Morning broke into the window. We had been here for three days, trying to find a way to break through the crows, hiding the one responsible to no avail.
We found nothing else out about Anna and Edward. The frustration was building.
“Right. Shall we try to move on to the next one? I can tell we are getting a little fed up,” Morgan chirped.
Leo and I slowly opened up and began to trust Morgan. Everything we thought about her was either a twisted truth or a misjudgement of character.
We sat back down in front of the fire and the black mirror.
“Although frustrating, it is nice to learn more about their relationship... How it started and that,” I mentioned settling down in front of Leo.
“Hm, very true. We know how William and Rose met, though.”
“Did you figure out why Mary-Ann looked familiar?” Morgan asked Leo.
Leo shook his head.
----------------------------------------
Remember, follow the necklace.
Morgan’s voice rang clear as we were in the casino again. We were surrounded by women in flapper dresses and men in penguin suits.
Rose walked in with her friend. The necklace sat pretty on her neck.
“Where was it before this?” I muttered.
The scene slowed to a pause before shifting. The vertigo was terrible this time. I held onto Leo’s arm as he steadied me.
We were in an apartment, and Rose and her friend getting ready.
“Happy birthday!” The woman brought out a gift box with a card on it.
“Oh, Marie! You didn’t have to!” Rose gushed, a Brooklyn accent showing through.
“Oh, I did! Not every day you turn twenty-five!” Marie beamed, giving her the box.
“It’s beautiful…”
A slightly modified necklace sat on the box. Instead of pearls, there were crystals. The shadowed woman against ivory was still there.
“That’s how she got it,” Leo muttered.
After securing the necklace around her neck, they left, walking down the street to the casino and walking in together to the bar at the side.
Where did Marie get it from?
We were unexpectedly pulled out when the doors shut. The girls rewound back to the apartment, and crows clouded the vision. Once again, I sat beside the fire, holding Leo's hands.
“The necklace changed…” I muttered, “The necklace changes.” I looked at Leo.
“I mean, it would keep up with the times, right?”
“Yes, but… What if it wasn’t always a necklace?”
“I can tell you the other lifetime I found; it was a necklace,” Morgan added.
“Hm.”
----------------------------------------
“Lexi!?”
We all jumped and looked back down at the scrying mirror.
“Lexi, are you there?”
“Quinn?!” I looked back into the mirror.
Clear as day, Quinn's face appeared in the mirror, her face worried.
“Thank gods! I have been trying to call you! Are you okay?”
My eyebrows scrunched, and looking at my phone, the dreaded ‘no signal’ appeared on the screen.
“Ah, sorry. No signal out here. I’m okay. What’s going on?”
She looked relieved, and Leo leaned over to look inside, too.
“The council detective is here. I don’t know how they found out, but they are asking us all questions about what happened at the Abbey. They are asking about you, Lexi…”
“It was a matter of time,” I murmured.
Morgan got up from her spot and went outside. I looked at Leo, and he watched her from the window.
“I think it’s best to stay in Scotland for a while. I will call you again when they leave. I will ask Jack and Keiron what they know; hopefully, we can steer them away from you.”
I nodded before asking, “My mum? Is she okay?”
“She is pissed. They’re searching your house. I think they are after your stuff.”
“Good thing I brought it with me.”
“Lexi… They may take Sooty too…”
Tears built up in my eyes, “No,” I whispered.
“I will try to keep him safe,” Quinn vowed. She turned to someone in the background.
“I must go. Keep safe.”
“You to Quinn. Love you all.”
‘Shit.’
----------------------------------------
I joined Leo at the window. Looking out, Morgan stood at the edge of the trees, branches twisted into an archway. She was talking to John and Fred, the Fae.
“What is she doing?” I asked.
“I think she is getting information.”
Leo turned to me, “I don’t mind fetching Sooty.”
My eyebrows furrowed, “That’s a long journey for you…”
I had an idea.
----------------------------------------
Approaching the trio, their conversation continued while I came closer, Leo behind me.
