Free The League of Illusion: Legacy by Vivi Anna Page B

poor, there would be no crypt or stone statues of tribute. The grounds were not kept clean and trimmed. All they would find here were the dead and forgotten.
    At the end of the path, where it veered off in two other directions, Skylar stopped and held up the locket again to get another bearing. The locket had been turning left on the path. They followed that along about four rows of gra sr re="-1">Skyves, when the locket stopped moving.
    “She’s here somewhere.” Skylar stepped off the dirt path and started walking along the graves.
    Jovan took the other side and the three of them read over the names of the poor dead looking for Evangeline. There were old men and young, wives and mothers, and children. He saw a small fresh grave with a child no older than three.
    Then he found her. Evangeline Stokes, born 1825 died 1844, the year Sebastian disappeared.
    “She’s here.”
    Skylar and Rhys joined him at the overgrown grave. Other sites had appeared well attended to, but this one looked to be a half century old. The yellowing grasses grew to the knee, and vines wrapped around the cross like snakes. A shiver went down Jovan’s spine. There was a strong presence around the gravesite. He didn’t sense it was evil, just powerful.
    Skylar dropped the locket into her jacket pocket then took her satchel from Jovan. She unfastened it and slid out a gilded mirror about the size of a dinner plate. “Please stand back. I need room.”
    Jovan and Rhys moved back a few steps as Skylar knelt on the ground and set the mirror on top of the grave, crushing the grass beneath it. Jovan watched in silent respect as she pricked the end of her index finger with her hat pin and smeared the four corners of the mirror with her blood. As she drew symbols in red, she chanted in ancient Gaelic, the language of the Druids.
    When she was done speaking, she peered intently into the mirror. The firelight hovered above her, and the eerie blue glow reflected in the surface. Frowning, Skylar moved the mirror, first left then right, and then tilted it up.
    “What’s wrong?” Jovan asked.
    “I can’t see anything.”
    “Do you need more light?” With a finger he guided the blue sphere closer to her.
    She shook her head. “No. That’s not it. Something is blocking me from seeing. ”
    Tightening his grip on his cane, Jovan scanned the area, peering into the dark shadows. “Something or someone?”
    “I’m not sure.” She stood, holding her mirror. “Either way, I can’t scry.”
    “So it’s a dead end,” Rhys said.
    “Yes, I’m afraid so.”
    “Not necessarily,” Jovan replied.
    Rhys sighed angrily. “We already discussed this, Jovan, and you’re not doing it.”
    “I don’t take orders from you, dear brother.”
    Skylar slid the mirror back into her bag. “If you do it, I’ll have to inform the council.”
    “Then tell them, what do I care? Their rules mean little to me, as we’ve already established.”
    “Jovan, please,” she pleaded.
    “I’m not leaving here without answers, Skylar. This is our best and only lead. We must find Sebastian.”
    She nodded and gave him room. She glanced at Rhys to see if he was going to give Jovan any more grief. His brother just shook his head and said nothing else.
    Jovan’s hands shook slightly as he took out what he needed for the ceremony. He’d never worked this spell before—well, not successfully, anyway. Years ago, he tried it s, hhtl on a dead rat. He’d gotten it to twitch its tail but nothing further. At least he had to try. If it didn’t work they were no further behind than they already were, but if it did work, they would get all the answers they needed. It was worth the risk to him.
    He pushed four candles into the grave dirt, one at each corner. Then he took out a wooden mixing bowl and poured milk into it from one glass vial and honey from another. He mixed them together vigorously in a counterclockwise motion. When it was done, he dug a little hole in the soil in the