Witch's Bell Book One

was there?
    'It's just for a month,' Ben reassured her. 'It'll be like a holiday. You'll be in the office, stealing doughnuts, coffee, and getting on my nerves.'
    She couldn't stop herself from chuckling. 'You have a strange idea of what counts as a holiday.'
    'Twenty-eight days,' Nate said from beside her. 'The time will fly.'
    'It better not,' she settled into her pillow. 'I'm too injured to chase after it.'
    She was surprised to hear Nate give a chuckle.
    Could she do it, could she actually live for a lunar month without any magic at all? How would she decide what to wear, for one thing?
    But just as Ebony allowed herself to fantasize about the month that might be, the image of the cowering woman from the crypt leaped into her mind. 'The woman – the one from the cemetery... what happened to her?'
    'She's fine,' Nate shrugged, receding back from Ebony slightly. 'We took her home, and she's sleeping it off, as far as I can tell.'
    'Will she get counseling, reparations-' Ebony's voice felt stiffer than usual.
    Ben laughed, though it sounded more like hiccup. 'Oh, she doesn't need reparations, Eb. That was Cecilia Grimshore – of the Grimshore legacy – the same family that owns half of Vale.'
    'Oh, right,' Ebony conceded, voice quiet. 'But, she... ah... it would have been stressful for her,' Ebony said blankly, not able to think of a better way to put it. Stressful? Being kidnapped while a madman performed a magical rite on the grave of your dead father? Yeah, traditionally quite stressful that. Ebony kept trying to search for a way to say what she had to. 'I – look, she would have seen some stuff, she probably needs to be watched over, or something.'
    'She was debriefed by the Magical Counseling Unit,' Ben reassured her. 'She understands what has happened to her. And we'll keep an eye on her – it's department policy after something like this – you know that.'
    Yes, Ebony did know standard procedure, but it didn't matter. She was trying to tell Ben, without actually telling him, that she had the strangest feeling about this woman.... About the whole situation, in fact. It was the way the woman had screamed just as the book with the lion crest had been kicked out of the man's hands. The more Ebony thought about it, the stranger it seemed. That scream – it hadn't been one of fright... it had been one of loss, of shock.
    Ebony tried to run after the memory in her mind, tried desperately to recreate the scene from the crypt so she could remember the exact pitch and timing of that woman's scream. 'It was strange,' she said in a crackling voice, 'really strange. You need to look into it.'
    'It's all been dealt with, Eb,' Ben tried for a smile. 'The guy's in prison, Cecilia is fine, and everything is sorted out. The Coven have assured us that it is all done and dusted.'
    Ebony didn't reply to that.
    Silence began to stretch between them. Usually Ebony was skilled enough to read the different levels of silence – hearing all the sounds that filtered from the in between. But now, well, she just heard the lack of conversation, as if that was all that mattered.
    'When do I get out of here?' she asked eventually, finally realizing that the only way to break a silence of voices, was to speak yourself.
    'Depends on how many bench presses you try and do,' Nate quipped quickly. Though his usual sarcasm was there, it had a warmer, friendlier, lighter tinge to it.
    It wouldn't last, Ebony assured herself; she just couldn't see the arrogant Detective leaving her alone for too long. But for now, Ebony didn't mind so much. 'How about I promise to do zero bench presses, and only a couple of sit-ups.'
    Nate shrugged. 'Just as long as you don't take up boxing in the interim, you should be out by tomorrow morning.'
    Ebony glanced at the clock on the wall behind Ben. She usually instinctively knew the time, but without her magic, she was finding it hard to know where she was, let alone when she was. But according to the clock, it was eleven. And judging by the light filtering in from outside, it meant it was the morning. Which meant Ebony had been knocked-out most of the night.
    She suddenly put her good hand up to her head. 'How long was I out?'
    'You lost a lot of blood,' Ben patted the edge of her bed again.
    'And you were sucked through the ground, which didn't help,' Nate assured her with a grin.
    'But, tomorrow morning? I can't get out till tomorrow morning? I feel fine!' she lied.
    'No you don't,' Nate picked up on the lie