Page 59 of A Dusk Of Stars

I feel palpable feverishness in the air as soon as I step out of my room. Everyone seems to be getting ready for the Ball, but I go straight to the Junkyard, breathing a sigh of relief when I see there’s no one there.

It doesn’t take Raven and Alaric long to show up. They walk into the Junkyard, making me raise my eyebrows when I see them all dressed up.

Damn it, this is supposed to be a fun night for them. I force myself to throw on a smile. “You look amazing, the both of you,” I say with warmth in my voice as they come to stand in front of me.

Raven tilts her head at me. “Amazing?” She turns to throw a confused look at Alaric. “I look exactly the same, don’t I, Alaric?”

He gives her a tender, slightly awkward smile as he runs his hand through his hair. “Yes and no.” Then he turns tome. “Look, Anna, Raven told me all about what happened at the exam.”

The smile slides off my face.

“And you passed?” He shakes his head as if he’simpressed. “They’re saying the professors have decided that destroying the course equals passing it. Wow.”

I myself can’t feel happy about that part. It doesn’t seem fair, that theydidlet me pass.

“How did you do it, Anna?” Raven asks.

“Sorry to disappoint, I’ve no idea what that was.” Maybe it was a bad idea, to make them come here and to sour the mood for them.

Raven comes to pat me on the shoulder. It’s so awkward, the way she does it, but at the same time, so sincere. It makes me throw her a sad smile. I look away, saying, “I don’t know what’s going on with me, Raven.”

She stays silent for a second. “From what I can gather,” she replies in a voice that’s barely above a whisper, “no one ever does, at least not in the moment.”

“Yeah, but…” And I break off, not knowing how to put it into words, what’s really going on with me.

Raven shifts a little. “I don’t know if this is the right time for me to tell you, Anna…”

It makes me frown. I turn to look at her. “What?Tellme.”

She throws a glance at Alaric. “When you injured me that time, the tattoos that appeared on you looked less complete than the ones that appeared today.”

I frown, opening my mouth.

Alaric beats me to it. “Tattoos? You mean shifter marks?”

Raven shakes her head. “Different. Repeating pattern, all circles and lines.”

That’s strange. Should I tell them about the things I’ve seen ever since I touched the Lexarcanum book?

Alaric seems to be thinking, too, reaching his hand into his bag to rummage pensively.

There’s this guilt washing over me that I can’t quite explain, the same as that night I found myself wading into the river. It's as if I did something wrong and if I told anyone about it, I’d only be opening up a can of worms I’d rather stay closed. I decide not to say anything after all.

It snaps me out of it, when Alaric gets a book out and opens it right in front of my face. My eyebrows shoot up when I see it’s that book he found in the Junkyard that day. The history of Pull Chambers.

On the page he has it open on, there is an ancient-looking drawing. A circle of symbols done in dark brown ink, revolving around the one at the center.

My eyes round when I see it.

Thesymbol.

I’m in even bigger shock when I spot the background. Faint pattern of circles and lines.

I look up at him with my eyebrows raised.

“Raven,” he starts just as she leans in to take a look as well. ”Are these her tattoos?”

Raven nods.

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