Page 49 of Welcome to Blackbird Hollow
“They travel the ley lines now, persistent and constant, practically relentless in what looks like an organized, gridded search to me, which is a stark departure from Their past behavior. In the past decade, either Their aims have changed, the world has?—”
“Or it’s a combination of the two,” Alice breaks in. She leans back in the old Windsor chair, shaking her head. “Something about the world’s changing, and so is the Hunt.”
Dr. Waterhouse nods. “That’s my feeling. Conditions have changed, and Their behaviorappearsto be less erratic, less random.”
Alice crosses her arms in her lap, leaning forward again. “So what doyouthink the Hunt is doing? Off the record, of course. What’s your unofficial hypothesis?”
It warms me to see Alice in her element like this, batting ideas about with an equal. I hope she’ll take Dr. Waterhouse’s offer and join the department here. Brick by brick, the shape of a new life for her forms in my mind, and I’m selfish enough to hope she sees my place in it. That she can stay in Blackbird Hollow and have some semblance of the life she was hoping for in the big city.
“My best guess?” The professor narrows her sky-blue eyes, steepling her fingers. “There’s always been a pattern to it; we just didn’t understand it. They’re not wreaking havoc. They’re on a mission. The only reason it’s seemed random in the past is because whatever They were chasing was behaving erratically.And now? Well, the Hunt goes where its prey does.” She stops abruptly, like she was going to say more but thought better of it.
Alice shakes her head. “Please say whatever it is you’re thinking. We need to know as much as we can if They’re coming through Blackbird Hollow.”
“And They are,” Dr. Waterhouse says, a definitive edge in her voice that sends a chill through me. “Think,” she says quietly, tracing her finger up the ley line that goes through Blackbird Hollow and Three Ravens. “What does Blackbird Hollow—this whole area, really—have that other towns around here don’t?”
Alice looks at me. She’s out of her depth here, but I’m not. “Witches,” I growl. “We’ve got more witches than any other county in the tri-state area.” I follow the line of the professor’s finger. “And more of Them. That’s because of the ley lines, isn’t it?”
Adelaide Waterhouse nods. “We’re all attracted to these lines of power. The world used to be full of magic; the ley lines radiated it out, sending it in a reciprocal loop between Faerie and here. But they don’t radiate anymore. They just pulse, so we go to the pulse, rather than letting magic come to us.”
“And why do you think that is?” Alice asks.
Dr. Waterhouse takes another notebook from her stack, but she doesn’t open it. She just holds it to her chest. “You ever just have afeelingabout something, Miss Blythe? The evidence is all scattered, not adding up to much, but in your gut, you know a thing?”
Alice nods furiously. “Yes.”
The professor nods back. “I thought so?—”
She’s about to say more, but there’s a knock at the door. A raven-haired young person sticks their head in, their brown eyes worried. “Dr. Waterhouse, please come. Janice tried playing Metallica to the—you know—and something’s goneverywrong.”
Bluecap emergency, Dr. Waterhouse mouths to us as she stands, handing the notebook to Alice. “You can look my notes over, but this is probably going to take a bit.” She pauses by the door. “Mr. Hayes, please tell your brother to come see me if he needs help finding relief from the pain after the change. I have ideas.”
Before I can ask how she knows about Caden’s condition, she’s gone.
Alice’s eyes go wide. “Are they doingexperimentson Them here?” she whispers when the professor’s footsteps in the hallway die off.
I shake my head. “Not likely. But some of Them, like bluecaps, are curious about witches and hedgeriders. They’re attracted to our lineage, and if we’re interested in Them, too…well… Odd collaborations do happen.”
Alice nods, opening the black notebook the professor handed her carefully. She spends a few minutes glancing through it, shaking her head. “So no one really knows where the source of magic is?”
I shrug, not quite understanding where all this is leading, but I trust Alice. And if our coven trusts Dr. Waterhouse, I trust her too. I’m here to flesh out information that Alice doesn’t have so she can use her big brain to puzzle all of this out. “Old timers used to assume it was Faerie itself. Caden could tell you the particulars of why that theory fell out of favor, but more recent experts like Dr. Waterhouse think maybe it comes from someplace between our realms.”
Alice’s head bends over the notebook, her mouth twisting up in concentration as she scans through the pages, turning back to previous sections occasionally, then skipping ahead as she nods—to herself or to the book, I’m not certain. “Waterhouse thinks there’s a leak—leaks, plural—in wherever that place is. Whereverthe energy we call magic comes from, she thinks it’s bursting at the seams.”
“Is that all?” I laugh, wry and frustrated. It’s always something with this job. “What’s that have to do with the Hunt?”
Alice shakes her head. “She doesn’t say it here, but…” Her face scrunches up again. “We call Them the Hunt for a reason. What are Theyhunting?”
I lean back in my chair, staring at a fairly recent water stain on the professor’s ceiling. That can’t be good for the plaster. “Well, if Dr. Waterhouse is right, they’re hunting witches, and some of Their own kind.” I see the connections a little clearer now, but not much is certain. “Like the redcaps, and the way the hellhounds spoke to Caden.”
Alice closes the notebook, placing it carefully back on Dr. Waterhouse’s stack. She glances at the tea tray, and then the door. “Cover me, okay?”
She’s gonna take a peek at those notes. That’s probably a little rude, but this is an investigation, after all, not a social call. I nod, getting up to lean against the door. There’s no warding on the top of the professor’s desk to stop Alice from snooping.
“Stay out of her bottom left drawer,” I caution as I cover the door. “She’s got it spelled to set off the fire alarm if anyone other than her fusses with it.”
Alice stares at me for a second. “You can see that?”
I nod. “Lots of hedgeriders have a touch of the Sight. Comes in handy.”
