Page 21 of Autumn L.A.W

Ezra hesitated.

SQUEAK.

“I wasn’t trying to lie. I was choosing my words carefully.”

“Just spit it out.”

“Fine,” Ezra snapped. “It marked her.”

Sahara went very still.

Rayna stopped pacing. “Define ‘marked’ before I set you on fire.”

Ezra leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “When Sahara first stepped near the obelisk, the structure resonated in response. That shouldn’t happen unless the obelisk recognized something in her signature. When it lashed at her again today, that wasn’t an attack. It was calibration.”

Joell took off her sunglasses and placed them on top of her head. “Like it’s trying to tune itself to her?”

Ezra nodded once. “Or tune her to it.”

Rayna’s jaw clenched. “And how do we un-mark her?”

Ezra didn’t answer fast enough.

SQUEAK.

“I don’t know yet.”

Lioness whispered, “Okay, wow, he really doesn’t know.”

Ezra glared at the chair. “This is unnecessary commentary.”

Rayna leaned in. “You’re going to figure it out. Before that thing tries to claim her again.”

Ezra nodded. No squeak.

Sahara finally spoke. “Rayna… I’m okay. Mostly. I just need⁠—”

But she didn’t finish, because her knees buckled.

Ezra moved instantly, grabbing one arm to catch her without overstepping. Rayna cursed and grabbed Sahara’s other side as Lioness darted in.

“Kitchen,” Rayna snapped. “We’re taking her to the infirmary. And if any of you make fun of the fact that we even have an infirmary⁠—”

Lioness raised a hand. “I would never. But also, we have an infirmary?”

“It’s a one-cot closet we’ve used maybe three times,” Joell said.

They half-guided, half-carried Sahara through the kitchen to the tiny room tucked behind the pantry. The cot creaked under her as she sank down, pale and shaky.

Ezra stood at the foot of the bed, hands clasped behind his back like he was afraid to touch anything in case it exploded.

Rayna pointed at him. “Explain what’s happening.”

Ezra inhaled deeply. “There’s residual resonance clinging to her aura. The mansion’s wards reacted because they’re designed to reject external magical marking. That’s actually helpful. But the connection isn’t severed.”

Sahara closed her eyes. “I can still feel it. Like slight pressure. Waiting.”

Ezra nodded. “That’s because the obelisk isn’t sentient, but it behaves like it when activated. It reaches. It responds. It learns.”