The Legend of the Eight: The Wicked (Book 2)

7: A Long List of Things I Don't Know

SEVEN: A LONG LIST OF THINGS I DON'T KNOW
MARCH 17
KATE DIAMOND

SHE WAS SITTING ON THE floor of the Headmaster's Office, elbows-deep in her mother's things. Beside her was Liam, carefully through one of the Queen's journals in hopes of discovering something about the Eight that they didn't already know. So far, all he had learned was that even as teenagers, Kate's parents fought a lot. But she didn't need a journal from over twenty years ago to tell her that.

Drew cracked the lock on a trunk and was digging through it, revealing a collection of old grimoires and spell books that had been locked away from the general public for decades. Wil left suddenly about twenty minutes ago—probably off to day-drink or do whatever it was she did now—and in her absence, the office fell silent.

In the midst of her reading, Kate's eyes landed on that rope again—the one with eight, now seven, knots that Wil said was linked to an origin spell.

"We should focus on the blood knot," Kate said after a moment. "If it was used for an origin spell, then its magic is linked to ours. That must be why it lost a knot when we did."

"We could do an identification charm on it," suggested Liam, halfway through a journal after successfully removing Clarion's privacy charm like Kate had months prior.

"But why an origin spell?" Kate pressed. "Origin spells are used to create something."

"What do you mean?" asked Drew, scratching his jaw while he thought.

"If Mr. Donovan was right, then we weren't born with this magic," said Liam. "Something—or someone—gave it to us." Then he turned back to his journal and began reading it aloud. Kate listened closely to her mother's words.

"Bartemius is gone. We don't know where he's retreated to but Jess is gone too. I fear she is so infatuated with him that she can't see how dangerous he is. Eva says he might have gone to the Manor—some place familiar to him. I wonder if Jess is there too. I wonder if she left on her own or if he took her. Either way, she'll be a part of whatever happens next."

"Sounds like Bartemius really did a number on their sanity," said Drew, who found a box of Elementals in the chest. Elementals were rocks, roughly the size of tennis balls, enchanted with the elements. If used, they erupted with the element inside of them and therefore, required careful handling. Drew dropped an Air Elemental into his pocket and then fingered a chain which he found somewhere in the office.

Kate had seen the chain before. At the center of it hung an old compass whose needle pointed East rather than North. It was a Key to Purgatory—the inter-Realm safe haven created by Eva Athos. Dr. K had one to get them there before it was stolen by Mr. Donovan. Drew must have found Clarion's.

"It's no wonder our parents were so paranoid," Kate said when she finally looked away from the Key. "Bartemius spent most of their senior year tormenting them."

"Funny," Drew smirked. "Talk about history repeating itself." His attention returned to the chest and in it, he saw something curious. He removed a smaller box and set it on the ground. After opening it, he revealed a bejeweled dagger wrapped in a cloth as old as the blade itself. But the jewels weren't the most interesting part of the knife. In fact, it was when Drew tried to pick it up that they realized the dagger was truly something else.

Upon laying a finger on the handle, Drew snatched his away quickly a let out a sharp, "Shit!" The dagger burned to the touch. He carefully put it back in the box and returned the box to the trunk, acting as if he'd never come across it in the first place.