Caroline awoke to the sound of the rooster crowing. Infernal buzzard, she thought as she swung her feet out of bed, her thoughts forming slowly in preparation for the day ahead on the farm. It was only when her toes brushed the cold stone floor of Castle Mont did the young witch remember where her eyes had opened that morning.
Gone were the wooden floorboards of the farmhouse, and she realized the smell of Nim's cooking from downstairs was absent. Her head spun as reality crashed down around her. Her eyes traveled to her right hand, where she examined the light blue tattoo again in the early light of morning. The thin blue lines hadn't faded at all, as she had hoped. If anything, the color looked more vibrant in the rays of sunshine spilling through the carved stone window in her tower room.
