Reaper Rituals in Witchwood Page 8
Reaching beneath Ivory, I held her, pulling her into my arms and against my chest. I cooed and petted her head.
“Ack.”
It came from Ivory.
Her wings batted against my arms.
“Ivory,” I cried, tears in my eyes.
“Who did it?” she snapped. “I was in the air one minute—and bam—I was out of it.”
We glanced across to Philip tied to the tree.
“Was it him?” she snapped again. “I’ll peck his eyes out.”
“No, no,” I said. “I don’t think it was him. He was with me.” Or at least I thought he had been—I’d hoped he had been. I didn’t want to think he was capable of harming Ivory, but he’d pinned me to the tree and scared the living life out of me.
“But we’re not convinced,” Cassandra said.
“What did you feel?” I asked, stroking the back of Ivory’s neck. “Who was it?”
She slapped the floor with her wing. “No idea now.”
I knew the feeling, I had no idea what was going on.
Cassandra walked ahead towards the crystals. “Someone tripped them.”
“Phil seemed to think it was an animal,” I said.
Jinx scoffed. “He must be more stupid than he looks.”
He wasn’t, he was quite clever, which is why I was a little shocked by what he was theorising. I had so many questions for him, too many questions that I needed answers to, but we couldn’t do it here.
In the thick of the forest, darkness encroached on my sight from all angles. I relied on the power in my rings and the little energy I possessed through the panic I was in. A lot had already happened tonight, leaving me with more questions than answers.
“Nora,” Cassandra called out.
I turned quickly, stumbling over a branch on the ground. “Find something?”
“Oh. Goddess.”
Pulling myself to my feet from a nearby tree, I hurried forward in search of her voice, stepping on my tiptoes. A pounding thud rang out in my eardrums, the impending war drums of doom, the ones they used to signal armed forces were on the way.
“Cass?” I called in a low whisper.
“Here.”
In the dim light, I caught her quivering, a hand pressed to her lips, covering her mouth and nose. I took her free hand in mine, squeezing it. “What is it?”
“I can’t—I can’t look.”
“I will.” My throat tightened.
I turned.
I looked.
I saw.
There it was. A hand covered in dirt and scratch marks. The hand connected to an arm, and the arm to a—I turned back.
“Who’s out there?” I gruff voice called out.
Two flashlights appeared ahead, shining directly at us.
My squeeze on Cassandra’s hand grew tighter as I pulled her. We had to go back.
“Is she dead?”
She certainly wasn’t alive.
Cassandra came to an abrupt stop, pausing in place she grabbed at something on her necklace. “I’ve got a way out.” A small blue gemstone hung at the bottom of the silver chain. “I’ll explain later.”
“Let’s get Phil.”
“I don’t mind leave—”
“We’re taking him.”
There was no arguing with the fact, we were taking Phil with us. He might not have been the best person to have on our side right now, but there were still a lot of questions that he needed to answer for. We were taking him.
TWENTY-ONE
We arrived home in a flash as Cassandra used a stone around her necklace to teleport us all back—including Philip tangled in witch thread. A loud banging sounded through the entire house, and for seconds, I thought it was coming from my mind—it was possible the wire had been tripped again.
“Nora, are you in?” a voice called out.
Thump. Thump.
Greg? I wondered.
The entire house was dark, it wasn’t like we were possibly inside, it was also late, and he couldn’t have thought we’d be awake. I rubbed at my eyes a little to make them look lightly worn. I pressed a finger to my lip, hushing Cassandra and the animals in the living room before heading to the front door.
“Greg?” I asked, my voice a little shaken as I answered.
“Nora, Nora,” he gasped as the door flew open. “I left something important. I really need it.”
“Blimey, Greg,” I said with a half-smile. “You almost shook me from my insides with all that racket.”
“I know, I know,” he said, hanging his head and stroking the back of his neck. “It’s just that I forgot all about it when I was collecting my things, and I have an early start in the morning at one of the big houses up the road.”
“Well, what is it?”
“My sheers.”
“Oh?” I turned slightly. “I’ll get them for you. Everyone is sleeping, and I don’t want to make any sound.”
He nodded. “Gotcha.”
Thud. It came from the living room.
“What was that?” he asked, gasping—on edge.
“Cassandra’s cat,” I said with an eye roll. “She’s always knocking everything over.”
He chuckled. “I had a cat once, but it would knock cups from the kitchen counter like some sort of game.” He shivered. “Gave him away a week later.”
I smiled at him. “I’ll be just a moment—let me go grab your sheers.” As I pressed the door closed, he began saying something else.
“They’re near the bush at the back of the garden.”
“You’ve always got to play it human,” I told myself as I approached the sheers leaning against Ivory’s shed at the bottom of the garden. Playing human was easy, you just had to remember they couldn’t do anything beyond their physical body—unlike a witch with magical abilities.
Another thud sounded as I walked back inside with the gardening tool. It came from the living room—it was heavy, like someone muffling a scream. This wasn’t how to play human—at least not the kind that didn’t kidnap people.
