Hidden

by Victoria DeLuis

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Author’s Notes

  Other Books by Victoria DeLuis

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  Hidden: Rune Witch Mysteries Book Two

  One death, one pledge, one price to pay!

  There’s nothing better than a walk amongst the trees with the man I love. So, how dare someone disrespect the sanctity of life and my forest along with it!

  With the body of a murdered young man placed at my feet, there’s not a chance on Earth, I’m not using all the power at my disposal to find the killer. Even if that means I have to put on hold my quest to discover the magical curse that plagues my family.

  I’ll fight to the end to discover the truth, but what do I do when the man I love wants to fight for me?

  I’m a pawn in a game I’m only just beginning to comprehend, but I’m not the only one.

  ***

  PLEASE BE AWARE that this book is written in BRITISH ENGLISH. This means some spelling and grammar may appear incorrect to some readers. The book has been professionally edited.

  ***

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Author’s Notes

  Other Books by Victoria DeLuis

  Chapter One

  I squirmed beneath the duvet and opened my eyes to the bright morning sun blazing through the window and into the bedroom. It was nice to wake up in the cottage, and even nicer now that all the remodelling had finished. At first, I’d been reluctant to change anything about my childhood home, but practicality won over, and with winter well and truly settling in, we’d been forced to put in new windows and a new heating system. Given the work already going on, we also decided to open up some rooms and add an ensuite to the master-bedroom. The modernisation had taken two months, but it had been worth the effort.

  I snuggled deeper into the warmth of the duvet and rejoiced in the fact that I didn’t have to jump out of bed at the crack of dawn to let any workmen in. After a moment, I rolled to find Thomas staring at me.

  “Good morning, sleepy head,” he said.

  “Morning.” I took in the delicious form of the man stretched out beside me. Rays of light danced over his lithe body, twinkling on his firm, smooth skin and highlighting the sparkle in his eyes. Could there be a better sight to wake up to in the morning? The heat radiating through my body didn’t think so.

  His strong hand brushed the hair from my shoulder and smoothed a gentle trail down my arm, sending a tingling sensation along my skin. My gaze travelled to his lips and I inhaled the fresh scent of apple shampoo that surrounded him. He leaned in close, a devilish light shining on his face and damp hair flopping in his eyes.

  “Did you sleep well?” Thomas’ velvet voice whispered in my ear.

  “Like the dead.”

  “More like an ogre with a head cold.”

  “My snoring isn’t that bad.” I patted him away, but he didn’t budge. My hands flattened on his bare chest, sleek with muscle. How did I ever manage to find someone so implausibly handsome?

  He moved his lips close to mine. My heart thundered. My mouth was dry. I licked my lips, whipped the sheet between us and giggled. “Not with my morning breath, Mister.”

  Thomas leaned back and propped his head on his elbow next to me. “Like that matters, Summer,” he said and pumped his eyebrows comically.

  I jumped out of bed and ran to the ensuite. “Says the man who already showered,” I shot back.

  Thomas growled in mock frustration.

  Before I reached the bathroom, his mobile rang on the bedside table. As I grabbed the toothpaste, I heard Thomas acknowledge Gwen, a witch friend of ours, but the running tap drowned out the rest of the conversation when I brushed my teeth and washed my face.

  Within minutes, I was back in the bedroom. “What did Gwen want?” I asked.

  “Oh, she wondered if we could pick her up some Alder and Rowan if we went out harvesting.”

  “I could use some supplies myself,” I said.

  “Then that’s settled.” Thomas leaned back on the bed and stretched out. “As soon as we’re done in here, we’ll take a nice walk through the forest.”

  “Not this morning,” I said, and then shook my head, surprised at my own words. Putting off a walk through the forest for any reason, completely did not sound like me. I’d normally be champing at the bit to get there. Maybe things were different now we lived in the heart of the woodland, surrounded by trees. When we lived in Cardiff, I was cut away from the elements that sustained me, and sometime it would be up to three weeks between visits. Trust me, that’s a lifetime to a rune-witch who channels the magic of trees. I normally couldn’t wait for the ancient peace of the forest to wash over me and soothe my soul. Now, I felt it every day.

  “I wanted to look through the journals we found in the attic today,” I said. “We can take a walk and gather some supplies this afternoon.”

  A flicker of concern flashed on Thomas’ face but he didn’t say a word. He was as worried about the curse that Rhoslyn said plagued my family as I was. Ever since the bwbach had told me it was responsible for Nana’s death, I’d been unsuccessfully trying to find out more about it. Mam had hung up the phone as soon as I mentioned it to her, and Rhoslyn herself had also been tight-lipped on the subject, refusing even to discuss it since our first conversation. Not that we’d seen much of her: house fairies are notorious for being hard to spot, even by their housemates. We’d had fleeting glimpses here and there, but the main way we knew she was still around was the cleanliness of the house, the missing milk, and the occasional lighting of the fire on a particularly cold day.

