Page 24 of These Unhallowed Halls (Equinox Seasons Duet #2)

Fifteen- What Cannot Be Named Can Still Cause Pain

Caleb

G ods damn it, this is exactly what I’ve been so fucking nervous about. Because I let them get involved with this, two more lives have been traumatized because of this bullshit.

“Do you want water or anything?” It was a stupid question, but Lizzie and Temperance had been sitting on the couch in my office for a few minutes now, once the cops released us from the scene, and I didn’t know what else to do to help them through this.

They’d been the first to stumble upon two more dead bodies, these far more gruesome than the last. The sigils were still carved into the flesh, but now, something had been done to literally burn their eyes out of their sockets.

It was brutal and not something I’d ever heard about in all my time studying witchcraft and alchemy.

Witches could be capable of horrible violence just like anyone else, but the magic used to do that was unheard of.

“No.” Temps shook her head, her stare pinned down to her lap as she held Lizzie’s hand.

They’d worn their uniforms to class like always, and I’d been half expecting to see them missing items before I remembered that Night Grove provided you with more than just one set for fuck’s sake.

I was perched against my desk, leaning back against it as I gripped the edge, likely turning my knuckles white, but I didn’t bother to look down.

Someone in town is channeling the wrong aspects of magic, using powers they shouldn’t have access to to kill people.

Focusing on the stitches in my shoes, tracking them around the toe and back, I tried to center myself in all this.

Finding the bodies had been horrendous, but seeing the look on Lizzie’s face, on Temperance’s, that had nearly destroyed me.

I could feel how I was hanging on by a thread, the temptation to drown my dark thoughts in a bottle of scotch peaking.

“Oh, I meant to give you this.”

I looked up, and Temperance was digging in her bag. She pulled out my jacket from yesterday, and a flash of heat speared through me. Lizzie looked up, her expression unusually blank.

“Oh, right. Thanks for, umm, letting me wear it.”

My chest felt like it was going to crack open.

This wasn’t the Lizzie I was used to seeing, and despite how much I knew it was wrong, how much I knew I should deny it and pull myself away, I pushed off the desk and walked over to her, crouching down at her side because I wanted to see that light in her eyes again— desperately .

“Hey,” I reached up, wrapping my hand around both of hers where they hung over her knees, “I’m right here. If you need anything, just tell me.”

Looking over to Temperance, I leaned so that I could get my free hand on hers, too. “That was…no one should have to see shit like that. And trust me, I get how it feels.”

Temperance looked up with a subtle smile, one corner of her mouth tilting up. “Thanks, Caleb. I just…I don’t want that to happen to anyone else.”

I should have told her not to call me that, that we needed to keep things professional, but who the fuck was I kidding?

Last night, I’d dived into the books because all I could think about was marching right back over to their dorm room and spending the night with them.

These women in front of me had gotten past all my defenses, all my walls, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to build them back up again.

At least not for them.

“You think we can?” Lizzie’s voice was just above a whisper. “Do you truly think we can do something to stop this?”

Beneath my fingers, I could feel her trembling. “Yes, but…not without more than just us. That’s what I’m afraid of, anyway. I told you I did some digging last night, and…what I found wasn’t good.”

Temperance scooted closer to Lizzie, and they both looked up at me.

Where some might have expected to see terror or grief, I was beginning to really know these women, and I wasn’t surprised in the slightest to see them both meeting my eyes with fury locked in theirs.

What was happening on campus was a corruption, malice made malignant by a force older than we could comprehend, and they were rising up to meet it because that’s just who they were.

I fell all the harder for them in that moment.

“Go on. We’re ready to hear it.” Temperance nodded once, reaching into Lizzie’s lap where I held her hands and joining in with a squeeze.

Nodding back, I offered a smile—damn impressed by their resolve—and then stood up, going to my desk to retrieve the photocopies I’d made, which was also against school policy.

“There have been similar occurrences to what’s happening now throughout witch history.

From what I found,” I passed the two of them the sheets, “it appears like the name of the cult and the exact workings or beliefs change, but beneath all that, it’s always the same.

A cult of humans gains powers, they like it, and from what I can parse out, they—however many and whoever they might be this time around—retain those powers by sacrificing people to their ‘god.’”

Lizzie and Temperance scanned over the pages I handed them, their brows up and their eyes wide as the information funneled in.

“Now, I have to guess at some of this, but I imagine they’re luring people in somehow.

I can’t imagine many people signing up to be a sacrifice nowadays.

My best bet is that it’s done under the guise of salvation or redemption.

Think those fringe Christian organizations and the like.

I also have to assume that since those are becoming harder and harder to manage effectively that their tactics may have changed. ”

Perking up with a look of such intrigue etched into her brow that I worried Lizzie would give herself a headache, she asked, “Would these assholes be fond of using things like cults to do all this? Like Manson and stuff like that?”

