Curse the Dark (The Harstone Legacy Book 1)

Chapter 13

The pessimistic mood continued when we got back to Flora's house and found Maude, Margot and Isobel elbow-deep in grimoires.

"Is she going to help?" asked Maude as we walked through the door.

Tilda and I grabbed a seat before answering.

"She's dead," Tilda stated, obviously deciding that being subtle was not the way she was playing today.

The three women stopped and stared at us, with identical disbelieving expressions, then all three spoke at once. "What...How?"

"We found her body in the basement," I said. "It looked like some kind of ritualistic murder." Not that I'd personally ever seen a ritualistic murder, or any murder for that matter.

"Are you sure?" asked Maude.

I tried to push down the feeling of nausea as the memory flashed through my mind. "We're sure."

"I took photos," volunteered Tilda. While she went looking for her laptop, I noticed the slightly green tinge to the women's faces and felt sorry for them. If just the thought was making them sick, the reality was going to ensure they never ate again.

Tilda brought back her laptop and I ensured I was seated as far away from the screen as I possibly could.

"Oh, Helen," Maude gasped as she touched the screen. She looked over at Tilda and me. "She was a sweet woman once. She loved holding you, Tilda. All she wanted was a family, but she got twisted up and all she could see was her hurt and her anger." Maude sighed and wiped her eyes. "It should never have ended like this."

Tilda tapped on the screen. "I took the photos for the symbols. I've never seen them before, and I thought you might recognize them."

Maude squinted at the screen. "I'm not familiar with them." She turned to Margot and Isobel. "How about you?"

The two women shook their heads.

"I feel like I've seen them," said Margot, "but I can't remember where."

I indicated the piles of grimoires in front of them. "Maybe in one of these?"

Margot shook her head. "No, I'd remember if I'd seen them this morning. I have a feeling that this memory is decades old."

"Whatever they mean, you can be sure that it's dark magic," Maude said, seriously.

Even with no magic knowledge, I would have been able to guess that. The symbols written in blood and the murdered witch were a dead giveaway.

"This is not working," Maude muttered. She looked up. "We can't do this alone. We need to bring in the rest of the coven."

Isobel slapped her hand on the table. "No, we can't. It will make Flora vulnerable. We had a plan. We should stick to it."

Maude stood up. "Yes, we had a plan, but that was before we found out this was a curse. When Flora got sick, we thought it was an overdose. We were wrong about that. We made a list of family members to contact and we couldn't get any help. What we've been doing hasn't been working. We need to find information fast. You know every witch has their own grimoires. Surely in one of them, there is something that can help us." She took in a shaky breath and said what we were all thinking. "We're running out of time."

"But what if the person who did this is part of the coven," Isobel said, desperation in her voice. "We could be inviting more trouble in."

"That's a risk we're going to have to take." Maude said.

I could see that Isobel was completely against the idea and her concerns were valid. Margot watched the two women with a concerned expression on her face.