let our guard down?”
“Hawthorne’s too smart for that,” Silas replies. “He knows we’ll have the advantage if we’re with others of our kind. That’s why he’s leaving it up to Edith to take these groups down.”
“Guess we’ll just have to hope they’ve been practising,” Landon says.
We’ve been walking for about twenty minutes and are now on the outskirts of Oxford; the river Thames stretches out alongside us as we make our way north, towards the Osney B ridge, and the water looks frigid and tempestuous. Rather appropriate, if you ask me. All along either side of the road are stately manor homes along with newer apartment buildings, creating a strange clash of old and modern that I can’t quite wrap my head around.
Staying close to the pedestrian walkway, we follow the road up and over the blue and white bridge, a few cars puttering past us as we go. It’s still too early for there to be a lot of traffic, but there’s enough to put me on edge, and judging by the guys’ expressions, I’m not the only one. I don’t really let myself relax until after we’re across, no longer exposed above the river, as the road slopes downward again along the opposite bank.
“Silas?” I ask gently, aware that this is a delicate subject for the dragon shifter. “Any idea what we should be looking for?”
Silas pauses, brow furrowing as he peers around at the banks of buildings. “We lived in the suburbs,” he says at last. “Obviously we couldn’t be too overt about it, considering most humans don’t even know shifters exist. Then there was the Academy to worry about; we couldn’t exactly flaunt our magic.”
Landon frowns. “So you’re saying… what, there’s some kind of secret sign?”
“For us, it was an enchantment,” Silas replies as we make our way down the street, the wind ruffling our hair. “Something one of the resident witches set up. To humans, it was invisible, but shifters could see the real name of the community on the gate.”
“Keep your eyes peeled,” I say. “It could be anywhere around here.” What I don’t say, but I’m sure the others have figured out, is that if we can track this place down, then it should be no problem for Edith. The possibility that she’s already taken the whole district out crosses my mind, but I don’t allow myself to consider it for more than a moment. I’ve had enough disappointments in the last few days to last a lifetime.
We lapse into silence as we pick our way through the area, peering down alleyways and side streets, on the lookout for anything that might jump out at us. For a while, we find nothing, and I’m just starting to lose hope when I hear a triumphant cry from behind us.
Glancing over my shoulder, I see Hunter standing back, looking up at the side of an enormous luxury apartment building. “I think I’ve got something,” he says, beckoning the rest of us over.
We gather around him and follow his gaze to the brownstone wall around the corner from the entrance. At first, I don’t see anything out of the ordinary other than a splash of faded graffiti that looks like it was scrubbed off a long time ago. It’s only as I stare up at it that it morphs and shifts before my eyes, the colourful block letters transforming from an indecipherable mess into a series of five pictographs: a moon, a stylised pentagram, a minimalistic flame, a wave, and a droplet of blood.
“Subtle,” Shade says approvingly. “Not bad.”
“No sense waiting around,” Landon says. “Come on, I’m freezing my ass off.”
The rest of us don’t need to be told twice and follow the siren shifter back around to the front entrance. An old-fashioned revolving door leads us into a posh lobby, complete with immaculate seating, tapestries on the walls, and a doorman who eyes us suspiciously as he watches us pass.
If we were lucky at Caleb and Jennifer’s place, that luck has just run out; almost as soon as we’re inside, an older gentleman sitting at the security desk gets to his feet. “Excuse me,” he says, “may I ask what your business is here?”
I take the lead, just grateful to be out of the cold for a few minutes. “To be honest, we’re not really sure,” I reply as we approach the desk. “We’re—” I pause, look around, and then lower my voice. If this is the wrong place… “We saw the mural outside,” I