Holmberg, D K - The Painter Mage 02 - Arcane Mark by Holmberg D K

Author:Holmberg, D K [Holmberg, D K]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ASH Publishing
Published: 2015-05-16T23:00:00+00:00

8

I sat in my garage, the light burning softly overhead as I stared at the bench where Devan made all her charms. The two incomplete charms I’d found were in the pockets of my duster, nestled next to the tiny figurines she carved. As far as I knew, the figurines never served any purpose other than to soothe her. And now she wouldn’t have any with her.

I didn’t want to go into the house. Doing so meant admitting failure, and I wasn’t ready to give up on Devan. But Jakes had convinced me. If Adazi wanted the orb, and if he really couldn’t use it, then I didn’t really dare get it for him. Not if Jakes was right and I could use it. He hadn’t told me what it would do, but the nervous way he spoke of it was reason enough for caution. Was it even a creation of my father’s or was it something else?

After closing the garage door, I started toward the house before changing my mind. Clouds covered the moon, leaving the night dark, but I wasn’t ready to go back inside. There wasn’t anything I could do there, anyway. Taylor might find some value in searching through the old journals, mostly because she seemed determined to understand anything about the Elder with an obsession that exceeded my own, but I doubted there was anything there that would help me. The one person who seemed to know what Adazi wanted refused to help.

Instead of going back inside, I started toward the back of my yard. Trees stretched overhead, silhouetted against the dark sky, filling the air with the scent of pine and the earthy scent of fallen and decaying leaves. It hadn’t been all that long ago that Devan had gone with me into the woods, using her abilities to search for whatever Taylor had wanted. And without Devan, I wouldn’t still be here.

The transition between my back yard and the park was gradual. I’m sure there was some demarcation, but here, along the yard, the low rock wall circling the rest of the park had been knocked down or never built, giving me free rein to wander. Energy sizzled over my skin as I entered the park. The source hadn’t been clear when I first returned to Conlin, but now, I recognized that the statues my father had placed here created the power I sensed.

I wasn’t drawn to those statues. Rather, I found myself drawn toward the center of the park, toward the steady burbling of water spilling from Agony. When I reached it, I simply stood, staring at the strange stone sculpture.

I had no idea how old it was; only that it had been in the park as long as I could remember. The light from the lamps circling the paver-stone plaza softly reflected off the sculpture. The blank copper plate in front of Agony shone slightly, brighter than anything else around here.

All sharp lines and odd angles, the way it had been sculpted made it difficult to recreate on paper.

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