Reaper Rituals in Witchwood Read online

  “The first girl?” Ivory asked.

  “Yeah. We need to get a reading on her—” I clocked eyes with Cass as she sipped her coffee in her shaking hands. “Has Hope been in touch with you?”

  She sighed. “No, and I can’t message her,” she said. “I know pre-teen girls, and I don’t want to come across as a weirdo.”

  It had been a long time since I was a pre-teen, and I couldn’t quite relate to the teens of today—not with all their gadgets and gizmos; unless they were talking crystals and gems. “Hopefully there’s some news from her soon.”

  “Are they just going to bury an empty box?” she asked.

  Ivory scoffed. “We’ve seen worse.”

  It was true. “We were once witnesses to a burial where the coffin was filled with butterflies and worms.”

  A shudder ran through Cass. “Ack.”

  “Try being there,” I said.

  “What? How?”

  “Some rebirth ritual.” I cradled the warm coffee cup in hand, pressing it to my lips and taking a sip. “It was horrendous. Rest assured, the rebirth didn’t last long, and they’re not harming anyone else now.”

  Ivory chuckled. “Happens all the time now with vampires and werewolves, to name the popular ones.”

  “Viruses,” I said, sipping down the coffee. It was strong and bitter, just the way I liked to be woken up.

  Fifteen minutes later and we were making sure we were wearing dark clothes, preferable warm and dark. There was no saying how cold it was bound to get in the night—while it was sunnier and summer was on the horizon, it certainly wasn’t ‘no-jacket’ weather. I wrapped a dark grey scarf around my neckline and pulled out my black matte leather jacket. It was the darkest thing I owned.

  I glanced at Jinx and Ivory at opposite ends of the hallway. They were both white; a white cat and a white barn owl. Definitely not sneaking in or out of anywhere, but they were animals and rules didn’t apply to them. I hated the notion that witches needed black cats, it was an awful stereotype—but some witches did have them, and that was okay too.

  “Spray paint?” I asked Cass.

  “What far?”

  “The familiars,” I chuckled.

  Jinx hissed. “Keep her away from me.”

  “I’m kidding.”

  She hissed once again. “I don’t care, you know what I can turn into.”

  I snapped my fingers once and fixed a small muzzle around Jinx’s mouth. “And I’m a witch, sweetie.”

  Cassandra chuckled. “That’s what you get for threatening her,” she told her cat. “I’m sure she’ll remove it soon.”

  “Don’t bet on it,” I grinned. “Okay. Have you got everything?”

  She nodded.

  I reached into my pocket, my knuckle grazing the moonstone.

  “I’ll meet you there,” Ivory said before leaving.

  We departed the house and left for the forest. We could have tried going in through the back entrance, but the front was wide, and without the custom invisibility cloak I’d once owned, I was stuck with using gems and crystals to get around it. There was nothing wrong with it, other than the wear time didn’t last too long. Panic set in, perhaps we’d walk and end up having the gems wear off as we were walking by the guards.

  Two of them. Two police officers.

  I was prepared for at least six, and then a few cars on patrol, up and down the road. But their line of defence consisted of two officers, standing chatting to each other at the gates. They laughed and joked, their voices travelled far as we travelled slow, listening from the end of the street.

  We had at least a two-minute walk up the road, and we’d need to use the moonstone on our way. Two minutes of a five-minute spell life. It was easy—right.

  EIGHTEEN

  The officers were quite chatty with each other, preoccupied as we walked by them. I think even if we hadn’t been holding moonstone, we might have been able to sneak all the way past them. Ivory had flown inside, and Jinx snuck in through the fence. It was just me and Cassandra, approaching with caution.

  “Do you think they’re right?” one of the officers asked.

  “Possibly a serial killer,” he replied with the nod of his head. “Think we’ll have our names mentioned if it is.”

  “Police officers in watch of forest where bodies found,” the other said.

  “Makes it sound like we just let it happen.”

