Hallow Graves: A Rue Hallow Mystery

by Amanda A. Allen

  "What are you doing, Veruca," I asked myself.

  And then answered, "Running around the lake. Like an idiot."

  "Why would you be so stupid," I huffed.

  "Oh you know," I said, pain in my side as I talked and ran. "Because I thought that it would be okay. And I didn't want to think about Daddy and his pancakes tomorrow morning. Or Mom and the list of spells she'd have written down for Bran to choose from. Or Hazel and how she would probably be at her house with the coven coming in and out and the..."

  This wasn't working. Running was just giving me too much time to think. And now my homesickness had grown to an ache for both my Mom and Hazel. For my coven. For the blueberry pancakes that Dad made and the traps that Bran left. For car rides we’d take around the island to avoid our mother or the stupid early ocean swims that Bran would talk me into.

  I pulled myself to a stop and looked around, gasping for breath. The green between the buildings faded into an ancient oak grove that was far across the way. The grove was huge. Acres and acres big. And bordered on one side by an old cemetery. They used to bury students and teachers there. But the graveyard had long since been retired. I could see the grove from where I was, through the buildings. I was on the path by the lake which was lit here and there with long stretches of darkness.

  It was creepy. But I needed to re-own my right to run in the dark. Or something.

  The opportunities for running in the night would soon be lost when the New England winter hit. I wasn’t even sure I was prepared. Had I gotten the right kind of boots? Was my jacket warm enough? Did I need long underwear? Could I formulate or find spells for those things?

  At home, Ingrid Pickford made her high heels comfortable. Surely, I could make my boots warm enough?

  My to-do list making stopped suddenly when I glanced up and saw a black-cloaked figure on the edge of the oak grove near the cemetery.

  "Holy Hecate," I gasped, dodging into the darkest part of the path and sliding into the aura of trees there. I was across the lake from them, but from here, it seemed as if black ghosts had risen from the woods to haunt the cemetery. My heart leapt to my throat, and my magic to my fingertips as I saw another figure join the first and then another. My skin crawled until I realized what I was seeing. This was a coven.

  A deep breath of relief escaped. It was one of the school covens probably. How I wanted one of my own! Was it students or teachers? A mix of both?

  I glanced up at the sky as another thought hit. It was the dark of the moon, so not a great time for magic, but…that didn’t necessarily matter for combined spells or spells that called for the dark of the moon. Or really…for the group meditation practice that was necessary for complex spells to work during the more powerful phases of the moon.

  With the crackle of a branch across the lake, I almost leapt out of my skin. Hecate, I thought, holy, holy Hecate I am jumpy.

  Rightfully so, but I slid into the shadows to hide …just in case.

  As I returned my gaze to the coven, I realized that there was another way to avoid my homesickness. And I stood, making my way through the mix of trees by the lake and deeper into the woods. Sage Island Coven often did their magic in the night and preferred the wildness of the woods. I couldn’t be with my coven in Connecticut, but I could sure do one of their spells.

  But then again, I wasn’t a particular fan of how the magic of this coven echoed in my head, so I turned and ran back to my room instead.

  “Wuss," I sneered as I kept the darkest parts of the path and kept my aura as blended with the trees as I could even while I moved as quickly as possible.

  "I'm not wussing out," I lied to myself. "Tomorrow I have to meet my advisor and pick classes.

  I slid into the dorm building and sidled along the wall, delving ahead of myself as I went.

  "I'm being responsible," I mouthed. “This is an entirely normal way to enter my home," the last words were not quite said my most effective killing spell hovered on my fingertips, and I tried to think about not killing Felix or any of the other students.

  Time to be responsible and do things like go to bed early.

  * * * * * * * *

  “Where did you go,” Felix demanded as I tried to go into my bedroom. He had caught me trying to get through the keypad that kept it locked.

  I had been just about to explain to myself that the reason I couldn't remember my dorm room code wasn't because there was a murderer on the order side or that I was a pansy. But he opened the door with his override code to end my struggle.

  I didn't even kill him though he came closer to feeling my kill spell than anyone had before. I really should learn and keep at hand a good stun spell. Keep your spells to stun, I told myself and then laughed at my joke.

  He didn't get it. I might be giddy with not being dead.

  I looked down at my running gear and back at him.

  “Rue, man, I was freaked out.”

  “I just went for a run,” I said, stating the obvious while trying not to feel like an idiot or alienate my semi-friend.

  “There was a body found near the river. That was the meeting.”

  A chill hit me right to my bones.

  “Look,” he took my phone from my arm band and entered his number and then texted himself. “Until everyone is here and I can not possibly be held accountable for you all, you need to tell me where you are. It’s like…two a.m.!”

  “I…didn’t mean to worry you,” I said lamely. “I mean…I’m not trying to be cold as I say this, but the person drowned right?”

  I absolutely was not thinking of the black fire experience.

  He looked at me for a long time before he shook his head, “I guess there was a wound on the back of the head. The school blokes said the girl was probably murdered. She's been there for days.”

  The chill intensified until I started remembering the things that the Sheriff back home had told me. “Most people are murdered by friends or family.”

