Page 14 of Whispers of the Magical Forest

"And why wine cellars?" Fiona added. "I mean, I get that they're good for storing magical energy, but there have to be easier ways to bind shades."

"Not if you're working with mass quantities," Violet said thoughtfully. "Think about it. Fae wine cellars are naturally equipped to handle and stabilize various magical energies. They're like magical batteries, but better because they can actually refine and enhance the power they store."

"Like aging wine," I realized. "The longer it sits, the more potent it becomes."

"Exactly. And if someone figured out how to modify those storage properties..." Violet’s words trailed off.

"They could use them to strengthen thebonds between controller and shade," Fiona finished. "Bloody hell, that's clever. Evil, but clever."

My watch suddenly frosted over. The hands spun wildly before stopping at midnight. A moment later, Gadross's voice crackled through the car's radio. "More bodies were found with the same bindings. Get to those coordinates FAST."

Fiona pressed down harder on the accelerator. Magic was shimmering around the car in kaleidoscopic patterns. Violet was reinforcing the protective spells that were keeping us on the road.

"Anyone else feeling like we're driving straight into a trap?" I asked, watching the shadows between the trees grow darker and more menacing. I swear they wanted to swallow our souls.

"Oh, it's definitely a trap," Fiona agreed cheerfully. "The question is, are we walking into their trap, or are they walking into ours?"

"Since when do we have a trap?" Violet asked.

"We don't. But they don't know that." Fiona sounded so confident that I almost believed her.

"Brilliant plan," I drawled. "Really inspiring confidence here, Fi."

"Hey, my plans usually work out... eventually." She lifted a shoulder.

"Like that time in Egypt?"

"We saved the city, didn't we?"

The banter helped ease the tension. We all knew what we were heading into was serious. "You know what really bothers me?" Violet said after a moment. "The timing. Why now? Why these specific victims? There has to be a pattern we're missing."

"The winter solstice is coming up," I pointed out. "Magic tends to peak around then."

"And it's a blood moon this year," Fiona added. "Perfect time for binding rituals."

"Plus, there's an old prophecy about the alignment of the spheres," Violet mused. "It talks about the convergence of powers during the darkest night." We all fell silent, considering the implications. If someone was trying to create an army of shades during a solstice blood moon while the spheres were aligned... well, that was either going to end in godhood or catastrophe. Knowing our luck, probably both.

The coordinates led us deeper into the South Downs. Fiona drove down roads that became progressively narrower and more treacherous. The snow was falling so heavily that it was like driving through a tunnel of binding runes. Finally, we turned onto what might have been a driveway in better weather. Now it was just a slightly flatter patch of white leading into darkness. Ancient trees loomed on either side. Their branches were heavy with unnatural snow.

"Well," Fiona said as she parked the car, "this looks properly ominous."

"Should we wait for Gadross?" Violet asked as she checked her protection charms.

A distant sound caught my attention. It was something between a scream and a whisper that carried on the winter wind through the forest. It was the sound that only the recently dead should make. I shouldn’t be able to hear it at all. It made my skin crawl with the proximity of so many trapped souls.

"No time," I said as I reached for the door handle. "Whatever's happening down there, it's starting now."

"Right then," Fiona grinned. The familiar light of adventure was in her eyes. "Let's go crash an apocalyptic shade-raising ritual and show them not to mess with the Backsideof Forty."

"Sometimes I really hate that name," I muttered as we stepped out into the magical storm.

"You love it, and you know it," Fiona replied. "Besides, we've earned it. Not many people our age regularly save the world from supernatural disasters."

"Not many people our age regularly need to," Violet pointed out.

I shook my head. “The need is there. They choose to ignore the obvious and leave the heavy lifting for us or our friends.”

We made our way toward what looked like an old stone building. It was half-buried in the hillside. The magical energy was practically visible now. Purple light pulsed from behind frosted windows. The wind carried fragments of chanting. It was Latin, just as Fiona had predicted.

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