  They sort of did just let it happen. We continued forward, hurrying, trying to get further ahead under the cover of the trees before the stone’s abilities wore off.

  “Took your time,” Ivory grumbled from the trees.

  Jinx scoffed; no longer in the muzzle I’d playfully attached to her.

  “Do you think it could be—” Cassandra began.

  “A serial killer?” I asked. “Of course, not.” There was more mystery to this than humans killing humans, this was monstrous, they were all over it.

  We walked slowly, trying to be quiet in the dirt, attempting to step over branches instead of on them. If anyone was in the forest with us, we couldn’t give away ourselves just yet—even if they knew we were here—the sound would have reassured that, and I wasn’t about to ruin something we had going because of a sound.

  “Is this the first time you’ve done this?” Cassandra asked.

  “First time?” I replied, stifling a laugh. “I’m not in my twenties anymore.” I’d definitely been in more forests and woodlands than I could even count. The number of cases that pulled me into a forest was beyond anything I could imagine. “Monsters and creatures find peace inside these places, this is where they think they’re safe. These places don’t have humans in after dark, these places are safe to them, it’s why they come to them to hide their kills.”

  “So, you’ve found bodies in places like this before?”

  I had—in fact, I’d found six bodies—not all at the same time, but I remembered, each and every single time I found a body, I remembered. Seeing the dead was always something you didn’t forget. I didn’t want to tell Cassandra that, she’d find out on her own in no time once she was out of my care. “Yes,” I said, plainly. “First time makes you a little sick.”

  “I’ve seen dead bodies before,” she said to my surprise.

  “You have?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “Well, my aunt died at the family house when I was sixteen, and my uncle died when I was nineteen—I saw both of them.”

  I had meant murdered, but dead bodies were still dead, the only difference was that murder could have been as painful or painless as the killer had intended, and we needed to know which one our killer had chosen—then we could find them. If it was painful, they may have been a werewolf or animal-type, if it was painless, they may have been a vampire or some other mentalist creature.

  Bleep. Bleep.

  “Cassandra,” I snapped.

  Bleep. Bleep.

  “Crap. Crap!” she frisked herself.

  Inside her pocket, she pulled out her bleeping phone. It continued to go off, bleeping until she answered, walking away slightly while she spoke.

  “Well, let’s hope nobody heard,” I said to Ivory and Jinx.

  Ivory swooped down, landing on the ground with a thud in the leaves. “I’m going to find the crystals you laid out,” she said. “I’ll circle around and see.”

  “Should I—” Jinx began, turning her head in her fluffy white coat. “I stand out like a sore thumb.”

  She was a little bit like a night light in this darkness, but it wasn’t a bad thing. “Go up ahead,” I told her.

  Cassandra rushed back in a panic, gasping for air and her fingers trembling around her phone, pushing it into her trouser pocket. “Nora, Nora, Nora,” she said in a low voice. “She’s at the house.”

  “What? Who?”

  “Destiny.”

  Impossible. I had the wires set up. “She can’t be.” My forehead creased in thought, focusing on the wires I’d set up at the family home. “None of them have
gone off.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked. “I don’t know what it would feel like even if they did.”

  “Oh, you’d know.” I was positive. I’d hit every entry point, from doors to windows. “Where is she?”

  “She’s outside.”

  I panicked with a hand to my chest. “I wasn’t going crazy,” I said. “So, she’s not entered the house yet.”

  “Hope said she’d text me if she did.”

  I nodded. “Well, it’s warded, so she won’t be able to enter anyway,” I said. “She probably knows this. You should go.”

  “What about you?”

  “I can look after myself here—plus, I have Ivory and Jinx up ahead looking out.”

  She smiled. “Okay, perfect. I think that’s a good idea.”

  “Do you know your way?”

  Tapping at the side of her head, she smiled wider. “Of course, I know.” She turned and walked back.

  “Don’t forget the moonstone,” I called after her, quickly placing a hand over my mouth, hoping I wasn’t too loud.

