Chapter 15: Blood and Bone.
Backy's POV
TWO HOURS LATER
Jimmy drove while Candy pressed her fingers to a map on her lap. Cassy sat beside me, frowning as she reviewed the coordinates etched in blood.
“It’s not far,” Candy said. “It’s in the northwest sector. Near the old burial grounds.”
My stomach dropped. “That’s Haunter’s ancestral territory.”
Jimmy whistled low. “Guess someone wants to make it personal.”
As the SUV bounced along the gravel road toward the ruins, I clutched the frost-marked journal Candy had grabbed from her mom’s old stash. It vibrated faintly in my hands like it knew we were getting close to something ancient, dangerous... divine.
The road ended in a grove of dead trees. Mist hung low, coiling around the earth like waiting snakes.
And at the center?
A circle of stone.
Old. Weathered. Covered in red sigils glowing with magic.
We stepped out cautiously.
The sigils began to flicker the moment I approached. My hand burned with frost and flame at once. Lora stirred.