  “What time is it?” I asked Thomas and jumped on the bed beside him.

  He looked at his mobile, “Ten-twenty,” he said.

  “Ten-twenty.” I grabbed a pillow and knocked him over the head. “How could you let me sleep so late? I’ve got work to do.”

  Thomas flipped me onto my back, pinned me with his rock solid presence and traced kisses down my neck.

  “Well,” I said as his warm breath caressed my skin. “Maybe, we have a little more time.”

  ***

  It felt like an eternity had passed when, sometime later, Thomas tugged Mam’s diary from my hands and replaced it with a cup of tea.

  “You’ve been at this for almost three hours,” he said. “Don’t you think it’s time to take a break.”

  I sighed and sipped at the warming brew. “I just don’t seem to be getting anywhere.”

  “No kidding!”

  A great mass of books and paperwork gathered from the attic lay before me. Rholsyn had kept the attic clean, just like sh
e had the rest of the house, and we’d been lucky to discover that most of Nana’s possessions were stored there. I’d been surprised that Mam hadn’t taken them with her or at least given her clothes to charity, but it seemed even that was beyond her abilities at the time. Not that I could blame her on that front. They’d always been close. If I closed my eyes, I could see them sitting at the dinner table, laughing and talking about the latest spells they were working on. Both Mam and Nana kept journals and spell books, and I figured if Mam hadn’t taken them, and Rhoslyn had kept them safe all this time, then they clearly had no issues with me poking through them. Maybe, if I was extra lucky, I’d find a clue to the family curse.

  “Anything at all useful?” Thomas asked.

  I shook my head. “Nothing relating to any curse, but both Mam’s and Nana’s diaries talk about a man called Dylan. It seems that Mam was quite the hell-raiser in her youth, but that all changed when Dylan came into the picture.”

  A tear came to my eye as I stared hungrily at the journal. Inside was a world I never knew existed. A world where Mam was happy with a man a tremendous ache inside told me was my dad. It felt silly to say anything to Thomas. How could I explain that I felt a mixture of terrible sadness at the relationship lost to both me and Mam, and incredible happiness at the loving moments they spent together at the same time? Dad had run out on Mam before I was born, and the picture I held of him in my head didn’t fit with the words in Mam’s diary. If my feelings didn’t make sense to me, how could I explain them to Thomas?

  Sensing my mood, Thomas took the tea from my hands, laid the cup on the coffee table, and pulled me to my feet.

  “That’s it,” he said. “Enough for today. These books aren’t going anywhere, and as for the curse, it may not even exist, so it can wait.”

  “But—” I tried to protest, but Thomas turned me around a pointed me at the door.

  “Shoes. Coat. Now!” he said. “We’re going for a walk. You need samples, remember.”

  “I remember,” I said, pouting like a petulant child, but inside my spirits were already lifting. Thomas was right. I needed to take a step back and just enjoy his company along with the peace of the forest.

  Time passed slowly within our bubble of tranquillity. We walked for hours until the sky was darkening and my basket overflowed with bark, leaf, and sap specimens. Even in the winter, the forest was a wonderland of chittering sounds, creaking branches, and lush coniferous trees. It was sad that many of the native trees had been felled for timber during the war, but there were still some ancient Welsh Oaks and other broadleaves to be found hibernating for the winter, and gradually more and more were growing back.

  The trees recharged my spirit, allowed me to absorb their radiant power, causing the twenty runic-tattoos adorning my arms to buzz with energy.

  “You about ready to head home?” Thomas snaked his arms around my waist and pulled me in for a hug.

  “I still need to get some Alder for Gwen.” I looked around the forest. The organic scent of pine and decaying leaves drifted in the air, and the weakening shafts of light misted through the treetops and lanced their ethereal glow on the floor below. “We’d better hurry before we lose the daylight,” I said.

  Thomas nodded in agreement. “There might be one at the bottom of the valley, by the rivulet.”

  I agreed, knowing how much the Alder loved wet soil. Thomas hoisted the overflowing basket onto his shoulder and linked my arm in his. “You think we might have time for a little replay of this morning’s action before you start processing these samples?” he said.

  I scooted up closer to his body, hugged him tight, and enjoyed the warmth of his presence. “Maybe, if you agree to help.”

  Thomas looked down at me and smiled. “Oh, I think I can be persuaded.”

  The first time we’d come to the forest must have been around eight years ago. I’d been nervous with a strange fluttery feeling in the pit of my stomach. I was seventeen; Thomas was two years older with no knowledge of the world of magic around him. Everything changed that day.

  It was the heart of spring. I found a clearing in the forest, walked up to a blossoming tree, and removed my denim jacket. Thomas had seen the marks etched into my arms many times before, and knew they were the runes of the Ogham alphabet and symbols of the trees they represented. But I’d always let him believe it was a new age hippie trait of mine.

