The rune glowed so softly I almost missed it. If Leah had not slammed me with a lecture about paying attention on searches, maybe I would have walked right past it. But there it was. A faint shimmer under the top layer of snow. Silver light leaking into the cold ground like it had been waiting for me.
The mark on my skin pulsed at the exact same rhythm. One flash. Pause. Another flash. Like a heartbeat that was not mine at all. I crouched lower without thinking. The wind felt wrong. My breath fogged in front of me, but the air around the rune looked warmer, even though it was glowing with icy light.
I got that feeling again. The prickly one that crawls over my shoulders when something out there is watching me. Something older than my pack. Something that already knows my name.
Snow crun
