Page 211 of Sigils & Spells

It wasn’t yelling, at least. No harsh words out of the gate didn’t mean the argument wasn’t preloaded and ready to blow. “I can’t.”

“Can’t or won’t? I understand why you’ve avoided my calls, Rae.” The use of her childhood nickname did its job of sucker-punching her right in the gut with guilt. “We didn’t part on good terms.” There was a pause. A loud sigh. “But you’re my daughter. I love you, and I am worried about you being so far from home without having ever dealt with this…affliction.”

“It’s not a disease.”

Her mother’s tone shifted as she snapped, “You’re right. It’s a curse. One that steals every man we love from us. When they find what we are, it seals their doom. Maybe not right away, but not one has survived it. Are you prepared to shift and stand vigil over a loved one’s home knowing the only person who is meant to die is your husband? Your boyfriend?”

Daniel’s smiling face flashed through her mind, and she rolled her eyes. She’d only just met the guy. Love at first sight was for idiots. She liked him, that was all.

Doesn’t mean you want to see him die.

And that was the crux of it. What she couldn’t explain to Aoibhe earlier. She didn’t know how to have a relationship, that much was true. However, having one meant chancing the doom of that person. Supposedly, they didn’t shift for everyone they knew that died. Only significant deaths…and the fathers of their own children, apparently. Which is an odd way of seeing it since every death was significant to somebody. So why did beings like her only shiftsometimes?

“Rae, why aren’t you speaking to me? You do understand the gravity of this situation, right? If you shift and foretell the doom of a classmate, you will never forgive yourself.”

Enough.“I had every risk of doing that while living at home as I do being away from it. I can’t run away any time I feel myself getting too close to someone. I want friends. I want lovers.”

“Take lovers. Take as many as you want,” her mother pleaded. “But don’t let them capture your heart. I don’t want you to grieve like I did when we lost your father.”

“You had him for years before anything happened.” She didn’t mean to say it out loud. Really, she didn’t.

Brenda Corvus sucked in a breath. “I never said it would happen immediately. The longer it takes, the worse it will be. Trust me on that.” Allegedly, her mother had tried to keep the secret and break the curse that way. He’d witnessed her shifting, and that was that. A month later, her mother had shifted again while working in the garden…to watch over their own home. She’d tried to warn them, cawing and flying at the windows. Her father had a heart attack while in the shower. Had never heard the ruckus.

“I…” She hung her head as tears that refused to fall free burned her eyes. She hadn’t known her father. Ravyn had been too young to remember any of that night. “I do trust you. I want to live my life, Mom. I can’t keep moving every time I feel attached to people. It’s no way to live.”

Her mother was silent a real long while, though the faint, telling sniffles that drifted through the receiver bespoke of tears. “I love you, Rae. This is hard for me. I don’t want you to hurt like I did. Like I do. I’ve never gotten over your daddy’s death. Not ever.”

“It wasn’t your fault.” She had tried to tell her this for years, but her mother refused to entertain the thought. “He didn’t die because you shifted. You’re an omen, not the cause.”

“You know the story of Apollo cursing Corvus because she meddled in his relationships. It’s a curse. For people we do not love, sure, we’re omens. But wearethe cause when it comes to men we love. Apollo made sure of that.”

As much as Ravyn wanted to claim Apollo wasn’t real, none of the ancient gods could be, it was hard to write them off when beings like her family existed. So maybe they did. Maybe they’d died off centuries ago. Who really knew? She had never met another supernatural being, and neither had any of her living family members. Maybe the gods had left this world, or realm, if they did exist. However, Ravyn and her family couldn’t be the only ones…

Right?

CHAPTER4

Daniel looked downat his phone. Foolishness crept up his spine and made the back of his neck grow warm. It had been two weeks since classes started, and Ravyn had never called or texted. She smiled and teased him in class, but made no effort to see him outside of that. Maybe she wasn’t interested. Maybe he should move on.

Okay, but what if she’s just shy?

He rubbed a hand over his face as he listened to his professor drone on about electrons and neutrons and all that science mumbo jumbo that didn’t seem all that important in the moment, but he knew he needed to snap out of it and pay attention anyway. He had it bad, this crush.

Class wrapped up without him listening to a damned thing. Not a single word. His phone vibrated in his back pocket as he sat down at a picnic table outside the cafeteria with a cheeseburger and fries. His stomach growled as he answered it. “Hey.”

“Sorry I keep missing your calls.” Dylan, his twin brother, sounded off. Something had been up with him for at least a year. It’d started around Halloween then fizzled out. Yet the look in his eyes had been haunted ever since that night. Daniel wished he would confide in him.

“Is it happening again?”

There was a silence, and then, “What do you mean?”

Pain sliced through Daniel at the very concept of lies between them. They’d been close once. He didn’t think the rift had anything to do with his going away for college while Dylan had stayed behind in their hometown. “I mean whatever happened last October. To your bike.” He’d given up seeking answers. Now he only wanted confirmation that history was repeating. It killed him that he didn’t plan on going home this year. Perhaps he should.

“Oh,” he said, “that.” If he thought pretending to have no idea what he’d meant would keep Daniel from pushing, he was wrong. “I told you it was some kids playing a prank. They didn’t do it again after you went back to Maine.”

Daniel didn’t believe him. That realization hurt. “How’s Mom doing?”

“Fine.” Suspicion filled his tone when Dylan asked, “Why wouldn’t she be?”

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