Chapter 20
While Olivia showered, Theo settled in the dining room.
He flicked through the pages of a book on great artists of the twentieth century, marveling at the works of Monet, Picasso, and Klimt.
Putting it aside to look at later, he leafed through another on art techniques and mediums, stopping at the section on oil painting.
Propping it open on the table, he picked up one of the tubes and unscrewed it.
Squeezing a little of the paint out onto his fingertips, he rubbed them together, familiarizing himself with the consistency and texture.
Smiling, he retrieved a small palette and set to work.
Olivia padded down the stairs and realized how quiet the house was.
Pausing by the dining room she smiled. Theo had managed to find one of the small canvases she’d bought and was trying his hand at painting.
She winced slightly at the splotches of paint on the rug and the table, but what the hell, he seemed completely lost in his own little world.
Deciding not to disturb him, she crept past the doorway and headed into the library.
Seeing the stack of books Theo had been reading through the night before, she moved toward the desk to put them away.
As she gathered up the pile, she took her time, scanning through the collection accumulated by her family over the centuries.
Some of them were so fragile they looked as if they might fall apart if she breathed on them; others were crisp, new paperback novels.
It was a very eclectic collection, which suited her just fine.
Deciding she should probably call Mags since she’d been dodging her calls for days, Olivia pulled out her phone and started to scroll through to her number, but before she could hit connect, something caught her eye.
Bending down, she realized one of the books must have toppled off the pile and fallen behind the desk. Shoving the phone back into the pocket of her jeans, she reached into the gap and nudged at it with her fingertips until she could grasp the corner more firmly.
After retrieving the book, she closed it, intending to put it back on the shelf, but she caught a glimpse of an illustration that looked familiar.
Flicking back through the pages, she found the picture that had caught her attention, her mouth falling open as she read briefly through the text accompanying it.
“Theo,” she called loudly.
After a few moments, he wandered into the room. She tried not to grimace when she noticed him wiping the paint from his hands with one of her guest towels that had been folded neatly in the laundry room.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, noting the expression on her face.
“Look.” She handed him the book.
“This is it, exactly.” His eyes widened slightly in surprise. “This is the seal I remember Nathaniel wearing around his neck.”
He watched as Olivia’s lips moved. She murmured something, but he didn’t quite catch the words.
“What?” Theo asked.
“It’s Latin,” she replied. “It says that the seal depicts two demon brothers bound together for eternity.”
“Demon brothers?”
She scanned through the rest of the text. “It basically says that each serpent depicted on the seal represents one of the two demons. One is named Seth and the other...oh…”
“What?”
“The other one is named Nathaniel.” She murmured. “That’s a weird coincidence.”
“What would a cleric be doing with a demon seal?” Theo shook his head in confusion. “He was a man of God, he denounced evil and the devil. Why would he have such a thing in his possession? Do you think he knew what it was?”
“I don’t know. Perhaps Nathaniel was not as he seemed,” she mused.
Theo’s face paled as he raked his paint-stained hand through his hair. “But...if he did know, that would mean…”
“Theo, this isn’t your fault.” She reached out and grasped his hand, drawing him down to the couch next to her. “You were all raised to trust the clergy. You would have had no reason not to believe him.”
“I knew,” he whispered. “I knew there was something dark inside him. I knew he was not to be trusted, and I said nothing.”
“Theo.” She frowned, unsure what to say.
“He denounced and tortured those women when the sin was his all along,” he said quietly.
“You can’t think about that now,” she replied. “What’s done is done, and you can’t change it. All we can do is try and figure this out so no one else gets killed.”
“Do you think the killer took up where Nathaniel Boothe left off and is in league with these demons?” Theo whispered.
“I don’t know,” Olivia murmured. “This is a little out of my sphere of expertise.”
“How so?”
“In witchcraft, there is no devil, there are no demons, not as you know them.” Her brow creased as she tried to explain herself. “We believe that if an evil act is committed, it was a result of choice rather than an outside force of evil.”
“Really?” He seemed quite surprised by that.
“I know it’s not the version of witchcraft you were warned against.”
“No, it seems nothing is as I thought it was.” He sighed.
“This is just nuts.” Olivia huffed. “There is no such thing as demons. It’s impossible.”
“Are we really going to have a discussion on what’s possible and impossible again?” A familiar voice startled both Olivia and Theo, making them glance across the room at the sturdy old desk.
