Chapter Forty-Five

She kicked away from the body, her mouth gaping open in a silent scream. The boy's eyes were open, but they were cloudy and white. Bloody tears dripped from every crevice on his body, and it looked like a scene out of Hell itself.

The siren pierced the quiet morning, the vibrations of the sound beating against her chest.

She panted in fear as she stared at the body, but she began to calm down. She approached it carefully and hovered over it. His lips were haphazardly sewn shut by some metal wire. It looked like there was some dried blood on it - It must be rust. She patted his body down, trying to get into his pockets and check if anything of use to her could be found. She felt something in his coat pocket and pulled it out.

It was some card stock. She unfolded it.

A picture of Gabriel.

She let the photograph fall to the ground. Panic exploding in her, she got to her feet and ran all the way to his mansion. As she stood before the front doors, she realised the lock was no longer there. She held onto the knocker and banged it against the heavy door.

No response.

So she yanked on the handle and the door creaked inwards. She stepped inside, a sudden blast of cold air greeting her face.

She had to know the truth.

She ran through his mansion, bursting into his room. She stood in the middle of it, unsure of how to start. She pulled out every drawer and emptied the contents to the ground, opened the wardrobe and ransacked all his clothes until they were a heap on the ground. She looked around her at the mess, her mind also in a disaster.

Then she caught something in the corner of her eyes.

Below his bed was a chest, with some paper sticking out the edges.

She wasted no time heading over to it. Dragging it across the floor from under the bed to herself, she tried to pry it open but it was locked. A combination lock held the chest together and she cursed at her luck.

Her thumb touched the numbers and rolled it. She turned one upwards, another downwards.

It unlocked.

She opened the chest and stacks of yellowed paper were everywhere. She removed the scarves from the sides of the space and flung them over her shoulder. Removing sheet after sheet, she got to reading.

One document told her that Gabriel had spent a fortune on witchcraft. He did so over many years until three years ago, when he finally stopped.

She knew he was up to something!

She dug around in the chest, removing another document. It was an order to the town, telling everyone that unless they were summoned, nobody was to enter Ravenspire.

But it was a school. How could that be? She knew many students had attended lessons here.

She took another document out to read. It was the deed for Ravenspire. But it was not listed as a school, but as the residence for the Blackens.

Wasn't Ravenspire…

She removed another document. It had her picture on it. She read through the text and much of it was redacted. But one thing that wasn't redacted stood out to her.

It was her name.

Lucianne Blacken.

What?

She read more and more documents. One told her that a huge amount of money was being spent on experimental therapy. By some psychiatrist with a name that was too familiar. Like she had heard of him on television before. The receipts lasted till a month ago and it felt like another was coming at the end of the month.

Lucianne Blacken?

She picked up more documents. This time, it was a marriage certificate. She was formerly Lucianne Bell, and had married Gabriel Blacken. She did not remember ever marrying him… She continued reading.

The certificate was dated 7 years ago.