by T J Green
“I’ll find out.”
“Good. Do it quickly.” He smirked. “And I’ll inform Genevieve. This matter needs to be brought before the Council.”
9
Avery sat at the table in her attic surrounded by her grimoires and books on all things myth, folklore, and magic, quietly fuming. As soon as she could, she had left Sally and Dan minding the shop, and then headed upstairs to her flat to do some research.
She was furious with Caspian, but she was more furious with herself. They had been arrogant when they retrieved their spell books. Arrogant and overconfident. Yes, the grimoires belonged to them, and they had every right to them, but right now, she wished she’d have looked at the possible consequences. Ever since Anne had left them the box, and all of her research that led to their grimoires, there had been death and destruction. And no, not all of it had been their fault, the Favershams were definitely responsible for some of it, but they had to accept some of the blame.
And they had to clean up this mess.
She had many old books that listed varieties of spirits and demons, and something must be in there somewhere. And then a thought struck her. Maybe Alex could help with his psychic abilities? Maybe they should spirit walk? But she had a feeling that would be too dangerous when they had no idea what these spirits were.
She thought back to the night when they broke the binding spell and tried to remember what the spirits looked like. The room beneath the church had been chaotic, the witches wielding their magic in huge bursts of action just to stay alive. The demon had been dangerous, and she’d been trying to get back in her own body, which Helena was enjoying being in a little too much. She’d noticed the spirits as an afterthought, really. They were vague and shapeless, with only the barest suggestion of having a human-shaped body; it was the spark of animation and the sense of a soul that marked them as human rather than demon. But whether they were fully human in origin was another matter entirely.
She pushed away from the table and crossed her arms, annoyed. How could they find out what they were? And if they could manifest at will, how could they trap them long enough to banish them?
Avery leaned over her grimoires again with determination, summoned a witch light to float above her just in case there were hidden runes and notes, and then uttered a searching spell to look in the books for anything related to identifying sprits. She felt the air shift around her and then the pages started to ruffle in the breeze, as if unseen hands were turning the pages. After a few seconds the pages fell still and she marked the page, but then the pages kept on moving, and Avery marked another page, and then another, until she had almost a dozen spells spread across both books.
Pulling a notepad towards her, she started to make notes on the spells, dismissing some quickly, while deciding to try others, but it was the final spell she looked at that seemed the most promising. She’d left it until last, because it was close to the front of the oldest grimoire—Helena’s grimoire—and completely invisible without the use of the witch light. It had been written within another spell, the lines interspersed within the visible spell. The writing was minute and cramped, a scrawl across the page that required time and energy to decipher. Immediately, her pulse began to quicken. This looked interesting. And chilling. There was a line of runes down the side, denoting a warning to only use with protection. It also required objects that Avery didn’t have, but she knew Alex did, like a crystal ball for divination. But the thing that interested her most about this spell was that it seemed to offer a way to talk to the spirit in question.
She reached for her phone and called Alex. His warm voice made her smile. “Hi, gorgeous. How are you?”
“I’m fine, how are you?” she asked.
“Busy—it’s the lunchtime rush. I shouldn’t complain.”
Avery could hear the chatter of the pub in the background. “Well, I have a quick question. I’ve found a spell that should allow us to talk to spirits, but we need a crystal ball. Are you interested?”
He paused for a heartbeat. “Who are we talking to?”
“Our unknown visitor to the church.”
“Ah. That sort of thing is dangerous.”
“It is?”
“Yes. Opening up a direct line to a spirit can come with a powerful backlash.”
She groaned. “Yeah, I sort of got that impression.”
“But, I’m always up for a challenge. I’ll catch you later—someone’s glaring at me for a pint.”
“Sure, and thanks,” she said as he rang off.
She started to assemble the ingredients for the spell, reaching for a variety of herbs, and wondered if they needed to perform the spell in the church, or would anywhere do. Probably the church would be best. It was where the spirit lived—for now.
She was halfway through the preparation when her phone rang, and she saw Ben’s name on the screen. “Hi, Ben? How are you guys after last night?”
“Absolutely psyched,” he said excitedly, and then added, “and of course feeling really bad about Harry’s death. But we’ve found something on the camera footage. You need to see it.”
“Why? What?” she asked, her own excitement mounting.
“I can’t explain it. You just need to see it.”
“Can I bring the others?”
“Sure. We’ll come to you. What time?”
“Seven?” Avery offered, hoping she’d get everyone by then, and still leave enough time for her and Alex to do the spell.
“Great. Laters,” he said, hanging up.
As soon as he rang off, she felt the tingle of magic start to fill the attic. Avery looked around alarmed. What was happening? It was like an itch that she couldn’t locate, but a strange hyper-awareness started to spread across her skin and beneath her skull. And then Genevieve’s voice spoke from somewhere around her, disembodied and surreal.
“Avery. It is Genevieve. We have convened another meeting. Please be at Crag’s End tomorrow. 8:00 PM. Do not be late.”
Avery groaned. It was like being summoned by your mother. And why couldn’t she just use the phone? Thank the Goddess it hadn’t happened in the shop. That would have been tricky to explain.
