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Iht and garishas the Demon animals continued to trample the crystal snow beneath theht Soft and silver, it melted down from the trees to the forest floor as they continued to ride on in silence Valek winced against the bright glare as he counted that it had been close to a week since their departure fro in Sarah&039;s mind told him she did not wish to speak to hi Valek knew for sure about Sarah was that she hated being uncertain about anything

Though Valek continued to stare straight in front of him at their path, he really watched Sarah intently in his perfect, peripheral vision Her gaze was forced and squinted, as if she was so buried deep within her thoughts that even if he started to speak, she wouldn&039;t have becoht in Francis&039; house when she had received the vision of Aiden and Charlotte gettinganother vision now She was so still He wondered if the fates were speaking to her

"You knohat I find odd?" She barely flicked her glance in his direction, but sootten her attention "Tyn nad Vltavou is aus to a place that isn&039;t part of our Occult circuit? Do you think it is a trap?"

Sarah sighed, "No I don&039;t"

"I do not trust it What did thisHe was surrounded by soood look at his face Funny" She frowned "The room wasn&039;t that dark It was as if it emanated directly from his body I&039;ve never seen that before"

"I&039;ve been seeing a lot of things I&039;ve never seen before Our society surprisesof surprises, did Francis ever say anything about that in all of his stories to you? What of his creator? Did he ever talk about that? I knoas an elder" Valek narrowed his eyes at theme he never truly knew his creator very well They did not share the best relationship In the past, though, Abeliireed yet I&039; sounds like a new trait the elders picked up, as a way to guard theuess"

"Makes sense," she mused "I didn&039;t think Vampires possessed so many unique powers"

"Like I said, I am surprised every day"

They decided to continue on at a norht Fae blood to keep theht hours Valek was uncoed creatures At any moment they could rebel and take off, much like any other freshly cursed blood-drinker And he didn&039;t want there to be a couple of de around a world of mortals He needed to assure himself they were obedient to hie, he was sure it was only a in to snowball and steer off course He didn&039;t want to be responsible for anything that lanced over at Sarah once again, noting Charlotte&039;s satchel hanging from the Witch&039;s pointed shoulder Even from this distance, his acute nose picked up the scent that the bag still carried It sret spread through his chest again Any ti was resurrected The feeling of regret

She was probably waking up now froht of slu where he was and how he could have gone without her He i surrounding the just about a week before It was the ht with hiainst a tree and kissed the side of her neck-

A noise forced Valek out of his reverie Charlotte&039;s face rippled away as though it were a mere reflection in a pond and someone had tossed a stone

"Valek!"

"Yes! Wha-what is it?" he replied finally, though he didn&039;t look at her He continued to fixate on the forested path before hiet your attention for ten ize," he said and turned to look at her "What is it?"

"I&039;ve steered us off course"

"What?" He hadn&039;t noticed they&039;d so through a part of the forest that was completely unfamiliar "Why would you do that? We have a very limited amount of ti, and even I can feellow-"

"Don&039;t you think I know that? I trusted you before I let you do things your way Noant you to trust ru out the note from his breast pocket He opened it and turned it to the map on the other side Just like he anticipated, the inked path had changed It no longer showed Tyn nad Vltavou Now there was an odd sort of drawing that looked to be a ho a course of action-a si was planned out "What is this? Where are we going?"

"Valek, you need to cal for The fates do not answer to our selfish demands They answer questions They steer us where we need to be I&039; you to trust me Now look" She stretched her index toward a tree trunk Valek noticed a strange ie etched deep into the bark of the tree as it passed "And look over there" She indicated a different tree with the same rune It looked likean eye

All of a sudden, Valek noticed that every surrounding tree had individual eyes carved deep and intricately into their trunks And there was so?

"What is all of this?"

"They are Witches&039; runes for protection and staying hidden They keep the mortals away and the likes of you out as well But she knoe&039;re co?"

"We&039;re going to see my Elder My leader Perhaps an elder of my kind can lead us to an elder of yours"

"But we have clear directions, Sarah!"

