nels we

just after dawn, When aunt helena handed me a key and

That map your mother drew,it's not fantasy. But if you go

nything else. Sh

hs come a

ut because I wasn't stupid. If the Ember Circle had gone to these lengths to stay hid

e hatch, I knew it immediately, half-buried, the metal hinges rusted and twisted with vines.

his hand across it. "Th

a wa

mise," he

ed with a re

nto a narrow shaft carved of stone and damp earth, the air wafting upw

on my f

go,"

forced with beams that looked centuries old. Symbols lined the walls. Some drawn in cha

in, the damp pressing against our skin. Our footsteps echoed, m

licking across the narrow path. "I

cared," I

dn't

room-what looked like a meeting place. At its center stood a stone altar stained blac

ened

of small pins-each

y throat

or initiates," Je

you kn

ne on Rowan. The

ed up

ed. But she wore it clipped to her school bag.

n't want

owed. "M

d toward the back wa

irr

es. As I brushed the dust away, words came int

tcher. We sil

d away

someone was

nished them,

huffle, like movement behind th

tur

le

ent now-pressured. Like

he walls. The markings were everywhere, layered over each

it slipped from my hand. As I crouched to retrieve it, th

ote

d, pages curled, but the name written

an

my shoulder. "That

ed it

-damaged, smeared. But one page

k like an accident. But it wasn't. They burned the others first.

go to the mausoleum. T

words. They felt

r life," I whispered. "

a trail," Jerry said

warn

cient and evil. My hand gripped the notebook tightly, a lifeline across a decad

tters of her na

rave," I s

ry agreed. "Sh

thin between us. There was something in his expression I hadn't s

air shift

tunnel, flickering our light

sharply

ge had been clea

midday sun that felt c

symbols, with Rowan's final message. She'd tried to survive. She

ow I

ena was waiting with three mugs of

something

n the table. "She was down t

pping through the pages like they might disin

was murmured?. "I thought it was a phas

ldn't ha

houl

lence for a

ioned the mausoleum. T

ad snapped up. "

y n

e they bury what the