Page 76 of A Curse in Darkness

She screamed again, while Bram watched on, eyes wild, clutching her tighter, trying to staunch the blood.

“A hex doll,” I rasped—the stabbing pains I’d felt in the woods, the reason Ren left the safety of the salt circle. I hadn’t thought about it again, but someone had attacked me, it was the only explanation, and now they were attacking Magnolia, only this was so much worse.

“Downstairs,” I yelled at Bram and ran down ahead and into Else’s work room.

I was searching for what we needed when Bram ran in carrying Mags. She screamed again, another slice appearing, this time across her shoulder. Bram roared. Whoever was doing this, they weren’t just doing it to scare her. All it would take was a slice across her throat and we’d lose her.

Iris ran in, Nia barking at her side. “What the hell is going on…Magnolia!”

“Hex doll,” I said, trying desperately to keep it together.

“How? We’re protected…”

“The darkest kind of magic.” Terror slid through me, and I saw the same in Iris’s eyes. “Quick, I need unbleached linen, rosemary, and matches.” Iris jumped into action, and I finished grabbing the oils and one of Else’s special elixirs.

“Put her on the floor, Bram.”

He shook as he lowered her to the ground.

“You need to stand back.”

Bram did as we asked but stayed close, shifting in his big boots as he watched Iris sprinkle rosemary on the stone floor around Mags in a wide circle.

“We’ve got you, Mags,” she said. “Hold on.”

Magnolia jerked as another slice appeared high on her chest, close to her throat, too close. Whoever was doing this was having fun; they wanted her to know they were going to kill her, and they wanted us to know it too.

Iris handed me a wide strip of linen, her eyes meeting mine as we began tearing it into thinner strips. “Thread and needle, linen so fine, save our beloved, sever this bind,” we both chanted as we walked around her, tearing strip after strip, laying them end to end.

I handed Iris the blended oil, and I popped the cork from the elixir as we continued to chant, emptying our bottles on the linen, soaking it. When they were empty, I snatched up the matches. Lighting one, I crouched down and set fire to the fabric circling Mags. It ignited instantly, the flames rushing from one strip to the next.

Fear transformed Mags’s face, and her hand flew to her throat.

“No!” Iris screamed.

The final piece of linen caught, breaking the connection to whoever was in control of the hex doll, and Mags collapsed back. Bram rushed to her, jumping the circle, and hauled her into his arms as her hand fell away.

I grabbed for the shelf beside me, my legs shaking so hard, they were close to giving out. Blood leaked from a new slice at the side of her throat, but it was small, not life-threatening.

Thank the mother.

Iris dropped to the floor, covered her face with her hands, and sobbed.

I grabbed more rags from Else’s stash, handing some to Bram, the both of us holding them to the deeper of Magnolia’s cuts, to stop the bleeding. Though, I didn’t think any of them were life-threatening either.

I cupped Magnolia’s face. “Mags?”

“I-I’m okay,” she rasped.

I wasn’t, and I never would be again. Someone had just tried to kill my sister.

We’d been a split second from losing her.

“Who’d do this?” Iris said, looking up at me, her hand buried in Nia’s fur, seeking and giving comfort. “Why?”

“I don’t know.” I had no answers. Magnolia was no threat to anyone. “But we need to get her stitched up. Go get Cora, Iris.”

Iris did as I said, and I held the rags more firmly to the deep cut in Mags’s thigh. Cora was a decent healer, and she’d worked as a nurse in a human hospital for a lot of years. Taking Mags to a hospital would only send the police to us, though, and there was no explaining this. We had to take care of this at home.