12. Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

Natasya

I could claw my hair out with my frustration. I let out a little shriek as I send the upturned drawer flying across the room before I turn to kick the gutted desk. No amount of searching through Brom's house has offered any clue as to where he has gone.

And worst still, it seems as if he had his spellbook on him when he disappeared.

I reach up, gripping the side of my head as I let out a little growl and begin pacing. Where could Brom be?

This is a small town and by now every inch of it would have been searched. He isn't hiding here in Sunder Hollow. There's always the woods and graveyard in the wilderness, not to mention a great big world outside this sleepy little town.

He could be anywhere by now and after hours of fruitless search I still have nothing more to go on than that single note.

I pull it from my satchel and crush it between my fingers. It's the only lead I have and it implicates one person. "Evengi," I growl. Fine, if he won't talk when I ask him nicely, I'll just have to make him talk by asking not so nicely.

It's bad enough that he took my fiancé from me, but to add insult to injury he took the spellbook as well?

The whole reason I am in this town is for that spellbook! I will not be leaving without it. I won't be the sister to fail my father, especially not when Bronwyn has already brought him a spellbook. I refuse to be shown up by my twin.

I sweep my skirts behind me as I stride from Brom's house, making sure to lock the door behind me with the spare key he gave me. I don't want any well-meaning townsperson meddling in there and finding something I might have missed.

It rained while I was searching Brom's house and my boots sink into the muddy road as I stride down the short path to my house. As the second finest building in town, it's situated near Brom's house in the finer part of town.

I open the door to my house busy contemplating where I might find that meddlesome Evengi Ichabod. He left his room in the back of the tavern, but I got the distinct impression that he wasn't leaving town.

So, where would he go?

I'm so preoccupied that I don't notice the chilly breeze until I'm stepping on the glass.

It crunches under my booted heel as I go completely still. My eyes dart to the window watching the cloth curtains rustle in the wind around broken jagged pieces.

I wave my hand, using my sorcery to sweep up the glass. I cause them to swirl around my skirts. I don't know who is in my house, but if they think they will reunite me with my missing betrothed by snatching me as well, then they have another thing coming to them.

They just broke into the house of a necromancer with far too much to lose.

I stride forward, walking slowly and trying to keep as quiet as possible. I'm afraid I lack the skills of my sister Corallin who possesses the exceptional ability to make herself as silent and unnoticeable as a shadow, but I suppose I can't have all the skills of the Eel family.

I press my shoulders against the doorframe and lean forward before I fully step from the entrance hall to the long dining hall that leads to the back of the house. To the right is the comely kitchen and to the left is my study where a staircase leads up past the second story where my library is and to the third story with my room.

However, as I creep past the long wooden dining table my eyes spot a door to the right of my hearth is slightly ajar.

It's the door that leads down into my cellar.

I silently curse as I race forward, leaving behind the shards of glass. That cellar is where I keep my dead things.

I hike up my skirts, tripping down the stairs in my hurry. Ahead I can see the orange glow of firelight as I reach the bottom of the steps. The cellar is a large nearly empty space with wooden beams holding up the ceiling and walls that are a mix of dirt and stone. The floor is fully dirt. The cellar door that leads outside is still chained shut.

Firelight dances off the pillars, emanating from a single torch held by a figure at the end of the space. I catch a glimpse of golden hair and a white streak.

"Evengi?" I ask, forcing myself to remain calm. I don't actually know what he is doing here or why, and I refuse to play my hand too early. Bronwyn always said I was too hotheaded to be the rational sister, but then again Bronwyn is usually wrong.

Evengi turns, and as he does, he steps to the side revealing a pile of gleaming bones.

I feel my eyes widen with horror as Evengi looks at me with accusation gleaming in his eyes. "What is this?" he demands.

One of the reasons that sorcery is so feared is because it is essentially the power of a demigod wielded by mortals, and it is not always predictable. Sometimes, it acts of its own accord as tempestuous and unreliable as the demigods the power stems from.

I've never truly had a chance to encounter this with my necromancy. I always thought I was just too powerful to lose control, but as I look at Evengi, the panic racing through my blood I watch with rising horror as the bones slide across the room.

The skull raises mounted on a hollow ribcage, one hand attaching to an arm and then the other as my father's remains raise all on their own.

"Papa," I gasp out, my eyes flying to the bones. Evengi turns at my words, and my heart drops into my stomach as he takes in the proof of my necromancy.

It's far too late to turn back now. My eyes land on a large rock near my skirt, and I snap my finger forcing my sorcery to take control of the stone just as it did the bones. I send it flying toward Evengi. It slams into the back of his head.

For a second, there is a moment of complete silence.

Then Evengi drops to the ground, his torch sputtering as it lands in the dirt. But the light, flickering and dim as it is, offers me enough light to stare into the face of the very big problem I now have to deal with.