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"Drat That’s the only one I visited I know there are at least two more They mentioned a safe house and also a headquarters, but not their locations" She stopped es Let me see what I can recall The safe house was in a brick town house, in the basement But there’s millions of town houses in Boston The headquarters" She scrunched her eyes round Concrete walls" She shook her head "Not helpful, I know, but it’s all I can see"

"Theout loud "They happen every forty-eight hours The tinificance for Myrddin When he didn’t e to kill ht, at that location Could there be a pattern to the murder sites, too?" Since one murder site had also been the site of a known base of the Old Ones, if we could identify the pattern,

"A pattern" Juliet closed her eyes again "There was a symbol that dominated their conversations I don’t knohat it means, but it always calances "Myrddin said there had to be five victims," I said, "that Pryce would open his eyes when he received the life force of the fifth Maybe the symbol is related What did it look like?"

Juliet’s eyes popped open "Giveto write with and I’ll draw it for you"

Axel fished a pencil from his shirt pocket, and Mab handed Juliet the napkin from her saucer A few splashes of tea had sloshed onto it, but most of it was dry

Juliet sat on the bed and sue poked out fro She held it out so we could see It was a si a point at each end:

"Eihwaz," said Axel

"Yes" Mab nodded "I believe you’re correct"

I stared at the sy inonal cut at each end The Reaper had carved that symbol into me as I’d lain strapped to the table

"Child, are you all right? You’ve gone deathly pale"

I put a hand to my chest "That symbol--the Reaper carved it into my chest"

Mab peered atsensation faded I reminded myself that the symbol wasn’t there now, not even as a scar "Tell me about the symbol," I said

Mab watched me for several seconds before she answered "It’s a rune It represents the yew tree, symbol of triumph over death" She took the napkin and smoothed it on her lap I wondered if it was a coincidence that Myrddin had been imprisoned in a yew tree "The Old Ones’ focus on this runedeath"

"But the nulanced around the rooet online right now?" I asked Axel "I need to see a y beard Then he trundled over to the bed’s nightstand and opened a drawer He pulled out a neatly folded paper uests"

"Perfect" I unfolded the ive me that pencil Now, the body of the first Reaper victim was discovered here, in the South End near Rutland Square" I drew a circle on the site and filled it in "The second body was also in the South End, at the intersection of Harrison and East Newton" I squinted at the map until I found the place, and drew another dot "If a third murder happened at the site of the Stanhope Street base, that would be just about here, more toward the Back Bay" Dot number three appeared on the map

"Now, if we connect the dots" I drew a line from the first murder site to the second, and then from the second to the third, the place that could have been the site of my own death A chill hit me I was still worried what it meant that Pryce had absorbed some of my life force But I couldn’t afford to dwell on that now

A lopsided V appeared on the er than the other It looked like the bottom half of the eihwaz rune

"Extend the vertical line northward," Mab said "Make it the sath as from the Harrison Avenue site to Stanhope Street"<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>