Page 58 of Sinister Hearts
I got myself up, my body heavy and weak. I grabbed my coat and headed to the barn, where I knew the meeting was being held. I walked across the farm and I could overhear voices. I stopped to listen. It was Jax, Creed, and Ryker sitting at the round Reaper table. They all sat in their chairs, with their patched coats and cowboy hats.
I slipped away, quietly calling the only person who I knew would have my back. “Rocky, I need you,” I said, numb to the reality I was currently in. I felt like I was outside my own flesh and body, not knowing whether my daughter and mother were dead or alive.
“Ask and you shall receive, prima,” Raquel answered.
“They’re gone, cousin, he took them,” I cried desperately into the phone.
“Slow down, what are you saying? Who?” Rocky asked.
“Ma and Birdie,” I replied.
Silence fell between us both.
“Where are you?” Rocky asked me in fury.
“Grimwood farm.” My voice was shaky and weak.
“I’ll be there shortly,” she said.
Click.
Rocky showed up in less than ten minutes, and I was in no condition to ask questions. I needed her help and was thankful she came at all.
“They’re alive somewhere, I can feel them in my achy bones.”
She winced, pacing the living room. “A locator spell, say less,” having a light-bulb moment she began scrounging through her black medical bag, taking out a scroll that looked like a map. It was a map of both Grimstone and Cravyn City. She then took out a tourmaline pendant wrapped in gold metal swirls “Give me your hand.”
Rocky took my hand and spread my palm as she cut me with a dagger. The blade sliced my skin open and I winced at the pain that couldn’t dare compare to the pain I was already in. I let the blood trickle from my palm onto the scrolled map.
She began chanting a foreign language, “Caro de carne mea, monstra te.” (Flesh of my flesh, show yourself.) She spoke to the map.
My crimson blood gathered in magnetic spurts on the map. It stopped at a certain location. Both of us followed where my blood landed on the scrolled map, and we eyed each other in confusion.
“This can’t be,” Raquel said, seemingly perplexed. I looked at the map for answers, realizing the location my blood settled was Ma’s house.
“How could it be?” I whispered, my thoughts racing, making me dizzy. “The catacombs!” I retorted, the realization hitting me like moving targets.
Icounted the street lights as they passed in a blur. The world around me felt like a dream. I had some newfound hope, thanks to Rocky and her locator spell. Jax pulled up to Ma’s house and I could hear the seasonal leaves crunching in her driveway. Before he could pull to a complete stop, I opened my door and ran into the house.
“Birdie!” I screamed, frantic, searching for her in every room, desperate for my mother’s comfort. “AMA! Donde estás?” Icried out. More doom crept into my chest. I searched her room frantically as Jax came rushing after me.
“Faye, over here!” he called out to me. I followed as he took me into my mother’s closet, where I felt a draft behind her hung up clothes. I moved the hangers out of the way, displaying a hidden door with Latin sigils circling it.
“What the fuck is this?” I didn’t know what the hell I was even looking at. Jax tried to open the door but stood no chance. It was sealed by magic. A protection spell. “This is Latin,” I said,running my fingers through the scribe. “Flesh of my flesh,” I repeated to myself.
“What?” Jax looked at me like I had five heads.
I ran to the kitchen and grabbed a knife, and without hesitation I began slicing my other palm.
“Faye, what the hell!” Jax shouted from behind me.
My wound opened and began to seep blood. I placed my bloody palm on each sigil, letting it paint them in crimson. Jax grabbed my hand and wrapped it in a towel.
“What the fuck, Faye!” he said to me, stern, holding my dripping palm.
Suddenly, a brisk wind carrying chants of whispers danced through my hair, making every strand of hair on my skull stand up. There was a sudden sound from the other side of the door, as heavy metal began unlocking, echoing beyond the depths of the mysterious hidden walls, waiting for my arrival. Fear and uncertainty engulfed me. But what was waiting for me was the question.
A chill wind hit me as the door opened, nearly throwing me back. Ominous whispers continued to surround us in a chant-like rhythm. Fire illuminated the long narrow path, step by step.
