everything was covered in white sheets and hidden from view. I was grateful for electricity, because I was sure Simon and I would be jumping at shadows. A thrill went up my back when I crossed over the threshold and I felt instant comfort. Magic welcoming me home. My anxiety disappeared despite my heart speeding up at the idea that I was finally home.
“So where do we start?” He asked.
And instantly I felt sick again. “In the room they were murdered in.” I walked into the living room. Searching for the light switch, I found it and turned it on. To my left was a door that led to the basement and I saw a rune carved there. How had I missed that as a child? I cringed as I realized it was the same language as the note. I was right; they were connected to the death of my parents.
Levi had to have seen this. Of course, maybe he assumed that it was just one from my parents. It would make sense if there were runes in our house. I swallowed and put my hand against it. There was no more active magic, which was a good sign for me and my luck. It meant nothing would be exploding tonight. I opened the door and flicked the lights on to the stairs. My heart sank with each step that I took.
“Simon, leave the door open.” I called over my shoulder. I didn’t sense magic, but I wanted a quick escape. My emotions might have gotten the best of me and spoke to my paranoia.
“Why?”
“Just...just indulge me, okay?” I continued down the stairs and didn’t hear him shut the door. I was the witch, it was my job to take lead on this. Luckily for me, Simon seemed to understand that and listen to me. I reached the bottom where the stairs opened up into a huge family room. The memories hit me hard. My mother’s body had been three feet away from the stairs. I had made it to her before Levi pulled me away. She’d been dead for hours at that point, her body cold and laying in a pool of her own blood, her lifeless eyes staring. The bloodstains were gone now, but I swore I could remember the feeling of it soaking through my pants as I cried over her. Simon’s hand on my shoulder made me jump. “See anything useful?”
I hadn’t even truly looked at that point. I continued into the room without giving him an answer. Someone had removed the couch my father’s body had fallen over. “The rune on the door was from the same language. I need to see if there are more throughout this area.”
“Not the rest of the house?” He asked and I was willing to bet he honestly had no idea about runes and magic.
I shook my head. “No, because this was where it was done. I was in a room upstairs and I was perfectly safe. That means if there was any magic it was down here. My mom’s circle still held for hours up there. Levi had to find another witch to pull it down.”
“Grim.” He muttered and looked around. “There are runes all over these walls, they look like the same type? I don’t know enough to really know.”
I saw them too and wondered why I hadn’t seen them before, or why no one mentioned them. The murders were before there was a supernatural department, so they probably didn’t know what to look for. My heart ached as I thought my parents might have been betrayed by their own kind.
“Talk to me, Abby.” Simon whispered. “I can see something going through your head.”
I sighed. “Something isn’t adding up. I just don’t have all the pieces that I need, but this confirms that everything is related.” I took my phone out and took pictures of the carvings. “Carving runes and circles is one of the most permanent ways to use a spell. Most of the time it’s used for protection spells, wards, things that need to be activated quickly or remain active.”
“Okay.”
“Carving takes time, so either there were ten or more people in this room at the time carving these, or they were able to set it up beforehand.”
“Which means your parents were betrayed. Why didn’t the murderer come searching for you?”
His
Douglas E. Schoen, Melik Kaylan