Free A Witch's Curse by Nicole Lee Page B

under keeper’s house. Or at least his station. Mr. Barkwood has been the under keeper here for years.“
    Anyone who had been unfortunate enough to deal with a funeral knew this.
    “ Let’s go inside,” Grady said while turning to her.
    “ Are you crazy?”
    “ I’m not going to steal anything,” he said in a low whisper. “It’s just that I’ve never seen an under keeper’s house before. What kind of possessions would a man like that have?”
    “ The same things a boring witch would have in her room,” she said. “Books. On magic. Magazines on gothic video games and junk.”
    “ Let’s go in,” he said. “There’s no one home, and since we‘re not thieves, I‘m sure that what Mr. Barkwood doesn‘t know won‘t hurt him.”
    “ Do you think he‘s out? What if he‘s awake?”
    “ He won’t notice us,“ Grady said, turning around and walked through the front door after inaudibly turning the knob. He motioned with one hand for Rose to join him, and while she did not want to, she had already agreed to all of his other previous insane actions.
    Walking inside, they closed the door behind them, trying to make sure that the latch fell into place without any kind of a noticeable din. Both felt a surge of warm air cover them from a heater installed in the ceiling.
    They walked through the spotless living room. The two walked into another new space to discover it was a library. Tall shelves filled with endless stacks of jacketless and dusty books were in every corner of the quarters, which appeared to have once been a master bedroom, and had now been converted into a rather dank literary emporium.
    He grabbed a book and stopped in his place, starting to read its contents.
    “ This is weird,” he said. “Check this out. It’s supposed to be a collection of people’s hateful thoughts, ones suppressed and never said aloud. Some of them are pretty disgusting. A lot of harsh language.”
    She gripped the book and began flipping through its pages. It was comprised of inwardly directed vignettes, where thoughts ranging on every disturbing subject matter, controversial and subtle, could be found. Although she would have loved to find such a piece of strange cerebral magic when she had picked up witch craft two years ago practically to this day, Rose was now well-learned, at least when it came to the fact of how bringing ominous objects reeking of bad karma into one’s house was never a good decision. She put it back without a moment‘s delay.
    Picturing Mr. Barkwood as a practitioner was not the first thing which sprung to mind when thinking of that gentleman, but then again, neither was a funeral director.
    Once more, they clasped each other’s hands in a firm grip, and moved into the third room.
    The last place was the darkest spot of the small but disordered house. It was a large stone area. In the center of this room was a wide medieval oak table. It was built of imperfect looking white wood. There were also stools, though they were uncomfortable and clumsily built enough to have been rightfully neglected. A hearth was at the far end, blazing brightly as a candle in the middle of a glacial lake.
    Turned away from Grady and Rose was a handful of large black leather chairs, the kind of seats Kings would use when dining at their throne.
    That is when a head peeked around and stared at the intruding couple. Another one subsequently did, followed by several more.
    It took one long second for them to accept what it had been they were gazing at.
    These were not human faces staring back at them, but something much more unnatural. This was confirmed when the bodies attached to the heads rose from their sitting objects, revealing their entire anatomy.
    These were moving skeletons. Their auburn bones were splintered in places and primordial, their eye sockets were blacker than the center of a cavern where a thousand men had perished. Staring at rib cages and bare, skinless torso’s was such a shock to the two