“I’ve been reading up on the lore of the older witches and the wards. The wards are always weak this time of year. You just happened to use an unstable spell when you opened the portal inside the boundaries of the wards. According to my research any powerful witch or warlock would have broken the wards doing what you did by creating a portal from the outside to open up within the wards. It just hadn’t been done before, because all of the witches or warlocks who’ve visited our town since the wards were raised never cast any powerful, unpredictable spells around Halloween. What happened with you was simply an unpredictable accident. Do not lay unnecessary blame on yourself.”
Malcolm’s throat tightened and he nodded that he understood Finnigan’s point. Anyone could have done this…not just him.
“It doesn’t help that there is a prophecy here dooming me to destroy the town.”
“Yes, I can see that weighs heavily on you.”
Malcolm couldn’t help but wonder how many other people were burdened by the prophecies Finnigan had shown them.
“And yet, according to some seer when I was born, I’m also supposed to save magic? How’s that supposed to work?” He couldn’t hide the frustration in his voice.
“You know my feelings about prophecies,” the yeti reminded him. “It’s better to live your life without dwelling on things that are always open to interpretation and misunderstanding,. You cannot worry about what you do not truly know.”
“But I do know…” he groaned.
Finnigan arched a dark gold brow. “No, you think you do. There is a difference.”
“That’s not as helpful as you think it is,” said Malcolm.
“That’s where a shit ton of whiskey comes in,” said Jasper, trying to lighten the mood. “Maybe I’ll break out a bottle later. What do you think, Finnigan? Would whiskey drown out the prophecies?
The yeti chuckled. “For a night, perhaps.”
“Less grieving and more reading, I say. Let’s divvy these up.” Jasper separated the books into three separate stacks.
Hades paced around the library, unusually nervous. It was hard to blame him, he wanted to be with Calli and Persephone too. This is not how he had expected to spend the day after making love to Calli. He wanted to keep her in bed, cook her dinner, and hold her on the couch by the fire while they watched a movie. Instead, he was staring at old town records and diaries, trying to understand how a bunch of witch ghosts had possessed him and guided him to the Black Cliffs with the remnants of ancient spells, in the vague hope it would shed some light on the original wards.
They worked in silence for nearly two hours before Jasper suddenly sat up.
“Hey, I think I found something.” Jasper lifted up the leather bound book he was reading. It had no title and no real spine. It was more like a folder made of cowhide that had been stretched over a collection of yellowed parchment paper. He set the book back down on the table, revealing a scrawling script that had once been written in black ink, now faded to brown.
“Ah, the diary of Goody Leicester,” Finnigan murmured. “She was one of the granddaughters of the first witches in Moonstone.”
“Some of the writing is hard to read,” Jasper admitted. “Most of it, really. But here she’s talking about the original wards.” Jasper pointed at the script and slowly recited what he could understand.
“Thirteen witches to raise the guardian spell … Thirteen witches to perform the ancient rights. A witch-locked pair must shed their blood upon the soil. Their strength will rise and guard the town. Thirteen witches must toil to prevent further trouble…”
“What else?” Malcolm pressed, his breath held so long his lungs burned.
“That’s it. After that, she talks about the preparations for All Hallows Eve.”
Malcolm sank back in his chair. “She didn’t write anything else?”
Jasper scoured the next few pages. “I don’t think so… but I’ll keep looking.” He gave Malcolm a supportive look that just barely buoyed his dampened spirits. He had hoped for something a bit more substantial. Mrs. Greenlee had already told him that a blood sacrifice was necessary. All that he had learned here was that it seemed both witch-locked persons in a bond would be involved in that blood sacrifice. He and Calli weren’t locked yet. If they did manage to bond before they got the wards back up, he wasn’t going to let Calli get hurt.
“So… Sage explained this witch-lock thing to me,” Jasper said after a moment.
Malcolm glanced at his friend. He could feel the yeti’s eyes on them too.
“What did she say?”
“That it’s deeper than marriage. It’s like… forever,” Jasper said. “You know that, right?”
Malcolm nodded. “Werewolves and vampires call it fated mates.”
“But you?” Jasper asked. “Is this woman everything for you?”
Leave it to Jasper to look right at the heart of something.
