"It's time for some answers," I mumbled as I drew in a breath, my eyes intent on the Osteodial.

According to the guide, this method of divination was much more advanced than the usual ones that old Elsa used to conduct for a price. What made this method more advanced? The fact that the diviner had to interact with the world beyond the veil.

While the divination results carried out like this were more accurate than the regular ones, they never gave a single definite answer. The reason for this divination being cryptic was the same reason why Smokewell's bread puffing only gave us omens of the future rather than a clear vision of what is going to happen. That reason was the fragility of a mortal mind.

Mortals are weak compared to whatever lies beyond the veil. It is not that it's not possible to lift the veil and look beyond. It's that you either have to hate living your life or be out of your mind to actually do it.

I took another deep breath and focused my mind on the obsidian key in front of me. Then I focused on charging the osteodial with malice. I felt the device grow slightly heavy in my hand as my malice flowed through the symbol I'd carved on the lower side of the device. I focused on my first question.

'Is the place where the key comes from nearby?'

The guide had instructed to start with a simple question to establish a stable link with the world beyond the veil. So I focused on that question and kept pushing my malice into the device.

Then the golden bone fixed in the semi-solid, pinkish substratum started to hum. Then it started to move, slowly rotating like the needle of a compass. The pointer stopped on the symbol that represented "No" in the witchcraft symbology.

I knew that was going to be the answer. That meant I'd formed a link with the world beyond the veil. Now I had to push a little deeper.

I kept the flow of malice into the symbol at the bottom even and focused on my next question.

'Is the place where the key comes from physically reachable?'

The device became a little heavier. The golden bone hummed softly and began to move in its place. It rotated once, twice, thrice...and then a fourth time before becoming parallel to the line I'd carved in the middle of the two symbols.

That meant the answer could be both yes and no and neither. That answer was also expected. I could feel a slight tingling in my head as I kept charging the device with malice. My connection to the world beyond the veil was getting clearer.

It was time to get to the real questions now.

'Do I know the person that sent the key into the mortal world?'

This time the pointer moved twice before it stopped on the symbol that represented 'yes.'

My focus almost faltered at the answer I received. I wasn't expecting it to say that. I didn't let my mind get too distracted and focused on the flow of my malice and moved onto the next question.

'Is it dangerous to use the key?'

The pointed moved only once this time. The answer that came was 'yes'. I felt my throat running dry. I was starting to feel a bit dazed. I had to end the divination soon or else I might break the barrier between the mortal realm and the veil that separated the world beyond. The guide hadn't gone much in depth about the dangers of it happening. But its warnings had been grave. They had to be taken seriously.

I focused on my last question.

'Does the owner of the key mean harm to me?’

The device got heavier in my hand. My eyes started to feel a slight sting as I kept gazing at the pointer. The thing started to rotate again. Once...twice...thrice...then it stopped.

The golden bone was parallel to the groove again. Neither a yes or no.

I quickly severed the link between me and the world beyond the veil. I put the osteodial down on the coffee table and took a few steps back. My feet trembled a bit and sweat had broken out on my forehead. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

I poured myself a glass of water and downed it in a single gulp.

Once my mind had cleared up and the feeling of dizziness had left me, I gathered my thoughts again.

The conclusions that I drew from my little experiment were as follows: Firstly, the osteodial had said that I knew the person who had sent the key to the mortal realm. It might've also meant that maybe it was old Elsa who knew this person beyond the veil. Because I couldn't imagine how my insignificant self might've formed a bond with someone from another realm in my previous life. Not like I could remember any instances of conducting a stereotypical black magic ritual just for laughs and ending up getting entangled with a real monster or deity. So, it was safe to assume that this person beyond the veil was someone old Elsa knew and not me.

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Secondly, I wasn't surprised that using the key being dangerous was a possibility. I was still quite new in this world. Even though I had the liberation ritual under my belt. There were more than a few things about witchcraft and this world that I didn't know yet. So, that answer made complete sense.

Thirdly, I still couldn't comprehend what to make of the answer to my last question. Either the person who sent the key meant harm to me or they didn't or they were uncertain about what they wanted to do to me once they found me.

My theory about this person being old Elsa asking for help through supernatural means began to feel less plausible. Maybe it was possible that it was someone Elsa knew and maybe this person wanted to settle some old score with her. That brought up another question. "Do I even want to get involved with this stuff?"

Currently, the answer was an obvious no. I didn't know half of anything that was happening and I was half-unaware of all the stuff that I was capable of. The final verdict was clear though.

The black key wasn't something to be fucked with for now. Maybe, once I knew more about the world beyond the veil or at least after I'd learnt or "re-learnt" all the spells and rituals in my hexonomicon, I might think of dealing with the key.