"I know that But I also think we can use some extra help to find this place faster, don&039;t you?" She lifted an eyebrow, and Valek got quiet

As they pressed on, thousands of wooden eyes blinked back at him from the trunks of the forest before him They shifted and blinked, just as his own eyes did Valek began to recognize this not froic world, but from about a hundred years back, when he&039;d still been human When he was a little boy and his a

"So, has your brilliant rinned and pressed Jiri tosnow

"I believe so But I do not want to give away " He frowned, continuing to study the forest before hi by the odd mix of confidence and wonder I see on your face, I don&039;t think you&039;re wrong But just in case, I&039;ll give you a few ure it out"

They continued to ride forward through the blinking forest A few of the trees eyed him as they passed He studied them with a question in his mind about what enchanted them

"Those are herus"

And then, as if on cue, there was a s the dense forest where a cobblestone footpath began to lead them up a shallow hill Sarah went first, Valek and his horse filing after The path was so narrow and lined with dozens of lanterns carved frorow out of the soil Candles flickered behind the cobalt-stained glass of each one, in spite of the daylight

The path seeo on for about thirty ed fro ever shorter The snow also ceased to fall, and Valek could finally see the forest floor as though it were auturound between the various colored mushrooms that popped up from the dead pine needles They continued forward, until before hih a thicket of trees It was lifted fros under each corner of the foundation The ere rickety, nearly falling off their hinges, and the shingles on the roof were layered in uneven, dirty rows This wasValek shivered with the human ined

"Was it what you thought?" Sarah smiled crookedly, her eyebrow raised

Valek merely nodded as the hell-stallions trotted up the slope to the abandoned-looking ho There was only the sound of the phanto to the hag that they were nearly at her doorstep Valek could hear the screeching of sohtness of the low, there still remained a heavy eeriness and a bitter taste of death about the forest around them They must have somehoound up on the outer banks of some Occult city

He leaned over and whispered to Sarah, "Are you sure about this?"

She only shot hi, and continued to proceed forward

Valek had heard little about the uessed was before his ti? Would she truly be the one to unravel the mystery and answer the questions they had about the unseen city? If she failed to provide the answers Sarah sought, Valek believed there was little hope left They&039;d already strayed frouess they wouldn&039;t be too happy about that He worried that in Baba Yaga&039;s coates of hiswould present, but he would tread carefully

Valek swiftly leapt from Beta&039;s back first She slowly turned her lacier-colored eyes The expression they held painted vivid concern for hi safe about the idea of entering that rickety hut

"I&039;ently patted the end of her slate nose How fascinating, since they were both of the same ilk and possessed theinto each other&039;selse to do We will be back inher reins to the hag&039;s wooden fence, which surrounded the feet of the strange, gargantuan chicken legs

Valek approached Sarah&039;s horse, whose eyes instantly shared Beta&039;s same worry He nodded once at Jiri and proceeded to help the little Witch, his large hands grasped tightly around her waist until her feet touched the ground They regarded each other aardly for a ested Charlotte probably would not have liked that

Valek shrugged "My apologies It is aze toward the s chimney and splintered threshold and sed Valek tuned into Sarah&039;s h it She was afraid, as to be expected But exactly what it was that scared her surprised hi inadequate in front of her a was Sarah&039;s counselor And Sarah knew, after all of these years of being Francis&039; house Witch and being so out of practice with her true talents, that Baba Yaga&039;s mastery would easily put hers to shame

"She&039;s the most ancient Witch on record She is feared by many of usand solicited by none," Sarah whispered hastily to Valek "I was very, very lucky to be gifted with her counsel We must proceed with caution I have no idea what the consequences are going to be for us co here was your idea, Sarah" Valek frowned

"I know I know And it is for good reason I just hope she sees it that way as well"

Valek and Sarah climbed the dozen porch steps without any more words and stood at the door that separated the peculiar abode from the outside world The ested that it hadn&039;t been opened in a long while Sarah reached forward and grabbed hold of the massive doorknocker-a rusted, iron lion head It was interesting to Valek how this symbol resurfaced to thehout the Parliament&039;s list of cryptic hints He recalled the double-tailed lion that had manifested in the fire to Sarah and Charlotte in the parlor of Francis&039; hoo She thudded three, quick knocks and quickly stepped back The sound of the little Witch&039;s breathing ceased colanced at her face, noide-eyed and frozen