Witch's Bell Book One

face, and finally over to Ebony. 'I signed up for this job,' he said, voice stiff but determined. 'And this is my first day. I'll go with you.'
    Ben smiled appreciatively. 'I knew you were made of strong stuff! Alright, let's stop burning daylight; the citizens of Vale are counting on us.'
    As the three of the them walked out of the store, Ebony quietly surveyed the strange Detective Nate. Firecracker, live wire, pain in the butt, or knight in shining armor?
    This one was going to be interesting.

Chapter Two
    E bony stared up at the imposing apartment block, her hands resting uneasily by her sides. Even though it should have been a bright summer's day, heavy clouds were gathering on the horizon. The building stood stark against the sky like a thick black line on a perfectly white wall.
    'I hope Yates hasn't downed all the coffee yet,' Ben stepped up on the curb beside Ebony and proceeded to clear his throat loudly. 'Even though it's a bright and sunny day, be darned if I've gotten myself a chill.' He plucked up the collar of his jacket, punched his hands into his pockets, and walked up the steps to the cop waiting by the door.
    'Hmm,' Ebony mumbled to herself, still trying to take in the scene. A good witch never rushed in, her mother had always told her. A good witch waited and watched. Watching was really mostly what witching was about.
    There was certainly a sense of something dark in the air – a residual taste of something menacing that had the hair on the back of Ebony's neck stand up like pins forced into her skin.
    There were no birds perching on the windowsills, gutters, or ledges of the building. In fact, there wasn't a chirp to be heard. There wouldn't be any rats either, or mice, or pests of any kind. Ebony fancied there wouldn't even be an insect left in that building – not a cockroach under the oven, not a mosquito perched on a light, not even a fly buzzing at the window.
    All the animals would have high-tailed it out of there. Animals always had the proper sense of things, humans never did.
    Ebony was sickened to see more than a couple of gawkers peering on past the yellow police-tape. They looked up at the building, over at the police cars, and talked amongst themselves with excited whispers. One of them even called over to one of the cops: 'hey, what's going on here? There been a murder?'
    The cop barely looked up from his cup of coffee. 'Use your imagination, and stay behind the line.'
    Ebony finally pulled her eyes away from the people, wondering whether the human race would ever really grow up. What kind of a creature would be so crass in the face of such violence? What kind of a fool would stand in a place so dark, trying to catch a glimpse of something even darker? Because that's what these people were after – a glimpse of the hardened plastic of a body bag, or a blood soaked knife, or even a broken-faced man being led away in handcuffs.
    Images of dread. Pictures that could be seared into their memory, that they could go home and tell their friends and family about. Unusual stories that they could whip out at the dinner table. "How was your day, honey? You got cut off changing lanes? Well I saw a murder scene- body bags and all."
    Wouldn't that make for an exciting story?
    Ebony shook her head. Sometimes she doubted whether ordinary humans had any sense at all.
    'You going to stand here shaking your head all day, or are we actually going to go inside?' Detective Nate said, his deep drawl reverberating right next to Ebony and startling her out of her reverie
    Ebony managed not to jump, but barely. How long had he been standing there? Had she been that lost in the moment that she hadn't noticed someone walk up and plonk themselves right next to her? 'I'm watching,' Ebony said, making her voice sound as even and authoritative as possible, 'a large part of what I do is watch.'
    'Right, of course you do. But are we actually going to go inside? Ben's already gone ahead.'
    Ebony didn't move, she just jutted out her jaw a little, and patted down the flare in her dress. She really didn't want to go inside, not that she would ever admit that to anyone, especially not the blustering Detective Nate.
    Theft, illegal summoning, family curses – Ebony had seen, and was comfortable, with most of the witch work she received from the police department. She'd swan in with her golden earrings glittering in the sun, survey the crime scene, joke with the on-duty officers, steal their coffee, and usually solve