Page 28 of Shapeshifter's Vengeance

Zara’s eyes flash with anger. “Foolish girl,” she spits. “If I wanted my powers back, I’d need to find a powerful dead witch whose powers haven’t returned to the source and transfer them. But even then,” she looks down at her legs, “dark magic can’t return what’s lost forever.”

Ana is still suspicious. “I don’t believe you. You’re the only one who could have done this.”

Zara’s laughter is sharp and mocking. “You truly are a fool, Ana. It’s a pity because I expected better from you, being your mother’s daughter. Do you not see? I’m trapped in this chair. I’ve been here for years. Dark magic can’t fix my legs, let alone get me up to commit murders.”

I step in before the tension boils over. “Thank you, Zara. We appreciate your time.”

I grab Ana by the arm and drag her away. Once outside, I release her, taking a deep breath to calm myself.

“She’s lying,” Ana says, her voice trembling with anger. “She has to be.”

“No,” I say, shaking my head. “She’s telling the truth. She’s not behind this.”

Ana looks at me, confused. “Then who?”

I look back at Zara’s house, my mind racing. “She hinted that she’s not the only one who survived the Great War. We need to find the others.”

Ana sighs, rubbing her temples. “This is a mess.”

“It is,” I agree. “But we have to keep going. For Alexei.”

Ana nods reluctantly. “Fine. What’s our next move?”

“We need to find a powerful dead witch,” I say. “Someone whose powers haven’t returned to the source. And we need to figure out who else survived the Great War.”

We head back to the car, our minds buzzing with the new information. As we drive, I can’t help but feel a glimmer of hope. We’re getting closer, piece by piece.

Back at the department, we regroup with Mark, Linda, and Teresa. They listen as we relay what Zara told us.

“So, we’re looking for another survivor,” Mark says, scribbling notes. “And a dead witch.”

“Exactly,” I say. “We need to go through the old records again. Look for any mention of witches who died but whose powers were unaccounted for.”

The team nods and gets to work. The hours tick by as we sift through mountains of documents, piecing together the puzzle.

Linda finds something first. “I found a mention of a witch named Elara. She was powerful, but her powers were never confirmed to have returned to the source.”

“Good,” I say. “Keep looking. There might be more.”

By the time we’re done, we have a list of names. It’s not long, but it’s a start.

“We need to follow up on these,” I say, tapping the list. “Find out where they were buried, if there were any unusual circumstances.”

The team agreed, and we split up the tasks. As we leave, Ana pulls me aside.

“Do you really think this will work?” she asks, her voice soft.

“It’s worth a shot,” I say. For the first time in a while, it feels like we are actually making progress.

She nods, determination in her eyes. “Alright. Let’s do this.”

When we meet back at the department, armed with new information. We’ve tracked down several of the witches on our list, and a pattern is emerging.

“They were all buried in the same cemetery,” Mark says, pointing to a map. “Right here.”

“That’s where we start,” I say. “We need to go there, see if we can find any clues.”

We gather our gear and head out. The cemetery is old and overgrown, and the graves are worn over time.

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