Chapter 20

CHAPTER TWENTY

We zoomed past them and through the front doors to the sunny morning. I took a deep breath of the clear, non-Key air and sighed. "Those guys don't let up, do they?"

"Not when their prey is so close at hand," Tegan reminded me. "We'll have to keep one eye on them and another on the shadows."

"And a third eye on wherever we're going right now," I quipped as we strolled down the driveway. "There are dozens of fields around here and I didn't get a good look at the one he pointed out."

We reached the main road and Tegan looked up and down the thoroughfare. "I think I can find us the way but do you prefer the skies or the road?"

I tapped the toes of one of my feet against the road. "I think road. The dust isn't so bad that I'll end up choking every other step. Besides, I left my broom behind and I don't think we want to catch even more attention with your dragon wings."

Summon it.

I shot straight up and blinked. "Come again?"

Tegan cocked his head to one side and lifted an eyebrow at me. "I didn't say anything."

I massaged the side of my forehead with one hand. "I swear I heard a voice telling me to summon it, whatever ‘it' that was."

"We were just mentioning your broom," Tegan pointed out as he studied me. "But did you recognize the voice?"

I stared at the ground and wrinkled my brow. "It did sound familiar, but I can't quite place it. Maybe it's some trick of Domini's with that blood contract?"

"Perhaps," Tegan mused as he turned to face the house. "But you could give it a try. Think of it as Key practice."

"But my powers are blinding people and giving them a bad hair day," I reminded him as I, too, turned back to the villa.

"You are more than a Clasp," he reminded me. "You're also a Twilight Witch."

"Whatever that is. . ." I muttered. I froze and my eyes widened. "That's it!"

"You know how to summon the broom?" he guessed.

I shook my head. "That voice! I recognize it! It was that Zahn vampire! The one we were looking for!"

Tegan furrowed his brow as he folded his arms over his chest. "I see. He did mention he would be watching our adventures."

I opened my arms and looked down at myself. "That sounds. . .gruesome. Then again, he was a pretty gruesome guy."

I heard that .

Now both Tegan and I stiffened. Tegan narrowed his eyes at the clear air. "This is a bad time for you to be injecting yourself into our lives."

"Yeah, we're a little busy and have all the trouble we need," I agreed.

Which is exactly why I sought to intrude on your feeble efforts Zahn retorted. You will find yourselves at the bottom of a burial plot before you find the culprit of this pointless homicide.

I snorted. "I don't think Lusio would agree with you there. He seems to be taking it very seriously."

The concerns of mortals are none of mine unless they are of a special case.

"Like a basket. . ." I mumbled as I turned my attention to the house. "But I guess since you're here, um, sort of, you may as well tell me how I'm supposed to bring my broom to me."

With a single powerful command. You are its mistress and you must show you have the strength to manage its magic.

I stared into the distance and blinked a few times. "Yeah, I guess I can do that, but how exactly do I do that? I mean, do I just wave my hand or think really hard or maybe do a funny dance?"

Try whistling.

I stared blankly ahead. "That's it? No incantations or waving hand signs?"

Merely a whistle.

Tegan grinned at me. "Easy enough."

My face drooped and I lifted my eyes to Tegan. "But I can't whistle."

He lifted an eyebrow. "Earnestly?"

I shrugged. "Other than a wisps when I'm admiring someone, I can't do anything."

What about clapping?

"I think we should set this lesson aside and get moving," Tegan scolded the voice in our heads. "We might arouse suspicion if we're seen talking to someone who isn't there in a physical sense."

"Who are you talking to?"

Tegan and I stiffened before we creaked our heads around in the direction of the yard. Fidel strolled toward us with Duncan perched on his shoulder and a curious look on his face.

Tegan and I slapped stiff smiles on our faces and I shook my head. "Nobody. We were just talking to each other."

He stopped in front of us and lifted an eyebrow. "An unusual conversation for two people."

"We're unusual people," I quipped as I grabbed Tegan's hand. "But we have a lot of stuff to do so we should get going."

