Page 349 of Castings & Curses

Goddess, what had been happening here?

She’d only been gone seven years.

“Avery, don’t touch anything.” She glanced around the walls. Most were covered with books, but where there was bare wall space, she found artwork depicting the rise of demons from the depths of Hell and strange landscapes that reminded her of Dante’s Inferno. Her gaze rolled over the books on the shelf. Lovecraft, an illustrated Necronomicon, books on the occult both obscure and mainstream.

This is where the money was.

Right here in this room.

She needed to talk to the wife.

“I should get the team in here and get it cleared out. Do you need to look at anything else?” He flipped open his phone, pecked out something, and then slid it back into his pocket.

“No. I don’t think so.” Devi replied, distracted. “The wife? What’s her name?”

“Skyler. Skyler Chambers.”

Chambers.

As in The King in Yellow.

Was it a coincidence?

No.

She didn’t believe that for one minute.

She left Avery to work with the crime scene crew. She could have touched the body but she didn’t have to. He was a willing sacrifice to summon beings that should have remained in another dimension. She reached the last bedroom at the end of the hall. The officer guarding the door opened it, allowing her to pass.

The room was empty save for a queen size bed and dresser; a glass paned door to the outside hung open, letting in the fetid night air. Devi burst into a run, covering the small bedroom in a few steps, her boots hitting the concrete pad outside with a thump. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dark.

The house rested on the edge of the swamp and Skyler Chambers was halfway toward the water’s edge. The woman’s nightgown glowed white in the gloom, her long blonde hair tumbling to her waist.

“Mrs. Chambers! Wait!” Devi darted forward as the woman proceeded toward the water. “Stop! Please.”

The woman turned and regarded Devi with an unreadable expression. “It’s time. The dead lie dreaming and they must awake.”

“No.” Devi panted. “No. Your husband…your son.”

“They are with Her now. It’s time for a new world.” Her gaze met Devi’s with a pitying expression. “You will learn to see. I see Her mark on you already.” Her hand reached out to touch Devi.

Images both horrifying and glorious tumbled into Devi’s mind all at once. Goddesses and dead things and a language so old she could only guess at its meaning.

The death of her husband.

Her boy going leaving for the party with his girlfriend, knowing what his fate would be.

It was all orchestrated.

All planned.

Skyler released Devi and offered her a joyous smile, her fingers sliding down the material of Devi’s jacket. “You’ll see. Look to the stars. Your blade is ripe for the purpose. Feed it. She is coming, cat. I hope you’re ready.”

The other woman stepped into the water and slowly sank beneath the waves, her nightgown filling with air as it submerged around her. In moments she was gone save for a smattering of air bubbles. The world was full of silence and the chirping of cicadas.

One step was all it took for her to follow, and that was what she did. Her ocelot scratched and bit as she found herself half submerged in the fetid water.

In the distance she heard Cappelli calling her name. Devi looked on, powerless to move. As the ripples in the water ceased, a reflection of the night sky and the over-ripe moon came into view. She slipped the blade out of its holster and readied herself as something shifted in the wind and she caught the scent of something that terrified her.

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