A Tale Of Shadows (Wattys 2023) - REPLACED BY DIVINE ASCENSION

Chapter 14 - Revelations

The summer had quickly reached its middle after the deaths of Maria's family, and Melinda was getting rather tired of politics and evil, which meant that it was a great time for a vacation. In the closely located village of Wollenby, where some of her relatives lived, she had bought a weekend house several years back and had already visited it quite a few times. The prospect of doing it once more seemed incredible, so she began planning the event shortly after she got the idea.

Although she needed a lot of rest, she knew that even with all the advisors who could do her work for her for a while, she could not stay there for too long, as it would have been a risky move. A single week would not have been enough, and two of them would have been too much, thus she settled for ten humble days. Another important thing was that did not like the idea of being completely alone, but she did not like the idea of bringing too many people with her either, and in the end, she decided to bring her best friend Jane along.

Less important matters were left after that. Food and drinks would be taken care of by the staff, who tended to the house all year, mainly because her cousins were also allowed to visit it; she would go by carriage at seven in the morning the following day; she packed all the Jane Austen novels in her bag to read them in the backyard, and she also unlocked the vault she was hiding "The Spells From Shadows" in, intent on putting it in there as soon as possible. However, what happened next caused her jaw to drop to the floor.

There was a page missing from the book, and she was well aware that it was not just some measly empty page or anything like that. It was the contract she had signed with her signature cursive, bold, perfectly neat handwriting, and with her full name as well. It must have been that page because the tear was at the end, everything else was untouched, and there was no contract to be found. Cold sweat running down her back, she ran to Jane's room straight away, slamming the door behind her the moment she entered.

As was to be expected, this startled Jane. Not only had Melinda walked out of the room to prepare for the vacation, which was supposed to have lasted much longer, and she had deeply immersed herself in embroidering a rose on her embroidery hoop, but she had also almost pricked her thumb out of sheer fear the instant she saw her. The other woman looked as if she had seen a ghost even more than she usually did, which meant that something grave must have occurred in the meantime. Throwing her tools onto the bed, Jane ran over to her, pulling her into a tight embrace.

"Melinda, you do not appear to be fine," she said, sounding like she was on the verge of crying. "Please do tell me what is going on."

Melinda leaned her head onto Jane's shoulder. "I lost the contract for my spellbook, and if someone notices it, it could present a problem, which you must certainly understand. Do you happen to have seen a stray piece of paper in your vicinity?"

Jane shook her head. "No, but given how terrified you looked when you came in, I was expecting something far worse. I mean, what could occur if someone else did find your contract? There are many people like me who believe that you were able to make Hemingway's magic work for you, and with your immense charisma and credibility, you will surely convince the majority of your citizens that you have, in fact, done nothing wrong. Besides, you will probably be the first to find it anyway, for there are not that many places it could have gone. Now halt thinking about it and focus on the splendid time we will have at your weekend house."

"Thank you, Jane," Melinda told her, smiling widely. "I will follow your advice because you are indeed in the right. I need to be less paranoid about everything. I am certain that we will have a wonderful time together, but until then, there are still some things left for me to do."

After they had greeted each other, she walked out of the room as if nothing had happened. Little did she know that Theresa was locked in her study, which she had not even glanced at that day, holding the contract in her hands. Countless papers exposing all of Melinda's wicked deeds were placed on the desk, and she was nervously going through all of them, wondering if she had missed something. That turned out to be the result all the time, for the number of the things she had to reveal to the public in the name of justice was beyond compare. It would be easier now that some people were already starting to doubt her, but the wealth of evidence that she had found, the majority of which she could not even have imagined she would find, was overwhelming her.