A Handful of Skulls (Here Witchy Witchy Book 9)

by A. L. Kessler

  She felt around my stomach, and I tried not to cringe as she took a peek under the dressing there. “Yes, and no. It was like something had cut you from the inside. The surgeon went to make the incision and found that it was already halfway done, just from the wrong side.”

  I sighed. “Okay, thank you.” She finished going about checking me, changed the dressing, and then walked out.

  A couple minutes after she walked out, Levi walked in. I’d expected worry on his face, but instead, his careful mask was in place, and I wondered what the hell I’d done and what was going on.

  “Levi.” It was always best to great him in a professional manner when he looked like that. When he stepped to the side and Agent Porter walked in, I knew I had made the right choice. “Agent Porter.” I tried to keep the anger out of my voice. “Where were you when I was being attacked?”

  “I was watching from the camera.”

  That didn’t help my anger any.

  “When you asked me to be placed in a magically enhanced room, I wanted to wait it out to see if you were faking.”

  “You dumb shit, I was sitting in a truth spell.”

  At my words, Levi’s careful mask flickered to anger as well. I didn’t have time to decipher if it was at me or toward Agent Porter.

  The look on Porter’s face clearly said he hadn’t thought about that. “You can still make ridiculous demands while in a truth spell.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “The King’s Guard got back to me. They sent Catalina to speak to me about your part in Grayson’s death. They won’t testify in court.”

  Panic settled in my chest at those words. If the council didn’t testify in court, then I was doomed. The only good thing about the situation right now was that I hadn’t killed him with magic.

  “But you won’t be seeing court, because the King is vouching for you. There are rules in PIB about dealing with the King of Vampires. You’re lucky Collins, if it had been anything else you would have lost your badge.” He turned and shoved passed Levi.

  I closed my eyes. Another enemy made, and this one worked with me.

  “Abigail?” The worried tone in Levi’s voice made me open my eyes.

  “I was just taking a moment to settle the panic in my mind. I promise I’m okay.” I met his gaze. Dark circle rimmed his eyes, I didn’t know that vampires could look tired. “You look like shit.”

  “Well, when I get woke up with the news that you were being held for murder and that you were in the hospital with unexplained internal bleeding, it takes a toll. How do you feel?”

  I shrugged. “Relieved now that I’m not going to go to trial for murder.” I touched my stomach. “Had I not been in magical cuffs, I could have fought this attack off.”

  “I know you could have, and I know you have the proper protections to help you. This can’t become a common thing.”

  I snorted. “I’m not planning on being up on murder charges or being dragged into PIB for questioning again. Grayson—”

  Levi held his hand up. “We’ll talk about that later,” he promised. “For now, rest, and stay safe. I have a couple things I need to finish up with Mario to help with this situation.”

  “Sorry to worry you.”

  He shook his head. “It’s not you causing all of the issues. Not this time. Rest, please.” He disappeared from the room.

  I settled back in my bed and closed my eyes. Rest didn’t sound like a bad idea, and as soon as I got out of here, I was going straight back to work. Fuck Porter.

  With the paperwork signed, a fresh pair of clothes, and a good night’s rest, I was ready to rock the next morning. I stood outside the hospital and smiled when Simon drove up.

  “You look pretty well for being stitched back together last night.”

  I closed the door behind me. “I’m surprised that Travis let you off grounds.”

  “Travis doesn’t rule me, and I’m checking on the clubs and stuff today. Levi said you needed a ride. So here I am.” He reached forward and grabbed a coffee cup. “And this is for you.”

  I smiled as I wrapped my hands around it. “You certainly know the way to my heart.” I sipped it and smiled. “The hospital always has such crappy coffee.” I closed my eyes and savored the flavor for a moment. “Will you drop me off at the office, please? That’s where the Hummer and my bag are.”

  “Sure. But Levi told me to make sure you go home and rest.”

  I smirked. “It’s daytime. What Levi doesn’t know won’t hurt him. Liz and I are so close to solving this case.”

