Chapter 27
Rumor
I stood there, gripping the sides of the stone and staring into the still water long after the whirling ceased and the bright light of the runes flickered out.
I’d almost forgotten that Twenty was there until he put a hand on my shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“No.”
“That was productive at least.”
“I don’t know what we accomplished other than unveiling more questions and confirming that my sister hates me. Oh, and that my mother had a lot of secrets. This, the letter, Adder…” I shook my head. “What a solstice.”
“You know who you need to go talk to.”
“I don’t want to.”
“They can help. Between the two of them, they know just about everything, and if they don’t, well, they have access to the answers.”
I let out a belabored sigh and pushed off the scrying stone, turning around to face him. Glancing over my shoulder in the direction of the Blackthorne Castle, I crossed my arms. “We can go talk to your dumb brothers, but I have to light a stupid candle first.”
“Why?”
“Because a haunted book told me to.”
“Makes sense.”
“Then”—I ran a hand through my hair—“I need food and a nap. Oh, and to talk to my little witchy intruder. After that, we can go.”
“I’ll wait out here.”
“Stay human? Please? I need you to talk to.”
Twenty’s gaze turned downward, and his answer brimmed with soft sadness. “If that’s what you want.”
“Thank you.” I fought to brush off the emotions. “I’ll see you in a bit.”
“Hey,” Twenty called after me.
I spun around, dodging a pumpkin.
“What’s with the back garden gate and that pathway to the woods? Feels… odd to me.”
I shrugged a shoulder. “It’s always creeped me out, too. No idea. Prism and I never played this far back here.”
“Strange,” Twenty said, stroking his chin. “Perhaps I’ll check it out while you’re inside.”
“Knock yourself out.” I kicked inside the front door.
Trinket jumped from her spot at the kitchen table. “I made sausage and potatoes last night. I’ve kept them warm for you.” She rushed to the stone. “And there’s tea in the kettle on the fire.”
Taking her spot at the table, I thrummed my fingernails against the wood as she sat a plate in front of me. “You know, Empath’s bakery is probably opening up right about now. Biscuits would go great with this. Want to come with me to pick some up?”
“Oh, I uh…”
“You said your brother butchered pigs, right?”
“He did, yes.”
“Did he source his meat from the community lot on the edge of town or from the Vipers?”
“I—I don’t know. I never thought to ask.”
My chair scratched the floor as I stood and stepped closer. “Where’d you and your brother live in town?”
“We, um… it’s hard to explain where, really.”
“Try. I know everywhere in Willowspire.”
“By the um… we live over by the pond.”
“We don’t have any ponds here. You mean the swimming hole?”
“Yes, by there.”
“On the slanted stone rock? I’ve never seen a house that way.” I stepped closer, and she backed up against the counter. “Why are you lying, Trinket?”
The red-headed witch covered her head with her arms and winced. “Please, don’t hurt me. I don’t mean any harm.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Couldn’t you just touch me and kill me? Or was that a lie, too?”
“I could.” She grimaced. “But I don’t want to kill you. You’re the only person who has been nice to me in so long. You’re a good witch, Rumor.”
A breath left my lips. “That’s one I haven’t heard before.”
“You are.” She cowered under her arms. “If you’re going to kill me, just make it quick, please, and be careful not to touch my hands or we’ll both be dead.”
Glaring at the girl a moment longer, I reached around her to the skillet, picked it up, and grabbed a fork. Taking a bite of sausage from the pan, I leaned next to her and asked, “So, little liar witch. What’s your story? The real one this time.”
Trinket peeked out from the crook of her elbow. “You’re… you’re not going to hurt me?”
“At the moment I’m starving.” I waved my fork. “Go on, let’s hear it.”
With a sigh of relief, or maybe resignation, the witch took a seat at the table and rested her head on her hands, talking to the floor.
“What I said about killing my brother is true. Only I’m not from Willowspire, I’m from Boar’s Hallow.
When the town found out about my curse, they came for me, wanting to kill me so my magic didn’t summon Asunder and threaten everyone’s lives. ”
I took a bite of potato. “Goddess, girl, you can cook,” I said through a mouthful of food. “Sorry, continue, I’m listening. The town comes after you with pitchforks. Then what?”
“They caught me… and each one of them who touched me dropped dead before my very eyes. Though, they kept coming. Thinking they could evade my touch, or that perhaps it wouldn’t work on them, I don’t know.
Even the witches in Boar’s Hallow tried, and many died.
