She arched a brow. “A nail file?”
“It was all I had.”
“Not bad, little sis.” She nodded her approval. “Did you find a map?”
I showed her the photo. “When Miles came in for a sigil, he recognized the cross as the old church in Hingham. He says it’s still there.” I pulled Isabel’s map out of my bag. “He studies cartography. If he wasn’t so far up Shade’s ass, I’d suggest we pick his brain for the other locations.”
“Absolutely not. We will handle this on our own.” Ember laid the paper map on my mattress and compared the image on my phone. “We need to print this.” She tapped the screen a few times, and the printer hummed to life down the hall. She handed me the phone and strode out of the room.
“Any guess as to where your skull might be?” I peered at the pentagram. “Did she give you any clues when she vanquished you?”
“None. She imprisoned us before she hid our skulls.”
“Fabulous. I wonder, though.” I grabbed my crystal pendulum and held it over the map. The metal chain felt cool in my grip, and as I swung it in circles over the pentagram, I focused my intent on finding Chaos’s skull.
My chest heated, my magic humming to life. I stilled my hand, letting the crystal’s momentum guide it to one of the points on the star. The motion slowed until the pendulum hung still, right in the middle of the map.
“Well, that sucks. I was hoping a little divination would show us where to go.” I returned the pendulum to the shelf.
“Isabel would not make our skulls so easy to find.”
I shrugged. “It was worth a shot.”
Ember returned with a printed version of the pic I snapped.“We know for sure this is the church?” She angled the printout so the two maps lined up.
“It looks that way. See the water here and here?” I pointed to Isabel’s squiggly lines and then at the library’s map.
“And these other points? What are they? Did Miles say anything else?”
“I don’t know. I snatched it out of Shade’s hands before they could examine it more closely. We’ll have to go to each point and see if Chaos can sense anything.”
“I’m certain she hid them behind a spell. Your magic-revealing incantation will help before I could possibly sense anything…unless she has demons guarding the locations.”
“Ugh. Please, no more golems.” I pointed to the church on the map. “I say we start there. At least we know exactly what place we’re looking for.”
Ember nodded. “Agreed. Let’s go.”
“I need to restock my kit. Give me twenty minutes.” I followed her out of my room.
“You also need food. Keeping up your strength will help you keep me in check.”
“I’ll grab a few energy bars, and then I’ll have no problem putting you in a time-out.”
He did that growly purr again, and I shivered in a good way. Yeah, this bond needed to be broken ASAP.
After I threw together a few premade spells and stocked my kit, we climbed into the van and headed to Hingham. It took an hour by car, so I could only imagine what the trek must’ve been like way back when. Did Isabel walk? Go on horseback? Arrive by boat? A woman scorned and cursed to spend eternity in Hell was capable of anything, I supposed.
“She did not want these skulls found, did she?” Ember hung a left on Main Street and rolled to a stop in front of the church. “Why so far away?”
“She and her entire bloodline are cursed. I bet she’d have gone farther if she had the means.” I slid out of the van and slipped my satchel onto my shoulder. The church was a two-story beige wooden structure with a steeple. It sat atop a little hill, and a black fence surrounded it.
“Does Chaos sense anything demonic?” Ember asked as she strode toward the front door.
“Nothing, but it will be masked by magic.”
“He doesn’t. Let me check the area for spells before we barge inside. She probably hid the skull in a crypt or basement. That’s what I would do.”
I stood at the gate and recited my favorite incantation, casting my magic wide to cover most of the front lawn. Gold sparkled in the air and dissipated as it fell to the ground. “Nothing out here.”
I moved closer and cast the spell on the building. I expected to see at least a little magic around the doorway, but the glitter dissolved like it had on the lawn. The sun sank into the horizon, turning the sky shades of purple and red, and an early-riser owl hooted from the tree to our right.
“Inside or around back?” Ember asked.
“Back.” I turned and headed around the building. I couldn’t say why I felt drawn that way, but I did. Maybe it was a hunch. Maybe I’d cast my spell so many times I didn’t need it anymore. Who knew?
As we rounded the back of the building, I headed straight for the cellar door. The energy here felt different. Like it used to spark with magic, but it had now gone stale. “Am I sensing demonic energy?”
Ember drew her sword. “I don’t know. Are you?”
“I sense nothing.”
“No. It must be something else.” I heaved the door open and descended the steps, still feeling drawn to something by who knew what.
The basement looked typical of old homes that were built before electricity and indoor plumbing became the norm. Metal tubing ran along the walls, enclosing the wiring that had been added later, and exposed ductwork stretched across the ceiling. Some shelves stood against the far wall, but I wasn’t interested in those. A staircase next to them led up to the ground floor, but I hung a left, the stale magic sensation pulling me to a waist-high door with a broken padlock.
I started to tug the door open, but I paused, letting the energy wash over me. I didn’t feel the low vibration in my bones, but I waited for Chaos to chime in before I continued. “Anything?” I asked him.
“There is no demonic energy in this basement, but I sense a rift forming outside. Another lower-level demon has sensed my magic.”
