"What Fred means is, they were asphyxiated. Strangled. There is evidence on all three bodies that someone sat on their chests and strangled them. "
I wasn't a doctor but… "What makes that a natural cause?"
"It was something picked up magically on their astral bodies. Not physically."
Oh.
Emily continued. "And what makes Fred say that is…all three of them had the expression of someone in a moment of fright."
"What…" Kyle said. "Does that look like?"
"I can provide you with pictures if you're into that sort of thing," Mr. Air looked at Kyle.
"Oh shut up, Bilbo." I leaned into the table. "This is serious shit, guys. Three Elders are murdered since Sunday, and you haven't released this to the magical community."
"We're still investigating."
"You're…" I looked at each of them. "You're looking at Arden for this." That…was crazy fucked up. "Arden Vervain? Killing off Elders?"
"Sam," Emily put her hands on the table. "We're just as shocked. But we've conducted forensic magic on each of the victims, and on their homes. I'm afraid the last person to see each of them was Miss Vervain. And each of them were in the middle of writing her an email at the time of their death."
An email?
Miss Water stood, and as she came around the table, retrieved a piece of paper from her robe. She handed it to me.
Kyle moved in close and Grey got out of the way. She moved around the other side and sat up to put her paws on the table beside me as if to look at what the paper said.
I opened it.
Dear Miss Vervain,
I am happy to share the news of my withdrawal for consideration of Grand Master, and to offer you my support for the upcoming vote.
That was it.
It was a damning piece of evidence.
"You see, Miss Hawthorne," Miss Water said as she took the paper back. "We suspect Arden has the Hammer and is using it to get rid of her competition to seek the position of Grand Master of New Orleans."
"First up," I said and pushed my index finger against the table. "What makes you think Arden can even use the Hammer? I thought no one could. I mean it's like a magic sword or a wand, isn’t it? Is she pointing it at them and they drop dead?"
Emily shrugged. "I'll admit we're at a loss."
"You're grasping at straws." Kyle rubbed at his forehead. "Have you tested my aunt for traces of Arcane Magic?"
They looked at each other. Kyle and I exchanged a glance and then looked at them. I pointed. "You can't sense Arcane, can you? Not even magically."
"Some of us can smell it. Or they claim they can. But the truth is," Emily looked a bit uncomfortable. "There's no known magic that can detect it."
"Yet," Fred threw in.
I looked at him. "What? You got some Clerics working on such a spell?" Inside I was pretty happy. They couldn't see it! Which meant they didn't know I'd used it. "So…how, as Clerics, have you been preventing people from using it if you can't even tell they have?"
"We didn't say we couldn't tell," Miss Water said. "The stories we teach our children and our community aren't lies or made up, Miss Hawthorne. The use of Arcane does change a Witch."
"Yeah, I was told that too. But I'm starting to get the impression it's not the same kind of change I'm thinking of."
"It's not a physical change. An Arcane Wielder's hair doesn't turn colors and their eyes don't start shifting like a Revenant's. It's in their personality. Their being."
Emily leaned into the table and put her hand on the wood. "Sam…Arcane Magic is a shadow on a soul. It takes hold and slowly, over time and use, removes that soul's humanity. This is why we discourage it."
I…didn't know that. And I just got sick in my stomach.
"We're watching Arden Vervain. Keeping an eye on her behavior."
"Your'e watching my aunt's soul." Kyle's flat tone warned me he was close to being over this meeting.
"Yes, Mr. Kendrick. We are," Emily straightened her back. "There is another matter we need to discuss before we set up your charge, Sam."
Set up my charge? Oh hells bells…they were serious about me finding out if Arden had the Hammer?
"Where is Inamorata Devonshire?"
I'd opened my mouth to keep hammering at Fred, so Mr. Air's abrupt question about Ina came out of left field.
To sum up, Inamorata was gone. She was a Leviathan. And I had no idea where she was. "What has Ina got to do with any of this?"
