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“You never told me this,” Logan said.

“We typically don’t advertise, but if you had asked, we would have taught you. Starfall is basically Superman to witches.”

“It’s an urban legend. It’s supposed to be this ancient coven full of super charged witches. They are like eclectic witches on steroids. They are masters of all forms of witchcraft. Where Delilah said they told demons the Yellow King will get them if they are bad, they tell witches if they work really hard at their craft, Starfall will swoop in and send them an invitation to be super witches.”

“No one has ever met anyone who is in Starfall, but a bunch of people say Starfall Coven is like Fight Club. Your neighbor could be in Starfall and you’d never know.”

“Super witches who could trap an Eldrich Terror who used to rule Hell?” Saul asked.

“Yeah. That kind of magic requires several different kinds of magic and you’d have to be a near master at all of them to keep them contained.”

“I’m translating a diary. I’ve gotten sidetracked with my translations because we had to go in the field, but she says she met the Yellow King in a painting. We later have a writer who wrote about him in a play. The writer couldn’t have known about the Yellow King from the diary because it’s been gathering dust in the Vatican archives. We haven’t been able to find any other record of him.”

“If all this is real and not a cult that mashed two urban legends together, then we need to figure out what happened with the nun and the painting,” Rainer said.

“I’m working on it, but in addition to the journal being in a language I don’t routinely translate, it was written with quill and ink on parchment. Wood pulp paper didn’t exist back then. It’s treated animal skin, and the diary is very old. Some of the text is difficult to read and some of the pages are damaged from the fire and age. Since no one bothered to translate this diary before, I’m writing it down in English as I go. I can tell you what it says all day, but I believe all of you should read what she said in her own words because you might pick up something I missed.”

“A diary like that would be expensive and she knew how to write.”

“Yes. I’ve managed to translate that her father was an Ealdorman, remember? Her family had money and could have purchased art too or she would have been exposed to it with wealthy friends. I can’t imagine super witches would send a cursed painting in the world where he might get out, though.”

“That’s the part that didn’t make sense,” Logan said. “Everyone in that convent died except for one priest, who either got tuned into a vampire or already was one.”

I didn’t think about that. If vampires weren’t put off by crosses like we thought and no one knew about compulsion, he could have made the convent his hunting ground. It would be easy pickings.

Solomon had his work cut out for him. He was the only one of us who could translate the diary. It wasn’t written in a language I knew, so I couldn’t help. Logan promised to make Solomon’s dreams come true and help him with Old Norse, but she didn’t speak it either.

And then Rainer surprised me. He was a gruff, weathered man who threatened to shoot anyone to got close to Logan. I knew he was retired because of an injury and was an amazing cook. He took in his niece when she was just a child and raised her on his own.

He was also apparently brilliant.

“How close is Kentish to the West Saxon dialect? Because I can read West Saxon and might be able to help.”

“They are similar enough that you could definitely help me.”

“We’ll see if we can find anything firm about Starfall and what that has to do with you and your mom,” Sasha said.

I honestly had no idea what was worse. An Eldrich horror the witches couldn’t figure out how to kill just waiting to escape a work of art or the Yellow King just being a story all the violent supernaturals decided to form a religion around.

We might actually be able to kill an Eldrich terror. I had no idea how to kill an idea.

Iknew better than anyone the research portion of hunting sometimes took forever. This wasn’t even abnormal. Sometimes, Rainer and I had to translate all kinds of lore. The difference was that I was never worried about Pan before. He was always sitting next to me cracking jokes and making fun of me.

Rainer ended up having to take a break to go to the store. We needed more food and spray paint just in case we needed to go on another job. He got a list from everyone. The priests were less picky than I was, thought I nearly gagged when Saul asked for Nutella.

Caleb handed Rainer his credit card.

“Charge it to the Church. Might as well since they are planning on killing us. Go nuts.”

Rainer and I both broke into evil grins. He was so going to get crab legs since he didn’t have to pay for it. I couldn’t wait. As soon as I heard Rainer’s car leave, Caleb pounced.

“Can I talk to you, Logan? In private.”

I couldn’t imagine what he wanted to hide from Saul and Solomon. I led him back to my bedroom and cocked an eyebrow when he locked the door behind him.

“You’re distracted.”

“I know. It’s Pan. He⁠—”