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“What does that say?” Cyrus peered at the first page, too.
“Well, that’s easy,” Evelyn said. “Our eyes to the Sun, and hearts full of fire, minds open, and hands for good.”
The words sent a chill down Evelyn’s spine, familiar and old, stirring the magic in her blood. The words of her people. Old and New World.
Cyrus raised a brow, scratching behind Maxie’s ears. “I thought you didn’t know Olde Script.”
Evelyn laughed. “This is different. Every witch knows this.”
“It’s the witches’ creed,” Aster said.
Ancient and old, the witches’ creed was told like a nursery rhyme to children until it became a mantra each and every witch followed into adulthood.
Cyrus repeated it back. “Our eyes to the Sun, and hearts full of fire, minds open, and hands for good.”
An inkling sparked in the back of Evelyn’s mind.
“Say it again,” she said, locking eyes with Cyrus.
He gave her a questioning look, but obliged, restating the creed.
She rose out of her chair in a rush, bringing the grimoire with her. Evelyn read the words over and over, hands shaking as she held it.
“What is it?” Aster asked.
Evelyn read the creed again, the creed she’d known her whole life, as if reading it would snap the pieces together in her mind. A creeping feeling crawled across her skin as the wood in the fire popped and sparks burst from the hearth. Evelyn’s inkling grew, the clues clicking into place, one by one.
“Fucking flames.”
“Saige, what is it?” Cyrus said, raw concern in his voice.
Evelyn said the creed again, looking at them both.
Aster laughed nervously. “Yes, we’ve all said it a few times now. You’ll have to be more specific.”
Evelyn struggled to explain. “The creed . . . the body parts . . . they . . . align.”
Both Cyrus and Aster stilled, eyes growing wide, expressions suggesting she was maybe a little crazy.
Or right.
“Think about it.” Evelyn placed the open grimoire back on the table and grabbed her notes. “McKenna’s eyes were missing. ‘Our eyes to the Sun.’ And then Fiona’s heart was gone. ‘And hearts full of fire.’ The missing body parts are in the witches’ creed.”
Aster and Cyrus remained silent, soaking in her words or unsure what to say, Evelyn couldn’t guess. Nerves ate away at her. Was she wrong? Way off base? Did she sound crazy?
Yet, why did her gut twist with certainty? Like the flake of soot floating and landing on Evelyn’s shoulder, it sat, melted deep, and eased into her.
Evelyn nibbled her bottom lip. “It’s just a connection, and I’m not sure what it means, if anything at all.”
Cyrus shook his head. “No, I think you’re on to something.” He rose and placed Maxie down. She scurried off under Evelyn’s bed, out of sight. He took her notes and read over them, his brows pinched together. “Do you think the fact that there’s some relation to witches is a coincidence?”
“No,” Aster said. “If Saige is right, both of these murders are far more complex than any of us originally thought. The relation to witches means something, but I can’t begin to guess what.”
If Saige is right…
Aster’s words resounded like an alarm bell in Evelyn’s head. If she was right, there’d be more murders. She’d already felt fear from her twisted discovery, but now she felt sick, her stomach tumbling.
“There are two more body parts in the creed,” she whispered. “Minds and hands.”