"Inamorata Devonshire was a Cleric. She'd retired from service but we keep tabs on our own. What pinged our radar was that her group disappeared. All twelve members. Including her. That's twelve missing persons."
I glared at him. It was my go-to reaction when I didn't want to look guilty. Eleven of those members, all ghouls, had been set on fire by a local detective. The twelfth killed by me. But I wasn't admitting to anything. Not one of those bodies would ever be found.
Ever.
"She's gone?" Kyle said, stepping in for me. "I'll admit we haven't gone to see her since Samhain. Did something happen?"
All eyes locked on him and I took in a deep breath. This meeting needed to end. I had a lot of information I needed to process. And my first order of business was talking to Arden. Now.
"Her house is still there. But it's been locked up tight and the security system's on. The magical wards are still in place," Fred looked at me again. Oh goody. "But they have an odd signature."
I shrugged. "So?"
"We know the house is yours. She was your guardian. She's been by your side for eighteen years. But she disappears and you're not even worried," he narrowed his eyes at me. "Why is that?"
"Fred," Emily countered as she turned to face him. "All this is well and good and it might be that Ina and her group took a trip together. But their business is not ours. The question's been raised as promised. Ina's broken no laws and we've seen no evidence of foul play. As far as we know she might have taken her group on a Yule Solstice trip somewhere. So," she nodded to him in a curt fashion before she turned back to me. "Back to what we were talking about."
I held up my hands. "I do not believe Arden killed three Elders. I mean…why?" I spread out my hands and looked at each of them. "If Arden wants the Grand Master position, killing off her competition isn't going to garner her the votes. And if the emails are real—"
"Why wouldn't they be real?" Fred snapped.
I looked at him. "Who's to say whomever broke into their homes and killed them didn't type the letters themselves with the sole purpose of framing Arden Vervain?"
It was apparent on their faces that idea hadn't occurred to them.
"Did the cops dust for finger prints?" Kyle asked.
"I know their forensic team was in all three houses," Mr. Air said.
I put my hand on the table. "Then there you go. Wait for fingerprints," I stood and scooted the chair back. "We're done."
"No, we're not." Fred stood, as did the other Clerics. "You haven't cleared up a thing since we've been here. If nothing else, at least for me, you've raised more questions. Questions I plan on getting answers to."
Emily waved dismissively at him. "Oh pish posh. Not if any of them aren't directly related to why we're here." She looked at me and clasped her hands in front of her. The Sylph brushed against my neck and I nearly jumped. I'd almost forgotten he was there. "We still want you to find out if she has the book."
"But you said she was in Higgins's house and didn't find it."
"She kidnapped your employee, beat him and then took him there."
"There is no evidence it was Arden. I was mistaken." And that was the truth.
Emily shrugged. "He was blindfolded and beaten. He might not know. So we should question him. At another time. For now, Sam, we're going to hold charges until you get back with us on news about the Hammer."
"Charges?" Kyle said. "For what?"
"Harboring a dangerous Arcane artifact," Fred smiled again. "You didn't think you'd walk away f
rom that, did you?"
"I don't have the head. Did you ever see me with the head?"
"No."
"Did anyone ever see the head?"
"No but Arden swears she saw it."
"The one you suspect of killing off Elders. That's your witness."
I swear I'd just made a seriously bad enemy.
"Guys, it's hard to convict anyone of anything without proof. You've got the word of a suspected murderer. No photographs. No proof. No evidence. You can search my shop if you must, but there is no head here."
"Sam," Emily said. "We have the right to shut you down on just suspicion alone. Now, if you don't help us recover the Hammer, I'm afraid we're going to have to take this to the top and request a warlock."
A warlock? Seriously?
Popular belief it seems was that a warlock was a male witch. It's not. It's a state of being. And it's not a state any Witch wishes to be in. I'd only met one warlock and it wasn't pretty. She'd been cut off from her magic, rendered little more than a Cowen. Shunned by her family and friends and left utterly alone in the world.
