29. Damian

Chapter twenty-nine

Damian

I was working with Elias through the parchment, reviewing how his alliance with the ghosts had helped keep the balance between dark and light. When I told him about my encounter, he explained just how close to blowing up the alliance I'd come.

"Ignorance isn't bliss here," I'd told him.

"True, but I assure you, even though this felt dire, your effort to reconciliate likely endeared you to the residents. I feared the relationship with them could be in jeopardy once I passed."

We'd spent the morning reviewing the dos and don'ts of working with them, and he helped me distinguish between working with the ghosts and taking advantage of them. Wizards made alliances, sorcerers used them.

Apparently, sorcery was not good as it often involved using the ghost's essence against their will. Not cool, and doing it also damaged the sorcerer's soul. Nope, not interested in that .

We were just about done with our lesson when the back of my brain began to itch. I know that's a weird way to explain it, but it's exactly what it felt like. "Um, Elias, I-I think we're being invaded."

I closed my eyes and focused on the source of concern, explaining it to Elias. "Owen," we both said at the same time.

"Get to him now," Elias said, but I was already running toward the attic door.

I got to the first floor, where I could feel the invasion the strongest. Someone was trying to influence Owen. I immediately invoked my staff and severed the source of the attack, quickly adding wards to prevent it from happening again. When Owen opened the door to his bedroom, I could tell he'd been asleep.

I checked him over, and besides feeling elements of the dark magic still surrounding him, I could see he was confused and sleepy, but otherwise he looked to be okay. I got Orville to help me pull essence into the property's wards. I just had to thank all that was good I'd had a chance to make things better with the ghost, so he'd be willing to help.

"The witch," Orville said once I was done.

"Maybe," I replied because it was a bit suspicious that energy was allowed into the home that shouldn't have been able to come in through the wards. "I don't think so though, Orville. The witch, Cary, wasn't allowed in Owen's room. You all kept the boundaries around the rest of the room intact. In fact, I know you added your own," I said, chuckling .

Orville nodded but then looked at Owen. "I don't trust the witches for reasons you already know, but I agree, something else happened here. Someone got through Elias's wards, not to mention yours and ours. Young Owen, you should take this as a warning," he said, and I turned around to see a concerned expression on Owen's face.

"What…what happened? Did you see anything?" I asked.

Owen nodded. "Yes, sort of. It was in my dreams though. Something or someone was trying to get me to go outside."

"Wait," Orville said. "I know how we can tell for sure. I don't want it back in this house, but we've buried the talisman the witch gave us yesterday in the backyard. You should be able to use it to track whether his energy was used to invade us."

I nodded as images filled my mind of how to do that very thing. "Yes. Owen, I'll need you too," I said. Owen threw on shoes, not bothering to dress, and we followed Orville out the back door and into the garden. He pointed at a patch of disturbed ground, and I quickly dug up Cary's necklace.

It was covered in mud, so I apologized to Owen, but I wanted to do this before the energy that still encircled Owen dispersed. "Sorry," I said as I put the necklace over his head, mud and all.

Nothing happened except that Cary's necklace seemed to absorb the rest of the energy surrounding Owen. A sure sign that Cary's magic was from the light, and whatever attacked Owen had been dark.

"Was it Cary?" Owen asked .

I shook my head. "No, but I think you could use one of these if Cary is of a mind to make another one for you," I said.

Owen nodded, his eyes still wide with concern. "Okay, Orville," I called, and the ghost appeared beside me. "I'm going to take this up to the attic. I need to analyze it to see if the positive energy of Cary's magic can help me figure out where the dark energy it absorbed came from."

Orville looked at the necklace with disgust but made way for us to walk past him and into the house. I normally wouldn't involve Orville or anyone with the ways of wizardry, but since yesterday, I sorta felt like I needed to.

I didn't remove the muddy necklace from Owen until we got there and sat down. Then, I asked Owen to remove it and place it next to the parchment. "I dare not touch it, as I think my powers would immediately destroy the darkness, and I want Elias's help figuring out its source."

Owen just nodded and did as I asked. I picked up the quill and activated the parchment. "Is Owen okay?" Elias asked.

"Yes, Elias, I'm fine," Owen responded.

"I have a necklace that's absorbed the energy that attacked Owen. Can you help us distinguish where the attack came from?" I asked.

For the rest of the afternoon, with Elias's limited help, we tried to trace the darkness. Since he could only communicate through the parchment, it didn't work. However, Elias confirmed there was no way the energy could've reached Owen in his room if a witch, or at least a similar power, hadn't been there.

That meant it wasn't Cary. The only other person I could think of was Molly. But she wasn't a magical being. She wasn't even what we would classify as a source of light, like Owen. So, how would her being here give the darkness power to come through the wards?

It couldn't, plain and simple. Molly couldn't send power to impact Owen, nor could she be manipulated to do so. That just wasn't how magic worked.

That meant something else was at play, but nothing I could think of would have the power to break through my wards unless an army of darkness came at me all at once. I was powerful enough to hold the darkness back, and I doubted my or Elias's wards would ever be impacted without that full-on assault.