Chapter 23 #3
“What?” She frowned. Setting her cup of tea down, she leafed through the pages. Although the letters once again swirled and moved, they settled down into English, and she found she could read it easily.
“This is an old housewives’ charm for shining the silverware, and this one here is a draught for relieving the symptoms of ague.” She flipped through the pages.
“You can read it?” Theo’s eyes narrowed. “Interesting.”
“Maybe it’s because I’m a West,” Olivia mused. “I suppose Hester could have charmed it so only certain people could read it. It would be interesting to see if anyone other than me can read it.”
“Have you come across any mention of Nathaniel?”
“No, but I haven’t finished looking through it yet.”
Leaning back against the couch, he stretched his legs out in front of the fire and sipped his coffee as he watched her.
Olivia was reading avidly, a small smile tugging at her lips, while her tea sat cold and forgotten.
It was always the same he noticed, the second she started reading, she would forget everything else.
He’d lost count of how many cups of cold tea he’d thrown away.
“Have you called Margaret?” he asked.
“Mags?” she muttered, her gaze not leaving the book. “No. I’m not ready to talk to her yet.”
“I understand that, but now that the initial shock has worn off, perhaps you should give her a chance to explain. After all, it is because of her you found Hester’s Grimoire without having to start digging up every tree in the woods.”
She looked up from the pages, her lips fixed in a tight line. “I know you’re only trying to help,” she answered, “but unless she knows the identity of the murderer or how to stop a demon from rising, I’m not really interested in anything she has to say.”
Choosing wisely to drop the subject for now, he continued to drink his coffee while he watched her return to the book.
Although her lips said one thing, the pain and hurt that radiated from her told another.
He’d just give her some space. She was an incredibly stubborn woman, but whether she liked it or not, she needed to speak with her friend.
Margaret was too important to her for her to throw away years of friendship.
“Hey,” Olivia said suddenly, “I think I’ve found something.”
Theo sat forward in interest, but when he glanced at the page, he just saw strange spidery symbols fanning out like a web. “What is it?”
“Hold on,” she murmured, her gaze scanning the next several lines before she turned the page and read that too.
“This is definitely the spell Hester used to seal Nathaniel in the devil’s trap, it mentions him by name.
It looks as if she wrote the spell herself, and she used some pretty heavyweight binding magic, woven with blood magic.
” She continued to read through a few more lines.
“If I’m reading this right, this is incredibly powerful spellwork.
The devil’s trap was built to last centuries, but it has lasted barely three. ”
“So?” Theo stared at her.
“So, what happened?” she replied absently. “What caused the magic to start to break down?”
“The murders?” he suggested.
“I don’t think so, it doesn’t mention them at all.
I still don’t understand their importance or how they are supposed to raise the demon.
I suppose it could... Oh…” She suddenly stopped and read further.
“Well, that explains... a lot.” Her face paled, and she sat back, dropping the book back into her lap.
“The prison remains intact as long as a West remains on this land.”
Her mind was working furiously now, and the pieces were starting to fall into place.
“The night my mother died…” Her voice cracked as she spoke, so she cleared her throat and tried again.
“The night my mom and grandmother died, Aunt Evie was attacked. It must have been part of the plan to raise the demon. The killer knew that as long as a West remained alive and living on this land, the trap couldn’t be opened.
But with all of them gone, the trap was weakened, and I assume it could be opened by whatever raising spell they were planning on using, a spell that requires the murder victims. The killer took out Aunt Evie first. He must have assumed she was already dead, then he came to my house and killed my grandmother and my mom. ”
“But your father killed your mom?” Theo replied.
“Yes, he did.” She breathed heavily, the pain a hot, hard ball burning at the back of her throat. “You know, I never understood why he kept me alive, why he killed them and took me.”
“Because he loved you?” Theo answered quietly. “Because, no matter what he had done in a fit of madness, you were his child, his blood.”
“No.” She shook her head painfully, stroking the pages softly. “Not because I was his blood, but because I was hers.”
“I don’t understand.”
“The last few lines of Hester’s spell,” she began to read aloud, “with blood this trap here make, and blood this trap shall break.”
“That’s why the ritual could not be completed last time.” Theo breathed heavily in realization.
“That’s right,” Olivia answered numbly. “Because he needs my blood to open the devil’s trap.”