Page 75 of Grave Robbing and Other Hobbies (Grave Concerns 1)

Chapter Nineteen

“You know, a big open spot in the forest with a single tree stump in the center is really a bad sign. This hashuman sacrificewritten all over it.”

Hunter wrapped an arm around me and pulled me closer to his side. “Well, I mean, what else would you sacrifice?”

His joke didn’t help, but I doubted it was meant to.

We had pulled to the side of the road about thirty minutes before and trudged into the densely packed forest. I’d mentioned I wasn’t really an outdoorsy girl, but Hunter had sworn we weren’t going far. He’d been right, but when I’d spotted our destination, I’d all of frozen because itscreamedtrap.

He walked me through the open space, toward that center stump. It was larger than I’d expected, probably because it was also farther away than I’d thought. I felt nothing, but because I couldn’t normally sense magic, it made sense. Still, the outskirts of the area wavered slightly, a signal that it wasn’t what it seemed.

“This isn’t the magic you’re used to,” he said softly. “This is old magic, nature magic. You won’t be able to sense it. If we had Troy here, he would.”

“Why Troy?”

“Werewolves are from the old magic, just like this place. Vampires are connected with the magic of the dead, mages with elemental. They all have their place, and this is a place of nature.”

“So why are we here?”

“Nature magic is the opposite of death.”

I jumped when Grant’s voice came from just behind me, then twisted to glare. He didn’t look at all repentant.

“Would you stop sneaking up on me?”

“I like to see that flush on your cheeks.” He didn’t give me time to snip back before he continued. “Nature magic can give us a glimpse into what’s happening, since it seems like something from hell is involved. We can’t go ask Lucifer, so we might as well go the opposite way. The person we’re meeting can move between the living and dead since she is outside both.”

“And you both know this person?”

Grant shrugged. “The supernatural world is smaller than most people realize. There aren’t a lot of the Elder Folks around still.”

I didn’t go back to my spot at Hunter’s side. It felt odd with Grant there, so instead I walked between the two men to the center stump.

When I looked closer at it, I realized… “Are those blood stains?”

Grant nodded. “Probably. Okay, sit.”

“I am not sitting on blood.”

He sighed and dropped his head back as though I were being absurdly difficult. “This is the entry, Ava. We sit. We make an offering. We go where we’re headed.” He held his arm out toward the open clearing. “Unless you just came all this way for a pretty view.”

I pressed my lips together. I really didn’t want to go wherever we were going, and the wholeofferingword didn’t sound all that promising.

And yet I didn’t have another option.

Really, my lack of knowledge prickled. I was always at the mercy of those around me suddenly, relying on them because I didn’t know anything about the world I was in.

I’d been happy to skate by in life, to stay in my lane, but suddenly my lane was so much larger than I’d ever experienced before.

Sitting on the log was the last thing I wanted to do, but when someone was without options, they did things they didn’t want to. Because of that, I lowered myself onto the spot and tried to ignore the red stains. “So what now? Do we sacrifice an infant?”

“Do you have one?” Grant asked before chuckling. “No, Ava, this should work.” He held his hand out and pointed the finger of his other hand. At the tip, a sharp point appeared, shimmering as if not entirely there. He used it to slice his palm the same way he’d done to me when setting up the ward.

Hunter sat beside me on the log and Grant smeared blood from his wound onto his thumb. He pressed the blood to my forehead, a sticky, warm spot in its place, then did the same to Hunter and himself.

A grimace didn’t start to explain my reaction. “Bloodplay is the sort of thing you should warn a girl about.”

Grant took a spot to my other side. “The blood shows my offering applies to you both as well. Now, be mindful of what you say. Where we’re going, these people have odd customs.”

---