Unholy Magic by Stacia Kane Page B

since she had no idea what this one meant or what it would do, she wasn’t about to copy it straight out. Instead she tried separating the elements, piecing them together one at a time.
    It probably wouldn’t help. Even if she could see what each individual part was, she’d have no idea what it meant. But it was something, and she needed to do something.
    That bit there, if she followed the line around, could be an A … that part could be a rune, maybe Higam? Higam was protective, though, and she couldn’t imagine why someone would brand a protective rune onto the breast of a woman they were about to ritually murder.
    Damn! If only she had some way to tell which layer was which, what elements overlapped, she could make so much more progress with the fucking thing. As it was, she—
    “Good morrow, Cesaria. Do I find you well?”
    Her guilty fingers flexed, trying to crush the paper, but she caught herself before they tore it completely from her notebook. No better way to convince someone that something unethical was happening than to destroy evidence in front of them.
    Elder Griffin probably wouldn’t suspect anything no matter what, but still. “Very well, sir. And you?”
    He nodded. Without his hat, his pale hair rose in waves from his high forehead and caught the light from the fluorescents overhead.
    He sat down opposite her, folding his nimble hands on the tabletop in front of him. “How goes your case?”
    “Okay, I guess. I’ll know more tonight when I go back.”
    “Most interesting, that one,” he said. “I admit I have my own doubts.”
    “Doubts?”
    “Roger Pyle has such a reputation for honesty and good works. His anti-drug charity alone … Well, you saw the information in his file.”
    Anti-drug charity? Shit, she hadn’t even bothered to look it up. Yet. She would have, she hadn’t forgotten, but she’d never heard of the Daylight Fund before. Anti-drug anything wasn’t exactly on her radar.
    She nodded, keeping a smile plastered across her face. “Of course. He is a very nice man, actually.”
    He’d also been high as shit when she met him, no question. Hypocrite.
    “Do you think you’ll have an answer quickly?”
    Another nod, an emphatic one. “Absolutely.”
    “Excellent. I do enjoy his show. I hope very much he proves to be innocent of any wrongdoing.”
    “Surely you don’t want him to be haunted?”
    He gave a little laugh, one of the few she’d ever gotten from him. “Of course not. But I understand he has some rather … unscrupulous companions. Well, one can hardly help it, I imagine, in that sort of industry. I don’t wish ill on anyone, Cesaria, but I would be quite disappointed to hear that someone who brings joy to so many people is a liar and a criminal, one who denies the Truth for his own gain.”
    His black-ringed eyes glittered faintly as he shook his head. “I apologize, Cesaria. I find myself in a rather philosophical mood today.”
    “Anything I can help you with, sir?” The minute the words left her mouth she realized how much she meant them. It wasn’t simply that she’d always liked him; it was the desire to deal with problems that had a possible solution. Or at least problems that belonged to someone else, for a change.
    But he shook his head. “Thank you, no. ‘Twill pass. What are you working on?”
    “What?” Her hand covered the paper as much as it could. Not enough, though. Some of the squiggles and half-runes she’d drawn peeped out from around the edges of her palm. “Oh, nothing. Just playing, you know.”
    “May I see?”
    Shit. How could she say no without looking suspicious?
    She couldn’t. So she handed the notebook over, while her cheeks started to ache from artificial cheer.
    “Creating a new sigil?” He glanced up to see her nod. “Interesting. What’s it for? Protection, I assume, since you have Higam there. But what are these for?”
    “Actually, I’m trying to recreate a sigil.” Seized by madness or inspiration, or