Page 32 of The Redd Key (Bone Coven #1)

“ This was different from the last time .”

Lydia’s voice echoed in my mind long after we left the library. It was painful how badly I wanted to probe her about what might have happened all those years ago. She also mentioned that blood had been spilled over Black Sam’s treasure, which led me to remember the page I discovered.

“ The tunnels twist and turn, damp and cold, just like his soul.”

Turning over the phrase for much longer than I cared to admit, I attempted to make sense of it again; this time, as if it were a complex riddle. I carried all of those words with me, weighing heavily in my consciousness.

Sarah, Bridget, and I ended up at Boathouse to reconvene. Above the harbor, the clouds stirred like swirls of smoke while below, tiny peaks of white foam speckled the surface of the sea. The server gave me a warm smile as he placed a tray of tea in front of us.

“Thank you.” I nodded to him with a matching smile, before turning to the girls. “I really hope you guys aren’t afraid of getting wet.” Bridget and Sarah stared at me.

“You do realize it’s freezing out? I am absolutely afraid to get wet.” Bridget scoffed.

“Why? What are we going to do?” Sarah asked quietly.

“We’re going to find Black Sam’s treasure,” I said, like it was the most logical of proposals.

“Aside from the fact that his ship has already been found, hundreds of miles from here, what makes you think the three of us will find anything beneath that.” Bridget gestured to the chopping peaks of a now angry sea.

“I’m not talking about that treasure. Black Sam Bellamy wasn’t one of the bodies that washed ashore. He wasn’t on the Whydah! I feel it in my bones. Trust me, he didn’t die…there.” I stressed the last bit. For some reason, when I began speaking of Sam’s death, my voice vanished. A lump formed in my throat at the mere thought of his death, and the sensation left me feeling confused. Despair overwhelmed me, as if the ghost of history swept through my being, urging me to pursue the truth. “He wasn’t on the ship. He made it here.” I convinced myself. I began to consider the description of the tunnels. “There must be some sort of cave or tunnel system in the bluffs.”

“Wouldn’t we know?” Sarah asked curiously. “We’ve lived here our entire lives, our families have lived here for generations…”

“I know,” I breathed. Bridget lowered her brow, her eyes piercing through the line. “Sam ran. He ran and came here, and I want to find out why. I really think that’s why the Blood Coven never truly left this place; they’re searching for him here. There’s something in Redd Hills. There has to be.”

“No shipwrecks have been discovered along our shores.” Bridget recalled the dream the three of us had. “Why would we have been shown that, if nothing of the sort ever happened?”

“And you don’t find that strange?” I asked, throwing my hands out towards the windows, making my point. “We’ve seen how violent the ocean can be against the bluffs.” Sarah made a face in agreement. “The coves aren’t easy to access whether it’s by land or sea, so there is no way an entire ship could have made it anywhere close if it wasn’t through the port at the harbor. What about other vessels? There must be ship’s boats, dinghies, that never made it ashore—wrecked or capsized,” I suggested.

“That could very well be a possibility, Raina.” Bridget contemplated.

“So how are we going to find these things? The wreck, the caves, the tunnels? What are we going to do, deep sea dive during the cusp of winter? I mean, I’m not scuba certified, are you?” Sarah grimaced before snorting out a laugh; her seriousness broke with the last, causing our laughter to join hers.

“I guess we have a lot of work to do,” I chuckled, taking a sip of my tea.

“Yes, like figure out how to avoid feeling cold,” Bridget began.

“Well, we already made a successful warming potion,” offered Sarah. Bridget nodded.

“That doesn’t solve the problem of being under frigid water once we actually locate whatever we’re actually looking for.” Bridget said dryly.

“Moses parted the Red Sea, didn’t he?” I gave a coy smile. “Why can't we just make it low tide for a bit?”

“So we need to locate the wreck, make ourselves impervious to freezing water, ask the ocean to settle down for a while, hope the wreck – if we find it – isn’t cursed or something, grab whatever it is that we’re looking for, and haul it back to land before the tide gets bored and swallows us up whole?” Sarah counted each action item on her fingers.

“Yes,” I said, determined to find answers.

“No,” Bridget spoke out. Our stares locked and neither of us allowed a flutter of a lash. We were at an impasse. “It’s too dangerous, and for what? We don’t even know if any of this matters.”

“How can you say that?” Sarah asked, her head tilting to the side. “How many times have we felt threatened because of who we are? We spent our entire lives in blissful ignorance, but that’s over now. Whatever is happening, is happening. Now. We can’t just sit here and pretend it’s not.” Even the loosened curls from Sarah’s bun were stock still, punctuating her sobering words.

“Nothing like this ever happened before…before you came here.” Bridget frowned as she studied me. Her words cut through me.

“That’s not true,” Sarah quickly interjected. “Gram and her friends were stopped from forming a circle by the elders for a reason. You heard Lydia, this is different from the last time .”

“How do you two expect the three of us to stop any of this then?” Bridget sat back and crossed her arms. The emotional brick wall she constructed in mere moments was intimidating.

“By following whatever leads we have. Trusting ourselves, trusting each other.” I insisted.

“So do we think it’s actually a Blood Witch who’s behind the attacks?” Sarah hugged her mug of tea.