I dragged the bemused Tegan along behind me as we hurried down the road. "Kate?"

"What?" I hissed under my breath.

"We're going the wrong way."

I jerked to a stop, spun on my heels, and marched us back past the smiling Fidel and his grinning bird. "See you later, Fidel, and good luck."

He nodded. "Thank you."

We zoomed past him and down the road. Tegan soon took the lead and grinned at me. "That went well."

I glared back at him. "Not. Another. Word."

He pressed his lips together and shook his head. We strode down the road for a mile before he turned us rightward and down a narrow cart path between two fields. The crops resembled wheat but were much taller than that familiar grain. The path which we followed ended at a clump of woods some two miles further on but Tegan stopped us at a parcel on our left.

"This is it," he announced.

I stood on my tiptoes and looked out on the vast expanse of wheat. "I don't see any bleachers."

He shook his head. "Nor do I, nor any other sign that there will be a trial here."

I lifted an eyebrow at him. "You don't think he lied to us, do you?"

Tegan folded his arms over his chest and furrowed his brow. "I'm not sure but we may as well look around while we're here."

We separated and Tegan strode into the field. I took the easier path and walked further down the road. The area was as quiet as it was yesterday and not a soul could be seen except Tegan's upper body traversing the field.

I had gone about a mile and Tegan was far behind me when I stopped to turn around. That's when I noticed something amiss in the high grain. I scurried over to the edge of the field and studied a line of broken blades that disappeared into the field.

"Tegan!" I shouted as I turned tail and hurried back to him. "Tegan!"

His head shot up from his inspection and he crashed out of the field to where we met on the road. "What is it?"

I pointed at the spot I had left. "There's. . .there might be something over there," I wheezed.

I took him back to the spot and pointed at the out-of-place depression in the grass. "Is that a trail?"

Tegan stooped and looked at the same spot before he frowned. "I think it is. Let's see where it goes."

We ventured off the beaten path and through the thick grass. The blades were so high they tickled my chin and so thick that in many places I couldn't see through them. The trail meandered its way through the field and soon the dark woods loomed up in front of us. We stepped out of the grains and into the stubby woodland grass and weeds. Leaves littered the ground and the trees stood only twenty feet away, their thick branches almost hanging over us. A whiff of rot floated over us.

Rot, and something else.

Tegan lifted his nose and furrowed his brow. "It smells like disturbed dirt."

I looked about our feet at the mess of grass and leaves. "But I don't see any."

Tegan stooped and brushed the leaves away with his hand. My eyes widened as he revealed a strange stone buried in the disturbed earth. Unfamiliar markings covered the surface. He pursed his lips and lifted his eyes to the rest of the field. "Let's see if there are others like this one."

"What does it even mean?" I asked him as he stood.

"They're rune stones," he revealed as he examined the area. "They're used to create powerful magic."

"For good or bad?" I wondered.

"That depends on who put it here. For now, let's see how many of these our unknown ‘friend' put for us to find."

We scoured the open area in front of the woods and it didn't take us long to find more of the stones. Tegan and I uncovered their faces and stepped back to view our work. The rune stones were twelve in total and created a circle some twelve feet in diameter.

"None of these are buried very deep," I commented as stooped in front of one.

I wormed my fingers into the dirt and managed to grasp the bottom. Picking it up, however, was another problem altogether. Though the rock wasn't very big it was unusually heavy as though it had partaken of a healthy diet of its own kind its entire existence.

Tegan shook his head. "Nor are they covered in grass so they must have been placed here recently."

"For the trials?" I guessed.

"That's hard to say," he admitted as he walked around the perimeter of the stone circle with his eyes focused on the stone faces.

"Do you know what they say?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "Not all of them but I know enough to say these aren't friendly."

"Toward whom?"

"Toward anyone connected to the trials," he revealed as his walking returned him to my side. "We'll have to get Clara to look at these. She may be able to read them. For now, let's rebury them so they looked as they did."