“Rose,” Fred nodded.
“What is the price of your service?” I asked.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
I felt Leo’s hand at my elbow, but I continued, “My familiar is in danger. I need him here.”
“Why don’t you call for him?” John asked.
“He… is an indoor cat. I’m unsure if he will be able to get here safely.”
“Don’t underestimate familiars.” Morgan smiled sweetly before whispering something to her raven.
It flew away.
“Leave that with me,” Morgan said, winking.
“Now… What else have you found?” She turned back to Fred and John.
They looked at one another before looking at both Leo and me.
“It’s fine. It involves them…” Morgan reassured.
----------------------------------------
Whitby
With the disturbing information from Keiron Greenwood. The council looked into Cornelious further.
Just as he said, they had tried to track him. The last they heard, he was still with Victoria, his Dame. Now he was gone, off the rails, and Victoria was not responding.
The detective leaned back into his chair. He was rethinking all his actions.
----------------------------------------
“I want the details of all the people staying in Whitby that night. Focus on Visitors: holiday homes, hotels, B&B. We need to talk to the humans on security that night,” The detective, Magnus, demanded his three lackeys.
With solemn nods, they went to gather information.
Until he found out exactly what had transpired that night. He would wait to announce the end of the treaty.
Walking up the stairs to the Abbey. He quickly approached the security there and showed his badge. It was glamoured to look like the local human police force.
“I need to speak to the persons at the abbey on the night of July 26th.”
“Follow me.”
----------------------------------------
“I understand you both were working the night of July 26th?” Magnus started.
“Yes,” replied Gail.
“A disturbance occurred in the early morning of July 27th?” It sounded more like a statement.
“Yes,” Frank confirmed.
“Tell me what happened.”
“We didn’t know anyone was on the property until we heard a scream, and the Abbey lit up in red light. We thought it was some kids.” Frank shook his head, recalling the tale.
“Until I noticed a young girl unconscious, not breathing and covered in bite marks,” Gail added.
“We performed first aid and used the defib. As far as we know, she is alive, and the paramedics take her to the hospital. I tried to do a follow-up and find her at the hospital, but we didn’t know her last name.”
“What’s her first name?” Magnus asked.
“Her friends called her Lexi,” Frank spoke up this time.
“And her friends' names?”
“Quinn, Lathen and Leo… I think.”
“Do you know if they lived locally?”
“No. Leo, although he only said his name, it was clear he was Scottish.” Gail informed.
“They were shaken up. All of them.” Frank said, his eyes glazed over.
Frank looked to the detective as if remembering something, “The girl, Quinn… said she had been taken, nearly died. But there wasn’t a scratch on her…”
“And you did not see or hear anything other than the scream?”
They both shook their heads, “It was a quiet night. It seemed they had both been there for some time with how tired they looked and the number of bite marks. We saw nothing. Even the CCTV caught nothing.”
----------------------------------------
He hit a brick wall after that short chat. Magnus concluded that one of the named people was related to Keiron. Why else would he have a keen interest? Know so much information?
But searching the four names with ‘Greenwood’ came up with zilch.
And without a last name, asking the hospital for records was difficult.
Rubbing his eyes, he tossed his reading glasses onto the table. They needed help to pinpoint Cornelius' whereabouts. Even if they did, he was gone again without a trace.
A knock at his office door broke him out of his thoughts.
“Still no bookings under the four names you gave us.” One of his assistants said as they entered.
The detective sighed heavily, “What about CCTV? Anything?”
“The vampires graffitied the cameras at the Abbey and Church. But we did get a hit on Keiron.”
“Go on.”
“We found him leaving on July 27th with a duffle bag. We followed him to this address.”
He put a piece of paper down on the table; the whole street was holiday home central.
“Get me all the footage on that address from 25th to 30th July and find out who was in this house at that time.”
“Yes, sir.”
----------------------------------------
After days of searching through the footage, they finally had faces, one name and one address.
Devan Treent.
