."

Knox looked back down at his arm. “Sully can feel it now.”

“Feel what?” I was lost and needed clarification sooner rather than later.

He just stared at me for a second. His expression said that the entire paradigm of our ‘meet-cute’ shifted in a heartbeat. Then he grumbled, “Whatever the hell this is,” and shook his arm in my direction.

In the next breath, Neysa went completely quiet inside my mind, her voice dropping to a trembling, ominous whisper. “Maisie…”

“What?” I asked, my internal defense mechanisms wavering at the tone.

“This isn’t corruption.”

“Then what is it?”

Neysa went terrifyingly still. “A tether.”

“A what?”

“No,” Neysa snarled. “It’s worse.”

“What the hell is worse than a tether?” I was quickly losing my patience.

“A beacon,” she breathed.

Frowning, I focused my own supernatural senses, letting my Magic and NeyNey’s stretch out to read Knox's energy now that my Alicorn Sight had exposed the hidden Sorcery. When I looked at him this time, the veil dropped.

At the outer edge of Knox's aura, the Hellmark blazed. A single jet-black thread of Hell Magic streamed from the sigil on his forearm… away from him… into the Ether… toward something I couldn't see.

“NeyNey, are you seeing this? The nasty little bastard is sticking out its tongue and chanting, Nanny, nanny, boo, boo.”

“I see it. What an asshole.”

Turning my head to the left, I was just in time to see the purple geometry floating all around us flash to about a thousand watts.

Then the Hellmark on Knox’s arm pulsed, and I thought he might have a stroke…

But before I could ask if he was okay, the Wards answered by shimmering and shaking, then contracting and expanding as if they were breathing.

My stomach dropped to the soles of my scuffed Doc Martens. Something on the other end of that mark knew where Knox was, and it may have just discovered where we were.

“The Dead Dragon didn't bring Hell home inside him,” Neysa cautioned.

“Okay.” I drew the word out to let my alter ego know I wasn't enjoying her need to make the situation more dramatic. “Go ahead. Drop that other shoe. Rip off the Band-Aid quickly.”

“Hell has that Dragon on a leash,” she carefully explained. “And judging by the ugly pulse of black and red Magic racing through the mark on his arm…”