Page 50 of Sinistram
“Are you safe?” Brent asked Danny, who shrugged.
“Be careful,” Brent warned. “Someone is fucking around with ghosts. You can still get damaged, even though you’re…dead.” That last word stuck in his throat.
Danny placed a hand on his chest above his heart, a promise to be careful. Then he pointed to Brent and gave him a look that clearly demanded Brent also take precautions.
“I will. And if you can, watch my back, okay?” Brent replied.
He imagined that he heard the distant sound of Danny’s laughter as the ghost blinked out.
CHAPTER NINE
“Everyone’s on edge,but nobody’s quite sure what’s going on,” Chiara Hamilton told Travis, somehow managing to sound upbeat despite the topic being catastrophic. “I’ve got contacts with a lot of different witches—brujas,stregas, and a Polishvedmak. Different traditions and talents. They’re getting different pieces of the story, but I think it’s all related.”
Travis and Brent sat at the kitchen table in his apartment the next morning, each of them clutching hot cups of coffee like lifelines.
“Tell me what you hear.” Travis had the phone on speaker between him and Brent.
“People have been having dreams, not just nightmares, more like prophetic sendings,” she replied. “For some of my friends, that’s not unknown, but it isn’t common. They foresee great danger to the whole area around Pittsburgh, from dark magic as well as monsters.”
“That’s cheery,” Brent murmured. Travis kicked him under the table.
“Can you narrow that down? Fire? Floods? Meteors from space?” Travis asked.
“Fire, which seems to be something from the past that is relevant again, although my contact wasn’t sure how,” Chiara said. “She saw people on fire and a silo blasted into the air. But she said it seemed like from a long time ago.”
Brent took notes, letting Travis guide the conversation.
“What else?” Travis asked.
“People are paying attention to omens: stars, the moon, tea leaves, birds,” she replied. “These aren’t folks who normally watch those sorts of things. Now, they’re taking them seriously, and they’re worried.”
Travis and Brent exchanged a look, and Travis knew they were both thinking about how often that topic had come up in the last couple of days.
“There’s talk among the allied covens that someone is trying to stir up trouble between groups of practitioners, set them against each other,” Chiara told him. “Still a shadowy ‘they,’ but it’s been enough for the covens to issue warnings and do protective rituals. The interesting thing is it seems to be agitators who aren’t from around here, instead of homegrown troublemakers.”
Travis met Brent’s eyes and knew they were thinking the same thing.That could be Sinistram. It would fit.
“I’ve heard that people from the city with minor supernatural abilities have been leaving the area, going to stay with friends, or just bugging out. There’s a rumor that someone has put a bounty on people with paranormal skills. I hope it’s not true, but folks are taking it seriously.”
“They’re right to be careful, and I wish I could give you a solid confirmation or denial,” Travis replied. “We think a group is going after cryptids and witches. Not sure about other talents, but better safe than sorry.”
“The witches and people with abilities who are staying are banding together,” Chiara said. “Even some of the werewolvesand vampires who are on the straight-and-narrow have joined us. They said they’d rather work with the hunters than take their chances on whoever is behind the crackdown.”
If he and Brent were correct about Sinistram’s role, those instincts were spot on.
“That’s all I’ve got for now, but I’ll keep my ears open,” Chiara said. “We’re kinda running an unofficial supernatural sanctuary until things cool down.”
“Thank you,” Travis said. “For the info and for helping protect the community.”
“No problem,” she said with forced humor. “We weirdos have to stick together.”
After the call ended, Travis found himself lost in thought, staring at the wall until Brent cleared his throat.
“That was interesting,” Brent remarked. “The witches and the monsters are scared. And we still don’t have a plan to fix things.”
Travis checked for missed calls. “Nothing yet from Cassidy. Let’s try a long shot and see if any of the recently dead Sinistram priests know anything they want to share.”
Brent raised an eyebrow. “Do you think they’d tell you?”
