Page 306 of Sigils & Spells

Everything looked the same. Merryn meandered among the tables trying to tell which sheet had been displaced. At the far and of the classroom she found her answer. The sheet was rumbled, some of the bones carelessly exposed. Merryn approached the table, and nibbled on her bottom lip. She wiped her hands on her jeans, the knot in her stomach growing with each step.

She started to touch the sheet, but instead whipped out her phone, aiming her camera at the mussed covering. It wouldn’t do for them to know she’d been here. At least this way she could get everything back in order before they got back.

Merryn laid her phone down, wiped her palms on her jeans and swallowed.

With careful fingertips, she peeled back the covering, gazing down at the selection of bleached bones. They were laid out much as a body would be, matched and documented by number on the paper tray laid out beneath them. A clipboard sat on the corner of the table and they left without putting the specimen back like they were supposed to.

What were they talking about? Why were they so upset?

God. Were they coming back?

Merryn moved down just a little bit more, her hands shaking. She couldn’t be caught here. If she was smart, she’d grab her notes and go. But then something caught her eye.

“What the hell?”

She gazed down at the bones and the bird beneath her skin began to tremble and claw at the skin of her underbelly. The owl hooted, sending a tremor through her body. Her people knew bones. Owls could read the message in the remains of what had been left behind. It was one of the reasons her parents had pushed her into something other than direct forensic science. How did you explain to a lab full of humans what you could tell just by looking? That mark was made by a tooth? Or that singe mark on the back side of a dog was a Perinium spell gone horribly wrong.

But this…

Being in class was one thing. Plastic gloves and eyes watching her every move. She hated that. It was better to work alone. To feel what the remains were telling her. And these bones… They spoke to her now, and it was a heady experience.

“Ugh…”

Without thinking, she reached for the table to steady herself, but instead came into close proximity with several of the bones. She shifted her grip, her hands connecting fully. She wasn’t supposed to touch them except with gloved hands, but as her flesh came into contact with the surface, she felt the uneven texture beneath her fingertips.

Odd.

Merryn peered down at the bone beneath her fingertips and her nose wrinkled in distaste.

“What is that?”

It was etching. Or writing. Nothing like she’d ever seen but something arcane that made her fingers tingle. Merryn pulled her hand away, grabbed for her phone and snapped a couple more photos, drilling down close to get whatever inscriptions were hidden amongst the rest of the bones.

A few more shots and she put the phone in her back pocket. She started to step away but her owl screeched.

Wrong. Something’s wrong.

Feel.

Against her better judgement, Merryn held up her hands and placed them on the bones once more, the images of what happened to the person they belonged to flooding into her.

“Oh,Goddess.”

She couldn’t unsee it. The horror of what the girl had gone through, and the depths of depravity within the witch who had done this, made her want to heave her guts up on the floor.

Merryn staggered backwards without bothering to put the sheet back. The clipboard clattered to the floor as she tried to steady her breathing and remember what it was she came here for in the first place.

Her notes. She had to get her notes. Merryn scrambled back toward her workstation, reaching under the table to the small desk area and grabbed at them, stuffing the pages into her broken backpack.

Not looking back, she hurried from the lab, getting as far away from the desecrated bones as she could. Merryn made her way quickly down the shadowy passage and out the door to the parking lot where her beat up ancient Volkswagen bug waited.

Merryn unlocked the trunk with shaking hands, tossed her books in and slammed it shut. Without thinking, she lurched toward the driver’s door, fiddling with the lock and wrenching the door open. She swung behind the wheel of the car and stared at herself in the mirror. Her glasses were askew, her dirty blond hair mussed and she looked like she’d seen a ghost.

She started it up and put the car into gear—she had to get to Broomstix and talk to Bridget. She’d know what to do.

Winding her way through traffic during the Halloween rush was less than fun, but after an hour she reached her apartment parking lot. She parked and leapt from the car, leaving her books in the trunk. Hot footing it toward the shop, she maneuvered through partygoers and revelers, intent on her destination. Soon, she broke off from the more touristy areas and veered off from the crowd.

Someone was behind her. Merryn’s heart beat louder and her eyes darted down the shadowy streets. Salem was laden with tourists this close to Halloween and she shouldn’t have had anything to fear. But she did.

---