Page 118 of Silver in the Bone

That very same blood had most likely been used to daub the symbols on the ground near Neve’s feet. There was something desperate, or frenzied, about the way they’d been painted.

Cabell noticed the markings too, and gently pulled Neve away from them. His nostrils flared as he took in the scene.

“So,” Emrys said, leaning against one of the cages. “Anyone want to venture a theory?”

“Maybe they kept a few of the Children down here when they first started turning, to see if the dark magic was reversible?” Cabell suggested.

“I thought that too, but look,” Emrys said, moving into the cell with the bones. With a grimace, he picked one up—a very human femur, not coated entirely in silver, but mottled with specks of it, as if the transformation had somehow been interrupted. “Is it possible someone was experimenting on turning people into Children—that it took time to perfect whatever curse they used?”

“No,” Neve said sharply. Something about the way she refused to look at us tugged at me. “There’s no one here capable of that kind of spellwork—to will those creatures into being would require a truly dark soul.”

There were few areas of magic the Council of Sistren restricted, resurrection and other death magic among them. The threat of accidentally—or intentionally—creating violent ghosts was all too real.

“That’s true for the magic you use,” I said. “But what about Lord Death’s magic?”

Neve said nothing, and suddenly, a new suspicion bloomed in me.

“You recognize those sigils on the ground, don’t you?” I asked.

“Neve, if you know something ... ,” Cabell began.

Finally, Neve turned back toward us. “I saw it in a book I wasn’t supposed to be looking at in Olwen’s infirmary—it didn’t have any sort of title on it, and she’d hidden it behind some of her jars, and I really didn’t mean to betray her trust but—”

“You are talking to three Hollowers,” Emrys said. “This is a judgment-free space when it comes to snooping.”

Neve looked like she might be sick. “It’s a druid mark. Like sorceresses, they used a written language to control the magic Lord Death gave them. It’s meant to sever a soul from a body.”

My whole body recoiled.

“You’re sure?” I asked. “Absolutely positive?”

“Beyond a shadow of a doubt,” she rasped out.

My head pounded, blood storming through my veins.

“Then we’re right,” Emrys said. “Someone in Avalon is still using death magic. Whatever was done to the isle was done intentionally. The only question is why. Because they’re sympathetic to the druids, or because they serve Lord Death?”

My heart sped until my body felt strangely hollow. An overwhelming nausea swept through me, and I had to lean against Cabell to keep from bending over.

“You okay?” he asked, gripping my arm.

I waved him off, but he didn’t let go.

“And you think Caitriona is behind it?” Neve said, shaking her head. “You’re piecing all these so-called clues together, but what’s her motive? Why would she destroy Avalon?”

“Maybe Lord Death promised her something in return,” Emrys said, “to finish what the druids started.”

“Caitriona isn’t behind this,” Neve said. “There’s no way.”

“I can see that you hate this theory,” Emrys said, “and believe me, I do too, but I don’t think we can discount the idea that Caitriona is controlling the Children, or at least working with whoever is.”

“How do we even know they’re being controlled?” Cabell asked, scratching at the stubble on his jaw.

“They’re still out there, doing nothing,” Emrys said. “Not hunting, not digging, not scouting, just waiting. Waiting for an order.”

“There’s just no way,” Neve said, but her words became muddled in my ears, then thinned as Emrys replied, and I felt my consciousness slipping ...

My body felt as if it were in an icy coffin, without even a scant bit of space to move in. The cavern around us revealed itself, blanketed in mist, but a horn pierced it. The glossy black eyes of the unicorn stared back at me from the other side of the moat’s sludge. For a moment, we only watched each other, and I didn’t dare breathe for fear of breaking the spell.

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