Page 23 of Midnight Witch

Brimstone sneered.

Mae grinned. “You’d look so cute. Like Little Red Riding Fox.”

Hellreaver wheezed. Alastair gave the weapon a mildly disapproving look.

A woman stepped out of the car and came over to meet them.

“Are you from the New York coven?” she asked nervously.

Nikolai dipped his head. “We are.”

The witch shook their hands. “I’m Leta Patton, from the Boston coven.”

A sparrow poked its head out of her coat pocket. The bird squeaked worriedly. Leta’s gaze dropped to Brimstone. Her eyes widened in recognition.

She glanced at Alastair, shot a stunned look at Nikolai and Mae, and bowed hastily. “Forgive me! I didn’t realize the Witch Queen and her consort were coming to investigate this matter personally.”

Mae sighed. “There’s no need to bow. Just…call me Mae. He’s Nikolai.”

Leta straightened, still uneasy despite her reassurance.

Nikolai indicated the abandoned church. “How long has this place been empty?”

Leta relaxed a little. “Some twenty odd years. The last pastor to serve here died around that time. The diocese never replaced him.”

Mae tucked her hands in the pockets of her jacket. “Can you tell us what’s been happening?”

“Sure. It started about a week ago. Some of the locals heard noises and saw strange lights coming from this place. At first, they assumed it was just kids fooling around. But then someone fell ill after they took their dog for a walk near the church. They thought it might have been a gas leak, but the gas engineers who came out to inspect the building didn’t find anything untoward. It turns out the gas supply was cut off years ago.” The witch’s gaze shifted to the silent structure on the hill. “We were eventually called in when more people started becoming unwell.”

“Bryony told us the sorcerers and witches who investigated the church complained of nausea and headaches?” Mae said curiously.

“Yes. I’ve only been here fifteen minutes and I’m starting to feel queasy as well,” Leta mumbled, pale-faced. “The last time someone from our coven came to this place was three days ago.”

Nikolai exchanged a neutral glance with Mae. He couldn’t sense anything out of the ordinary, nor did he feel sick. Judging from Mae’s expression, neither did she.

Could it be because of our magic?

“I’m afraid I have to leave,” Leta said apologetically. “I have another appointment.”

She chewed her lip, clearly torn at having to abandon them.

“It’s okay,” Nikolai said. “We’ll be fine on our own.”

Leta hesitated before nodding. They watched her leave.

“You got anything fromNullify?”

Mae’s brow furrowed as she stared after the witch’s disappearing car. “She’s not a black magic user.” She turned toward the church. “How about we take a look around?”

They climbed the stone steps leading to the building. An overgrown garden of tall grass and witch hazel had invaded the porch, the flowers’ yellow petals the only points of brightness amidst the otherwise drab backdrop.

Nikolai had to give the door a good push with his shoulder to get it to shift. Wood creaked ominously when it finally swung open on rusty hinges.

CHAPTER12

A vestibule strewnwith dead leaves and debris came into view in the half-light. Beyond it was a nave lined with pews that had long since seen their best days.

Rain had formed puddles in a central aisle extending to a murky chancel. The only illumination came from pale, thin shafts arrowing through jagged holes where parts of the cradle vault had collapsed. The arched windows rising above the side aisles and in the shallow transepts had been boarded up for some time from the looks of the tarnished nails holding the planks together.

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