Page 118 of The Witch and The Blood Oath

It roiled through the room like a dark cloud. Though it didn’t crawl over my skin like the magic of the dark witches or chill me to my core like Madame LaLaurie’s power had, something about it was sinister. It filled me with a sense of foreboding.

“Something is wrong with that thing,” Walker whispered.

I gulped. “It’s the only clue we have. Wemustopen it.”

Regardless of my words, I hesitated. Therewassomething wrong with the book—I could feel it in the air.

Cursing, Walker flipped the book open to a random page and hissed. As I studied the drawings, my mouth fell open. My curiosity overwhelmed my repulsion toward the magic. I flipped to another page, then another. The pages were thick—not made of paper, but papyrus. Graphs and equations and a strangelanguage covered them. Some parts had been crossed out, then rewritten, then rewritten again.

“This is some of our most basic herbology,” I said, “but the way it’s written, it’s like the owner of this book was figuring it out on her own.”

“Or his own,” Walker argued. “It could be a warlock.”

I scoffed. “Sure.”

Warlocks had existed before, but the beastly magic before me was all witch.

I flipped to a page deeper in the book and gasped. Magic pounded so loudly and deeply, it rattled the blood in my veins, but I couldn’t shut the book. I was too fascinated. The spell wasn’t written in any language I recognized, but something about the symbols’ harsh lines and sudden curves was familiar.

“Those look like the ones in the cave,” Walker said, “before they translated into the words your mom taught you.”

I trailed a finger against the crimson ink and hissed. The text stung my skin and blazed red, even after I removed my hand from it.

“It’s written in blood,” I realized and snorted. “Appropriate, I guess, considering this is one of the most gruesome blood spells I’ve ever seen.”

I understood the drawings on the page well enough to recognize the dark magic.

“Are you okay?” Walker asked.

I nodded but closed the book. Its roaring magic dulled to a low thrum, and I took a breath of relief.

“Do you think this belongs to the sorceress?” I asked.

“It has to, doesn’t it?” Walker said. “I just wonder who or what she is. You’ve never heard of her, right?”

“Never,” I said.

I thought of the blood spell and shivered. “She’s nothing good. We need to show this to the Elders.”

With one hand, I grabbed the book and gritted my teeth against the magic pulsing under my skin. We hurried into the elevator and down to the lobby.

Gloria waited for us at the doors. The woman had an uncanny sense of timing. Her gaze immediately homed in on the book in my hands.

“What,” she snapped, “isthat?”

“The key to figuring a way out of the mess I’ve made,” I answered confidently.

For a long moment, Gloria pondered the book in my arms.

“Elder?” I asked.

Gloria snapped out of her reverie and nodded.

“Very well,” she said, “the rest of the Elders are waiting for you in the lobby.”

Chapter Thirty-Four

Freya

---