  “You’re going to work yourself to death.” He sighed. “Really, I should take you home.”

  “Take me home, and I’ll just call Liz to come pick me up. Seriously. I’m healing fine. They stitched me up. I need to solve this case with Liz. Then I’ll take a week to heal completely from everything.”

  He growled. “You seriously don’t get the fact that you landed yourself in the hospital twice in the last couple of weeks, do you?”

  I turned and stared at him. “I totally get it. I’m healed from the blast, and I’ll heal from the magical attack. There’s a person out there suffocating people to silence them. We need to find them and shut them down.”

  Simon tightened his grip on the steering wheel. “There is someone out there trying to magically rip you apart.”

  “You’re not going to win this, Simon. I get the danger I’m in, and I understand the amount of damage I have taken this month. When the case is solved, then I’ll back down for a bit and try to figure out how to calm my life down.”

  He sighed. “It’s not your job to solve all the cases.”

  “You’re right, just the ones that come across my desk.”

  He made a noise that clearly said, ‘you know what I meant.’

  I let it go, and he seemed to as well. He reached for the radio and turned the volume up. I settled back into the seat and watched the buildings go by. Simon reached over and took my hand, giving it a squeeze. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to reassure me about things, or trying to comfort me. At this point, I really wasn’t sure what I needed.

  We pulled up to PIB to find construction crews working on repairing the sinkhole.

  Simon raised a brow. “Your car was in there, wasn’t it?”

  “Yeah, sorry, I forgot to mention that. I was focused on dealing with the wolves.”

  He laughed and kissed me. “Go to work.”

  I climbed out and smiled at him. “I’ll talk to you later.”

  He nodded. “Yeah.” There was something in his voice that sounded like he was hiding the rest of the thought. “Have a good day, Abby.”

  I shut the door, and he drove off. I took a deep breath and walked into the PIB building.

  Mandy smiled up at me. “Hey, Agent A. How are you feeling?”

  “Not bad. Do you know if Liz is in?”

  “Yeah, she’s in her office if you want to run up there. She said that she was going to the Academy later.”

  I gave Mandy a thumbs up and went to the stairs and up to Liz’s office. I knocked on her door and waited.

  Liz threw open the door and stared at me. “What are you doing here?”

  “I was released today, so I thought I’d come do my job.” I held my arms out. “So here I am. All potential charges relating to Grayson’s case have been dropped.”

  She actually hugged me. “You’re alive.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” I batted her away. “I’m alive. Just an internal magical cut. I’m a bit sore, but healing.”

  She let out a relieved sigh. “And you’re sure you’re up for working?”

  “Yes, I refuse to sit and wait, you know that.” I motioned to her desk. “What do you have?”

  “Well, we’re going to the Academy, but our first stop is to visit the PIB facility which Boss Man’s daughter is being held in. I talked to the nurse. The woman doesn’t talk much, but apparently, she’s quite the artist. So, we’re going to go check it out. Then we’re going to talk to Agent Landry to figur
e out a couple other things.”

  I nodded. “Sounds like fun. Let’s do this. I just need to grab my bag from the office and I’m good to go.”

  She nodded. “Meet me out at the car.”

  “Sure thing.”

  I met Liz down at the car with my bag and climbed into the passenger seat, cringing slightly at the dull pain in my stomach.

  “You going to be okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m just sore. Did we find anything out about the skull?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, it belongs to an academy student.”

  “What?”

  “It gets worse. It belongs to Kris’ sister.”

  I turned and stared at her. “No way.”

  “Yes. I can’t translate all the runes, but from what I have translated, it was a ticking time bomb.”

  Interesting. “Do we know how long it’s been there?”

  “Reports say that Kris reported her sister missing about two months ago.”

  “Well, shit. Seems to me that it all goes back to Kris. Has she reappeared at all?”

