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“No,” Talia explained. “The coven’s visions are often hazy and left up to interpretation. We aren’t as powerful as prophets. I can’t tell you who killed these people, but I can tell you they were murdered.”
“What did you see?” Professor Warren asked.
“I saw a person in a black cloak, but it was dark outside. I couldn’t see their face,” Talia said. “I saw them watching the two Executors from the tree line. Then there was a flash, and the Executors were on the ground.”
“A flash like a battle orb?” Miles asked.
Talia shook her head. “More like a flash in my mind, like the vision can’t read what killed them. Whatever the spell was, it was powerful, and it didn’t leave any traces. Then I heard Miles’s voice, and the person in the cloak fled.”
Miles’s features fell. “So we stumbled upon them right after they were killed. The killer didn’t even get a chance to hide the bodies.”
“Or they wanted us to find them,” Chloe pointed out. “Like they want us to know they’re here watching us.”
A shiver traveled down my spine. “The killer can’t be with the priestesses. They wouldn’t have slaughtered their own people.”
“Well, if the murderer isn’t on the priestesses’ side, and they aren’t on our side, what does it mean?” Mandy wondered.
“I don’t know…” I said, eyeing the bodies curiously. “Something about this isn’t right.”
“You think maybe it’s some sort of trap?” Nadine wondered.
I glanced around the quiet forest. “If that were the case, the priestesses would’ve been here by now.”
Nadine turned to Talia. “Can you use the Seer Wand to track down the killer?”
Talia closed her eyes again, but a confused expression crossed her face. “I’m getting images of a forest… this forest, I think. But it doesn’t make any sense. I can’t tell where the killer’s gone.”
“Either way, now we’ve got two more missing Executors the priestesses are going to come looking for,” I remarked. “They’re going to send more until they find something.”
“Then let’s give them bodies to find,” Professor Warren suggested.
I nodded, understanding his intent. “We need to move them far away from the safe house. It will throw the priestesses off for a while, get them looking for us elsewhere.”
“Let me cast a spell. I’ll block any visions that might lead the priestesses back here.” Talia waved the Seer Wand, and tendrils of magic settled over the bodies, then faded.
Professor Warren lifted his hand, and the bodies moved to his command like puppets. They started walking like zombies. I cast a portal leading several miles from here, along the river bend at the base of the mountain. Professor Warren puppeteered the bodies through the portal, until they were out of sight. The portal closed behind them.
“This doesn’t change that someone still knows where we are,” Chloe pointed out. “That black-cloaked murderer in Talia’s vision is trying to tell us something.”
“Well, he didn’t get past our wards, so we’re still safe here,” I stated. “We should get back inside.”
I started back toward the house, and the others followed.
“What do we do now?” Talia asked once we were back inside.
“We keep investigating the Wands,” I decided. “We have three, so we’re over halfway there. We still need to find the Curse Breaker Wand and obtain the Mortana Wand. We know where the Mortana Wand is, and we have a rough idea of how to get it. We need to put everything we’ve got into learning more about reaper powers, so that I can pass the Warlock’s Trial and get the Mortana Wand.”
“Where do we start?” Nadine wondered. “You’ve tried researching reapers before, and it didn’t get anywhere.”
“Then we need to ask for help,” I said. “Maybe Hattie will have connections we haven’t thought of. In the meantime, we can work on reinforcing our wards. Onyx and Miles can work with Talia on her visions to see if they can get more clues about this mysterious cloaked figure. That’s all we can do for now. We all need to get some rest.”
People started heading off to the respective bedrooms, but Nadine and Chloe hung back. I watched curiously as Nadine made her way over to Mandy.
“I’m really glad you’re back,” Nadine told her. “I know being friends with me hasn’t been easy, and I’m sorry you were ever caught in the middle of it.”
That was an understatement. Mandy had been in love with Amy, and Amy had died in the Burning because she’d helped us decipher nightshade ingredients to track down the manufacturer. Mandy had been stabbed by a ghost in Pinewood Manor because we’d asked her to help uncover the mystery of the haunting. Then Mandy had led the priestesses to our hideout in the school, which resulted in our trial. She’d come to us to apologize for turning us in before our trial, but it hadn’t ended well. That was the last time we’d seen Mandy.
Tears beaded in Mandy’s eyes. “You have no idea how much it means to hear you say that. I worried you wouldn’t want me around, after I turned you into the priestesses.”