As if in response to her question, a pair of fishermen walked into the restaurant.

“I didn’t hear about the fire until I came back to port this morning.” I recognized the man who spoke as the old brawny one from the group that discussed the giant swells. The other one I had seen working on the docks during my time keeping watch here at the harbor. His sun-bleached orange hat sat high on his dark, textured hair beneath it. “I don’t have the best cell service out there. No one called on the radio. I heard two kids died.” The older man’s voice was rough with his tired age.

“Skip, you might want to sit down,” his friend said to him. The two of them sat in the far booth with the most privacy. The man in the hat lowered his voice before continuing, “They just sent out a notice of identification for who those two souls were. It was the twins, Skip,” the man reached to grasp Skip’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“What—Gary, what do you mean? The twins? Lana, Wesley? What do you mean?” Skip’s voice grew louder, angry. He stared at his friend, anguish spreading across his features as understanding set in. “My–,” his voice cracked. “My grandbabies…they’re?” He couldn’t continue as he sobbed into his hands.

“I’m sorry, Skip. I am so sorry,” Gary said quietly.

My throat felt tight. The two bodies I saw from the back of my ambulance were Lana and Wesley Patrick. Two descendants of the Bone Coven. My stomach turned as the words “We killed another witch” flashed through my memory.

“Did he say…,” Sarah’s hand moved to cover her mouth, stifling a sob.

Bridget was shaking her head, staring into her tea. “I can’t believe it. We grew up with them.” Her voice was brittle.

“This is much bigger than just the three of us. Witches are dying…being killed.” I snapped, an undercurrent of anger laced my words.

“Whoever is doing this is becoming more bold. Jeff didn’t stop them like we thought he had. We have to end this terror,” Sarah urged as she involuntarily shuddered.

“It’s too dangerous,” Bridget reiterated. “This is beyond us. Anabel refuses to help us. How are the three of us supposed to be the ones to end this?” she asked again.

“You’re right,” I said to Bridget. “This didn’t start until I showed up. So, let’s start there. What about me makes things different this time, like Lydia said? Why did I have the dream of the cove? That’s where we start. We start with the beginning, the ghosts of my past.”

“You don’t have to chase a ghost.” Bridget’s words were weighted.

“I do, though.” I stood. My gaze trailed to the booth with the two men, still hunched together in a shaky embrace. “If I have anything to do with why Lana and Wesley died, then I will make damn sure no one else gets hurt.”

“Where are you going?” Sarah asked. Bridget continued to stare into her mug, eyes glazed over with pooling tears.

“I wasn’t kidding when I said we have a lot of work to do.” I looked directly at Bridget. “I am going to do anything I can to find answers, but it’s not something I think I can do without you, without both of you.” Her eyes lifted to meet mine, blinking back the tears that threatened to spill.

“I swear to god, Raina, if we die, I am going to kill you,” she promised, but then her face broke into a smile.

“So, you’re coming with me to go talk to Jeff?” I coaxed. Bridget’s brows shot up so fast, Sarah had to stifle her laughter.

“You should have said that first, Raina,” Sarah shrugged. “B wouldn’t have argued with us at all. She would have volunteered.”

“Oh, shut up.” Bridget’s cheeks flushed.

Winter threatened us with its chill as we stepped out onto the docks. It didn’t take long for us to locate Jeff, who froze when he saw the three of us approaching. Making sure no one was around to hear us, I dove straight into what I wanted to say before he could run off.

“We need your help,” I pleaded, and he tried to turn away.

“She’s not kidding,” Bridget’s voice was sharp, making Jeff look at her. His expression was curious, with one brow raised.

“Don’t pretend that you’re not like us, we saw what you did here at the docks,” Sarah pushed.

“I don’t know how much you know or not. I can explain it all later, but you need to know that someone is targeting anyone like us, for whatever reason. We should stop them,” I asserted.

“How?” His voice was deep and pointed. His jarring question made me pause. I thought he would at least feign ignorance.

“We don’t know exactly,” Bridget offered, taking a reflexive step toward him. His gaze clung on her, tethered and unrelenting.

“There have been signs, dreams. We’ve found bits and pieces, and we’re following those leads,” I chimed in.

“It doesn’t sound like much of a plan, we know,” Bridget confessed.

“It doesn’t sound like anything,” he said back to her. A shift in the air between them made me feel like I should look away, as Sarah fidgeted beside me.

“Jeff,” I interrupted. Saying his name severed the connection between the two of them. His eyes turned to me. “We need you to help protect the others.” He furrowed his brow. “The two people that died in the fire were like us. More will die unless we put a stop to these attacks. I am sure of it.” He nodded as if he’s contemplating my words, although I did expect more questions from him.

“Thank you,” Bridget reached out to grab his hand. At their touch, I could tell a surge of energy pulsed, like the ripples formed by a pebble on the water’s surface. Their lips parted, both almost breathless, as a soft flush rose up both their necks.

“Okay, cool, you’re the best, we should go,” Sarah said quickly before grabbing Bridget’s wrist and trying to pull her away, and back toward the parking lot.

Jeff clenched onto Bridget’s hand, and he looked at me.

“I’ll be ok,” I assured him, answering the concern that plagued his features.

“I don’t think you will be.” His words hung in the air, and I caught the strain in his voice.