Page 33 of Starlight Witch

At that moment Bran stood back, shaking his head. “I think the spell summons some sort of demon,” he said.

“Look at the planchette,” I said.

He did so, then let out a curse under his breath. “This set-up reeks of trouble. What the hell was your father doing in here?”

We moved across the room to examine the bottle on the other table. It was beautiful, the size of a large decanter, filled with sparkling lights that twinkled in shades of a purplish pink. There was a stopper on top, also crystal, and I started to reach for it before I realized what I was doing, and stopped myself.

“Is that a djinn bottle?” Bree asked.

“I don’t know, but I almost opened it without thinking. There’s a lot of subtle persuasion in this room, so watch what you’re doing and think twice before making a move,” I said.

“I don’t know if it’s a djinn bottle or not,” Bran said. “But I don’t know if a djinn would feel comfortable in the set up. This is more Gothic than opulent, and if it’s one thing djinns love, it’s luxury. I don’t think it’s safe to uncork it,” he added. “Let’s take a look at the bookcase in the chest.”

He led us to the opposite end of the room. We glanced over the titles in the bookshelf, and they all had to do with the dark arts. I knelt by the chest next to the shelves. There was a key in it, and it looked unlocked, but I wouldn’t be able to tell for sure without opening it.

“Should we open this?” I asked.

“I think that’s about as safe as opening the bottle,” Bree said. “Why don’t we take a look at the room behind the door,” she added.

I took a deep breath, and move toward the door. There was a handle on this one, “I suppose the only way to find out what’s behind it is open it.” And with that, I slowly began to turn the handle.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

As the door creaked open, Bran motioned for me to get out of the way. I let him take the lead because he was stronger than I was, and he was better with his magic.

“What the hell?” He said, a puzzled look crossing his face.

Bree aimed her flashlights through the opening. The door led into a tunnel. It was difficult to estimate how far it went, and the air coming out of it was stuffy. It wasn’t stagnant, but the tunnel had obviously been closed off for a long time.

“Should we follow it?” I was beginning to get cold feet. But knowing this was beneath my mother’s house, I couldn’t just leave it. We had to investigate. Even if I decided to let my father’s death go unquestioned, we’d gone beyond the point of return. “Bree, can you go get my great-grandmother and May? They need to see this.” I moved closer to Bran, seeking comfort. I don’t know what I had imagined that my father found in the secret room, but it wasn’t this. This went far beyond what I thought he might’ve come across.

“I’ll be right back,” Bree said. “And I’ll see if we can find more flashlights or something.”

“They’ll be in the kitchen, in the utility closet that’s just inside the pantry. Whatever you do don’t wake up my mother.”

As she disappeared, I turned Bran.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” I said. “I had no idea any of this was here. All the time I grew up, I never knew about this. I don’t think my mother did either.”

“I think this goes beyond what your father found. What I mean is, this looks like it’s been here a long time, long before your father was born. A number of the houses in Port Townsend date back to the late 1800s. I have a feeling this has been here for well over hundred years.”

“The house was built in 1898, I know that. My parents got it pretty cheap, because Port Townsend went through a real depression where it almost became a ghost town. They did a lot of remodeling to the upstairs, but I don’t think they touched the basement. That was one thing they were so surprised about.”

“What?”

“My mother told me that when they realized it already had a finished basement, that’s when they decided to buy it. So many of the houses around here didn’t. I imagine, that whoever built this tunnel, was the one who originally built the house. And they probably made sure the basement was a full on room so that nobody would question anything, or look for the main secret room.”

A moment later, Bree returned, Grams and May in tow. Bree was carrying four more flashlights, and she handed one to Bran, one to May, and one to Grams. Both older women with began poking around the main secret room. Neither one said much, but they gave each other knowing looks as they examined the book, and then the bottle on the other table.

“Should we explore the tunnel?” I walked over to the table, pulling out one of the chairs and sitting down. I was flummoxed, and I had no clue what to do next.

Grams cleared her throat. “You know that that book is a sorcerer’s grimoire.”

“We figured that out,” I said. “Do you know what the bottle is?”

“I believe so,” she said. “I believe it contains a magical essence of a long dead sorcerer. This is probably what your father was referring to, when he was talking about trying to find the right formula. My guess is he was trying to find out how to free the essence, and my guess is that he had promised someone powerful that he would harness the energy of the sorcerer inside. I’ll bet you anything he thought it worked like a djinn bottle.”

“So if we open the bottle, it won’t release the sorcerer locked inside?” Bree asked.

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