It was now late afternoon, the wind had dropped, and it looked hot out. She needed to get out of the attic and get some air in her garden. She could collect some herbs and roots, and do a reading. She grabbed the tarot and her cutting knife, and headed down to the garden.
***
Avery’s living room seemed very full by half past seven that evening. All five witches were there, along with Newton and the three paranormal investigators.
The smell of take-out curry filled the room, and foil containers covered the dining room table, alongside naan bread, beer, and wine.
Most of them had come directly from either work or home, but Reuben had been surfing. His hair was still wet, and a fine crust of sand dusted his skin. They had all helped themselves to a selection of different curries, but Reuben’s plate was piled especially high.
Avery looked at it, and then at Reuben’s lean form. “Where the hell do you put all that, Reuben?”
He grinned. “I surf it off, Avery.”
“Wow. Your food bill must be immense.”
“It is. Thank the Gods I’m rich, eh?” he said, winking, and then went to sit on the end of the sofa, facing the TV.
Avery grabbed her own food and then sat on a large floor cushion, watching Ben as he finished finding the downloaded file he plugged into her TV.
He turned around, excited. “Guys, I can’t wait for you to see this. It’s one of the best thermal images we’ve ever had!”
El grimaced. “Explain. I don’t get this stuff.”
“Spirits or ghosts work on different levels of existence than us. We usually can’t see them or hear them, but we use equipment to try and see what’s there. We use EMF meters to read for different electrical signatures, like varying energy levels. But we have to exclude existing phone, radio, and electricity. We’ve got a Trifie
ld Natural Meter, which we can set to a magnetic setting, and it excludes most electrical interference—but we take baseline readings anyway. Then we have audio equipment, a regular camera, a thermal camera, and a temperature monitor. I’ve got a motion sensor, but didn’t take it, which was stupid, but next time…” He shrugged. “It sounds complicated, but it really isn’t. We’re just trying to get as much data as possible. And of course, this isn’t an exact science.”
El looked impressed. “So, you set all of this up at the church the other night?”
Dylan answered while Ben turned back to the TV. “Yep. I got some audio, but it was just static, a sort of hissing that changed in tone, but was inconclusive, and Cassie got some temperature changes. I’m pretty sure we’d have got some motion stuff, because that thing seemed to be moving around the room a lot, but as Ben said, we didn’t bring it. But the camera footage was the best.”
Everyone nodded, and Avery felt a chill start to run up her spine in anticipation.
“I’ll show you the regular camera recording first.”
They saw a dim image of the interior of the church fill the screen, the image panning around the entrance, then the nave, the side-chapel, and the choir. The footage recorded Cassie and Ben setting up the other equipment, and the sounds of their low-voiced discussions were only slightly audible. Then the footage stopped, and when it restarted, the camera was pointed to the far corner of the room. Avery could hear her voice and Alex’s before the electric lights exploded above them, showering glass everywhere. A faint, white shape seemed to fill the corner before it fled upwards.
Briar gasped. “Is that it, the spirit?”
“Probably, yes,” Ben said, nodding. “But it’s not clear.”
“I switched cameras then,” Dylan explained. “The exploding glass was pretty intense, and I thought I might get better results.”
Ben then pulled up the thermal imaging footage, and the next thing they saw was a grey image of the church interior and Cassie and Ben looking like photographic negatives. Then they saw James, Alex, and Avery. After some stopping and starting, the footage of the small side-chapel appeared. There was a glimpse of a white image that looked human, but it appeared to have huge shoulders, and it floated off the floor and then disappeared. Then the camera was pointed up at the ceiling, the vaulted roof clearly visible, and there was the most chilling image. A huge, winged creature hovered above them before speeding down in a blur, so fast that it disappeared from view altogether in the jerky footage.
Ben and Dylan looked triumphant, but everyone else looked at each other in stunned silence.
“What the hell is that?” Newton asked, turning to the others in alarm.
Avery felt the blood drain from her face and she struggled to find her voice. “It didn’t look like a regular spirit.”
“It looks like a bloody great Angel of Death!” Newton shouted. “Why are you all looking at me like that? What is it?”
Alex’s usual confidence had gone, replaced by utter confusion. He looked at the others before he finally turned to Newton. “I don’t know.”
They watched the footage over and over, each of them throwing in suggestions, but unfortunately, no one had a better idea than Newton, which in the light of day, seemed ridiculous.
Reuben turned to Avery. “Is that what you saw flying out of the doorway under All Souls?”
“Absolutely not,” she said determinedly. “I would have remembered that. What I saw were formless shapes, small, insubstantial. Although, I was trying to avoid a demon, and struggling to get back into my own body.”
Briar leaned back against the sofa looking thoughtful. “But whatever that is had already killed the verger, Harry, at this point. Is that right?”
Avery glanced at Alex and then said, “Yes, I guess so.”
Briar looked at the frozen image on the screen and shuddered. “Then maybe the fact that it had fed on Harry—sorry for the choice of word, but you did say he looked drained— had made the spirit, or whatever it is, more powerful?”
Newton leapt off the sofa and started pacing. “Then why hasn’t it killed again? And what happens when it does?”
