Thalia was about to close her eyes for a while when the ring on her left hand grew warm.
She looked down.
The dark gold pattern on its black surface had flashed faintly.
At first, she thought it was another ordinary reaction, but then the ring began to pulse against her finger, one steady beat after another, as if warning her to pay attention.
“Ivan.”
He heard something wrong in her voice at once.
“What is it?”
Thalia held up her left hand.
“The ring is reacting.”
They both remembered what Acheron had told her before they left the manor.
If the Gravekeepers came near again, the ring would warn her.
Ivan checked the rearview mirror.
The road through the woods was empty.
There were no cars and no lights behind them.
“Could it be reacting to something else?”
“This is different.” Thalia shook her head.
“It’s never pulsed like this before.”
Ivan slowed the car.
“Did Acheron tell you what to do?”
“He said to call him.”
Ivan was quiet for two seconds.
He had only just found out that Acheron had kissed his sister.
Having to ask her to call him now plainly didn’t sit well with him, but he made up his mind.
“Then call him.”
Thalia looked at the ring.
Acheron had told her to call him, but he hadn’t said how.
After a moment’s hesitation, she tried speaking aloud.
“Acheron?”
Nothing changed.
The ring kept pulsing, and the warmth against her finger grew stronger.
She curled her fingers and said his name again, more firmly this time.
The dark gold pattern flared.
Almost at once, the air inside the car turned cold.
Thalia thought at first that the chill was coming from the ring, but then she looked out the window.
Grey mist had gathered among the trees.
Beyond the headlights, the road ahead was becoming difficult to see.
Ivan braked and brought the car to a slow stop at the roadside.
“Don’t get out.”
“I know.”
Thalia checked her phone.
The screen came on, but there was no signal, just as there had been outside the museum.
Before she could tell Ivan, a figure appeared in the mist ahead.
The person stood in the middle of the road, just beyond the reach of the headlights.
Thalia could make out a vague outline, but not a face.
Ivan picked up the metal flashlight beside his door.
Thalia immediately put a hand on his arm.
“Don’t go out there.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“Then why take that?”
“It’s better than having nothing.”
Thalia said no more.
They watched the figure together.
It remained where it was, though the mist continued to creep towards the car.
Then the ring grew suddenly hot.
Thalia closed her hand around it and saw the dark gold pattern shine.
This felt different from the warning.
It was as though someone had answered her call.
Acheron had heard her.
The thought had barely crossed her mind when the mist stopped advancing.
Branches shook on both sides of the road, and the wind rose.
A familiar voice came from outside the car.
“So you remembered what I told you.”
Thalia looked up sharply.
Acheron stood in front of the headlights with his back to them, facing the figure in the mist.
Some of the tension she had been holding eased when she saw him.
“Stay in the car,” he said without turning around.
“She knows,” Ivan replied through the windshield.
Acheron glanced back at him.
Thalia looked from the mist to her brother, unsure what to say.
Even now, the two of them had found a reason to get on each other’s nerves.
The figure in the mist suddenly moved.
Instead of approaching the car, it retreated quickly into the woods.
A shadow swept out from beneath Acheron’s feet and followed it into the fog.
A moment later, a dull impact sounded among the trees, and the mist stirred.
Thalia kept her eyes on the road.
Before long, the fog began to clear.
The headlights lit the road again, but the figure was gone.
Acheron waited where he was until he was sure nothing else was moving nearby.
Then he walked towards the car.
Thalia pulled the door handle, but it wouldn’t open.
She tried again before turning to Ivan.
His hand was still beside the lock.
“Ivan, unlock the door.”
“Wait.”
“That’s Acheron out there.”
“I know.”
“Then why is it still locked?”
“We didn’t know what was out there a moment ago.”
She couldn’t really argue with that.
Ivan checked outside once more, then unlocked the doors.
Thalia got out.
Acheron looked her over first, making sure she was unharmed before he asked, “When did the ring start warning you?”
“Not long after we left the manor.”
He frowned.
“What’s wrong?” Thalia asked.
“They found you too quickly.”
Ivan stepped out of the car.
“What do you mean?”
“You left the manor less than twenty minutes ago.
Even if they found the ring again, they shouldn’t have caught up with you so soon.”
Thalia thought it through.
“Unless they already knew we would take this road.”
“Or they knew where you were the entire time.”
Ivan’s expression darkened.
“Was someone watching the manor?”
Acheron didn’t answer.
His attention had shifted to the bag on Ivan’s shoulder.
“Take out the metal plaque.”
Ivan opened the bag and removed the plaque they had brought from Eremon Manor.
The instant it came into view, Thalia’s ring grew hot.
At the same time, a fine dark red line appeared at the centre of the plaque.
All three of them saw it.
Acheron took the plaque.
The red light slowly spread through its ancient symbols, bringing the faded pattern into view.
“It wasn’t glowing while it was in the bag,” Ivan said.
“It didn’t need to.” Acheron studied it.
“Someone is using it to track your position.”
Thalia thought of how the Gravekeepers had found them at the museum tonight.
Now, shortly after they had left the manor, one of them had appeared on this road.
They had assumed the Gravekeepers were tracking the ring on her hand.
But if the thing they were following had been in Ivan’s bag all along, it made sense.
“They didn’t find us again,” Thalia said, looking at the plaque.
Acheron lowered his eyes to the dark red lines.
“It’s been telling them where you are.”
The night wind passed through the trees, sweeping the last of the mist from the road.
Thalia stared at the red glow and felt a chill run down her back.
When they took the plaque from Eremon Manor, they thought they had found a clue.
They had carried it to the museum, then to Blackthorn Manor, and now away from it again.
None of them had noticed anything wrong.
The Gravekeepers might have known where they were the entire time.
The metal plaque was a beacon, leading them straight to it.