Page 8 of Whispers of the Magical Forest

"The temperature's dropping," Aislinn noted, checking her mobile. "It's gone down five degrees in the last ten minutes. I think we can safely say the storm is not natural."

"Neither is that," I said, pointing to the way the snowflakes were falling. They weren't drifting anymore. They were moving purposefully and forming patterns in the air that looked suspiciously like the same symbols we'd seen on our vanished corpse.

"We need to get closer to that body before the mundies contaminate the scene," I muttered as I eyed the growing crowd around the car. The woman in the red coat was still there with her mobile in hand. No doubt she was talking to emergency services. Through the falling snow, I could just make out familiar-looking symbols beginning to form in the slush around the victim's feet. "Those sigils won't stay visible long."

I managed to get close enough to see that the victim's hand had fallen palm-up in the snow. Based on the fingernail polish, I was guessing it was a woman. There was something tattooed on her wrist, but before I could get a proper look, the flash of blue lights through the snow made my heart sink like a stone.

"Bloody hell," I muttered. Police cars carefully navigated the icy road towards us. Their lights painted the falling snow in alternating colors. It created a beautiful light show. "This is proper awful. I hope this body doesn’t do a disappearing act as well."

"You think?" Fiona said as she quickly checked the card again. "What gave it away? The police or the fact that we're about to lose our second body before we can figure out if they're even human?"

"Both of you, shut it," Aislinn hissed as she put on hermost innocent ‘just a mum out with friends’ expression. Her mum-powers were legendary. She could convince a room full of sugar-high five-year-olds that naptime was brilliant. "Let me do the talking. I've got practice explaining away Kalli's magical accidents at school."

"Like when she sneezed and singed her teacher's eyebrows?" I teased in an attempt to lighten the mood. "Or that time in the cafeteria when she got upset and turned all the puddings into smoke rings?"

"Don't remind me," Aislinn groaned. "I had to convince everyone the smoke alarms were malfunctioning. And then there was that incident with her scales showing through during PE." She shuddered. "Do you know how difficult it is to explain why your daughter suddenly looks like she's wearing sparkly purple body paint?"

"'It's a new fashion trend' was actually quite brilliant," Fiona quoted with a grin. "I thought it was rather inspired, personally."

"You weren't the one who had to explain to twenty sets of parents why their children were now begging for 'dragon skin' makeup," Aislinn muttered.

The whispers grew louder and began pulling at me like invisible threads. They were coming from the woods to our right, where a dark mass of trees seemed to loom closer despite the falling snow. Something was very wrong here. The magic felt ancient and hungry. My mind conjured a horrifying image of a predator that had just woken from a long sleep.

"Vi?" Fiona murmured. She'd noticed my distraction. After a lifetime of friendship, she could read my expressions like the Sunday papers.

I gave her a subtle nod toward the trees. Her eyes narrowed, and I knew she got the message. We barely needed words anymore. We couldn’t investigate becausethe first officer approached us. He had a notepad in hand and suspicion written all over his face. He was young, probably fresh out of training. He had the sort of earnest expression that said he still believed everything could be solved by following proper procedure. Poor bloke had no idea what he was walking into.

"Ladies. Bit of a nasty accident we've got here. Mind telling me what you're doing standing about in this weather? It doesn’t appear as if you were involved." He gestured to Fiona’s vehicle.

"Officer," Fiona said, smoothly inserting herself between the policeman and me, "I saw what happened and thought it might help with your accident report." She launched into an elaborate story about black ice and a mysterious lorry that may or may not have existed. She told the tale with such conviction that even I almost believed her.

The whispers were becoming more insistent. Taking advantage of Fiona's distraction, I edged toward the tree line. The magic pulling me forward wasn't anything to be trifled with. It made me think of a record playing off-key. It made my skin prickle with goosebumps that had nothing to do with the cold. Given what had happened, I didn’t think we could ignore it.

"Tempus fugit...momentum est..." The whispers were clearer now. They were also urgent and compelling. I recognized the phrases from ancient grimoires.Time flies, the moment is here. The question was what it was talking about. I had to know. My feet carried me forward.

