Chapter 377

Olivia

The discovery of the sigil etched into the floor of the guest room sent a wave of shock through me. My heart raced as I knelt down beside it. I reached out to trace my finger along the swooping curves and straight lines, but Layla’s hand shot out and grabbed my wrist, stopping me before I could.

I met her gaze, and her eyes were wide. “Don’t touch it,” she murmured. “It could be dangerous.”

I nodded, realizing the gravity in her gaze, and pulled my hand away. For a few long moments, we just sat there, looking at the strange little symbol. My amulet vibrated with a newfound intensity, further sealing my suspicions. This sigil was indeed teeming with magic.

It was carved into the wood of the floor, and it looked fresh; there were still flecks of the wood around it, as though it had been hastily carved and the dust hadn’t had time to settle yet.

“Why here?” I mused, looking around the room. “Why beneath the dresser in my grandmother’s old room?”

Layla was silent for a moment, pursing her lips before she finally spoke. “Did Nathan stay in here at some point?”

Realization washed over me. Sometimes, after everything we had gone through, I could forget that he had spent months living in this room. “Yes,” I said, nodding. “Yes, he did.”

Layla straightened. “There you have it, then. Typically, it would be carved into a belonging, something sentimental to the receiver of the hex. But if whoever left this was trying to hide it, and if Nathan had a special connection with this room, then it would work just fine.”

“So,” I said, letting out a breath I didn’t know I had been holding. “How the hell do we get rid of this thing?”

“Take a photo of it first,” Layla suggested quietly. “It might be useful later.”

Nodding, I fumbled for my phone, my hands trembling slightly as I captured the image of the sigil.

Layla crouched beside me then, examining the sigil with a critical eye. “We need to deactivate it,” she said. “Scratching it out should break its connection, but there’s a specific way to do it. Do you have a silver knife? It has to be silver.”

I furrowed my brow, thinking, before a memory popped into my mind. My aunt’s dinnerware collection; there were plenty of silver utensils in there. Surely she wouldn’t mind if I used one to scratch out a deadly sigil, although I did remember how she used to spend hours polishing every single piece like her life depended on it.

“Yes,” I said, standing. “Wait here.”

With more speed than I thought myself capable of given my exhaustion, I bounded out of the room and down the stairs, over to the china cabinet in the dining room. I retrieved one of the knives from my aunt’s precious silver collection, then took the stairs two at a time back up to the guest room and handed it to Layla. She took it without a word, her hand poised to carve it out.

I glanced at her, uncertainty clouding my expression. “You sure this will work?”

She nodded. “It should,” she said, inspecting the sigil a little closer. “But Olivia, keep in mind that it might not fix everything. It could take awhile for Nathan to recover, and that’s assuming that whoever placed this sigil isn’t still casting from somewhere else. You need to be cautious. Okay?”

My stomach churned at the thought. The implications were clear: even with the sigil erased, Nathan might remain trapped in his coma. But we had to try. I couldn’t stand the thought of him lying helpless in that hospital bed, his life slipping away.

“Okay,” I said, my voice barely more than a whisper. “Let’s do it.”

Finally, Layla began the painstaking process of scratching out the sigil. Layla worked carefully, taking care to scratch it out in just the right way. Every little corner of the sigil had to be worn away until there was nothing left, starting at the top of the sigil and moving down to the bottom.

I watched with bated breath as she worked, and it was then that my thoughts wandered to Edward. The timing of his arrival, his sudden prominence in Nathan’s life, the fact that he had stayed in this very room, the strange hallucination I had of a black-haired woman in his room—it couldn't be a coincidence.

Anger bubbled up inside me, a fierce, protective rage for the man I loved. How could Edward, the long-lost uncle who claimed to care for Nathan, do something like this? Especially after everything Nathan had done for him?

“It has to be Edward,” I said, the words spilling out of me before I could stop them. “He’s the only one who makes sense. He’s been too close, too involved since he arrived. What if he’s working with the witch?”

Layla paused, her gaze meeting mine. “You need proof, Olivia. Accusations alone won’t be enough.”

I nodded, my resolve hardening. “I know. And I’ll get the proof. I have to.”

Once the sigil was completely destroyed and nothing but a hollow groove in the wood where it once resided was in its place, Layla and I stood. We stared down at it for a few moments, our eyes studying the floor.

I couldn’t help but wonder if there would be some change, some shift in the air, but there was nothing. It felt oddly anticlimactic.

“I have to go to the Council building,” I finally said, turning to face Layla. “I need to confront Edward. If he’s the one who cast this hex, I need to stop him.”

Layla’s expression was serious as she looked at me. “Are you sure about that, Olivia?” she asked. “That’s a serious accusation. Let me come with you, at least.”

I shook my head. “No, Layla. You’ve done enough; this is between me and Edward now. If he’s going to mess with my family, then he can face the wrath of the Ancient Wolf.”

Layla stared at me for a few moments, her eyes wide. I could tell that there was more that she wanted to say, but it was as if she knew that there was no convincing me otherwise. Finally, she nodded and took a step back.

“I trust your decision,” she said, her voice soft. “Do what you must to make sure that Nathan comes home.”

With a newfound determination giving me the energy to move, I left the room and jogged down the stairs. I grabbed my things off of the hook, although I wasn’t sure if I would need anything anyway; just my phone, my jacket, and the amulet which was always around my neck anyway.

But as I headed for the door, Clint’s voice stopped me. “Olivia.”

I turned to face him, the gravity in his face sinking in as our eyes met. We stared at each other for a few moments. Eventually, Layla appeared behind him, and both of them looked worried.

“Don’t try to convince me not to,” I said, gripping my jacket a little tighter. “I have to do this.”

But, much to my surprise, Clint did nothing of the sort. He just hobbled forward, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me into a tight hug. He smelled of cedar and smoke from the wood stove, just like I always remembered.

“I feel like you’re six again, going on some big adventure,” he said with a chuckle, his voice low. “Just remember to be home for dinner.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. It was strange, walking into an unknown that felt so much like a trap just waiting for me. But when it came down to protecting the man I loved, it was a risk I was willing to take.

“Don’t worry,” I said as I pulled away. “I’ll be home before you know it.”