The Legend of the Eight: The Wicked (Book 2)

6: Hurt People Hurt People

SIX: HURT PEOPLE HURT PEOPLE
MARCH 17
WIL DIAMOND

IT WAS THURSDAY NIGHT AND if Wil was being honest, she didn't know where her friends were but to be fair, they probably would've said the same thing about her. It was late—after curfew at least—and Wil was busy sneaking into the North Hall Observatory Tower with a backpack full of things she'd collected over the years.

In the tower, she sat on the floor with her bag in her lap and began emptying it. First, she removed a vial of salt (a binding agent for spells) and another with sprigs of lilac. Lilac held a magical significance for spells and potions rooted in strong emotions (like love). Then, she took out a roll of paper which, when open, displayed the Three Realms in their entirety. Next out came a tee shirt with the letters UCLA faded across the chest and a stone the size of a grape and color of a rose. Lastly, she dug through her pocket for the scrap of paper she'd shoved in there, on which she wrote

Homo invenire locum

She found the spell in a grimoire yesterday after searching through her own notes and books for days. It was a location spell, used to find anyone in the Three Realms, and she finally had everything she needed to perform it.

White salt 

Sprigs of lilac 

Tourmaline stone 

Map  

Personal effect 

First, she took the map and rolled it open on the floor. Then she poured the salt in the middle and placed one sprig of Lilac in each Realm. Then, she lit a flame on the tip of her index finger and with it, set the t-shirt on fire, dropping it onto the map. She closed her fist around the tourmaline and began to chant.

"Homo invenire locum. Homo invenire locum."

The salt began to travel along the map, starting at the Academy in the World of Magic (her location) and moving east. In her hand, Wil felt the stone growing warmer and at first, it was bearable. But the longer she chanted, the hotter it became until she was sure it would burn through the flesh in her hand. She dropped the stone and the flame on the shirt blew out, leaving the tee in perfect condition like it'd never been worn.

Interrupting the spell caused the salt line to stop halfway to its destination and when Wil reached for the stone to start again, it burned her to the touch. She let it be and turned her attention to the map, following the partial line through the World of Magic to the next Realm—the Mortal World.

He was in the Mortal World. The only question was where?

THE DOOR WAS LOCKED BUT she'd been there enough times to know that with the right amount of pressure between opposite corners, the lock became unhinged and the door would open. It was a wonder how no one ever walked in on the two of them before.

She was in the Faculty Residence—a huge risk at that hour but she wasn't much in the mood for caring—and she was at Damon's old suite. After getting the door open, she slipped inside but there, she froze.

She wasn't sure what she expected but it certainly wasn't what she found. The sheets on his bed were wrinkled and she could make out a dip the size of his body and a smaller one beside it from hers. On the nightstand by a journal and his copy of Sense and Sensibility was a scotch glass. There were even a few sips left at the bottom from when he last drank it. She lifted it to her nose and inhaled. Smoky, cedar notes swirled with a spicy wintergreen. It smelled just like him.