Chapter 20: What the Stone Knew

I had fallen at the foot of the standing stone.

I didn't know that until I felt it under my cheek.

It was cold and rough, and the carved names pressed into my skin.

Warrick raised the blade.

"Yield, Roxanne," he said again. "Say it in front of them, and I'll let you walk out of here."

My blood was running out of the cut across my ribs.

It ran down my side and into the cracks of the packed earth, and the earth took it toward the stone.

I felt the first drop reach the base.

The stone woke up.

It started as a hum in my teeth. Then the hum turned into light.

A thin silver line ran up from the base along the carved letters.

It climbed name by name through seventeen generations to the top of the stone.

Every Lowry who had ever signed it lit in turn.

The yard was white and silver, and nobody breathed.

The silver burn across my ribs let go.

It did not heal slowly. It lifted off me all at once.

My wolf came back up through my chest roaring.

I heard Hester say, quietly and very clearly, "There she is."

I got my feet under me.

Warrick stepped back.

It was one small step, and the whole yard saw it.

"That's a trick," he said. "That's the stone playing tricks."

"It's my blood," I said.

My voice had changed. It came out low, and it carried.

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