“Now. We go to Pendle. Once we have a last name, check the hospital. The witch must be in a coma or dead.”
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Pendle
A knock on the door on Christmas Eve, December 24th.
“Must be the Carollers!” Hevan opened the door with a bright smile.
It quickly faded as Magnus showed his badge.
“I am here to speak with Devan.”
“Devan!” His mother called into the house, “Please come in.” She looked around the neighbourhood before shutting the door.
“What’s this about?” She asked, leading him to the kitchen.
Her cheery mood was quickly gone as she approached her husband, Travis, and sat beside him at the table.
“I cannot reveal that information until I speak to Devan. What is your relationship to him?”
“I am his mother.”
“Mum? What’s up?” Devan asked before walking into the kitchen; upon seeing the detective, he stopped in the doorway.
“Devan Treent?”
A quick look at his mother told him to speak the truth, “Yes.”
“I have a few questions about your time in Whitby.”
Jack did warn us it was a matter of time before they came, and Keiron’s phone call on Yule was quickly passed to every member.
They had to protect Lexi.
Magnus was desperate for answers. This time, he had permission from the other council members. Time to use a truth spell.
Haven and Travis could only watch and listen as names and words tumbled out of their son's mouth—some information they had yet to hear.
“And the friend that saved your girlfriend?”
“Yes.”
“Her name?”
“Lexi Langton.”
----------------------------------------
Magnus got the names and addresses of the other five witches. No doubt they all already knew he was in town. So, they immediately went to the Langton Address.
Understandably, Mrs Langton was… Annoyed, to say the least.
“Where is your daughter?”
“Gone.” Her voice spat.
“I know she isn’t dead.”
Isobelle closed her eyes; they stood in the front garden, Cynthia patting her back, staying strong. She fought the spell, refusing to open her mouth.
“You are not in mourning clothes, there is not a registered death. Where is she?”
“Not here.”
A colleague whispered into his ear, taking a moment; he asked again, “Allow me to rephrase. Where in Scotland is she?”
Cynthia took a sharp intake of breath.
“I don’t know,” Isobelle grounded out.
“Surely you would not let your daughter wander alone in Scotland?”
“She isn’t alone.”
“Oh?”
“Hm.”
“Where did she tell you she was staying?”
“Th-The R-Royal…”
“Don’t fight it, Isobelle. You know it will hurt more.”
“The r-royal inn. Edinburgh.”
Cynthia soothed her back, concern in her face. Isobelle was out of breath, her face red and sweating. Magnus wrote it down in his notepad.
“How is she still alive?”
“I don’t know.”
That time, Isobelle didn’t resist. He looked up at her in confusion.
“How is she alive?”
“I don’t know.” Tears fell over her cheeks, “She should be dead. We are still trying to figure that out.”
“Hm. I guess that’s why your brother was looking for books around death and Vitamortum, then?”
“Yes.”
“We will be taking her Book of Shadows and her other belongings. For evidence.”
“Erm, Boss?”
“What?” Magnus turned to the same colleague as before.
“Her book of shadows isn’t here.”
Turning back to Isobelle, he asked, “Where is it?”
“With her.”
He groaned slightly, “Take everything else. I still need to interview the other coven members.”
Before he walked away, Isobelle stopped him with raised words, “You better be finding that vampire.”
Magnus turned to look at the two women, “Pardon?”
“The vampire. Cornelious. I hope your witch-hunting skills are just as good at finding him.”
“We are working on it.”
With that, he turned around, got into a car, he drove off.
----------------------------------------
Isobelle called Keiron immediately, “The council know.”
“I’m sorry. Do you want me to come up?”
“No… I will keep you informed.”
Then she got up Lexi’s number. Only to be stopped by Cynthia.
“Don’t. Keep her hidden. If her phone pings at a cell tower, they will know,” she whispered.
Gronk!
Looking at the loud noise, horror overtook Isobelle’s face.
“Sooty! NO!”
She chased after the cat, following the crow. But they were gone.
“Lexi is going to kill me.”