Crime and Punishment

Part 2

This might have not been your best idea.

You purse your lips as you stare at the rickety house before you. Your bag is slung over your shoulder as you linger on the concrete path leading straight to the rather dilapidated porch, wind chimes twinkling from the slight breeze of the night.

It's just a little after sundown, it seemed like it took forever to get out of the city and make your way here. You tighten your grip on your bag, pursing your lips thoughtfully. It's strange, but you can't sense anything, not wards, not magic... nothing.

You don't like it.

You know this is the right address, there's no questioning that, you'd checked the mailbox and her name is definitely on the mail. So, it should be easy for you to walk up to the front door, give it a firm knock and a smile, and state that you're Clarissa's daughter here for a visit.

Hopefully Lydia won't immediately blast you all the way to hell.

It's like fifty-fifty at this point.

The witch is going to be hostile, your mother did banish her out of the coven and publicly humiliate her. She's not going to welcome you with cookies, that's for sure, although you are a little hungry now that you think about it. You should've stopped and got a snack!

Okay, enough stalling, more walking!

You're just... concerned.

Witches always protect their land with wards, it gives them warning and protection from evil forces. There should be some kind of something around here. Typically magic does fade with time, so it could be that Lydia bailed as soon as she got the artifact, but for some reason you don't think that's the case. Magic takes a few weeks to dissipate, so she would have had to have abandoned this place before that.

Huh.

You walk cautiously towards the porch, testing the wooden steps warily before making it to the front door. The house probably looks worse in the daylight, but you can see the white paint is chipping, one of the front windows is busted out with the curtains shredded... something happened here.

You knock nervously, pushing the feeling down before it gets the best of you. You're the leader of a powerful coven, you've been doing this for years, no need to let anything phase you. You can't show fear, you can't show weakness --- control your heartbeat. You exhale slowly, forcing yourself to remain calm.

You try the knob when it's clear no one is going to answer, and the door swings open silently, revealing a black interior. You frown, gazing into the darkness of the home.

You mutter under your breath, and after a moment a ball of light forms in your open hand, as if you're holding a tiny sun. It illuminates everything around you to a certain point, revealing a sofa and an armchair, a quilt tossed over the arms of it, yarn trailing down into a wicker basket. You bravely take a step inside the home, seeing a set of stairs in front of you, the banister splintered and shattered in places like someone was thrown into it.

You're not going to find Lydia here, at least not alive.

Doesn't mean you shouldn't investigate a little bit, right?

You keep your hand in front of you, looking for a light switch. You fumble, but you find it eventually, hastily flicking it and letting the lights come on --- much better!

You glance around the living area, finding it quaint, pretty normal looking. There's an old piano shoved against the wall, looking like it hasn't been used in ages, and some photos of what you assume must be important people to Lydia.