Pure Magic (Ballad of the Seer, Book One)

Chapter 29 - Buried Truths

Dianna chewed on her nails as the car pulled up to the gates of the cemetery. She was having second thoughts about this. She kept fidgeting in her seat. It wasn't until she was out of the car and caught a glimpse of Lily's expression that her tensions eased. The face of her best friend reminded her why she was doing this. It was for Lily. The one person that she could always count on, no matter what.

Even as Lily stared into the cemetery, with sad eyes and furrowed brows, her lips pressed into a hard line, clearly worried about Duncan, Dianna knew Lily was worried about sending her in after him. Lily never would've asked her to do this—which was why she had to.

"You ready?" Jack asked her.

Dianna nodded. "I guess it's now or never. Don't worry, Lily, we'll find him."

Lily did her best to put on a brave face, but Dianna could see past the façade. "Be careful." Lily pulled her into a hug.

"It'll be a piece of cake, babes." Dianna said, rubbing the back of Lily's hair, trying to be reassuring it didn't seem to work. Lily still looked anxious.

Dianna took a deep breath as she and Jack slowly passed through the gate into the graveyard. The light from the sun seemed too bright and the sky far too blue for what they were doing. Dianna thought an overcast gray sky with lightning and thunder ringing ominously in the background would be more appropriate. Or midnight on Halloween with a black cat standing in front of the gate to ward off unwanted guests. This was just a normal day.

As they came to the crest of a hill, Dianna could see the whole graveyard laid out before them. It was a sea of dead grass with so many headstones dotting the landscape. There was no end in sight as she and Jack walked past row upon row of markers. For such a small town they had an enormous graveyard, Dianna thought. She knew the town was several hundred years old, but it seemed like an inordinate amount of people, even for that length of time.

The path wound around a large tree that had already shed its leaves for the winter. The twisting branches swayed in the frigid wind. Dianna felt a chill, despite the fact that she was wearing her warmest jacket. She pulled the zipper up all the way. It didn't help much, but it made her feel better all the same.

She looked over her shoulder to see if she could still see Lily. She needed the reassurance of her best friend's face to give her the drive to continue. But they were too deep into the cemetery now, the gates were no longer in sight. She blew out her breath, realizing that she had to push herself through this.

She kept her eyes peeled for the family crypt that Lily described. There were quite a few, but none bore the name they were looking for.

"There it is." Jack said. Dianna's eyes followed to the spot where he was pointing. She saw a crypt, but it was too far away for her to see writing, much less a name.

"How the hell did you see that?" Dianna asked, when they got closer, and she saw that it said, Warren, just as Lily had said.

"It's a wolf thing." Jack said, as if that was the only explanation needed.

Dianna shook her head. She had only barely gotten used to the idea that Lily, her family, their teacher, and Lily's boyfriend were all witches, now she had to deal with the fact that Jack was a werewolf. Not to mention her immunity to magic. Logic and sanity seemed to be spiraling out of control as of late.

"Okay, that's the crypt. So, where's the headstone?" Dianna asked.

Jack's eyes searched back and forth among the graves. "It must be further down. Mrs. Bishop said that spell is like a scavenger hunt, each clue leads to the next one."