She barely lasted a week in that state before she took her own life.
"Against Sam?" Kyle moved close to me. "You need a better reason that that. A warlock is something only Parliament can decide and the crime the Witch commits has to pass several rules of judgement. Not finding a missing book is not a reason."
"Noble, isn't he?" Emily pulled her robes around her but she didn't contest Kyle's outburst. Which told me he was right. They didn't have the power to render a warlock on their own or even perform one. All they had was the threat of one to hang over my head. And honestly, I wasn't exactly the most popular Witch in government circles. "The warlock would be for your aunt, Arden Vervain. Not for Samantha, Mr. Kendrick." She looked at me. "You have our request, Samantha. You have twenty four hours to find the Hammer, or at least find out what happened to it."
"Or you'll take my inability to find something I have no control over to Parliament and punish an innocent woman."
Emily smiled. "Good day."
Kyle gave me a helpless look before he escorted them out. Ivan came in through the back door, wearing his usual hoodie, t-shirt, jeans and fingerless gloves. His Japanese American features were twisted up in a serious frown and his thick black hair stuck out at odd angles. "You look like an anime character."
"It's windy outside," he pulled an earbud out. "Did I hear all that right?"
I blinked at him as Grey got up and went to him, sticking her nose in his hand for attention. He instantly bent down beside her and scratched her neck. "You heard everything?"
"Well, yeah?"
"How?"
"The wards. They're like a security system. So I just tap into them like I would an electrical system."
I put both hands on the table. "Is that new? You doing that?"
"Well, yes and no. I tried it when I pulled up because I wanted to see if you and Kyle were inside and it worked. I reverse engineered it. We set the wards. So our essence is in the system. Your essence touched my essence and—"
"There will be no touching of essences," Kyle said as he came back into the break room. "Sam…we can't let them do that to Arden. If they warlock her she'll lose everything."
"I know, I know. Did you lock the door?"
"Yeah, and I hung the lunch sign out," he looked at Ivan. "I thought you were sick."
"I am. Got a massive headache."
Ivan was getting a lot of headaches lately. And I felt guilty about it. He admitted to me a few days ago that the headaches started after he magically digitized the Hammer and stored it in his body. After he did that, I had him upload it and mangle it several times.
This is where I should explain Ivan's Gift. It wasn't what Kyle and I said it was to the Clerics. Ivan wasn't the possessor of a weak Dianic Gift. Not at all.
I was an Elemental Witch, and Kyle a Hedge Witch.
Ivan was a Cyber Witch. He could actually manipulate the web the way Kyle and I manipulated the elements and herbs. The small rectangular disk around my neck was something he'd made by recoding and manipulating a digital version of the Hammer and then downloading it as an amulet.
Apparently because I'd used Arcane Magic once, I was able to summon the book by holding the amulet in my hand and concentrating on it. I also had to say Open Sesame out loud.
He was working on that part.
Most of this Kyle knew. He just didn't know the Hammer was my necklace.
"Why did you come in?" Kyle held a hand over his face. "I don't want your germs."
"Have you guys been watching the news?" Ivan looked at both of us as he scratched Grey's neck and the top of her head. "What have you been doing?"
"We're not all as interested in current events as you," I moved the chair and then pushed it under the table again. "What's so fantastic that you got off the couch and came in?"
"If I tell you, will you explain what it was I just heard? And what a warlock is?"
Kyle and I looked at one another and nodded. "Sure," I said.
Ivan motioned everyone back into the shop. The lights flickered as the cap the Clerics casted evaporated. He turned on the computer with a touch and then opened a browser. No mouse. He didn't need one. Or a keyboard. I watched as the browser flipped through to a bookmark on the local news channel.
I glanced up at Ivan to see the green sheen in his usual brown eyes.
"What's it look like to you when you do that?" Kyle asked.