I shouldn't have gone alone. That's what any sensible witch would tell you. However, someone had to keep the police occupied. Between Fiona's gift for creative storytelling and Aislinn's concerned mum routine, they had that sorted. Not to mention, I was part phoenix and would regeneratefrom my ashes should the worst happen. That made me far braver than was wise.

The trees swallowed me like a hungry mouth the second I stepped off the road. Ten steps in, and the accident scene disappeared behind a curtain of snow and branches. The whispers led me deeper. They grew clearer with each step. The woods were unnaturally quiet. I didn’t hear any birds or small animals. There was nothing but the soft crunch of snow under my boots and those damned whispers. That could have been the cold.Yeah, keep telling yourself that.

The magical energy grew stronger as I walked. My head began to spin. It was familiar somehow. Yes, it carried echoes of Fae magic, but that was only a small part of it. This felt old and dark. It also spoke of forgotten rituals and forbidden knowledge. I stumbled to a stop when I came across three more bodies. They were arranged in a perfect triangle. Unlike our friends by the road, these hadn't been hidden. The display seemed ceremonial. There were also strange symbols carved into their exposed skin. The snow around them was pristine and undisturbed. They hadn’t been killed there. They'd been placed there by magic rather than carried or dragged in.

"Bloody hell," I breathed as I pulled out my mobile to text Fiona. My fingers shook as I typed.Three more. Ritual arrangement. Get rid of bobby ASAP. And maybe grab that bottle of Winter's Embrace. We might need it.

The scene before me was like something from a dark fairy tale. The bodies lay on beds of frost-covered pine needles. Their positions were too precise to be accidental. The symbols carved into their skin glowed faintly in the dim light. They also pulsed in time with the whispers that still echoed through the trees.

I crouched down to examine the nearest victim. It might have been stupid to go out there alone, but I wascareful not to touch anything. The symbols weren't like the others. These were a bizarre mix of ancient runes and what looked like mathematical equations.

One victim appeared to be in his mid-thirties. He was dressed in posh hiking gear that looked brand new. His watch had stopped at precisely midnight. That had to be significant. Ritual magic loved its symbolism. There was also a small tattoo on his wrist. It caught my attention because it was similar to the one on the woman beneath the vehicle on the highway. I saw the entire thing on this victim. It was a complex sigil. I think I saw it somewhere in Eastern Europe.

I wracked my brain for what I knew about it. "The Binding of the Seven," I murmured when it finally came to me. I traced the air above the tattoo. "He was part of the Old Guard." This wasn't just some random bloke who'd stumbled into supernatural trouble. He was one of us. A magical being and practitioner of the old ways. This wasn’t done by whoever killed the guy. This was protective. This guy should have been able to fight off whoever attacked him.

When my mobile buzzed, I realized we had service again. I hadn’t even thought about it when I sent my message to Fiona. It was a relief to see her reply.Gadross ETA 30. Keep area clear. DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING. And no, we're not opening the wine yet. Stop asking.A smile spread across my face. I didn't feel so alone anymore.

"Wasn't planning to," I muttered. The urge to trace the symbols was almost overwhelming. Something about them seemed familiar. It was like when you have a word on the tip of your tongue but can’t voice it. I turned on the camera in my phone and started snapping pictures of everything. Years of magical training had taught me the value of proper documentation, especially when dealing with potentially lethal runes.

The second victim was older. She looked to be in hersixties. She had silver hair and an aura that spoke of a lifetime of working with magic. Her fingers were stained with various potion ingredients. I’d bet she was a kitchen witch. And judging by the feel of her rings, she was powerful. I could feel the enchantment on each one, though the spells had died with her.

A glint of metal caught my eye. Around her neck was a pendant I recognized. It was the mark of the Hearthstone Guild. This was the guild of kitchen witches devoted to preserving the magic of hearth and home, weaving spells into potions and foods to heal and protect their communities. The pendant looked relatively new, which was odd. The Guild hadn't admitted anyone in over a decade. Not since...

---