"But right now, you are going somewhere I or anyone else can't see you," I said as I put it in a small pouch and shoved it into my suitcase. I'd shove the pouch under a floorboard once I picked which room I wanted to sleep in.

That's when I heard a soft grumbling from behind me. Lenora had woken up.

I felt my lips turning into a grin even though I felt slightly bad to find her pained expression amusing. I stepped up to her and said, "Let me guess. Headache, inability to focus, scrambled thoughts and a sense of fatigue?"

Even through her mask of pain, Lenora managed to show a look of surprise at my deduction. "Um...precisely." She let out a breath. "I guess being perceptive comes with the perks of being a witch."

"Not at all," I said. "It's just that I've been in your place more than a few times."

"My sympathies are with you." Lenora squeezed the bridge of her nose, wincing a little.

"You should go out and get some fresh air," I said. "I have a few things I need to take care of." I turned and went upstairs to where the bedrooms were.

I looked at the mattress that had been folded and put in the closet in the first bedroom. I pulled it out but my steps staggered as I carried it out before I lost my balance. I was ready to tumble to the ground with the thing cushioning my fall. But the fall never came.

Someone had already braced me. It was Lenora. "I'm the one hungover but somehow you are finding it hard to keep standing," she said playfully.

I grinned and backed off, letting her hold up the mattress on her own. She didn't have the same difficulty holding it up as I had. "You know, I've done this kind of thing almost all my life." She carried the mattress out into the balcony and put it out on the banister.

While she was at it, I brought the second mattress from the other room and she took it from me and set it next to the first on the rail. We did the same for the third one. We then took turns smacking at the mattresses with my broom to knock off all the dust. "Your head isn't hurting anymore?" I asked as I stepped back and handed the broom to her.

"Not now that I'm busy with something," she said. "I'm quite good at ignoring my problems by getting busy with chores."

I gave a wry smile and leaned back and watched her as she dusted the mattresses. "Are you sure about this?" I asked.

"About what?"

"About this arrangement," I said. "You living with us--a bunch of witches. Are you really sure you don't feel scared? Or uncomfortable?"

Lenora stopped and sighed. "I don't, but I'm curious. What if I said no?" she said. "Would you leave the house? Or would you make me leave."

I pursed my lips and looked away when a gust of wind blew into our hairs. "I don't know. That would be a complicated situation, though."

"Why would it be complicated? You would just be on your way and I would be on my own." She shrugged.

"No, the complicated part would be wondering if you would go to the Inquistion and report us. I'm not saying that you are going to do that. But if things happened the way you just said, it would put me and my friends in a situation where we would have to worry about getting snitched on."

Lenora nodded with a surprising amount of understanding to my statement. "I think that's a valid concern to have if one was in your shoes," she said. "But you don't have to worry about me snitching on you. The only scenario in which I would do that is if you were serious about turning me into a flesh puppet." She winked and passed the broom.

I couldn't help but chuckle as I took the broom from her. "Don't mind Lily and Smokewell. They are just...well, they are weird people but I know that neither of them wants to hurt anyone." I began dusting the third mattress.

Lenora stepped aside and leaned against the banister. "It must be nice to have someone you could rely on, right?" she said.

That caught me a bit off guard but I gave a nod.

"You really do care about each other. I can tell," she said. "It's a scary thing, being alone, I mean. I realized when I finally divorced Clyde. I knew what he and I had wasn't a good thing but I couldn't deny that I had started to depend on his harshness and his...his control on my life. I know it was bad but...it was something. Even though I felt relieved of ending it, I still felt really alone. And empty. Have you felt that way?"

There it was, another heavy subject. I held back a sigh. I had to learn to answer questions like these. I decided to give it a try. "I'll say I know what it feels like. To come to rely upon something that's not good for you," I said.

"Did you get rid of that thing?" she asked.

I scoffed at that. "Oh I did. Not with my own hands but one day I woke up and I just...didn't have to rely on that thing anymore."

"That sounds impossible," Lenora said.

"I know. But it happened. There was a point in my life where I was convinced that I didn't deserve it and yet I got a chance to start over," I said. "Even though what happened to me feels like a miracle now, it has really made me believe that...there are not a lot of things that are truly impossible."

"This is why I want to live with you all," Lenora said. "These things you say...they make me trust you. They give me hope. Even that advice you gave me at my apartment. No one agreed with that. My colleagues, even my own parents tried to make me stay with Clyde. But it was your words that gave me the courage to...take control of my life again." She took a step forward and said with a determined look, "I trust you. I know you won't do anything bad to me. The question is, do you trust me the same way?"