Elijah leaves after twenty minutes, citing “Guardian business” that needs his attention. He promises to track me down the second he finds a lead, but as I watch him walk away, I feel a sudden, hollow chill.
I hope he has better luck than I’ve had. I flip through one more page, then another, promising myself each one will be the last before I give up for the night. But the Book of the Divine is beginning to feel less like a resource and more like a maze.
A dark, nagging weight settles in my chest, refusing to be ignored. I can’t stop replaying the conversation from lunch—or the warning I saw on Mrs. Humphrey’s wall about absorbing the energy of the one who marks you.
What if I become evil? The thought is a cold shiver down my spine. Is that why my mark is different? Because the energy in