  “Yeah,” Felix said. He didn’t sound convinced.

  “Actual crazy murderers who slay just anyone are very rare.” I was saying it for myself. I had gone running every single day since I’d gotten to school. Usually along the path near the lake and creek. Or in the oak grove. Until the black flame incident. Maybe someone had tried to kill me the other day. I couldn’t be sure. Probably they hadn’t. Oh, Hecate. What if they had? What if…

  Deep breaths and poker face, Rue.

  "When did it happen," I asked, trying for casual. I'm not sure if I succeeded.

  "I don't know. A week ago. Maybe more. They had us list who had gotten here early. For this building, it was like four of us."

  "Maybe it was a local," I guessed, hoping it was some sort of prom grudge or other unrelatable madness.

  "It was one of the Hallows," he said. “They're from around here, but this one wasn't. She was from like New Zealand. Oh man.”

  He sat, pushing his hair back from his face. He looked shaken.

  "So her killer had to be from here too," I said. Callously maybe. I didn't mean to be callous. I was just...it just wasn't real. It was like an old episode of Murder She Wrote or Perry Mason. It was like Nick at Nite TV. Gods and monsters, I thought. This is what happened at witch college.

  And then I remembered that people get murdered by witches and non-witches, and this was a part of being human. A horrible, unreal, happens to other people part of being human.

  Felix walked me to my room and let me lock myself in before he went back to his room. It was nice of him, but it didn’t make me feel safer. I wasn’t sure that anything other than my parents downstairs would do that.

  My mom was a lot of things. But formidable was definitely one of them. You couldn’t help but feel safe when she loved you.

  chapter 5

  “Very little in this life is free or easy,” Professor Lechner said.

  The college campus folded out behind the professor through the window that screamed age and power. I had loved every single thing
about the campus and the school since I’d arrived.

  Except, maybe, nearly dying.

  Either way, it sucked.

  But I did love the gorgeous stone and brick buildings, ancient trees, little flashes of an old history of witchcraft and education combining.

  I’d loved it all until this moment and I felt like a bubble of happiness had just exploded.

  What exactly had she said? With that cold tone and nasty—you’re not good enough—look. That things weren’t free or easy?

  I felt myself blink—it was reflexive. That slow closing of my eyes as I determined how to respond. The bubble of happiness and excitement to choose my classes and buy my books was bursting in the worst of possible ways. I can’t believe I had been excited to meet this witch. I had been thrilled she was going to be my counselor. Hadn’t I told my sister that I had been super lucky to be assigned to the head of the magical department? I had thought it was because I had a scholarship. But the cold way Professor Lechner greeted me made me think that I had already angered someone.

  But who?

  And why?

  Perhaps the professor felt someone else had been more qualified for my scholarship? Either way…

  “I don’t expect school to be easy,” I said carefully. And then I bit down, just barely, on the inside of my lip to prevent myself from saying something that would burn the bridge with my professor. I needed this woman to, at the very least, work with me. I had hoped she’d work for me.

  But that clearly wasn’t happening.

  Her eyes narrowed, “Your entrance to this college was easy, however. Too easy.”

  This time, I couldn’t help myself, “That’s not fair,” I shot back, telling myself to stop but unable to, “I have a 4.0. I was the captain of Key Club and in three sports. I did charity work and wrote essays that other schools complimented me on.”

  “This is a school with a magical bent,” Lechner said as if all that work meant nothing.

  “But, I am good at magic. My coven leader has been tutoring me privately for years. I can do advanced spells. My placement tests were all really good.”

  “I do not, of course, refer to standard magic. That is for the rabble.”

  I blinked again. What in all the hells? My head cocked, I remembered the weird conversation with the placement testers, and I did not pause to think I gaped and said, “Are you referring to Necromancy?”

  It was Lechner who looked surprised now. “Of course!”

  I had seen the signs of it around campus. More than I would have expected for such a rare ability. But…but things were suddenly coming together in my mind. Despite that, I said, “I don’t understand.”

  “Veruca Jones, you are a representative of the newest generation of the great Hallow family. Your family has been and are masters of death magic.”

  I slowly licked my lips. I knew that I had the ability. After all, I’d successfully kicked the ghost out of the bookshop back home, but what did that have to do with this school? And…it was my eyes that narrowed this time as my head raced. My mom.

  Oh, man.

  Mom.

  She hadn’t wanted me to come to school at St. Angelus. She had tried everything she could think of to keep me from going.

  Except…the truth.

  There was always a low-burning fury towards Mother inside of me, but it flared hot and high now. Mom had known all of this and said nothing.

  “My mother no longer practices death magic,” I said having no idea if that was true.

  “Your mother has long since been a disappointment to this school and her family. Your entrance here is because of our school by-laws which guarantee a free education to direct decedents of the founders. Otherwise, you would have been turned away as entirely unfit.”

  Tears burned at the back of my eyes. School was turning out to suck. Hard. There had been other schools I’d turned down. Good schools. Good magic schools. I’d chosen this one because it called to me. But…clearly I had been wrong, and Mother had known what I was going to find here.

  And she'd said nothing.

  Fury burned hot and bright towards both Lechner and my mother. Gods. Monsters.

