"Well, not something like a big cross pointing at some treasure, but still. I don't know… If there was one you did not recognize it would have been the next spot for me to look at."
"I see…"
He stares at the map again for a while. We are now both at a loss and honestly, I don't even know what to say next. It's getting a bit uncomfortable, and I'm upset to be left without a clue again. Suddenly, Liam points out two locations with his fingers, making me confused.
"What?"
"Well, I do recognize everything, but these two are the ones I actually don't really understand."
I frown, staring at the two locations.
"What do you mean?"
"All the other locations she put make sense for Sylviana to have pointed out. Like, she's been here before, it's related to her past with Nora, Selena, or me… but these two, I was actually surprised she painted them when we figured them out. This one is the North Cemetery. I don’t recall her ever going there at all. That location is originally for Selena's clan, the northern werewolves. A lot of deceased people from the war are all there, that's why I know about it. Although, I don't know why she would have been there before, and if they are victims of the war, they were buried after Sylviana…"
He can't seem to say it, but I get it. So she never saw those people being buried there, which makes no sense as to why this place would be relevant to her.
"No one she knows is buried there...?"
"No... Only werewolves she was never close to, like Selena's adoptive parents. I think the only wolf she did know from the north was Selena's godmother, but she isn't buried there either..."
I check out the other spot.
"What about the docks? No link either?"
"Yeah," he says, shaking his head. "I mean, I can't figure that one out. It's more a thing of my past and my older brother's... I never took her there, to be honest, she wasn't a... cheeseburger kind of person."
"Vegetarian?"
"Vegan."
I bet. Liam keeps frowning.
"I thought it might be because I told her about my brother working there, but it makes less sense to her… less than any of the other spots."
So we do have two new leads… After a while, though, I'm somehow more intrigued by that cemetery situation. Why is there always something related to death lingering around…? That professor from the university mentioned something like necromancy, was Sylviana into that too?
I glimpse at the Witches' Ancestral tree again, at the burn mark after Nephera's name. Did her child even have a name for it to be erased? What about the others whose names disappeared from the tree? I suddenly realize something else. It looks like only the stillborn children are erased, as all witches whose name is a few branches above must have died by now too. If it was just the dead ones, most of those names would be gone, but only a few are erased.
"Oh, crap..."
I see Liam stand up, frowning, and looking toward the window. I stand up too, confused.
"What?"
"One of our wolves spotted something outside the barrier. I have to go."
"Wait, I'm coming with you," I say, walking to grab his jacket.
However, to my surprise, Liam comes and gently takes his jacket back from my hands, shaking his head. Our eyes meet and for a while, I feel that spark again, between us and down to my stomach... I see him gasp, and for a second there, I'm even more troubled. I didn't realize he had come that close to grab his jacket, and that space between us is full of something I can't describe.
"No," he suddenly says.
"Wait, what? Why not?"
He carefully steps back as one would back away from a dangerous tiger. He glances outside.
"It's still raining, Mara, at best, you're only going to get a new headache and come out for nothing. Even if there is something outside, it is not for you to deal with."
