Page 106 of Autumn L.A.W

Within minutes, they were moving. Doors opening. Energy shifting. The mansion exhaled as its witches spilled out into the day, each one tuning their senses outward, searching for that telltale prickle of active magic.

Somewhere out there, someone was using it.

And they were going to find her.

Duke stayed behind in the library. Not because he wanted to sit this one out. Because his part of the puzzle was different.

He paced the length of the library, the Corpse Plant now safely contained but still offensively fragrant.

“Alright,” he muttered. “Let’s find a woman I’ve never seen, with a name no one remembers, who hands out cursed party favors for fun. Easy.”

Rosa was still in the mansion, though “their containment spell” was doing some heavy lifting. The spell allowed her to move through the common areas, just not anywhere that mattered. Doors to private rooms and all the windows stayed firmly shut, no matter how many times she tested them. And just for extra insurance, Crowe was following her everywhere she went.

Duke found her near the sitting room, hovering like someone who knew she was one bad decision away from being re-cuffed to furniture.

She straightened when she saw him. “I told you everything.”

“Not quite,” Duke said, folding his arms. “You told us what happened. I need the details you didn’t think mattered.”

She swallowed.

“The talisman,” he said. “You said you found it. Where?”

“In the shop,” she said quickly. “In a bundle of clothing. All black. Someone dropped it off—not a name I recognized.”

“All black,” Duke repeated. “So not your usual ‘dry clean this stain and don’t ask questions’ situation.”

“No.”

He nodded slowly, filing that away. “And the woman? The sorceress. Think…”

“I am thinking!” Rosa snapped, then immediately flinched. “I was about to call the number on the slip when she just… appeared. She told me what it did. Said I could use it. That she’d come back for it when I was finished.”

“Finished,” Duke echoed. “She really has a way with words. Should have been more like ‘as soon as you ruin someone else’s life, completely’.”

Rosa pressed her lips together.

Duke leaned in slightly. “When.”

“What?”

“When did you find it?”

She hesitated, searching her memory.

“Last October,” she said finally. “A few days before Halloween. I remember because I thought she was in costume.”

Duke’s brow lifted. “Costume.”

“She was wearing a long black velvet cape,” Rosa said. “Floor-length. Not exactly casual Long Island attire.”

“No,” Duke said dryly. “We tend to reserve that for PTA meetings.” October. A year ago.

“So last October. Local drop-off. Black clothing. A woman comfortable enough to walk around in full witch aesthetic without caring who saw her.”

Or confident no one would remember. Duke straightened, the pieces not fitting yet, but a little more existing than five minutes ago.

There were places on Long Island with pockets of woods. Not many, but enough. Old properties. Privacy. Places where people hid, and others didn’t ask questions because they didn’t want to know the answers. The L.A.W. mansion was one of those.