Page 92 of House of Ruin
Sadly, the Gods had other plans for them.
34
With the rest of the House still at the party, their home was dead quiet.
Next to the yellow folder, Blaze laid the bloodred petals of the Poisonous Widow they’d found in Professor Namiad’s office.
They all stood in a circle around the pool table in their basement.
“Okay.” Jolene spoke first. She scratched the back of her neck. “Well, at least we have something now.”
“We have half the police file of something that might not even be related to the murders and a few petals from a poisonous plant,” Andro said. He frowned. “That’s not much, Jols.”
Jolene crossed her arms. “But it’s something.”
“These petals could be potential evidence,” Blaze said. “We need to ask Leigh to find out if any of the victims were poisoned before their murder.”
Jolene ground her teeth but didn’t say anything.
“It could only be a coincidence,” Alecto said. “We’re in a witchcraft university. All professors have ingredients and plants and animals and the Gods know whatever else in their offices for spells and other purposes.”
Her gaze locked with Blaze’s for a moment. The intensity of the sky blue sent shivers down his back.
Alecto was the first to look away.
“True,” Val agreed. “But it’s worth bringing this up with Leigh to see what we can find out. We’re desperate at this point.”
Indeed they were.
“Now, the more important matter is the police file,” Val said, opening the yellow paper folder. “Or what we have of it.”
Within the folder lay a pile of papers written by hand. Val shuffled through them as if looking for something hidden to appear.
“Let’s divide this to make it quicker,” Val said, impatient.
She split the file and handed papers to each of them to read.
Slowly, Blaze walked over to the leather couch and sunk into it, skimming the part he got. It was description of the victim’s bodies:
Victim number one’s body was found mutilated, with the hands and feet severed. They were found next to the victim’s corpse, in the center of what appeared to be a ritual circle. Symbols drawn around the circle are of unknown origin (note: could be Fanhy Coven ritual magic). The nails were missing on both the hands and the feet. There were markings made with a sharp, thin object like an athame found on the victim’s chest, throat, and forehead.
“This sounds familiar,” Blaze murmured to himself.
He kept reading:
Victim number three’s body was found decapitated. Victim’s eyes were burned out. The head was placed next to the body within a small ritual circle, identical to the one from victims one and two. The corpse was completely drained of blood (note: previous victims weren’t).
At the very end of the pages, there was a bolded text:
Conclusion:It is concluded that all three victims were murdered in the same manner, despite minor differences. Looking for one or more suspects, possibly a Fanhy Coven witch or someone imitating the coven’s rituals
“There were only three victims,” Blaze said, lifting his head from the papers. Others looked at him from theirs. “So I think it’s safe to say there shouldn’t be any more if it’s the same killer this time around.”
Blaze told the circle the details of how each victim was killed.
“We either have an old serial killer who has just woken up from a seventy-year nap,” Andro said, “or someone’s trying to imitate them.”
“A lot of imitation is going around here.” Jolene rolled her eyes.
