the symbol, confidential.” He closed the file. “I’m very sorry for your loss, Ariana.” Boyd’s expression softened. “We’ll be in touch if any new evidence develops. You can go now.”
With one arm draped around her quivering shoulders, I guided Ariana outside and into the Jeep. She didn’t say anything, only stared unseeing at the trees. After I buckled her seatbelt and shut the passenger door, I slid behind the wheel.
I stuck the key into the ignition and glanced at Ariana. “We’ll figure out who did this to your aunt. I swear it.” I shifted the car into drive and backed out. “Let’s stop by the trailer and get your stuff.”
Ariana nodded. Then leaning over, she burst into loud sobs. She sucked in big gasps of air, shuddering between her cries. I tried to stay strong, but my own emotions threatened to pour from my heart as well.
It seemed the thirteen families were once again the target of something nefarious.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“Tell me again what we’re doing in a graveyard at midnight?” I kicked at the dirt with my Doc Martens boot. “It’s a school night, ya know.”
Ariana had moved into my house a week ago and she was fast asleep in the spare bedroom when I’d snuck out to meet my mom. I’d asked the shades to stay and protect her. Just in case.
Mom sighed. “This is part of your education, Shiloh, as a future Gatekeeper of the Sheol. Besides, being a demon hunter isn’t supposed to be fun.” Her fair complexion was shadowed by moonlight, and she brushed dark auburn hair that fell in silky waves past her shoulders from her blue-green eyes.
Blah, blah, blah. Did I really want to be responsible for keeping demons from escaping the Sheol? No. Not really.
Did I have a choice? No. Not really.
White Witches used to do it. Once they had enough power to guard this world against a fracture in the magicks protecting the Sheol. Women, born to fight demons. Witches, destined to protect the world against the evils sealed within that otherworldly prison forever.
Except, nothing lasted forever.
Opaque clouds masked the moonlight, pitching the cemetery into semi-darkness. The area seemed barren. Row upon row of gray monuments stood at attention, like soldiers waiting for a general who would never arrive. Some of the ivy-covered gravestones had been standing so long that they sagged at their posts. Others leaned against one another for support, like wounded men.
Mom patted my shoulder, the aqua hues in her aura fluttering wildly. Her sinewy arms, scarred from previous demon battles, were covered in gold bangles. She crossed her knee-high brown boots at the ankles, and stared out into the vastness of the cemetery. “A full moon is the best time to commune with the dead.” Mom hummed to herself while she dug in her big leather bag full of occult paraphernalia.
“Why couldn’t we just have a séance like normal people?” I asked with a shudder and hugged myself. “It’s cold out here.”
Mom liked talking to the dead. Earthbound spirits, she called them. If they had unfinished business with the living, they occasionally came to her for help. Sometimes she summoned them for answers. But undead conversations weren’t on my list of fun things to do. Mom thought she was the damned Ghost Whisperer .
“I’m hoping we can summon Cadence’s spirit. Perhaps I can discern who, or rather, what killed Ariana’s aunt. She deserves to know. And we’ll have a better understanding of what we’re dealing with.”
Mom removed a canister of salt from her bag and poured the fine, white grains in a circle around Cadence’s grave. Salt prevented other ghosts from entering the space we hoped her friend’s spirit would occupy.
A small service had been held for Ariana’s aunt in the Silent Hollows Cemetery. The same one we trespassed, er, loitered in now. Getting arrested tonight wasn’t on my list of fun things to do, either, so I kept an eye out for cops. It would suck if we got busted.
I
With one arm draped around her quivering shoulders, I guided Ariana outside and into the Jeep. She didn’t say anything, only stared unseeing at the trees. After I buckled her seatbelt and shut the passenger door, I slid behind the wheel.
I stuck the key into the ignition and glanced at Ariana. “We’ll figure out who did this to your aunt. I swear it.” I shifted the car into drive and backed out. “Let’s stop by the trailer and get your stuff.”
Ariana nodded. Then leaning over, she burst into loud sobs. She sucked in big gasps of air, shuddering between her cries. I tried to stay strong, but my own emotions threatened to pour from my heart as well.
It seemed the thirteen families were once again the target of something nefarious.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“Tell me again what we’re doing in a graveyard at midnight?” I kicked at the dirt with my Doc Martens boot. “It’s a school night, ya know.”
Ariana had moved into my house a week ago and she was fast asleep in the spare bedroom when I’d snuck out to meet my mom. I’d asked the shades to stay and protect her. Just in case.
Mom sighed. “This is part of your education, Shiloh, as a future Gatekeeper of the Sheol. Besides, being a demon hunter isn’t supposed to be fun.” Her fair complexion was shadowed by moonlight, and she brushed dark auburn hair that fell in silky waves past her shoulders from her blue-green eyes.
Blah, blah, blah. Did I really want to be responsible for keeping demons from escaping the Sheol? No. Not really.
Did I have a choice? No. Not really.
White Witches used to do it. Once they had enough power to guard this world against a fracture in the magicks protecting the Sheol. Women, born to fight demons. Witches, destined to protect the world against the evils sealed within that otherworldly prison forever.
Except, nothing lasted forever.
Opaque clouds masked the moonlight, pitching the cemetery into semi-darkness. The area seemed barren. Row upon row of gray monuments stood at attention, like soldiers waiting for a general who would never arrive. Some of the ivy-covered gravestones had been standing so long that they sagged at their posts. Others leaned against one another for support, like wounded men.
Mom patted my shoulder, the aqua hues in her aura fluttering wildly. Her sinewy arms, scarred from previous demon battles, were covered in gold bangles. She crossed her knee-high brown boots at the ankles, and stared out into the vastness of the cemetery. “A full moon is the best time to commune with the dead.” Mom hummed to herself while she dug in her big leather bag full of occult paraphernalia.
“Why couldn’t we just have a séance like normal people?” I asked with a shudder and hugged myself. “It’s cold out here.”
Mom liked talking to the dead. Earthbound spirits, she called them. If they had unfinished business with the living, they occasionally came to her for help. Sometimes she summoned them for answers. But undead conversations weren’t on my list of fun things to do. Mom thought she was the damned Ghost Whisperer .
“I’m hoping we can summon Cadence’s spirit. Perhaps I can discern who, or rather, what killed Ariana’s aunt. She deserves to know. And we’ll have a better understanding of what we’re dealing with.”
Mom removed a canister of salt from her bag and poured the fine, white grains in a circle around Cadence’s grave. Salt prevented other ghosts from entering the space we hoped her friend’s spirit would occupy.
A small service had been held for Ariana’s aunt in the Silent Hollows Cemetery. The same one we trespassed, er, loitered in now. Getting arrested tonight wasn’t on my list of fun things to do, either, so I kept an eye out for cops. It would suck if we got busted.
I
Similar Books