  “That’s what we’re going to talk to Landry about. We need to find her.” Liz peeled out of the parking lot. We headed toward the PIB facility where Crystal was being held.

  I kept trying to turn things around in my head. We didn’t have any real suspects other than Kris. She didn’t seem to know what was going on with the explosions, and her aura didn’t seem tainted enough to be someone who performed that caliber of black magic.

  I thought back to every interaction I had with Kris, and my brain went to her brother. “We haven’t talked to her brother. He was so overprotective of her that I think we might have pushed him off.”

  “I thought maybe he was covering for her.” Liz tightened her grip on the wheel. “Maybe he’s our missing link.”

  I don’t know why we hadn’t thought about it before. Of course, the bombings might have thrown us off a little bit. “Maybe.” I pulled out my phone and called Agent Landry. “Hey, it’s Agent Collins.”

  “What can I do for you, Agent Collins? I’m meeting with Agent Jefferson later.”

  “I’ll be there as well, but I’m hoping you can find an RJ Bittman for us and bring him in for questioning before we get there.”

  “I’ll see what I can do. Any idea on his location?”

  “No, but he’s related to Kris, so maybe check her addresses. He was on campus when we met him.”

  I heard some scratching, and I assumed she was writing down the information. “Alright, Collins, I’ll see what I can do for you.”

  She hung up, and I leaned back in my seat. “Hopefully they catch him.”

  “Yeah, I have a bad feeling about it,” Liz muttered before she pulled up to the care facility.

  I stepped out and looked at the massive building. It looked no different than a typical hospital on the outside. Tall with windows, but these windows had runes scratched into them and bars on the outside.

  As we approached, I could feel the magic that surrounded the place. I cringed as I crossed over the circle and felt my magic cut off. I thought about Hannah’s attack and how I was once again without protection.

  “It’s a giant protection circle, no magic except for protection magic.” She tapped herself in the spot where my charms hung. “Those will be fine.”

  “Some days I think you can read my mind.” I shook my head as we approached the reception desk. “Hi, we’re Agent Collins and Agent Jefferson here to see Crystal Davenport.”

  The nurse smiled up at me. “Of course, come this way.”

  “So remember that doll case?” I asked Liz as we followed the nurse.

  “How could I forget that?”

  “I’m feeling like that’s happening all over again.” I gave a short laugh. “You know, super powerful child, locked up in a hospital.”

  Liz nodded. “Yeah, does feel a bit like that, but don’t worry, I talked to her care nurse, and she assured me that nothing strange was going on.”

  “Oh, good.”

  We followed the receptionist into a room. In the middle of the room was a woman painting. She sat in a wheelchair, her hair was cut short, and she didn’t turn when we entered. A nurse sat nearby, reading a book. She looked up and put it down as soon as we walked in.

  “You must be the PIB agents. I’m so sorry to hear about Agent Davenport.” She came up and shook our hands. “I’m Marybeth, Crystal’s care nurse.”

  “Nice to meet you. I wish it were under better circumstances.” Liz looked toward Crystal. “How’s she doing?”

  “She seemed to know that her father was going to die. She took it well and went back to painting. She did a couple scenes of them together. She said she’ll miss his visits.” Marybeth walked us over to Crystal. “Crystal, these are the two agents working on your father’s case.”

  Crystal looked at both of us. Her eyes drank in every detail. “Have you found who killed him?”

  Her words were slow, almost as if she had to focus on speaking clearly.

  “Not yet. Crystal, we think that Cornelius was reopening your case. Trying to go after whoever attacked you.”

  She looked away, her head turning just slightly, allowing me a glimpse of the rune on her neck.

  The same rune on all of our victims. I cringed. Somehow the magic had been broken, worn off or something, to allow her the little movement she had. “Crystal, I really hate to ask, but do you know who attacked you.”

  “Marybeth,” Crystal’s words were barely a whisper. “Please bring me my sketchbook.”

  Marybeth nodded and left the room for a brief moment. Crystal looked back at Liz and me. “I don’t know who attacked me. I would have told my father. But. There is more to this.”

