Yays! I has a villain! Yes, Soren Ackerley is going to be the antagonist throughout my novel this year. The guy is nothing but trouble.
**
“This is where she died,” Robin hissed through the darkness.
Alaric nodded and then gasped softly as he felt the familiar tickle of another wizard. He caught Robin by the arm and drew her back. At the same time, he drew his power inward, silently praying to the Mother of Mysteries that the other wizard hadn’t sensed him.
“What?” Robin breathed.
Grimacing, Alaric said, “There’s another wizard – probably the one who summoned her.”
Robin nodded and they proceeded more slowly. Alaric led the way now. He peered around the corner of the stairway and frowned. Adele was standing in front of a slight figure in a dark cloak and a top hat. It was almost certainly her wizardly master.
“Let’s get closer,” Robin said, her voice faint.
Nodding, Alaric moved up the steps until they were near enough for him to see who the wizard was. He recognized the other man immediately. Stifling a gasp, he crouched down, pulling Robin down with him.
“What?”
“Ackerley,” Alaric growled. “Soren Ackerley! I should have known – suspected, at least – that he would be involved somehow. Who else would turn the daughter of a simple tailor into a revenant?”
“Someone you know?” Robin said, arching an eyebrow at him.
Alaric nodded. The question was: what did Soren Ackerley want with the girl? How could two people such as them even meet?