“Here you go,” I said, handing them over.
“Everything okay in there?” he continued.
“Might be the TV,” I said. “She’s always putting her paw on the remote.” I shook my head and puffed out my cheeks. “She’s probably trying to get someone’s attention, bet she wants feeding.”
He chuckled. “Is she staying long?”
No. She wasn’t—she wouldn’t be here that long at all. I shook my head before closing the door on him.
“Nora,” a hushed voice called out from the living room. “Get in here.”
Entering the living room, I saw Philip strapped to my chair in the witch thread—straining against the burning elastic thread. He grunted and grumbled. He’d been gagged as well with a toy mouse. A smile formed on my face—it wasn’t helped. I had to, Philip was sat with a toy mouse stuffed in his mouth—gagging him to be quiet.
“Can I get a picture?” I laughed.
He grumbled, a menacing scowl took over his face. “No.”
“That’s not a way to play nice,” I told him.
Ivory puffed out her feathers. “I want to know who did it,” she said. “Someone knocked me unconscious.” She patted a wing at Philip’s ankle, battering at the monitor.
“Ah. No,” he said in a muffle.
I yanked the toy from his mouth. “Are you going to answer the questions?”
He didn’t have a choice. He’d answer, or he’d end up back where he started—in the hellhole, the Witches Council pulled him from.
He shook his head. “I don’t know what your questions are.”
Cassandra snapped her fingers and Philip’s eyelids fell heavy, forcing him to sleep once again. “We’ll give him five minutes,” she said, taking a deep breath. She jigged her arms and legs around for a moment. “I have too much energy inside me.”
“I want to believe he had nothing to do with this,” I said. “But he was there, he’s been there through all of this, and
now we don’t have anything. Not a single answer. Not a single lead.”
“Did you see the body?” she asked.
Parts of it. Not all of it. “I didn’t see any markings.”
Cass huffed and stomped a foot. “My first case, and it’s all going straight down the toilet.”
“No, no, no,” Jinx purred. “You’re doing a great job.” She weaved between Cass’ legs, brushing her thick white fur against her.
I wasn’t sure how true that was—we had no leads—this wasn’t going well at all. The closest thing to a lead we had was gone, and now all we had was an unconscious sylph seated in my good armchair. If the ankle bracelet was inhibiting his powers, he couldn’t be doing what we thought—but it didn’t stop him using his limited powerset.
“We should drink some tea,” I said. “We can come back to him later.”
“I let everyone down already,” she grumbled. “I’ve failed.”
Not true. Grading didn’t happen until after the case was closed. She had time to bring it back—we had time to close the book on this one.
TWENTY-TWO
As we took seats at the kitchen table, exerting a little magical ability to brew and pour tea, Cassandra pulled the stone from her shirt. She sighed, holding it in her hand.
“I have to tell you something,” she said.
“Oh?” I wasn’t going to pry, there seemed to be more pressing matters.
“You know this stone is a teleportation stone.”
I nodded. I knew what it was, I also knew they were expensive and slightly rare—the only time I’d experienced one is through the High Witch herself. “Saved us in our time of need,” I said.
“Okay, but I have to tell you something.” She looked me in the eye and nodded. “I need to know I can trust you with what I’m about to say.”
“Of course,” I said. “You can trust me.”
She snapped the chain away from her neck, laying the crystal on the table. “So, I’m from the Hexe family of witches.”
I chuckled. I knew that. “I don’t know many other witches with the last name, so I figured.”
“I know, you know—I just—I mean—”
Tea poured itself into cups. I spooned a helping of sugar in both cups. She was either still in shock or she was struggling to comprehend what was going on around her.
“I was kicked out,” she said. “And I stole this before I left.”
Before I had time to even blow the tea over the rim of the cup and take a sip, I spat out a short breath. “You were what?”
“Kicked out,” she repeated. “I’m not proud of it, but I thought you should know.”
I didn’t need to know that at all—but perhaps all of this made sense now. “Why?”
She shook her head, clenching her hand into a fist around the stone. “All I want you to know is that, I haven’t used this since I stole it. And now I’ve used it twice.”
“Okay,” I said, not quite following her train of thought.
“That means they’ll know where I am, or they’ll have someone come for me, and I really enjoy being an investigator.”
I suppose that made sense. “Oh. You stole it?” I said, grasping at what I’d heard earlier.
She nodded, tears in her eyes. “Yea.”
“I’d tell you to lie, but I know that’s not possible in front of a jury of witches.”
A deep groan came from her stomach—hunger? Fear? “I figured being an investigator and putting myself in the Council’s good books would even out everything I’ve done.”
“If you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine,” I said. “But I’ll find out.”
“Later, maybe.”
Now, I wanted to pry. What could a witch possibly do to her family that would see her kicked out onto the streets? Ack—not what I should be thinking about; there was a man in the other room, and we were almost ready to fully question him. I mean—could Cassandra have been a bad person? It wasn’t at all against the behaviour she’d exhibited so far, especially towards humans.