  I continued walking forward, heading in the direction of the square field we’d prepared earlier.

  Crunch.

  On my heel, I turned. “Back already?” I asked, expecting to see Cassandra.

  Nothing.

  Crunch.

  “Cass?”

  Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

  “Ack.”

  Crash.

  I fell backwards.

  NINETEEN

  Laughter came from ahead, a gut-rumbling chuckle. I’d know that laugh from anywhere. I knew it alright. The air whipped around me, and a cold stillness followed.

  “Philip,” I grumbled, dusting the dirt from my hands.

  His hand grabbed mine. It was freezing. He pulled me up and swooped an arm beneath my body. “How nice to finally get close.”

  “In your dreams,” I said, standing on his foot.

  He let go of my hand and continued in his chuckling. “You’re alone,” he said. “Where’s the girl?”

  “Did you come to see her?” I asked.

  “Well, no.”

  “So, it’s a personal visit?” I asked. “And during a time of investigation. I’m sure the Council would love to hear all about the distraction you’ve become.”

  “A distraction,” he repeated, the words slipped off his tongue like he was some kind of snake, spitting out the tip of his tongue. “I like the sound of it.”

  Oh. I knew he did. I rolled my eyes in his direction. “Tell me what you want, Phil.”

  “You?” He shook his head, grinning his teeth in the moonlight. “I’m here for the same reasons as you. We’re both on the job.”

  “Hard to believe,” I said aloud. “I’m sure they asked you—”

  “They did.”

  I walked a little further. “Fine. Then I’m sure they wouldn’t want you to become a distraction to the people around you.”

  He gasped, feigning shock in his amateur dramatics, placing a hand to his forehead. “I’ve missed this,” he said, grabbing my hand and pulling me into his arms once again. He spun me around and dipped me back. He dipped, his head lowering to mine.

  “No,” I said, slapping him across the face. “If you’re not forgetting, this didn’t end well last time.”

  He shrugged, pulling me up to let go. “You’re just going to replace me with a human then?”

  “Perhaps.”

  “Your gardener?”

  I gulped hard. It wasn’t on my mind—at least not the front of my mind. Of course, I felt a certain way for Greg, he was sweet, and he did my gardening, which of course was always a huge bonus. “Quite frankly, that’s none of your business.”

  He waved a hand at me. “I’m sure I could do better things for you,” he replied. “We could go flying. We could get a better vantage point. We could work together—we could get me some brownie points.”

  “Brownie points?” I grumbled. “I hope they’re not using real brownies at the Council now.”

  He laughed. “Name an evil brownie.”

  True. There weren’t any. “So, you’re helping so they’ll set you free?”

  “Kinda.”

  “I’ll let you help, but you have to tell me what you know about the energy in the town,” I said. “I know it’s growing. I can feel the people coming here.” I couldn’t feel the energy pull itself, that wasn’t in a witch’s repertoire, but I knew when there was something coming, and I knew when there was something already here—even if sometimes it took me a little while to notice.

  “There isn’t.”

  “Liar.”

  He held his hands up. “There’s a miniature pull,” he said, “but it’s nothing. It’s pulling weaker creatures to it.”

  “You think someone is doing this?”

  He shrugged. “Since I’m on this—” he gestured to his ankle monitor “—I can’t do half as much as I could, like feel the intoxicating smell of your energy or the power around me.”

  “You sound pretty useless then.”

  He took my arm once again. “I can still teleport. I can still fly, and I’m sure I can—”

  Zap. Bleep.

  Zap. Bleep.

  Zap.

  A series of thundering crunches hit out at the temples of my forehead. I hadn’t experienced anything like it—at least not to this level. The tripwire.

  “Someone’s here!” I called out, grabbing Phil’s arm. “Someone tripped the wire.”

  “Wire?”

  The zapping continued, duller now. We had to race, we needed to get to the square. This is what I feared. Someone had crossed the path, and there was nobody there to catch them in the act.