Sam stood casually propped against the desk, wearing an amused smile. Theo stood abruptly at the sight of the man who had pulled him from a burning barn, only to drop him in the middle of the road.
“You.” His voice held a note of accusation.
“Hello, Theo,” Sam replied easily.
“Why are you here, Sam?” Olivia’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Last time I saw you, you said you couldn’t help, that I needed to figure things out on my own.”
“And that is still true, but it doesn’t mean I can’t give you a little nudge in the right direction.
” He grinned and his dimples winked to life.
“Starting with this issue of demons. I will state for the record that demons are very real, and not only are they real, but they are very dangerous, particularly if some idiot lets one loose on earth with no limitations.”
“I don’t understand.”
“If a demon is raised to walk the earth in its natural form, it’s so powerful it cannot be controlled.”
“So, if someone wished to raise a demon, they would have to find a way to control it?” Theo surmised.
“Exactly.” Sam gave a nod.
“But how would they do that?” Olivia asked. “And why?”
“That’s one of the things you’re going to have to figure out.” Sam’s face was serious. “And quickly. You’re running out of time.”
“That’s just great,” Olivia muttered. “I hate running behind, especially when I haven’t seen the schedule.”
“Is there anything else you can tell us?” Theo asked.
Sam watched them contemplatively. “I’m going to be in so much trouble for this…” He sighed as he turned to Olivia. “The night you were lured out into the woods, where were you when you woke up?”
“In the clearing at...oh.” Her mouth formed the word slowly as the realization set in. “Boothe’s Hollow...Nathaniel Boothe.”
“What you need to ask yourself,” Sam told them both, “is, how did the Hollow get its name?” Sam suddenly tilted his head, his eyes distant as if listening to something they couldn’t hear.
“I have to go.” He pushed away from the desk and stepped closer to the pair of them.
“There is one more thing I want you to know.” His gaze turned to Olivia his eyes filled with sympathy.
“Olivia, if I could spare you the pain that is coming, I would…”
She blinked, and he was gone.
“Well, that just fills me with confidence,” she muttered sourly.
“I suppose we should find out what we can about Boothe’s Hollow,” Theo said.
“There’s only one person to go to if you want to know anything about the town’s history,” Olivia told him.
“Your friend at the museum?” he guessed.
“That’s right.” Olivia pulled her phone from her pocket and glanced at the time.
“Hello,” the older woman’s voice answered on the third ring.
“Renata? It’s Olivia.”
“Oh, hello, dear. Did you find any more on that cleric’s family you were researching the other day?”
“No, I haven’t, but I wanted to ask you something else, if you have a moment?”
“Of course, what did you want to know?”
“It’s about Boothe’s Hollow. Do you know how it got its name?” she asked.
“I do, as a matter of fact, and it goes back to your ancestor, Hester West,” Renata replied.
“It does?”
“Yes,” she began. “According to local legend, when Hester and her sister, Bridget, fled Salem, they settled by the lake. After a while, other survivors of the witch trials drifted in, one by one and in pairs, and not just from Salem but from all over. It was like they were drawn to Mercy. They knew it was a safe haven for their kind.”
“Yes, I know that,” Olivia answered.
“Anyway, from what I understand, the legend says a demon disguised in human form followed the sisters here. Hester lured him into the woods and caught him in a devil’s trap, sealing it with her own blood.
Boothe’s Hollow is supposed to be the location of the devil’s trap, so it was named after the demon. ”
“I see,” Olivia murmured.
“Do you think it is in some way connected to the Nathaniel Boothe you were researching the other day?”
“Who knows?”
“Oh, well, if you discover anything new, do let me know.”
“I will.” She nodded. “Thanks, Renata.”
Hanging up the phone, she turned back to Theo and repeated what she had just learned.
“You don’t actually think the demon was Nathaniel Boothe?” Theo scowled. “The Nathaniel Boothe I knew was just a man.”
“Maybe that’s what he wanted you to think.” Olivia shrugged. “Look, I’m no expert. I couldn’t even tell you what a demon in its natural form looks like, but if they are as powerful as Sam seems to think, I’m guessing it could make itself look like whatever it wants.”
“It’s possible, I suppose.” He cast his eyes to the ceiling as he thought back to his dream. “It would explain a lot.”