Page 30 of Dead Serious Case 5 Madame Vivienne
“You know,” I muse, thinking back to something Dusty said to me. “Dusty said that she was here when Viv was murdered, and so were dozens of the other regular ghosts that wander around here, but not one of them saw a thing. It was almost like they were…” I shake my head. “I don’t know what the word is I’m looking for, but what are the chances not one single ghost was inhere or passing through the whole time Viv was being murdered and marked? That not one of them saw a damn thing?”
“Almost like an aversion,” Harrison muttered to himself.
“What?”
“I think you’re onto something, Tris,” Harrison said, his eyes widening in understanding. “I think something was keeping them out of this room specifically and I think I know what.”
“What?” I ask again, but Harrison is already moving.
He pushes at the heavy sofa and manages to move it a few inches. “Help me, Tris.”
I grab the other end and it grinds loudly as we shove it out of the way.
“Bloody hell, that thing’s heavy,” I pant. “Feels like it’s made of lead. Why are we rearranging the furniture? This isn’t another feng shui thing, is it? Because I think it’ll take a bit more than that to give this place anything close to good vibes again.”
“Dammit,” Harrison swears. He leans down to pick something up.
“What’s that?” I ask as he holds out his hand.
Sitting in his palm is a little hessian pouch tied with string. Even from this distance, I can tell it has a very particular aroma about it. I can’t pinpoint it exactly, but it smells damp and earthy and not in aI’ll just have a wander around this quaint garden centrekind of way, more likeI’ve just dug a fresh grave in the dead of nightway.
Insert maniacal laugh.
“It’s a hex bag,” Harrison replies. “That explains it. Ever since I walked in, I’ve been getting waves of revulsion.” He adds dryly, “And it’s not because of Sam.”
“Methinks the lady doth protest too much.” I nudge him with my shoulder and I’m surprised to see a tiny smile tug at his mouth. “Harrison, did you just make a joke in the middle of a serious magical crisis slash murder investigation?” I tease.
“I’ve obviously been around you too long.”
“I do use inappropriate humour when I’m uncomfortable.” I nod and chuckle. “Okay, what’s the sex bag for?”
“Hex,” he corrects with an eye roll.
“See? And I’ve been around Dusty and Chan for too long. There’s no hope for either of us.”
Harrison snorts. “This isn’t powerful enough on its own, so there’ll be more of them hidden around here.” He sniffs the bag and grimaces. Walking over to the heavy wooden cash desk, Harrison shoves aside the credit card machine and a display of dusty bookmarks and lays the bag on the surface.
Retrieving a small penknife from his pocket, he carefully cuts the string and opens the bag. It unfolds into a rough square of material, and bunched up in the centre is—well, I’m not sure what, but it looks grim. The only thing I recognise is the tiny fragile bird skull and what looks to be a small clump of hair.
“I’m almost afraid to ask.”
“Graveyard dirt, bones, human hair.” He grabs a pencil from a nearby pot and pokes around.
“What the fuck is that?” I swallow, feeling a little sick at the blob of biological matter that looks remarkably like an–
“An eye.” Harrison wrinkles his nose. “Some type of bird. If I had to hazard a guess based on the most likely purpose of this hex, I’d say a crow or a raven. There’re also several herbs and a rune. I’m thinking these bags were intended to keep prying eyes averted.”
“And there are more of these?”
Harrison nods. “To be effective, maybe four or five. They would have caused most of the ghosts and some people to avoid this room. Nobody was probably even aware of it.”
“I didn’t feel anything.” I frown.
“Are you sure?”
“Well, I mean, I feel sick and a little dizzy, and all I can think about is going home and… oh…”
Harrison nods again. “It’s subtle, just a hint of suggestion. Making you feel tired and unwell, making you long to leave and go home. I imagine the others were feeling it to differing degrees too.”