  Her voice seemed to get softer with every word. Marybeth came back in with the sketchbook in hand. She handed it to Crystal, who, in turn, handed it to Liz. “Take it with you and leave me in peace, please.”

  Liz nodded. “Thank you, Crystal.”

  “Find my father’s killer, Agents. That’s all I ask.” She cringed a little. “Marybeth, I’m tired.”

  “Of course, Crystal.” The nurse wheeled her away, and I looked at Liz.

  “She’s fighting a paralyzing spell.”

  “I saw. She’s the only surviving victim of this killer. So let’s hope the answers are in her sketchbook. Come on, let’s head to the Academy. You can look at the images in the car.”

  We both headed out of the room and back to the front door.

  “Agents, wait.”

  We turned around to find Marybeth running after us. “Crystal wanted me to tell you something. She says ‘beware the appearance.’ I don’t know what it means, but I promised her I would tell you.”

  Beware the appearance. Hmm. “We’ll keep it in mind, please tell her thank you.”

  Marybeth nodded and then walked away. I glanced at Liz. “Any idea?”

  “Wolf in sheep’s clothing, maybe?” she offered.

  I shrugged. “I guess we’re going to find out. Come on, let’s go.”

  We walked out of the building and crossed the circle. We both took a moment to relax as we felt our magic become unblocked. I smiled at the warmth that came through me. There was nothing like the flood of magic through the body.

  “What do you make of her?” Liz asked as we got in the car.

  I flipped open the book and frowned. There was a picture of the explosion. The date on the perfectly sketched image was dated two weeks before. “I think she’s a seer.”

  I flipped the page and found a detailed drawing of the skull. “Did you release the details to the public?”

  “No, Agent Landry wanted to keep it under wraps until we knew exactly what we were dealing with.”

  “Seers aren’t this common. One in the dorms and then Boss Man’s daughter…”

  “Yeah, so the question is, is one of them lying?” Liz pressed her lips together. “Let’s go talk to the roommate again and see if we can get any answers from him.” She sped
toward the Academy while I continued to flip through the book.

  Out of all the pictures in the sketchbook, there was an image that I kept seeing. A dark figure in the shadows, lurking on the scene somewhere. Sometimes it was just the shadow he cast, or the tip of his shoe, something to give away that he was there, and sometimes it was his full body, but the face was never clear. Somehow when Crystal drew it, it looked as if the face was constantly shifting.

  I was willing to bet that this was the man who had tried to kill her. If we could pinpoint the motive, maybe we could figure out who the man was.

  Interesting.

  Liz pulled up to the gate, and we flashed our badges and went through. She parked near the dorms and then looked at me. “You’ve been quiet this entire drive.”

  “Yeah, I’ve been studying these drawings. The figure that keeps showing up, when she shows him in full, some features are always the same: hair, height, clothing, but never the face.” I flipped through the pages and pointed it out with each image of him I came across. “Then there’s this one.” I flipped it to the last page.

  Liz took it out of me. “He’s walking away here. Do you think it was when she was paralyzed?”

  “Her case said that she was in ballistic gel, so I don’t know. Suffocation would occur quickly in that case.”

  “Come on, let’s go talk to Kris’ brother and then the seer roommate.”

  I got out of the SUV and followed her.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  We found Agent Landry at the gun range. She was walking around the shed as if she were trying to figure something out or find something.

  “Agent Landry?” Liz called.

  Landry looked up and gave us a small wave. “I was wondering when you two would get here.”

  “What are you looking for?” I walked up to the shed.

  She sighed. “Something, a body, anything. We did a tracking spell on the skull, and it led us here.”

  “Interesting. Under it, maybe? Should we grab some shovels and dig?”

  Both Landry and Liz groaned at the idea. I started laughing until something in the corner of my eye caught my attention. A figure standing there. I threw up my hand, and a circle appeared around it.