So, I ran. For their sakes and mine, I took off running. ”
I sat my fork down. “That sounds horrible. I’m sorry, Trinket.”
“I’m a horrible person… and a worse witch. I’ve harmed so many people.” She wiped her face, still staring at the ground. “I don’t know what to do.”
“How did you end up here?”
I’d been traveling so long and so far in the cold.
Making camp where I could, stealing from hunters’ traps and odd towns I passed.
When I landed in Willowspire, I met Empath at her bakery.
She gave me some day-old bread and said she knew I was a witch.
She told me she was the crone here and to come by the circle if I intended to stay. ”
“That’s how you knew of her, then.”
Trinket nodded. “I couldn’t get away from her fast enough. If she learned of my affliction… Willowspire would suffer the same fate as Boar’s Hallow at my hands—literally.”
“Lucky for you”—I gestured around—“I already destroyed the town for you.”
Trinket huffed a small laugh. “Everyone being distracted was a good thing, for sure. But this cottage, it sat empty for weeks. I guess you and your sister were gone. So, I snuck in and kept warm, ate from the garden. Rumor, I’m really sorry I lied, I just didn’t know how to explain it all.”
“The cottage let you inside, it must think you’re all right.”
“The little creepy wood stumps don’t like me.”
“They don’t like me either.”
We giggled at that.
“Can I please stay?” she asked, peeking up from her hands. “I’ll cook, I’ll clean, I’d weed the garden. Whatever you need.”
I lifted a shoulder. “Sure. You can take Prism’s room.”
“I, um… I explored a bit while I was here alone those weeks.”
“And? What did you find out when you were snooping?”
“You and your sister, you and your moms, you all loved each other a lot. It’s all over this place. The shells in the hearth, the recipes carved into the countertops, your sister’s basket of yarns. Your toy bow and arrows under your bed. It’s such a home here. You really have a real-life family.”
My chest constricted. “I did. I did have a family.”
“I’m sure you still do. You’ll find your sister again.”
“Oh, I found her, she just hates me now.”
Trinket shook her head. “I don’t believe that’s true.”
I pushed off the side of the counter. “Well, make yourself at home, you stealthy intruder, you. I’m going to nap before I take off.”
“Where are you going?”
“To hell. Or, as we call it in Willowspire, the Blackthorne Castle.”
—
When I woke, bathed, and changed clothes, making sure to equip myself with my dagger and charms from both Blackthorne boys, I found the living area empty.
The dishes cleaned, the fire at a comfortable blaze.
Trinket must have stepped outside or went to forage through the garden.
What a strange witch she was. Though she lied, and one touch from her could kill me stone dead, I was already fond of the girl.
Trinket was a dumb kid with a terrible affliction, forced to grow up too fast.
Sounded familiar.
I stepped outside into winter’s chill and into my mother’s garden. “Twenty?” I called out. Walking further in, stepping over gourds and vegetables, I stopped at the scrying stone and looked out over the back of the garden. The back gate was open.
Maybe he was still exploring.
No sign of Trinket either.
I supposed she could have wandered into town, or maybe she was stealing from the Vipers’ hunting traps.
With no one to say goodbye to, and a missing familiar, I trudged down the path, through my battered town, and up the way towards the Blackthornes.
The black thorned gates let me pass with ease, no longer coiling and snapping at me like they used to. Maybe it wasn’t magic at all, maybe the plants just had to get to know me a bit.
I passed Wander sniffing over one of the hundreds of gravestones that littered the property. “Hi, Wander.” I waved, passing by. The lycanthrope glanced up, his ears pert, before deciding I wasn’t interesting enough to come and further investigate. I supposed the creature had gotten used to me, too.
I walked up the stone steps, and the doors opened for me as if I were simply coming home. To be honest, this castle did feel more and more like the place I wanted to be.
If that were true… with who?
Riot or Spade?
A line of skeletons walk past me, not even stopping to look me over.
I wasn’t sure where to go. The Blackthornes lurked the halls like bats.
They could pop up anywhere. There was no use looking in any specific place.
The castle would just have to reveal them to me when it chose to.
Which reminded me of a section of the mysterious dwelling that I wanted to revisit.
Finding that I knew my way around a little better now, I climbed a grand staircase and made all the right turns until I ended up on the correct floor.
The grandfather clock ticked. I admired the phases of the moon carved into its top, the arrow pointing just past the full moon.
The silver pendulum swung and the hands of the clock’s face ticked backwards.
I swayed in front of it. “Hi, Cronos? I think that’s what Twenty called you?”