Page 19 of Of Magic and Murder

“Not everyone who dies becomes a ghost,” I murmur to Olivia. “She’s not here.”

A slight pout to the older witch’s near-transparent lips. “Well, that sucks. I’d much rather spend the next part of my afterlife with Faith than some hoity-toity witchling from Salem.”

I pointedly ignore that, thinking about what Max said.

“The wards didn’t protect her?”

“If only. No. Faith was out, checking on the weak spots, but she was murdered before she had the chance. Delilah came with two of her witches to claim the body, then she returned with three others to strengthen the words for good. Now no one can come in or out without this.” Max pulls something out of the back of his jeans pocket, showing me the half-dollar shaped, circular stone. “She has one and so do I.”

It looks like a polished piece of glass, but I know better. We call them lodestones. They’re basically keys, like Max called it before. True lodestones are really magnets. Pieces of age-old stone, they can attract magic while, at the same time, creating borders and wards on the land where they’re buried among other things. Morrigaine’s mirror is enchanted to amplify magic. Legend says that, as powerful as it is, it’s only a quarter of the strength of a true lodestone.

There are only about fifty lodestones that exist in the world nowadays, though not even half of them are in use. Most of the ones that are are in Europe, though a handful have made it across the seas as ancient covens relocated to the new world a few centuries ago. You can’t create them, and if you unearth one, the magic can turn a weak coven into one that rivals the one in Salem. Of course, you need to know how to wield it, and because lodestones are so rare and guarded, there are very few witches still existing who have that knowledge.

Witches, as a whole, are a superstitious lot. We might not have many of the original lodestones, but we kept the term, using it to refer to charmed crystals that have slightly similar properties. In this case, after Delilah and her coven reinforced the wards to the point that they’re un-passable, they would’ve charmed the piece of glass to act like a key, giving one to the Alpha and keeping one for the coven for when they need to drop the wards quickly and not unravel them completely.

“You told me that, but you didn’t mention that you finalized them because Faith Mathers died!”

“Honey, I would’ve. But the investigation is on-going⁠—”

“I am your mate.”

Gus rises up on his back legs, chittering loudly like he’s telling Max off. When he’s done, Honey nods. “Right. And Gus is a deputy. You tell me—us—everything. Don’t you?”

“I try, Killer. And it’s not like I make a habit of hiding the important stuff.” He lifts his hand, fake-coughing as he says, “Scent-reducer charm.”

She points at him. “That’s a low blow and you know it.”

Max exhales, though not before I notice how his lips twitch just enough to noticeable. “You’re right.” He sobers quickly. “And it won’t do us any good, arguing about this now. I have to call Delilah. She’ll need to recover the body. Whether Olivia was on the outs with her coven or not, I’m sure the coven leader will want to help her rest in peace.”

Right. And then the ghost expects me to figure out who did this to her…

I furrow my brow, thinking. Olivia’s description of her killer says that it was a big, black wolf. That’s not much to go on when there are more wolf shifters in Moonburrow than any other supe.

There’s one thing I notice, though. If Faith died a week ago, and the wards were locked-down for good right away after that, but Olivia was killed around midnight tonight…

“It’s not a question of how they got in,” I say out loud. “But how did they get out?”

Honey looks at me. “What does that mean?”

I wish I didn’t know.

CHAPTER 5

ROXY’S REVEAL

what’s that?

gus’s wolf friend is back?

finally!

— gus

By morning, the problem with Olivia’s very obvious murder isn’t finding proof that a wolf killed her. We know that that’s what happened. There’s no denying that she was mauled, but despite the best efforts of the pack’s strongest noses, the real problem the sheriff has is finding proof that an actual wolf was even there in the first place.

Max enlists the best hunters he has—all not-so-coincidentally members of the Moonburrow Sheriff Department—and the five of them all go back over the scene after sunrise. Everything about the state of the body points toward one of his kind. The claw marks and bites on Olivia’s body are the sort of vicious wounds a deadly predator leaves behind when he doesn’t try to pretend he’s human.

What’s missing, however, is the scent of Olivia’s murderer.