Zane's Arc

Chapter 4 of 8

The wolf slept by the hearth, but Zane could not rest. He watched Maya across the room, her sleeve pulled low, her hand hidden again. The dark marks he had seen would not leave his mind. They had pulsed red, then faded, like something alive under her skin. He knew nothing about them. He could not help her until he did. "Show me your hand," he said. Maya folded her arms. "It's nothing." "You've been hiding it since you got here. Show me." She stood. "Drop it, Zane." She grabbed her backpack and reached for the door. She was leaving. She meant to run before he could learn the truth. Zane moved faster. He stepped in front of the door and held it shut. "No. Not until you tell me what's wrong." For a moment she stared at him, jaw tight. Then her shoulders fell. She yanked her sleeve up and thrust her hand at him. The marks had spread past her wrist now, black cracks curling up her arm. As he watched, they flared red and burned brighter than before. "It's a curse," she said flatly. "Our family carries it. A god laid it on us long ago. It comes due on the blood moon." She pulled her arm back. "That's why I came. Not to tag along on your hunt. To reach the god first." Zane's chest went cold. "Reach it how? Where?" "A cave in the forest. Old stone, carved with dead symbols." She met his eyes. "There's a man already there. A witch. He hunts the true names of gods. He says a name is a leash. Speak it, and the god must obey." Her voice dropped. "If I learn our god's name, I can command it. I can make it lift the curse." Zane thought of the roses he had planted for her by the door, of the small life he had built here. Now the truth sat plain in front of him. His sister was dying, and she had planned to die alone. "The witch," Zane said. "Do you trust him?" "No. But he knows things I don't." She zipped her jacket over the marks. "He told me learning a name costs everything you are. He's paid it already." She looked at the door behind him. "I have to go. The blood moon is three nights away." Zane did not move aside. He held her gaze. "Then I'm coming with you." "You'll get yourself killed." "You're my sister." His voice did not shake. "I spent years alone. I'm not letting you walk into that cave without me." Maya said nothing. But she did not argue again. That was answer enough. Zane pulled his coat from the hook and whistled low. The wolf rose from the hearth, ears up, ready. The secret was out. Now they had a place to go and a witch to face. Three nights, and a god's true name standing between his sister and her death.