Ivan shrugged. "It hard to explain…okay here we go. These are two news reports from yesterday. This first one's in the morning and the other last night."
A video window came up with an article and a byline.
"You guys can read it later if you want, but what it's talking about is a little girl started screaming yesterday morning while she was getting ready for school. Told her parents there was a dark man in her closet. And you can pretty much guess what her parents thought."
I nodded. I got it. "But they didn't find anything?"
"Nothing. They searched the house and after talking more with their daughter, she described the man as being made of dark stuff and wearing a hat."
"A hat?"
"Uh huh." The browser flipped again to another article. "This came in late last night. A guy was fighting with his wife and would probably have killed her. Except according to her, a whole bunch of little black ghosts came out of the television and surrounded him. She said it was like watching black ants swarm all over him."
"Did he make a comment?"
"Other than he was attacked by little black ghosts, no. And he was drunk so I don't think they were taking him seriously."
"So…" Kyle narrowed his eyes. "Two stories about ghosts brought you into work? Come on Ivan. One was a kid and the other a battered woman and drunk husband."
But Ivan wasn't going to be deterred. He gave Kyle a half smirk as he stared at him. The screen flipped again and stopped at another article.
I leaned in. "That's stamped today. This morning."
"Yes. This one's about a banker, getting ready for work. He went into his study to download his work from last night and saw something out of the corner of his eye. When he looked again, he swore he was saw a six foot shadow wearing a hat, standing by the room's closet where he keeps his old files and gold clubs. When he called out for his wife, it disappeared."
I straightened up. "How many of these did you find?"
"A half dozen. You see my point, right?"
Nodding, I pointed to the computer. "They're all local. All of those articles were written in The Times - Picayune with local writers."
"Right on it. I found about nine of them total. All of them talk about the same thing. Either a tall dark image of someone in a hat, or a bunch of smaller ones."
"Always a dark figure."
"Yep. And," he pointed to the shop phone. That's when I noticed the message light flashing. "When I called you guys and it went straight to voicemail, I decided to listen t
o messages to see if you'd been offline for a while. Maybe something was up. We've got three client messages, all of them being scared out of their mind when something either came out of their closet or out of the computer at them."
"What the hell?" Kyle immediately grabbed paper and pencil and started listening to the messages and writing them down.
"What are you getting at?" I asked him. You're awfully excited about this."
"I think, and don't laugh," Ivan held up his hands. "But I think we're dealing with real, honest to Goddess, Shadow People!"
I wasn't laughing.
"Shadow People?" I winced at him. "Who the hell are they?"
"Aw man…no way!" Ivan's grin was infectious. "You don't know about Shadow People? They're all over the Internet. Tons and tons of stories."
"I thought they were a myth? Like Slenderman?" Kyle said, the phone to his ear.
I looked at Kyle. "What's a Slenderman?"
"Sam…you really need to update your software." Ivan looked at the computer as a few new browser windows opened, all of them to websites about Shadow People. The last window to open was Wikipedia.
I pointed at it. "You do know that site is actually filled in by Internet know-it-alls."
"Yeah, and I wouldn't trust all of its information all the time. Which is why I start there and then do more research. See what it says up top?" He pointed to the screen.
Kyle finished taking some notes and glanced at the screen. "Yeah…" Kyle said. "And it's basically saying they're the perception of living shadow by supernatural nutcases." With his two cents in, he went back to listening to messages.
I laughed. The entry wasn't worded like that, but in essence, that's what it said.
Ivan wasn't deterred. "Ghost and spirits and entities are always in truth based on personal perception. Even we're defined by others' perceptions. There are still people on this Earth that think witches ride on broomsticks and fornicate with the devil."
My mouth twisted to the side in a grumpy expression. I was inclined to believe that myself about a few acquaintances. "I get your point. But how are you putting this myth together with those articles?"
Elemental Shadows Page 3