  “But you do have other degrees? Not just death magic?” The only thing keeping the plea from my voice was long practice in dealing with Mother.

  “Yes, however, you will be expected to follow a Necromancy Program if you wish to keep your scholarship. The bylaws require that as well.”

  “But I could study other things as well?” That was a plea. I was not going to call my family and tell them I was coming home. I was not going to return to the island that had almost swallowed me whole. I was not going to let my mother use her influence at Grace College to get me in and own me.

  I would never, ever break free if that happened.

  “Technically,” Lechner snapped.

  “Okay,” I said with relief, noticing and ignoring the disgust on Lechner’s face. She no longer mattered.

  “These,” the professor said, “are your core classes.”

  She pointed to her screen, jumping ahead to the business of being an advisor after crushing me so casually. Apparently she was done with telling me I was not good enough. Not good enough?

  I was!.

  I told myself to focus. I could rage later.

  “Given your ability in general magics, you would be able to take these classes.”

  She pointed to the list of enticing classes that I had been hoping to register for bypassing the introduction classes. I knew I had done well on my placement classes already, but better than I’d hoped. She was going straight for the specialty magic classes. Not that she acknowledged my skills.

  Or complimented me.

  Or even addressed that my placement tests were unusually high. But I knew from Felix that they were.

  “But not,” Lechner said as I opened my mouth to point out my wishes for classes. Dream Magic. History of Magical Practices. Runes. Potions. Any of the potions classes let alone the advanced ones.

  I pressed my lips together as she finished. “Until you have finished Year 1 of both your Necromancy and general education classes. You’ll need to test well in both of those before we could, in good conscience, allow you to add additional classes.”

  That familiar, unacceptable burning returned to the back of my eyes. I didn’t need a mirror to know that no sign of it appeared on my face. I had a perfect poker face. Especially when facing cows like my mother.

  Or this woman.

  “And then?” My voice was like the snapping of a branch in the woods. Sharp and startling.

  “Oh look,” Lechner said snidely. “You have your mother’s temper.”

  I clenched my teeth tight to prevent myself from hexing the woman. I doubted I could get around whatever she used for anti-hex. Perhaps I could just slap her hard and fast until she was unable to focus her vision? And how did she know my mom?

  She cleared her throat and finished, “Then, you may branch into other electives as long as you are doing well with your Necromancy and general education courses. By Year 3, your general education courses will be a minimum, and you’ll have more time to take these,” the derision was back in her tone, “classes. Technically you could begin taking them in Year 2.”

  “So, I can’t take anything else right now?”

  “You may take non-magic electives. We expect our students to be well-rounded. Perhaps basket weaving.”

  I swallowed to prevent a series of curse words and tried to remember if there was anything I wanted. But I couldn't think of anything, I was entirely unprepared for this outcome. In between my coven leader, Hazel and Felix, I had felt confident that I’d be discussing the relative merits of Runes versus Dream magic. Not this. Nothing like this.

  “Okay,” I said. Holding in my temper.

  Barely.

  I could teach myself, I consoled. But that wasn't why I was at a witch college. I could learn on my own, anywhere. I wanted to scream.

  Instead I forced a
smile. It probably looked forced. Or like a grimace, but I would win. And winning meant her not knowing how much she was crushing me.

  Lechner scowled and said, “You can see my assistant for those. She’ll fill you in where you have room, if you insist. But remember,” Lechner rose and stood over Veruca who suddenly felt twelve again. “You must do well in your classes to keep your scholarship.”

  I blinked and nodded. I rose. There was nothing else to say.

  “Veruca,” Professor Lechner said and there was a softening of her voice. I stopped, hoping against hope.

  “Your mother broke the chain of your history and your family’s legacy. You could decide to reforge it.”

  I pressed my lips together again. I knew what I wanted. I wanted to be able to walk dreams and brew perfect potions. I wanted to learn to fly. I didn’t have an ounce of interest in speaking to the dead or using blood and bone to power my arts.

  I said nothing.

  The look of disgust returned to Lechner’s face.

  So I figured, why not ask.

  “What happened to the person who died?” Were they killed by a black flame while they were alone?

  “That,” Lechner snapped, “Is none of your business.”

  I waited, allowing myself to look frightened even though I wasn’t.

  Very.

  “It was an unfortunate accident. Leave it alone.”

  Um, of course, I was going to leave it alone. I wasn’t Ingrid or Emily from back home. I had no interest in solving crimes or interfering with other people’s jobs. I had my agenda and a willingness to overfill my own time. I just needed to be sure it wasn’t a black flame. I needed to find out what that was, and what it could do.

  Without another word, I left the office. The assistant had a desk outside of Lechner’s massive office, and I flopped into a chair in front of her. “I’m supposed to see you about non-magic electives.”

  Her face was soft and kind. She looked scattered. That edge of crazy must be from being Lechner's assistant. Or maybe I was just reading into the situation. Her frizzy bun was piled on top of her hair, and she had a pencil and a pen sticking out of it. She had a soft, perfectly unlined face that seemed undiluted with age. And I didn't care. Maybe I could get another advisor?