Page 60 of House of Pain
Not many witches stepped foot in this part of Darly anymore. This was obvious as they strolled down the narrow street, passing old buildings with windows barricaded with wide wooden planks or simply left with the glass broken.
Each building had stories to tell, and a shiver went down Alecto’s back, hair at the back of her neck prickling as the wind blew once more. For a moment, she thought she heard voices carried within the breeze.
“This place gives me the creeps,” Val said.
Alecto could only nod in agreement.
The Old Darly was creepy and haunted, just like most of the town’s legends claimed.
“Are we trying to find a spirit to haunt the Tigers until they give up their Book willingly?” Alecto asked as they turned into a narrow alley with a wall blocking the very end of it.
Val laughed, which flooded Alecto with satisfaction.
Jolene said, “I would never dare disturb the dead for a prank.”
Alecto exchanged a glance with Val, whose lips were still curled into an amused little smirk.
Finally, they reached the dead end of the alley and came to a stop. On the left, in a tall redbrick wall, there was an old metal gate door. Alecto hadn’t noticed it until they were right in front of it.
Jolene fished for something in her pockets, checking a few before finally, she came up with a chain. There was a key on the chain, and to Alecto’s surprise, Jolene used the key to unlock the metal gate door, opening the entrance to what seemed to be a small private garden.
Once they were inside, Jolene closed and locked the gate again, putting the chain over her neck so that the key hung between her round breasts.
“What’s that?” Alecto asked, looking around the garden contained between the buildings, where you would never guess a small paradise, even if abandoned, lay.
The golden vines wrapped tightly around the brick walls, a bunch of firebirds roaming around, darting in and out of the thickness of the leaves. On the far end of the garden stood a wrought iron table and three chairs. One was missing a leg, another its back. A whole bunch of red clay planters littered the surface of the table, young ivies spilling over the sides.
“It’s the Old Church,” Jolene replied, waving a hand at one of the walls with colored-glass windows stretching tall.
Jolene rushed towards another door, used the same key to unlock it, and then led them inside.
“Oh, shit.” All Alecto could do was whisper as she took in the vaulted glass ceiling, stretching for several feet over their heads, and the elaborate paintings covering every available space on all the surrounding walls.
“How—” Alecto’s words died in her throat as she strolled between rows of stools carved out of ivory bone, most of them damaged beyond repair either by witches from the past or by time itself.“How the fuck? I thought it was hidden centuries ago.”
“You bitch.” Val’s voice echoed around them, but she didn’t sound upset. In fact, she sounded ecstatic. “Frones were the ones who hid the church, right? That’s how you have the key!”
Alecto turned to where Val and Jolene stood, Jolene twirling a string of her thick hair between her fingers, pouting.
“My grandmother wasoneof the four students who hid the church all those decades ago, yes,” she admitted with a sigh. “Before you complain why I didn’t tell you before, I just got the key from my aunties as a gift for starting my third year at Venefica.”
“Why would they give it to you now?” Alecto frowned.
“I don’t know. My aunties like to do things however they please. Maybe they thought that surviving two years at Venefica was a big enough deal to whip out an old family secret as a present.”
Val eyed Jolene for a long moment. Her eyes narrowed.
“So, why did you bring us here today?” Alecto asked, turning back to the abandoned altar with a statue in the middle.
Figures of the Gods—the Mother and the Father—were carved out of cream-colored bone. They both had their backs to each other, their fingers linked together as both of their faces looked at the sky. It was just like the one that stood in the middle of Darly Park they passed on their way here.
The face of the Father was broken off, shattered by its feet. But other than that, the statue was quite intact for something that was probably centuries old.
“To be honest, I was curious to see how casting a spell would work in here compared with at campus,” Jolene admitted, walking up to Alecto.“I thought it might be more effective.”
Alecto cocked a brow in question, but Val was the one who explained. “They hid the church for a reason, you know? It’s said that one of the Mother’s bones is buried beneath the Old Church, fueling the rituals performed here with Her magic.”
“Yeah, once it was the main point for all students of Venefica to cast spells. My grandmother used to tell stories of wild revels held in the Old Church before important rituals,” Jolene said, rolling her eyes.
