Rooming with the Devil

Chapter 9: Annie's Tall Problem

"ANNABETH MY DEAR, COULD YOU come look at something for me?" called Dr Santis from his small closet of an office. "And close the door behind you, if you will."

Thanks to Harriet, Annie already knew what to expect when she walked into the room. Her friend had given her the heads up about the death of Saskia's roommate just an hour ago. So, she was somewhat prepared to hear the news from Dr Santis and maybe even see some images. However, Annie had not expected to actually be shown the physical skull by her professor.

The leather of Dr Santis' chair squeaked as he stood up. "Come in, come in. Please sit."

Dr Santis was a small man by ordinary standards. He had a significant bald patch and thick dark brows which oddly resembled caterpillars. Even still, he was considerably taller than Annie's mother, who was a dwarf, and considerably kinder than most people too. It was for those reasons that Annie always felt comfortable around him. Normally, it was hard to speak up when you were always the smallest person in the room, but with Dr Santis, Annie always felt free to speak her mind.

However, it was hard to figure out any words to say as she stared at the ivory skull which sat innocuously on his desk. Well, about as innocuous as the skull of a dead girl could look. "Is that...?"

"Ah, yes yes," he replied, sitting down only after Annie did so. "This is indeed a real human skull. Now, I know your major is in supernatural medical science, but you are undoubtedly my smartest student, so I must ask your opinion on what you see here."

Annie fought back a concerned frown. This was definitely a subject meant to be discussed with a colleague and not a student, but she wasn't about to pass up such an opportunity. "May I?" she requested, gesturing to the skull.

Dr Santis offered her the skull, which she took into her hands. She inspected the red markings on its face with keen interest. "It seems to be some kind of clay..." She wiped her finger along the sigil and felt an oddly soft sensation. "... crushed with flower petals it seems. A red flower by the looks of it."

"Any guesses as to what type it might be?" the old man inquired.

She shook her head. "You'd have to ask a botanist. As for what the symbol is... I can't say I'm familiar with sigils or runes, unfortunately." Seeing Dr Santis' face fall, she then added, "But I believe that the upside-down placement of a skull represents after-death. A resurrection ritual perhaps?"

Annie almost cringed at her slip up. Dr Santis hadn't actually told or shown her about the original position of the corpse — Harriet had shown her the photo. Thankfully, Dr Santis seemed too absorbed in his own speculations that he didn't seem to notice.

"How fascinating," Dr Santis murmured. "Necromancy is one of those sub-practices of magic that leaves much to be desired. I can't say I've ever heard of anyone successfully managing to bring someone back to life. Then again, the body which belongs to this skull was desiccated, so maybe whoever did this was trying to animate their skeleton instead?"

Annie paused, a thought occurring to her. "If whoever killed this person was also trying to perform some kind of after-death reanimation spell, then why would they remove her tongue?"

Dr Santis' thick brows rose as he gave her a knowing look, to which Annie responded with a sheepish smile. Though she had been found out, he chose not to comment on it, but instead resumed their conversation. "Yes, it doesn't add up, does it? It could be that the one who murdered poor Kendra is not the same person who created the shrine in the forest."

Harriet had told Annie of her suspicions about Kaelan. Despite how terrifying he was, Annie didn't believe Kaelan would kill someone. He was not only wealthy, but his father headed the surreptitious U. S. department of supernatural education and reintegration to society. At the very least, he had too much to lose. In spite of that, Annie did very much believe Kaelan was capable of doing bad things, and so she agreed with Harriet on not returning his conduit to him — at least until they got to the bottom of Kendra's untimely death.