“Are you sure this is the place?” I asked Aislin. The old house’s wood siding was rotting, and the porch looked like it was going to cave in on the next person who dared step foot on it.
Aislin glanced around and then pointed at the numbers 44 on the front of the house. “Yeah, that’s the number it had on the address on the website.”
I looked at her solemnly. “This place has its own website?”
She nodded as she picked up her candle and crystal and tucked them into the pocket of her shorts. Then she started across the gravel parking lot, which, surprise, surprise, was vacant—there wasn’t a single car. I followed after her, the gravel crunching under my DC’s, my nerves coming unhinged with every step.
We trotted up the stairs and stepped onto the porch, which creaked loudly beneath our weight. Aislin raised her hand toward the doorknob, but hesitated.
“Do we just go in?” She glanced over her shoulder at me. “Or should we knock.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know…Probably knock, I guess.”
She knocked, and the screen door fell off its hinges. We scattered to the side as it crashed down on the porch.
Aislin’s eyes went wide as she stared down at the fallen door. “Shit.”
I gave her a shocked look, because I had never heard her say that before.
“Sorry,” she apologized, like I cared. “But I don’t think that’s a good start.”
I shook my head. “I know…Are you sure there weren’t any other witch supplies stores nearby that maybe aren’t so….ominous.”
Aislin glanced at the broken door and then back at me. “Maybe it might be a good idea to go somewhere else.I mean, it doesn’t even look like someone is here.”
I nodded and we started down the stairs.
“There was a place I think in the next town over.” She pointed to our left. “It’s not much farther.
“Can I help you?”
The voice startled us, but not as much as the fact that she seemed to come out of nowhere. A woman stood at the bottom of the steps, her black hair blended into the night, along with her black dress, and her dark eyes weighed heavily on us.
“Umm…” Aislin shot me an ‘oh-crap’ look and then stuttered to the woman, “we were just…um…Is this Medea’s Herbal Supply Shop.”
The woman’s gaze bore into us as she assessed us over. “It is.”
Aislin forced a smile. “Well, are you open?”
I was kind of hoping the woman would say no. Yes, I knew we needed to hurry—we needed to figure out where my mom was. But this woman brought a sense of discomfort that sent my stomach rolling and my feet wanting to bolt.
“I am open,” she said, and my hope shattered to the ground. She ambled up the steps, the porch rocking with her movement. “I see you knocked my door down.”
My heart hammered in my chest. “Yeah, sorry about that.”
She gave me a glance over, and walked inside, motioning us to follower her.
Aislin and I exchanged a look like: should we run?
“Are you coming,” the woman snapped impatiently.
Aislin sighed and we stepped inside.
The first thing I noticed was that the place stank, like garbage mix with wet dog and old shoes. It was horrid. But I didn’t dare plug my nose.
The walls were filthy, the wallpaper peeling away. The floor was made of the same rotting wood as the outside of the house and there were a few holes in the ceiling. A few shelves lined the walls, like at Adessa’s. However, the objects that covered the shelves had a darker, more evil way about them.
“What exactly are you looking for?” The woman’s eyes were cold.
Aislin rattled off a list of stuff and the woman looked even more annoyed by our presence. But she said she had everything and started digging around in boxes, collecting everything.
“So are you Medea?” Aislin asked, pointing up to a rusted sign on the wall that read: Medea’s Herbal Supply Shop.
“I am,” she—Medea said in an icy voice. She placed a few baggies onto the counter, each one filled with a different colored herb.
Aislin wandered around, tracing her fingers along the shelves, until she came across a thick book. She picked it up and looked at the cover. Then, giving a quick glance at Medea, stuffed it into her purse.
Hold on. Did Aislin just shoplift?
Medea was still taking out baggies and setting them on the counter.As she moved her hand out of the box, the sleeve of her black dressed rose up a little, giving me a glimpse of her wrist.
My heart stopped.
Tattooing her skin…a black triangle outlining a red symbol.
The Mark of Malefiscus.
As if she sensed me watching her, Medea glanced up. I adverted my eyes to a tiny statue of a man with one eye. But I could feel her gaze boring into me, like a hawk watching its prey from the sky, about to swipe down and strike.
Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I needed to get Aislin’s attention. Trying to act as casual as possible, I went over and stood beside Aislin, who was standing in the corner examining a small golden box with a flame decorating the lid.
“We have to go,” I whispered. “Right now.”
She gave me a confused look as she picked up the flame box.
I pointed at my wrist. She has the Mark of Malefiscus on her wrist, I mouthed.
What, Aislin mouthed back.
The Mark of Malefiscus, I mouthed, giving a discrete nod at Medea. On her wrist.
Panic rose on her face. “What do we do?” she whispered.
“Get the heck out of here,” I whispered back, putting a hand on her arm. Then I shut my eyes to Foresee us out of there…but nothing. It wasn’t working. There had to be Praesidium somewhere. Figures a witch store would have something like that. “My powers not working,” I whispered to Aislin.
“Okay…” Aislin said with determination. “Follow my lead.”
“What?”
But she was already walking away.
“Oh, shoot.” She stomped her foot on the floor dramatically. “I forgot to bring money to pay for this.”
I frowned at her. This was her plan. I mean, her purse was on her shoulder for crying out loud.
Medea gave her the most irritated look ever. “So you have no money.”
“Not on me.” Aislin walked for the door and I followed, trying not to rush. “But I can go back to my house really quick and come back…you could hold these for me.” She pointed at the bags of herbs.
Medea’s eyes grew darker as she tossed the bags of herbs back into the box.
“Well, okay, then,” Aislin said, her nervousness started to show. “We’ll be back with some money.”
And then we were hauling for the front door, like a couple of marathon speed walkers’. To my shock, Medea did nothing. She just stood there by the counter, watching us bolt.
But I wasn’t complaining.
We reached the door and Aislin yanked it open. Strangely, the screen door was on its hinges. Aislin went to push it open, but it wouldn’t budge.
“What the—”The main door swung shut and we jumped out of its way, both of us tumbling onto the floor.
“You two are not going anywhere,” Medea roared.
Aislin and I scrambled to our feet, only to find the room empty.
“Where’d she go?” I asked, glancing around frantically.
Aislin was yanking on the door. “I don’t know…Come on you stupid thing…open.”
I grabbed her arm. “Come on. There’s got to be another way out.”
We ran across the room, our frantic footsteps vibrating the rickety floor.
“Going somewhere?” Medea’s voice came up behind us.
I spun around, tripping over my own feet, and fell to the ground again. I jumped up, shaking off my soon-to-be-bruised knees. “Where is she?” The words rushed out of me.
Aislin glanced around desperately. “I don’t know.”
“Behind you,” Medea’s voice floated up over our shoulders.
We whirled around, only to find no one there again.
“She’s taunting us,” Aislin whispered. “She’s using magic to play with our minds.”
A black figure swished by us, knocking me into Aislin and we both collapsed to the floor. We scurried to our feet again, only to be knocked right back down by the black figure.
I started to get to my feet, but Aislin caught me by the arm. “Just hold still.”
We froze. The only sound I could hear was our breathing, loud and erratic—terrified.
“Where did she go,” I hissed threw my teeth.
Aislin opened her mouth to say something, but then snapped it shut, because there she was—Medea, standing in front of us, the sleeves of her black dress rolled up so we could get a good look at the Mark of Malefiscus on her wrist.
“Do you know what this is?” Her dark eyes were locked on me.
I stayed silent.
“Do you know what this is!” she screamed, raising her wrist in front of her.
“Y-yes,” I stammered.
“Then you are the one.” She wasn’t asking a question, but stating a fact. She knew I was the star—well, half of it anyway.
I glanced fearfully at Aislin. Her eyes were wide with terror and her hands were trembling. She was just as scared at I was.
Medea walked toward me, her heavy black boots making loud thuds with each step. “The question is: why are you here?”
No, I think the question was: why did she have the mark? “Why do you have that?” I pointed at her wrist.
She grazed her finger over the mark tattooing her wrist. “I was born with it.”
Aislin and I traded a baffled look.
“What?” I said. “I thought only a descendent of Malefiscus could be born with the mark.”
She smiled, showing us her decaying, yellow teeth. “The rise of his descendant has brought out all our marks. We are all followers of Stephan, our re-uniter of Malefiscus.”
“All our marks?” What was going on?