“The Church was sealed by the police,” Alex said. “No one is going in or out at the moment. Before we left yesterday, we placed wards of protection around the building—very rudimentary ones, there were too many police around. We hope we’ve contained it, but honestly, it’s unlikely.” He looked at Avery. “We should head back and do it properly.”
“What about the death at St Luke’s in Harecombe?” Reuben asked, finally putting aside his empty plate. “I saw it on the news. Is it the same?”
“First impression says yes, but I’m waiting for the Coroner’s report,” Newton said, pausing at the window to look out onto the street below before turning back to face them. “However, there’s no sign of a break-in.”
“Any other suspicious deaths in the last twenty-four hours?” El asked.
“No. But if there are more spirits, and they’re linked, then maybe there will be.”
Avery mulled over her visit from Caspian, wondering whether to cast more doom on their gathering, but she knew she had to share his visit. “Caspian’s already been to see me about that,” she said, explaining what he’d said. “And there’s another Council meeting tomorrow. I expect to get shouted at.”
“Damn it,” Alex said, looking concerned. “I’m working, or I’d come with you. I don’t like you going alone, especially with vengeful spirits around.”
Despite the circumstances, Avery smiled, feeling a now familiar warmth spread though her. “I’ll be fine. Besides I have protection—a tattoo and magic!”
“Which reminds me,” El said, turning to Cassie, Dylan and Ben. “I have amulets for you guys. Wear them always! Strange things are happening, and you are up close and personal with some of it. And don’t take any chances.”
They all nodded and thanked her profusely, as they took the small silver amulets on chains and examined them carefully.
“Well, guess who’s going to come with you tomorrow?” Reuben said, grinning.
Avery felt her stomach drop. “I said I’ll be fine. I don’t need anyone to come with me. Especially you, at the moment. You have a lot of attitude going on. I don’t think it will help.”
“Tough shit. I’m coming anyway. I want to see who these jokers are.”
“They’re not jokers, Reuben,” Avery corrected, sensing conflict already. “Some of them are lovely and welcoming. They’re witches. Our friends. We can’t afford to alienate them. I don’t want to, either. This is our chance to be accepted into the magical community. There’s a whole other world of stuff going on out there that we need to know about.”
Reuben rolled his eyes. “I know. I’m not an idiot. But two are better than one. I’ll tell them I’m nosy.”
“You better behave, or we’ll fall out,” she said, starting to get annoyed.
El snorted. “Good luck with that.”
10
Avery drove up the somewhat familiar twists and turns of Crag’s End drive, arguing with Reuben. For the entire journey he’d been updating her about his grimoire and his experiments with the spells, and he was teasing and joking constantly, but underneath, she could sense his tension.
“Seriously, Reuben, you need to behave tonight. I will be really pissed off if you deliberately antagonise them.”
He dropped his bantering tone. “I’ll behave, I promise. Ever since Gil died I’ve been struggling to deal with this whole magic thing. I thought I’d turned my back on it forever, and now I’m up to my eyeballs in it.” He sighed and rested his head against the back of the seat. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad it’s who I am and I’ve accepted that, although I wish it hadn’t taken Gil’s death to make me see it.”
Avery slowed down and glanced at him, feeling suddenly mean for giving him a hard time. “I know, and I’m sorry, Reuben. You’re handling it really well. I wish the circumstances were different. Gil would h
ave been the perfect representative for us, better than me.”
Reuben shook his head. “You’re doing fine, Avery. I don’t doubt you. But, Alex is right. We don’t really know these guys, and you being here on your own is worrying. If they turned on you, you couldn’t fight them all.”
She slowed down as she saw a passing bay on the left, pulled to a stop, and then turned to face him, desperate to reassure him. He seemed so fragile sometimes, which frankly was ridiculous, considering the size of him. “This isn’t the Wild West, and I’m sure that won’t happen. I actually think you’ll like them—well, most of them.”
He swallowed, and looked out the window, unable to meet her eye. “But, the fact that there are lots of us now—it’s really making me question everything. Who I am, who witches are, what other types of things are going on we never knew about. You, Alex and the others, seem to have a handle on it. Even Newton does! I don’t think I do. It’s too vague—no, too big!”
Avery reached out and touched his arm, and he turned to face her, his eyes full of doubt, and she wanted to cry. “It is big, you’re not alone in thinking that. I feel terrible, Reuben. I started this whole thing off. And look what’s happened! With my headstrong insistence that we find those grimoires, I’ve unleashed something hideous into White Haven…well, the world, actually.” The feelings she’d been trying to subdue for weeks suddenly flooded out, triggered by Reuben’s heartbreaking honesty. “People are dying, and this time it’s not Caspian’s fault, or Alicia’s. It’s mine. I’ve been so arrogant.” She started to well up, a tear trickling down her cheek, and she sniffed, fumbling in her bag for a tissue. “Fuck it. I’m so annoyed with myself.”
“We followed you, Avery. You didn’t do this on your own.”
She wiped a tear away and blew her nose. “You’re just being kind. And I’m supposed to be comforting you.”
