Curse the Dark (The Harstone Legacy Book 1)

Chapter 24

As I walked out of the cave, the wooden chest wrapped in Maude's scarf, I stopped suddenly and almost got knocked over by Tilda who ran into the back of me.

"Why did you...? Oh dear."

"Ladies," Sheriff Tolan drawled as he pushed himself up from the boulder he was leaning against. "What a delightful surprise to see you on this fine day."

I was going to assume he was being sarcastic.

"Now, would you like to explain why on Earth you're up here?"

Maude opened her mouth and the sheriff put his hand up.

"Before you start with whatever story you have concocted to protect coven secrets, I want you to know that I am a little on edge at the moment, and it won't take much for me to lock you all up for as long as I can find a reason to. You should be aware that I'm feeling creative today."

"You're right, Sheriff," Maude said, a resigned expression on her face. "It's time that we told you everything. If you'll follow us back to Tilda's house..."

The sheriff shook his head. "No, I think we've gone past the point where the coven dictates our terms of engagement. We'll be going down to my office and having our discussion there."

I could see Maude wanted to argue with him. I wanted to argue with him, but one look at the sheriff's determined expression put paid to that.

"Very well, Sheriff Tolan," Maude replied in a way that managed to be both accepting yet hinted at future retribution.

The sheriff gestured towards the pathway. "After you."

"When we got back to the vehicles, Maude threw her keys at Tilda. "You're driving."

"Great," Tilda muttered.

"And I'll be driving behind you so watch your speed," called out Sheriff Tolan.

"Just great."

Maude pushed me into the back seat of the car and followed me in. "Buckle up, we need to get Margot and Isobel on this. There's no telling how long that boy is going to keep us tied up." She looked down at the box which I'd settled between us. No way was I having that thing sitting in my lap. "I'm going to need you to open it up."

I covered up my hands again and opened the box. Maude peered in and took a couple of photos. She concentrated on her phone and her fingers started flying. I figured now wasn't the right time to express how impressed I was at her texting ability.

Once she was finished, she put her phone away and gestured at the box. "You can close it now. I really don't want to look at that thing any more than I have to."

I closed the lid and wrapped the scarf securely over it. "So, are you going to tell me what a curse tablet is?"

Maude sighed and pulled her attention back to me. "A curse is bad enough, but if it's embodied in a tablet it lasts as long as the tablet does. There are still curse tablets being found in ruins from thousands of years ago."

"So, it's worse than we thought."

"Somewhere out there we have a witch who is practicing magic so dark that they must have forfeited their entire soul to do it."

"Why would they do that?" I asked. "I know this sounds harsh, but wouldn't it have been easier to just kill her?"

"It would have been easier, but I don't think this is about killing Flora. This is a statement. To create a curse tablet and a golem to protect it, all of which is going against everything the Conclave has been trying to institute for the last several hundred years, this doesn't sound like a personal grudge. There is something much deeper happening here. We may have to bring the Conclave in on it."