An excitable Ivory and Jinx chased each other into the kitchen.
“He’s waking!” they both shouted at the same time.
I wasn’t prepared for this. I wasn’t ready.
“Let me finish my tea,” I said, circling a finger around the rim to cool it. “I need more thinking time.”
“About me—or?”
“Him,” I said.
Ten minutes flew by as my mind scribbled notes with questions—I had a lot to get off my chest, especially about what was going on and everything that had happened, including his sudden appearance at my house and claiming he’d only been there to give Cassandra a case. There was more to it, and I was about to get to the bottom of it.
Sighing at the sight of him. “Did you kill those girls?” I asked.
“No!” he shouted.
I tssked my teeth. “Inside voices,” I said.
“No. I didn’t kill any of those girls,” he said. “I didn’t do anything to anyone. I’ve never killed anyone, Nora. You know me. You know I’ve never done that before.”
It was true. I knew he’d never killed anyone, I knew his most major crimes involved theft, never violence. “Tell me the real reason you’re here.”
“I’m here for the case.”
Cass scoffed from the door. “Sounds like a good cover,” she said. “You chose to come here?”
“They gave—”
“False,” I said with a wag of my finger and the shake of my head. “I think you chose this case.”
“Fine.” He clenched his teeth, looking at Cassandra before turning his head to me and looking away. “I did want this case, but I didn’t know you were going to be here.”
“Liar—”
“I think he’s telling the truth,” Cass said. “Your name wasn’t on the case letter.”
Oh. It wasn’t. “Well, you knew—” He didn’t. I had this house after knowing him. He had no idea I lived in Witchwood.
“I didn’t know,” he said. “But I did come here because I was looking for someone, and I didn’t want to tell either of you, but if it makes you trust me, then I’m ready to let you know.”
“And we’re ready to listen,” I said, sitting on the sofa with a heavy sigh. “Finally, some truth.”
Cassandra joined me, and Jinx jumped on her lap. Ivory was far too large for that, she stayed by my side at the sofa. We were all ears, each of us, listening, ready to take in the information and hope it led somewhere other than straight into the brain bin.
“My brother,” he said. “I’m looking for my brother.”
“Ford?” I asked. It was the only brother I knew he had.
He nodded. “I’ve been looking for him for years.”
“The last time we met, you were looking for him too.”
“And now I’m out of that hell, I can resume looking for him.”
Cass snapped her fingers. The thread around Philip’s body tightened. “Why?”
“Why are you looking for him?” I asked.
He shook his head. “That’s between us,” he said. “My brother knows why. And I thought I’d found him here.”
“Why?” We asked together.
He looked to me and tipped his head like I was supposed to know what he was talking about. I squinted slightly. I wasn’t getting the connection, I had no idea what he was referring to.
“There’s power here,” he finally said. “You can’t feel it, but I can, and I know he can—I know he’s here.”
“Is your brother like—” Cass began.
“A sylph?” he shook his head. “He was—it’s possible he still is, but he—”
There was a moment of silence as he stopped talking and looked at himself and where he was, almost like he’d caught himself telling us too much.
I snapped my fingers. My book of shadows fell into my lap. “I remember everything you told me.” I flicked through pages, coming upon the page on his kind. It was complete and full of traits.
“Even a killer?” I asked.
He didn’t speak. He didn’t look at us. Pressing his eyes closed and his lips thin.
His brother had to be the killer. We finally had a lead.
The air I breathed finally felt lighter; we were getting somewhere.
TWENTY-THREE
Cassandra jumped from her seat, her phone glowing up at her face. “It’s Hope.”
“Oh. You didn’t see her before,” I said aloud.
“Crap. Crap. Crap.” She ran out of the room with Jinx chasing at her heels.
Phil shrugged. “I don’t know what happened to that girl, but whatever it is, I hope she’s okay.”
“Which girl?” I asked. “Because so far the body count is four.” I held my fingers to him. “We have the one the Council had, Destiny, Milly, and the one we found in the forest.”
His eyes grew wider. “There’s another?”
“I figured, you’d have known, given we thought it was you.”
“Me?” he coughed. “It wasn’t me. And my brother wouldn’t kill a human.” He sighed, looking away from me as I stared directly at him.
I stood and approached him with caution. “How would you know?” I asked. “You said you hadn’t seen you brother in forever. He’s probably a different person to the one you grew up with. The one you called ‘brother’. Why don’t I take some of your blood and find him for you?”
“I have nothing of his for you to scry with,” he snapped, biting back his teeth in anger. “Let me out of this. Please. I haven’t done anything wrong. I’ve been trying to help you. I’ve been watching out for you. I’ve been nothing but nice, and if the Council think even for a second that you thought I was in on it, they’ll lock me up for good.”
“You know they’ll never let you leave,” I said. I knew witches, I knew the Council, and I knew that they wouldn’t let someone come up out of the hole to work for them and work off a debt; the witches were cunning, they’d never let him go. “And as soon as they have the money again, they’ll throw every single monster back into that hole.”