Witch's Bell Book One

Ebony hadn't always had time to just look and wonder at the world. It was part of being a witch. She didn't have a great deal of time because the swirling possibilities of magic would always hint at something else further into the future. You became heady with what might happen, rather than what was happening at the moment. But now, without any magic to speak of, Ebony was still enough to just sit and watch. She couldn't change the situation in any real way, save for shifting slightly on her desk and cupping her chin in her hands as she watched in silence. And as she wasn't so caught up in what she could do with the situation, all that was left was to either watch it, or turn away.
    Even though a witch was meant to watch, she had never watched like this.
    So there Ebony sat for several minutes or maybe more, watching the sun sink behind the mountains, and the stars start to blink from beyond.
    Slowly it became too hard to see, and Ebony was either going to have to march all the way across the room to turn the lights on, or go home like she should. She'd still have to see Harry tonight, she reminded herself, and she really didn't want to be in bed after midnight. Midnight, or the witching hour, wasn't something Ebony really cared for at the moment.
    With a sigh, Ebony stood up, grabbing at her bag and turning from the beautiful windows at the last moment. But the combination of the move, and the last dregs of light, managed to draw Ebony's eyes to one of the boxes of files on the shelves. The last light of day seemed to be striking the box all at once, maybe bouncing off the reflective surface of the floor, or something. How it was happening didn't really matter, all that mattered was Ebony got a curious sensation in her gut, and walked up to the box, bag still on her arm. She leaned down so she could see the name written across the cardboard haphazardly in a big black marker.
    Grimshore.
    Ebony frowned, getting closer to the box and running a hand over the name, as if giving the letters a chance to reassemble.
    Grimshore. That's what it said.
    But before Ebony could pull the box out and find out what was inside, she heard the sound of feet pattering up the stairs, and then a muffled curse as someone ran into something.
    'Ebony,' Ben called from across the room, 'are you in here? And if you are, why on Earth aren't the lights on?'
    Ebony stood up. 'Ben? What do you want?'
    She heard Ben fumbling around in the dark until he finally hit a switch. The great big lights that were strung along two perfectly straight, parallel lines across the ceiling, all turned on with a buzz and a click. 'I'm here to take you home, kid.'
    'Oh,' Ebony turned her gaze back to the curious box, 'I was going to stay a little longer; there's more to do.'
    Ben gave a gruff laugh. 'I don't think so. It's eight-thirty already.'
    'It is?' Ebony was surprised. Even though she academically knew that the sun went down at about eight these days, she hadn't put the two together. For some reason she was still operating on the belief that it was about five o'clock, and that she could comfortably afford several more hours here until she made the trip to Harry's.
    'Yeah, so you're going home,' Ben said with finality.
    Ebony didn't shift her eyes from the box. She desperately wanted to know what was inside. Why would there be an entire box sitting in the cold cases section, with the name Grimshore written across it? Was it referring to the family, or something else?
    What with all the things that had been happening to Ebony this past week, she'd almost forgotten about her fiery conversation with her father. She'd told him she'd been dead sure that Miss Cecilia Grimshore, the cowering woman from the crypt, had been up to something. Her father had encouraged her to investigate it, as best and as legally, as she could. But... well... Ebony had kind of forgotten. She'd been harassed on the bus, her wardrobe had somehow been taken over by an 80's musical, and she'd eaten nothing but pizza all week.
    But now, Ebony remembered. She remembered the way that woman had screamed as the book of spells had been kicked from the man's arms. She'd shrieked, not from fright, but from something else.
    The more Ebony thought about it now, the more things didn't seem to fit. While before she'd been happy to take the situation as it had come – looking like a standard kidnapping and Death Summoning in the cemetery. Now Ebony was looking at it with a new set of non-magical eyes.