Standing next to Gethin by the arcanite crater, the forest was eerily silent, as if it was waiting for something to happen. The crime scene team hadn't arrived yet, but I needed to do something to escape the heaviness of the silence.

I shivered and moved closer to the hole. Something wasn't right. My fingers twitched by my side, and I felt a strange urge to touch the disturbed earth. I knelt down, my hands hovering over the ground, feeling the pain of the earth.

There were marks in the earth. They were faint, and I wouldn't have noticed them if I hadn't been looking, or if I weren't so connected to the land. I didn't recognize the symbols scratched into the dirt.

"Gethin," I called, not wanting to disturb the quiet.

He was by my side at once, peering down at the ground where I was pointing. "What is it?"

"Look at these." I traced the outline of one of the symbols with my finger without touching it, and Gethin crouched down to get a better look.

He frowned, studying them. "I've never seen anything like this," he said. "Do you know what they are?"

I shook my head. "I don't. But they feel familiar somehow. Significant, as if they're part of this."

He met my gaze. "They look like some kind of sigil or, something?"

"I don't know," I said. "But why here? And why make them so hard to see?"

"Let's take some photos. We need to document everything anyway," Gethin said.

I knelt there, my fingers almost touching the strange symbols, and the earth's whisper filled my mind. "Could they be part of some kind of ritual?" I said.

Gethin was there, a reassuring presence at my side, his eyes fixed on the patterns. "Maybe," he said. "Rituals often use symbols to focus energy or intention. But they could be something else."

"Like what?" I asked, looking up at him. His face was thoughtful, the look that told me he was considering all possibilities.

"Well," he said. "They could be markers."

"Markers?" I repeated, frowning.

"Yeah," Gethin said. "Like a way of claiming something or somewhere. Think of them like a tag, a signature for those in the know. Or a signpost, a way to find this spot again."

I shivered at the thought of the shadow marking the forest as his own. It felt possessive, like it was owned.

"Or," Gethin said, shifting his weight as he studied the symbols. "They could be warnings."

"Warnings?" My blood ran cold.

"It's not unheard of," Gethin said. "In some circles, vigils are left to keep others away or protect something valuable."

I nodded. It made sense that the shadow would want to protect his arcanite source from others.

"There's another possibility," Gethin said.

"What's that?" I asked.

"They could be a red herring," he said. "A way to lead us away from the truth. If the shadow knew we'd find this place."

I sighed. If it was a distraction, it was a clever one.

Gethin put a hand on my shoulder. "Let's take some photos of the symbols, then explore the area a bit more."

Gethin took photos with his phone. My mind raced as I mulled over the meaning of the symbols. Were they a message? A statement? A warning? Something else? And why did they feel familiar to me, especially if Gethin didn't recognise them?

When he had finished, I crouched down and looked at the symbols again. I wanted to memorize them. Then I had an idea. What if I could sense arcanite? I had felt it being pulled from the earth in my vision. Maybe there was some residual energy I could pick up on.

I closed my eyes and tried to remember the sensation from my vision. It was sharp and strong, like an electric current running through the ground. I reached out with my awareness into the earth beneath me, looking for the same feeling.

At first, there was nothing but the cold, damp soil and the quiet hum of life from the trees and plants around me. But when I concentrated harder, I could feel it. A faint pulse, like a heartbeat, deep in the ground.

I opened my eyes and looked at Gethin. "I think... I think I can feel it."

He looked at me, concern in his eyes. "Feel what?"

"The arcanite," I said. "There's more here. I'm sure of it."

Gethin straightened up, scanning the surrounding forest. "Can you tell where?"

I paused for a moment, then nodded. "I think so." It was more than a thought now. It was a pull in my gut, drawing me to something I couldn't see.

"Show me," Gethin said.

We moved away from the hole, picking our way through the undergrowth. My senses on high alert. The feeling grew stronger with every step I took. Until it was unmistakable. There was a vein of arcanite under our feet.

"Here," I said, coming to a halt in a small clearing. The trees reached up and their branches entwined high above us. The thrumming under my feet was like a chord that resonated with my own energy.

Gethin looked around and then back at me. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," I said. "It's here. I know it is."

I could feel the arcanite beneath my feet like a song, its notes clear and compelling. Gethin and I followed the vein, purposefully making our way through the forest. I felt like I was being led somewhere new, but impossibly familiar.

The energy pulsed and resonated deep within me. It was a feeling I couldn't quite describe, like coming home after a long absence, or hearing a long-forgotten tune that once brought you joy. It was like a primal connection to the earth, something that was more than just physical.

The arcanite seam led us to the edge of my property. I felt my heart race as I realised where we were heading. The old oak tree, the one that had whispered secrets to me under the moonlit sky, loomed large and silent in front of us, its twisted branches reaching skywards.

Gethin stayed close by my side, scanning our surroundings with his sharp eyes. The oak was more than just a tree. It was a guardian of the land.

The arcanite pulsed in time with my heart as we stood beneath the tree's canopy. I could feel the energy in the air around us. I knew we'd found what we were looking for.

"This is it," I said, almost afraid to break the silence that surrounded us.

Gethin nodded, his eyes fixed on the oak. "It's here," he said in a low voice.

The ground at the base of the tree was covered in a thick layer of leaves and moss, undisturbed except for our footprints. I knelt down and brushed the natural debris away from the earth. There was no visible sign of arcanite here, no glimmer or unnatural formation, but I could feel the arcanite more strongly than ever.

I placed my hands on the soil and closed my eyes. The song of the arcanite was loud within me. I could feel it deep within the earth, entwined with the roots of the old oak.

"It's all around us," I said, looking up into Gethin's intense gaze. "The arcanite runs through this land like the blood in my veins."

"So we know it was a warlock then. They're the ones who use it," said Gethin.

"Do we? I think Fiona stole the arcanite from Bella's hand the other night. I'm sure it was a female hand that took it."