Page 30 of Demon and the Raven

“Okay,” he rumbled, and the slight smile let me know he felt the same. “So it turns out that the CSI team is on their way, along with the arson investigator from Jamestown.”

“So I should have a look around before everyone gets here?”

“That’s right,” he said with a slight, reassuring smile.

I began walking around slowly, careful where I stepped.

“We have things like this at home,” he commented, pointing to a small unburned plaque on the wall, hung by a strip of leather.

“Yeah, that’s a witch’s knot. For protection and luck.”

He scoffed. “It didn’t do a very good job.”

“Oh no? It looks to me like that entire section of wall is unharmed, and the bookcases are untouched as well.”

He studied it a moment, and then his eyes returned to me. “You’d have me believe that a nine-inch piece of wood is responsible for protecting that area?”

I shrugged. “Maybe not. Maybe it’s just luck.”

“Which would mean either way… I see what you’re saying.”

“All I know is that there’s a small fortune in books in that room that weren’t hurt when the firemen had to hose this place down. What is that other than lucky?”

“I’ll give you that,” he replied, then pointed at other pieces hung on opposite walls. “Tell me what those are, and then I’ll leave you alone and let you look.”

“Those are staves. Protection pieces to stave off something bad.”

“And what do the symbols mean?”

I indicated the one at the top. “This one is for protection against evil witches”—then moved down, explaining them one by one—“this one protects your dreams, and this one is another protection bindrune.”

“What’s a bindrune?”

“It’s when you combine two or more individual runes so they’re bound, and that way, they become more powerful together.”

“Oh, okay. I know what that is. I’ve seen you draw runes on the underside of your wrist.”

I nodded. “And sometimes I combine a couple to keep my focus and energy, like Raido and Ansuz. These five here on her sign are basically to protect her space from negativity.”

His gaze met mine.

“You’re thinking they didn’t work, like the witch’s knot.”

“To me, they clearly don’t, but you know me, I believe in things I can see.”

“But you can’t see a lot of things.”

“Sure. But to me, this stuff is like hanging up a horseshoe. There’s no difference.”

“What about hanging up a cross?”

“That’s faith. That’s different.”

I shook my head. “It’s not.”

He took a breath. “I believe in magic now because I’ve seen you work yours. But I never did before.”

“There’s all kinds of magic.”