Dark Secrets - Linsey Hall Page 0,4

loo.” Mac pointed to the statue, which was covered in white drips.

I smiled, but even the joke wasn’t enough to distract me from the tug on my soul. I slowly approached the wall, curiosity pulling at me. As I cut across the grassy square, I avoided the larger clumps of flowers that were wet from the rain. The day was too cool to get my trousers soaked.

But the closer I came to the wall, the more strongly it pulled.

It almost…sang to me.

I picked up the pace, forgetting my reluctance to wade through the flowers. Vaguely, I recognized that the calves of my jeans were getting wet, but I plowed onward, determined to reach the wall.

What was it about this place?

“Carrow!” Mac’s voice sounded from behind me, echoing slightly with concern.

I could barely hear it.

I kept going, unable to resist the wall’s siren call.

I reached it and pressed my hand to the rough, shimmering stone. Magic. Mac shouted my name again, but the stone wall held my attention. It pulsed, changing in temperature from cool to warm. Dark magic surrounded it, sickening me, but my fascination with the wall was stronger than my discomfort.

A vision flashed in my mind of me walking into the wall, stepping through the stone, which should be impossible.

What happened here?

I asked the question but got no answer. Again, that steel barrier flew up between the information and my vision. This place was also protected by a spell.

But something happened here.

I pressed my hand harder to the stone, desperate to figure it out.

“Carrow!” Mac’s voice was at my ear now, and her hands wrapped around my arms. She pulled me back, yanking hard.

My hand broke contact with the wall, and I stumbled against Mac. Her arms tightened around me.

“What’s going on?” I asked, struggling in her grasp.

“You went into some kind of trance.”

I turned and caught sight of her white face. Seraphia stood next to her, a frown drawing her eyebrows together. “It was strange, Carrow,” said the librarian. “As you neared the building, you seemed to…disappear, almost.”

“And your eyes are glowing again,” Mac said.

Shit. I looked back at the wall. It still pulsed with magic. “I don’t understand. It calls to me, but it’s so dark.”

“Because of Orion’s Heart?” Mac asked.

“I don’t know.”

I looked back at her and frowned. A dark light seemed to surround her. It came from the wall, creeping along the ground and up her legs. Seraphia glowed, too. They were standing close enough that the magic reached them.

“Mac…” I touched her shoulder gently, but she didn’t feel any different. “You’re pale.”

“I—” Her brow creased, and she grimaced, folding over on herself. “I don’t feel well,” she gasped.

“Me, either,” Seraphia said, going to her knees.

Panic flared. “What’s happened?”

“A curse.” Mac straightened, her entire body shaking. “It’s the wall, somehow. I can feel it.”

I looked back. The wall glowed with dark magic, magic that had infected Mac and Seraphia. My heart raced. “How do we fix you?”

“Let’s go to Eve.” Mac looked at me, confusion flickering in her eyes. “Do you not feel bad?”

“Not really, no.” I swallowed hard. Why was I so different?

It wasn’t that I wanted to be cursed, but…

why not me, too?

“You have the faint darkness to you, though.” Seraphia staggered upright. “The curse seems to be hovering around you.”

Maybe it likes me.

It was a terrible thought.

“We need to get you to Eve,” I said.

“We also need to figure out what the hell this is.” Mac pointed to the wall, her voice firmer. “She can’t fix us if we don’t know what the curse is.”

“Have you ever heard of anyone being cursed by a wall?” Even the words sounded insane.

“No.” Mac shook her head. “But objects can hold curses, and this is a particularly big object.”

“Then how did it get cursed? And with what?” I clenched my fist, resisting the urge to touch it. It was hard, though. The darkness in the stones called to me.

But I don’t want to be that person.

I turned from the wall.

“We can get ourselves to Eve,” Mac said. “But we need you to figure out what’s going on. Are you okay here alone?”

“Yeah. Fine.” I stepped away from the wall, hoping to fight its fascination. The weight of my bag pulled at my shoulder, the book reminding me of its presence. “Seraphia, have you found anything else about this in the library?”

“Nothing. I checked the entire history section, too, hoping to find a clue about the missing pages.”

I nodded. “Okay. I know someone to ask.”

Mac’s