MARK BY A HALF BLOOD

ones long before the morning l

adn't

rest. Shadows haunted her thoughts-twisting whispers from the Hunter, Cyrus's

sn't n

ver ha

n and a world she barely unde

racks above. Cindy sat up slowly, careful not to wake Liora, who still lay wrapped

ver his chest, hair messy and falling over his forehead. His shirt was torn from l

oked awa

some mysterio

omething more. Dangerous

art beat in a way sh

-

nds of morning-birds, wind rustling throug

eper into the trees, her finger

ce. Time to th

sn't alone

ou'd try

and calm as he stepp

" Cindy said quick

"You look like som

t," she

toward her. "Then why

almost convincing herself. "I j

pa

on said,

breath

The girl who walked into a haunted mansion alone. The girl w

feel strong. I feel like the ground keeps shiftin

her shoulder. "Then l

ooked u

t fierceness, but pain. Like he'd known what it meant to fall. To

-

gathered everyone in a

ed. "Which means they'll come f

iora and Aeron, he

want from me

d to her. "

n fell

linked.

"It can open doors long sealed. Awaken beasts long buried.

"No. That c

"Then we tra

-

ng was

ning how to move, dodge, fight, and mos

dded with moonfire. "Feel the energy. Do

she tried, no

k staye

re holding back. You're

stration. "I don't e

lose. "Then

ark flared

tone

pulsed wi

r flooded her chest-

-

face in the nearby stream, Cindy s

shed silver

umbled

at.

the shadows, as if

she said.

"The mark's not just wakin

ter again. "Am I bec

tened. "You're becomin

-

ed, Cindy gr

st

more co

ries of silver forests, burning cities, a woman with g

.. it's

es. Alway

-

ndy and Aeron found a trail of broken branches an

e," Aeron

they heard

dy

e-being dragged by a dark, spider-like cre

Cindy

king, she ra

xploded fro

rieked and vapo

frozen, her

done

ust a

her arms, cryin

her. "You're not like

spered back. "I'm

-

t night, Cindy stood alone on

raced the edg

Cyrus wa

ood could awak

o be a hero-but the beginn

appeared again,

ay?" he

estly. "But I don'

're

n silence, s

e, Cindy allowed hers

ound her shoulders

idn't

idn't

nder the moonlight, a bond was

-

ined part of the forest, somet

st through

ce echoed i

lood i

k has b

he will c