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I briefly closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Big mistake. While the smell of decay had been bad enough in the clearing, it seemed ten times worse here. My stomach lurched and rose, and it took every ounce of control I had not to lose the dinner I’d only recently eaten.
“Is that what I think it is?” Monty whispered, horror filling his voice.
“Yes.”
“Why the fuck would anyone go through the arduous task of skinning a human, and then simply dump the skin a few yards away?” He shook his head. “It makes no goddamn sense.”
“As you noted only a minute ago, until we know what is doing this, it probably won’t.” I swallowed heavily. It didn't ease the bitterness of bile in my throat or the churning in my gut. “One of us will need to guard the area until the rangers get here, just to be sure a stray dog or cat doesn’t wander in and start eating the evidence.”
The thought of that happening only helped to increase the intensity of the churning.
“If it hasn’t happened yet, I doubt it will, but I’ll stay. It’ll give me a chance to look around and see if whatever did this left behind some sort of energy spore or tell.” He glanced at the wisp still hovering nearby. “You might want to return with Lizzie, my friend, as I’ll be raising a light sphere.”
The wisp immediately retreated, and Monty smiled. “Who knew they could understand us so easily?”
“Spirits have been in this world as long as we have,” I replied, amused. “So it’s not really that surprising.”
“It is for someone like me, who has only ever read about such things.”
Which I guessed could be said about a lot of those in Canberra. My parents might be the capital's power couple and very sought-after mentors a
nd advisors to both political parties and private business, but even they had never stepped outside Canberra's confines—not since before I was born, anyway. And I couldn't help wondering just how different their worldview would be if they’d done so.
Probably not a great deal, Belle commented, mental tones dry. I think your dad was born a set-in-his-ways, overbearing stick in the mud.
They wouldn't have remained at the top of the witch tree if they were unwilling to bend with new ideas and ways.
True, Belle said. I do think, however, that the more power and influence they gained, the more determined they became to ensure they and their family kept it.
And the latter they ensured by arranging marriages for their children that forged strong magical alliances. Whether or not said children had actually wanted them.
At least Cat did love the man chosen for her, Belle said.
That she had—and in that, she’d at least been lucky. But Charlie had been yet another who'd held me accountable for her death, and that had perhaps hurt me more than anything my parents had said or done, if only because he and I had actually gotten on well until that point.
Grief does strange things to a person, Belle said softly. I think there was a chance he would have seen sense if we'd hung around.
Maybe. And maybe not. It wasn't like I could afford to actually hang around and find out.
Belle squatted several feet away from the body, a slight haze of energy surrounding her. Not wild magic, but rather the energy runoff from her spirit guides. “Do you think the skin you found belongs to this poor soul? Or does it perhaps belong to Mrs. Dale?”
“I really have no idea.” I stopped beside her and did my best to breathe shallowly. The wind was at our backs and blew the worst of the smell away, but that didn’t stop it from lodging in my nostrils or churning my stomach. “Why?”
She pushed upright. “The spirits think we might be dealing with some kind of skin walker.”
“The spirits actually offered helpful information? Color me shocked.”
She lightly whacked my arm—twice. “That’s one from me, and one from the spirits.”
I grinned. “Even they have to admit helpfulness is a rarity.”
“They wish to remind you that they are not here to provide information we are more than capable of uncovering for ourselves.” Her tone was haughty—an echo of whatever spirit she was listening to.
While most witches only had one spirit guide, Belle usually had at least two, but sometimes as many as four. Neither of us really knew why that was the case, although it might have something to do with the fact she was an extremely strong spirit talker.
I frowned down at the body. “Why do they think it’s a skin walker? Aren’t they extremely rare here in Australia?”
“Yes, which is why they mention the possibility—it’s likely we'll have to search the US witch archives to find anything about them.”