“Yes, I believe so. The point of this… being , as you can see, it gains power through sacrifice. It doesn’t care how you get the person there, and it will give you power in return. Not as much of course, but enough to be intoxicating.”

“Lizzie,” Temperance turned toward her, brows knitted as she chewed on her lip, “the symbol that you think you saw. The one that looked like the necklace my mom’s been wearing. They’re this weird Christian group, and it’s like my mother isn’t even the same person now.”

I shook my head, sitting on the coffee table in front of Temperance. “What do you mean?”

“She’s been going to this mysterious church group of hers.

And look, my mother has never been the most ‘woke’ of people, but it’s so much worse now.

I…Part of the reason for never saying anything to you,” Temperance turned to Lizzie, pain behind her eyes, “was because I felt like she’d actually do something crazy if she found out I was bi.

She’s been plenty vocal about not liking that ‘side of you.’ And it’s gotten super trad-wife and weird. ”

“Trad wife?” I cocked a brow, staring between both of them before they chuckled, and I realized that this reference was just going to fly over my head. “Forget it. It does sound like there’s something there. Do you think you could ask her about it without it being awkward?”

“I could try, I suppose. Awkward if kind of a given with my mother and me.”

“I would. It couldn’t hurt, right? And we need to gather as much information about this entity as possible, covertly .

It’ll be that much harder to learn what we need if it knows we’re onto it.

From the texts, this is a paranoid being that makes everyone else do its dirty work, and it does not like being exposed. ”

“I saw something.”

Lizzie’s voice cut through the room, knife-sharp as she spoke so clearly and without holding back.

I could sense the air around her change, and I remembered just when the sirens had closed in after calling the police that she’d knelt down and put the back of her hands on each of the victims. She hadn’t collapsed this time, but it made sense to me now that she’d been processing this entire time.

“What did you see, Lizzie?” Temperance ran a hand up and down her back, eyes fixed on Lizzie so intently.

“Lights on a string, glowing yellow and red. Faded colors in a blur. But…it reminds me of the carnival. We knew something wasn’t right there. What if it’s this thing? This malevolent being of the past. What if that’s how the performers are able to do what they’re doing?”

“It certainly doesn’t bode well, and it seems like far too much of a coincidence. We picked up on their magic during the show, and now, the clues from your vision are leading us to them.”

“But what about the church connection?” Temperance shot me a look, getting fidgety on the couch as the light outside dimmed, a thick cloud blotting out more of the sun.

“I don’t know.” I shook my head, hanging it as the feelings of overwhelm and dread swirled.

“I just…It could be both, for all I know. I haven’t directly dealt with any of this before now.

We might need to split our focus among the three of us.

I can learn more from the school board about the murders and any others that have occurred in the past. Lizzie can peep in on the carnival, and Temperance, you can speak with your mother. ”

“Split the party? Have you ever played D I knew what came with it.

Clearing my throat, I stood up off the coffee table, but Lizzie was quick to grab my hand, preventing me from walking across the room. She had a way of doing that.

“Uh-uh. Don’t do that. Don’t run.” Those deep brows eyes seared into my soul, perceiving everything I was, inside and out.

“It’s a thing. I’ll give that to you. But with what’s going on, with what we’ve seen, I’m going to tell you right now that I want this.

Temps wants this. Apparently, life is real fucking short, Caleb. So, make it count.”

Temperance snorted beside Lizzie, ducking her head so that I wouldn’t see her laugh.

It did no good, of course. Still, I was more focused on what Lizzie had said, and the churning in my gut that told me all this wasn’t going away any time soon.

They were missing puzzle pieces I never imagined I’d find, lost to the horrors of my past.

And if I wasn’t careful, I knew I’d lose them to the horrors of my present.

I sighed, sitting back down on the table. “What’s just a bit more important right now is that we figure out exactly what we’re dealing with. We can’t prepare a sealing ritual unless we know what it is we’re shoving back in the box.”

“Fair enough. But after…”

Lizzie grinned, and gods help me, I couldn’t keep myself from smiling right back.

“Ugh, anyway. To stack bad on top of bad, we risk giving away what we know if they seek out help from the school board because this particular evil loves manipulating people so much. Those brainwashed followers could be anywhere, anyone, and they won’t hesitate to kill in the name of their false god. ”

“So,” Lizzie raised her brow, tilting her head onto Temperance’s shoulder, “what the fuck can we do then?”

“There may be one way to get the upper hand, to secure more power.” I walked over to my desk quickly, snagging the last photocopy of the library book I shouldn’t have been copying and holding it up in front of them. “Soul weaving.”

Temperance and Lizzie exchanged looks, both straightening with their brows raised, speaking simultaneously, “What the fuck is that?”