Ghosts ⚔️ Blackbeard's Treasure

Chapter 16.

"This is what I wanted to show you." I walk over and look over her shoulder as she cracks open a leather binder. She points to a paragraph of ancient text. This is the reference I found regarding the manifestation of bells in hauntings. Mi contra fa est diabolos in musica, she melodically intones. "Which translates into, the devil in the music. Do you recall how Roy singled out two bells in your set?"

"Yes—The ones with Dela and —Mar written on the inside."

"Now, look at this." Blair opens her phone and shows us a picture of the tattered letter Roy showed us in his shop.

"You took a picture of his letter? I don't remember you doing that."

She smirks. "Of course you don't. I used a distraction spell when Roy left the letter on the table to examine the bells." I frown at her underhanded tactics.

Dylan grins. "That was quick thinking—good job." Caesar props his two front legs up on the table and noses the book. Blair pushes him off the table as she reads from her phone screen. "Blackbeard wrote, "only he and the devil knew where his real treasure was hidden." That's the key," she says, excitedly. "When the two bells inscribed with Delamar are rung they create The Devil's Triad. I did some research this afternoon. The triad is very powerful in voodoo sorcery."

I hold up my hand. "Wait—is that why I keep hearing spooky bells? Blackbeard's trying to communicate with me? What happens when those bells ring, simultaneously ? Do they call forth his ghost?"

Frowning, Blair rubs her forehead and sighs. "I'm still trying to figure out who's been hexed by these bells."

Seeing Dylan's confusion, I elaborate." During the storm last night, we heard a bell ring in the upstairs hallway. When Blair cast a reveal spell, she saw Julia's nautical bells had an ancient hex on them."

Dylan shakes his head. "I don't know about hexes or voodoo spells, but the Solfeggio frequencies are real. The Vatican banned Gregorian Monks from using tritone intervals in churches because their nature is often thought of as unstable and disturbing.

"If there are only two notes, why is it called a tri-tone? I ask.

"Because there's three whole steps between the two notes."

"How do you know this Twilight Zone music theory?"

He shrugs. "Purple Haze and Jimmy Hendrixs' bands both used tri-tones. As rock musicians they dabbled in them specifically because the church believed it would summon the devil."

"The bells summon the devil?" I repeat, stupidly. I lean against the table. I'm beginning to sympathize with Aunt Ahti.

Blair snaps her book shut. "We need to do a seance and ask this spirit if it knows about the treasure."

"Blair, admit you have no idea what will happen if we ring two haunted bells at once."

My best friend ignores me. She has a feverish Gollum glint in her eyes. "I can create a holding circle."

I laugh, harshly. "I'm sure Satan will kindly allow you to keep him in a holding pattern, but how will you evict The Lord of Darkness once the seance is over?"

Caesar whines and Dylan steps between us. "Before you two hell-maidens go summoning the devil, there's something you're not considering." We both look at him.

"A tri-tone can be a chord of stacked musical notes. What if the bell's frequencies represent coordinates? If you triangulate the center, it might show you the treasure's location."

I breathe a sigh of relief. Blair smacks her forehead. "I never thought of that. Geometry was my worst subject."

My boyfriend holds out his palm. "May I see the letter?" She hands him her phone. We both wait while he reads in silence. "Right here. Blackbeard mentions a nursery rhyme towards the end, Ding Dong Ding." He looks up and sniffs the air. "What's burning?" Caesar starts barking in alarm.

Oscar flies into the room and circles our heads, bobbing like a corpulent bat as Blair runs into the kitchen where her stock pot is boiling over onto the stove. "This is the devil's work." I shout after her.