Valero Nightshade's Arc

Chapter 5 of 5

Valero returned to the pavilion at dusk. He told himself he wanted another look at the blankets, the carved wood, anything J might have left behind. But before he reached the clearing, he heard hooves. He crouched low behind a stand of trees. Armed riders circled the half-collapsed structure, torches lit, swords drawn. They were searching for someone. Maybe J. Maybe him. He counted six riders. Beyond them, two shimmering tents stood pitched near a fresh stone fire pit. They had been camped here for days. Watching. Waiting. At the center of the pavilion, a cracked obsidian fountain caught the torchlight, its dark basin dry now, its tiers chipped. This place had been someone's home once. Someone with money. Valero pressed lower into the dirt and listened. A rider dismounted near the fountain and lifted something from its rim. A metal shield, small and ornate, etched with a sun seal Valero had seen before. The rider held it up to the others. "She left it here for him," he said. "He'll come back for it." Valero's breath stilled. J had not just summoned him. She had marked him. The riders were not hunting J. They were hunting whoever answered her call. Valero backed away on his elbows until the trees swallowed him. He did not retrieve the emblem. He did not warn anyone. He returned to the stone house, locked the door, and opened the chest. He set the black notebook on the table and stared at the empty first page. For the first time in twenty-three years, he understood he was a subject in someone else's study. The hunter had become the watched.