  “Ivory,” I grumbled. “Whoever is there, keep them in place.”

  “Ivory is here?”

  “Whatever it takes,” I said, focusing all my energy on Ivory.

  But there was nothing in return. Her presence was amiss. Either she wasn’t close, or there was something blocking her from my messages. I didn’t like either of those thoughts, and neither option brought happiness.

  Phil grabbed my hand again. “Where is it?” he asked. “Let me take you there.”

  I yanked my hand from his again. “Up ahead,” I said. “That’s where I’m going.”

  In the distance, I could see small bulbs of red in place of where I’d placed the crystals—it meant they’d been tripped. It meant a creature had crossed them. I was sure as we travelled quickly, that we’d spooked whoever it had been into leaving the scene.

  “Ivory,” I called out again, and there was still not a single reply.

  “Probably just an animal,” Philip said, keeping pace as he walked—which was a first for him, I’m sure. “I can’t feel—”

  “No,” I said, stopping and throwing a finger to his chest with a thump. “You wouldn’t, they’ve watered down your power. You wouldn’t know if there was anything other than you and I standing in this forest.”

  “Harsh,” he grumbled.

  “You’re getting in the way,” I said, turning on a heel, whipping my hair back behind my neck as I marched on. “Ivory?”

  My stomach was tied in knots. I raced further, I chased faster. I needed to get ahead of everything. I needed to be in the centre of the square. I needed to see the ground. I needed to know what was going on and why the pounding at my temples hadn’t gone yet.

  It vanished with a whomp.

  “Ivory?”

  TWENTY

  Philip continued harping on about it being an animal. I raced forward as he grabbed my arm, pulling me back, pulling me away from reaching the square. He must have known something I didn’t. I panicked. Philip pinned me back against a tree. He pressed a finger to my lips. Hushing me.

  “Quiet,” he said.

  “Get off me!”

  “Be quiet.”

  Whomp.

  He fell forwards, his grasp on me going. I took a deep breath and looked out ahead to see Cassandra holding a large branch in ha
nd.

  “Cassandra, what are you doing?” I asked, stepping over Phil on the ground.

  “I heard,” she said. “I came back as quick as I could.”

  “Did you even—”

  “Didn’t make it out of the forest.”

  We were still a minute away from reaching the square. I dipped to Phil’s side and sighed. “I can’t feel Ivory.”

  “She’s a familiar,” Cass said. “She’ll be fine.” She joined me at the other side of Phil.

  “Let’s pin him to a tree,” I said. “Get your thread ready, we’re going to be going all around, and I’m not going to spare him with any chances, not this time. He knows something, and he’s not telling us a single word.”

  “Has he done this before?” she asked.

  There was more to it this time, he was trying to save his own skin from the wrath of the Council. “Not to me,” I said. He’d always been nice with me, he had taken a liking to me and it played in my favour when I was hunting down his friends.

  We lifted and held him back against the tree as we wrapped thread around his body. Cassandra reached his feet and noticed the bracelet around his ankle—she jumped back slightly at the sight of the device.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “How long do we have?” I asked, turning around on the spot. “We still need to get to Ivory, I know she’s out there somewhere.”

  A hiss sounded from behind us. “Ivory’s a goner.” Jinx appeared in all her glory. “Is he responsible?”

  “What?” I snapped. “Where is she?”

  Jinx nodded her head toward the square. “Somewhere over there.”

  Pressing at each ring on both my hands, I felt a rush of energy consume me as I raced to find Ivory. And I did—laid on her back—in the dirt—the leaves—the grass. I dropped to her, just outside the square of glowing red crystals. Someone had tripped it, someone had done this to Ivory.

  “Ivory?” I said in a sob, stroking the side of her face. “Come on, girl. I can’t have you going out like this. You’re supposed to leave me when you’re old—or when I’m old.”

  Cassandra and Jinx approached from behind. “Is she okay?”