“No,” I said, pulling away. “No, this isn’t right.”
It readISABELLE CASIMIR.
In shock, I stared at the gravestone. Taking a step closer, I knelt down to examine it more closely. That’s when I noticed the Latin inscription:EXURGE ANTIQUA ET JUDICA CAUSAM TUAM—the motto of the Spanish Inquisition. Above it was an inverted crescent resting atop a full moon. My blood ran cold and a silent scream caught in my throat. I knew this image all too well.
It was the symbol of the horned god.
IIMONSTERS AND LEGENDS
2.1THE UNDEAD
The curiously ambivalent allure of the vampire herself lingers in the memory… haunted by the dual images of “beautiful girl” and “writhing fiend.”
—FREDBOTTING,GOTHIC
As I stood in those eerily silent woods, staring at that gravestone marked by seemingly contradictory symbols, I felt vaguely like I might be losing my mind. Setting the fact of the grave aside for the moment, why, I wondered, would anyone ever want to memorialize the Spanish Inquisition? Most people are familiar with the trials in Salem, and in Scotland before that, and perhaps with the bloodshed enacted during the seventeenth century by Matthew Hopkins, England’s monstrous Witchfinder General, but nowhere were the horrors of the witchcraft massacres more evident than with the Spanish Inquisition. It was the very incarnation of evil, and its motto wasn’t the kind of thing I want to run into in the middle of the woods.
But then I noticed what I’d missed on first inspection. It was almost the Inquisition’s motto, but not quite. One key word had been changed. Whereas the original motto,Exurge Domine et Judica Causam Tuam,translated toArise, O Lord, and Judge Your Own Cause,what was written here wasExurge Antiqua et Judica Causam Tuam:Arise, Ancient One, and Judge Your Own Cause.Ancient One? Who was this Ancient One? Suddenly the phrasetook on an entirely different meaning. This wasn’t some bizarre tribute to the Inquisition; it was an invocation of an ancient god.
As I started toward the campus, my stomach soured and I felt increasingly paranoid. When I emerged from under the tree cover and onto the path, I turned and stared back into the woods in disbelief. I had no clue what to make of the situation. Wrapping my jacket around my torso, I hurried back to the cabana and locked the door behind me.
I don’t know how long I sat there, and I can barely tell you what I did in that time. I think I must have been in shock, just staring straight ahead at my wall. Eventually I showered and had breakfast, and when enough time had passed, I decided to go up to the house and tell Dorian what I’d found.
He and Lexi were in his office on the first floor, their heads bent over what appeared to be a balance sheet. I couldn’t help but notice that Dorian seemed pleased to see me, but Lexi avoided my gaze.
“Robin, is something wrong?” Dorian asked.
“Yeah. I think so. I went for a walk in the woods this morning. And I found… Well, I think I found a grave.”
They stared at me blankly.
“I’m sorry,” said Lexi, tilting her head, “but did you just say you found a grave in the woods?”
I nodded. “At first, I thought maybe it was a grave for an animal, but the inscription on the stone was ‘Isabelle Casimir.’”
They just stared at me.
“Doesn’t this concern you? Aren’t you all under the impression that she left?”
Lexi pursed her pretty lips and nodded. “She did.”
“Then why is there a grave with her name on it out there in the woods?”
“There isn’t.”
“Yes there is,” I said as politely as I could manage. “And it has some weird inscriptions on it, too.”
Lexi looked away, and I could have sworn she grew markedly paler. Dorian cleared his throat. Tapping her manicured nails against the leather desk blotter in front of her, Lexi nodded, finally meeting my eyes. She looked angry and almost like she’d been put on the spot.
“Can you take us to it?” she asked.
The three of us headed out almost immediately, and when we reached the mouth of the woods, I noticed with some interest that Lexi seemed to hesitate. Her expression grew grave, almost fearful, but the moment passed quickly. She led the way once we were under the cover of the trees, but when we reached the spot where the grave should have been, I was shocked to see that it was gone. There was nothing there.
“No,” I said in disbelief. “It was right here.”
I could barely speak as I stared openmouthed at the spot where the grave should have been. Lexi and Dorian glanced furtively at each other. I could tell they thought I was crazy.
“Right here,” I insisted, pointing at the spot where the marker had been. “You have to believe me.”