  “I need you to see something,” I’d said, as I turned to face the tree.

  “What?” A slow smile built on his face.

  “Magic.”

  I raised my hands in the air, gulped down a deep breath and opened my sight to the magic. Thomas gasped as the Ogham tattoos on my arms blazed to life: an indigo fire that roared through my veins. I found the steady presence of the magnificent hawthorn and asked it for its wisdom and guidance. The leaves shimmered in the gentle breeze, and a shower of fragrant blossom floated through the air like fairy wings. I called them to me, gathered them in an intricate posy, and then floated them over to an astonished Thomas. His eyes widened and he looked from the posy to me and then back again. “H-how?” he asked.

  “Like I said, magic.” I nodded to the posy. “Take it,” I said. “Blossom of the Hawthorn. The May Tree. It has calming properties.”

  Thomas reached forward and tentatively touched the flowers before plucking them out of the air and marvelling at their musky perfume.

  I moved towards him. “They also open your heart and provide you with a doorway to another world. If, that is, you feel you could enter it with me.” I bit my lip and tried to still my now churning stomach.

  Thomas swept me into a bear hug. “I’d go anywhere with you,” he said, and that was that, Thomas entered the world of magic with me and never looked back.

  I returned my thoughts to the present when my eyes alighted on something in the distance. I lurched to a stop and peered through the trees and into the depths of the forest.

  “What is it?” Thomas asked, following my gaze.

  The light was getting thinner and it was hard to see as the trees shivered in the wind. I peered deeper into the forest, willing my eyes to see further. After a while, I shook my head. “I’m being silly,” I said. “Thought I saw something. Probably just a bird.”

  Thomas narrowed his eyes, then looked at me with worry in their deep, blue depths. “Just in case, we’ll move slowly,” he said. “Be ready.”

  I nodded in agreement, and Thomas slid his hand protectively on my shoulder. I smiled at the sweet gesture. We both knew I was in my element out here. I’d easily kick any bad guy butt that came our way.

  We edged through the forest, keeping our ears open for the faintest whisper of movement. For a brief second, the birds stopped singing and insects stopped skittering. We stood in a cocoon of silence. I peered into the trees, but there was nothing. Yet, my nerves were on edge and the sinking feeling in my chest was getting worse. As we neared the clearing, it soon became obvious what was wrong: a body lay on the ground before us.

  Chapter Two

  We ran to the body, and I knelt down to check for any signs of life. There were none. The young man had been beaten to a pulp, bruising covered his body and face.

  “This didn’t happen here,” Thomas said.

  I agreed. “It looks like a body dump.” I looked around the clearing, scanning the depths of the forest. “Do you think this happened recently? Could whoever dumped the body still be here?”

  “It’s possible. Although—”

  As if on cue, the sound of an engine carried from the east. Without waiting for any response from me, Thomas darted through the trees and towards the sound. I followed, a second behind him. Despite how easy the movies make it look, dashing through the forest at high speed is nigh on impossible for a human. As well as weaving through the trees, you have thickets and branches, both in the air and on the floor, to contend with. Not to mention the layers of fallen pine needles and twigs camouflaging tree roots, holes, and logs. Running is completely out
of the question, unless the only thing you’re looking to find is a broken ankle. Needless to say, both Thomas and I were too slow to catch the owner of the vehicle. A flash of blue in the distance accompanied the sound of spinning tyres, and with that, our suspect was gone.

  “You see anything useful?” I asked.

  “Blue car,” Thomas said, confirming my sighting. “We’d better call the police.”

  Thomas called in the body while we walked back to its location. While we waited, I gave the remains a quick once over. The man couldn’t have been more than twenty; a kid, really. His hair was cropped short and, along with the rest of his visible body, the knuckles of his hands were freshly bruised and cut. Whoever did this hadn’t come out unscathed.

  Careful not to disturb too much of the evidence, I plucked a hair from his head for use in my own investigation. This was my forest and I wasn’t going to sit idly by and do nothing after some murdering lowlife dumped a body and disrupted the peaceful balance of nature. The disharmony of the unnatural death was already spreading through the trees and animals that lived amongst them. Such life-forms couldn’t comprehend the act of murder. Any kills made in their world were an act of survival. Nature took what it needed and left the rest. Too bad humans didn’t share that same philosophy.

  Thomas went to meet the police at the main road, and I sat alone with the body for a while. The sun had long since set and the dark forest had become a place of murk and mystery. I shivered in the cold night air, resisting the urge to use my magic and call some light into the world. The police would bring light enough, and I didn’t need any to make me unafraid. Nothing could hurt me here.

  The beasts of the night, hidden during the day, emerged with a cacophony of sound: grunts, barks, squeaks, and hisses carried through the dark. Every so often, I slapped my hands together and made a loud noise to keep the animals away from the body. Foxes and badgers were just two of the creatures that would be drawn to the scent of decomposing tissue.