Chapter 163

The record reached the end and the needle skipped on the vinyl, making me flinch as the sound scratched through the horn speaker. Josiah walked over to the gramophone, gently lifting the arm and placing the needle back to the beginning of the disc. I recognised the voice and the song. Etta James. The name popped randomly into my head, feeling like the only one true thing on which my chaotic thoughts could focus. At last, my love has come along, my lonely days are over.... Etta James. The famous American blues singer. Her voice made the hair on the back of my neck prickle and the goose bumps ripple across my skin. The lyrics were beautiful, emotive, haunting.... Caelan. Oh my God, Caelan. The female seer kept those large white eyes fixed upon me and I noticed how the one on the left was slightly closed at the edge, where the skin on her eyelid was puckered and red, blending into the mass of scar tissue that made up her face on that sid