Spell  for the day :

Knot of nine, his heart is mine. Lavender's blue, rosemary's green; she will be loved as soon as seen.

The spell that might open one's eyes to how wonderful a person can be.

Image above is our hero  😍

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**Lilia's POV **

I was shocked after hearing this. Someone is coming after blood. For all we know they could come after us next. Oh, how much worse could things get.

Who could be killing for blood and why?

I see Em also looking confused and scared.

Wait... Was that creature Iddy saw actually drinking blood??

"Iddy," I turn to look at her only to see she was lost somewhere.

"We gotta go, I think they are coming," Ingrid says out of nowhere.

I suddenly hear the sound of footsteps approaching and we immediately run the opposite way and go hide in the nearest room.

It smells like death and decay here and a lot of disinfectant. I look around to see that there were a few bodies kept here. Both animals and humans. Like they were here for examining them.

"Oh god. That stench!" Em says, covering her nose. 

"Shzz, keep your voice down. We don't want them to hear us." Iddy says pointing towards the door.

"Why even is the animal carcass here?" Em asks in a whisper.

"Remember how they said the animal was drained of its blood. Maybe they were examining it." I say and watch as Ingrid walks closer to the bodies.

Oh god, I think I just lost my appetite after looking at these bodies.

They look like they were ripped open but not a part was missing. The flesh was laid out, the eyes of the deer still open and soulless. I pity the deer who had to go through all this.

I avert my eyes, unable to take any more of it. Unfortunately, it falls on the human bodies which were on the other side. They somehow look perfectly intact. I walk closer and see that the bodies look pale and there isn't a single cut on the body. I put on gloves that were nearby and examine for any cuts. I  mean how did he die? If he was drained of blood why isn't there any cut?

I touch his arm and it was ice cold.

"Lili, what are you doing?" Em whispers coming close.

"Nothing, just wondering how he died."

Iddy also leaves the animal carcass alone and joins our table.

"How did he die?" Ingrid asks curiously.

"Same doubt sis!"

We were looking for the source of his death  when Iddy suddenly exclaims

"Look!!"

"What?" I ask, wondering what did she spot.

"Here, I saw the same mark on that animal," she says pointing towards a small mark near the neck on the other side. It had two bite marks. It looked like a snake bite but just a whole lot bigger and deeper. And this literally was the only place on his whole body that was red and had blood.

"Where did they find this body?" I ask wondering if he was from Oakdale.

"Only one way to find out," Iddy asks.

"Yeah, I'll check my mom's study and see if they have anything."

"Okay, shall we also come?"

"No, I think it would be suspicious if she spots all of us," Em says, and goes around exploring. 

" Umm guys... I think we should go before someone comes here. " I say quietly.

"Yeah, let's discuss on the way," Ingrid says.

We slowly go out from the back door trying to avoid attention. When a guy accidentally bumps into Ingrid.

"Oh, I've been looking everywhere for you. Here you forgot this," he says handing her a piece of paper.

And walks away just the way he came.

"What was that?" I ask.

"Will tell on the way," she says and walks past me.

Suddenly I was pulled away by somebody. I instinctively grab the closest thing to me which was Ingrid's hand. I was gonna yell but my mouth was closed.

"Shzz, it's me," Em says whispering near my ear.

"Geez, you scared the crap out of me."

"What the hell, LILI" Ingrid whisper yells.

"Guys, look." she says pointing to a door that read AUTHORISED PERSONNEL ONLY.

I see Em's mother and the Mayor walking in along with Jake's mom, the doctor. What are they up to now. Whenever they are together,  they are always discussing things that are somehow again interlinked to us.

What if, they also have a secret circle like we do?

"Guys there is a washroom right next door. Maybe we can listen through it like how we can at school?" Em says and we somehow get convinced and join in this stupid plan.

We go by the washroom and make our way towards the last stall, the walls were quite thick compared to the ones at school.

" I can't hear a thing from here," Em says dejectedly.

" Shzz, wait, I can. Keep quiet " Iddy shushes us and presses her ear to the wall.

I try the same and it was quite faint but evident.

We let Iddy listen and tell us. After some painful positions, she finally decides an angle from where she can hear.

"Oh, no!!" says Iddy and her face morphed into a shocked and scared one.

"What what what??" Em asks.

Maybe fate wanted to test us today, because want I heard next scared me.

"Looks like the bodies we saw were all found very close to Oakdale, in fact, they were all within 15 KMS RADIUS from Oakdale." she says in a shocked tone.

It was too much to process. Those bodies were found dead so close to Oakdale what if it was us next. We were all lost in our thoughts and never realize when we make it outside. I turn to look at Ingrid, wondering how could she even hear when we couldn't?

" What? " asks Ingrid.

" How could you hear all that and who was that guy?" I ask.

"Well.. ."

"Yeah ??" Em says.

"My eyes turn red and I know it," she says in a creepy confident way. 

Oh, fish and here I thought she was seeing that guy or something. Definitely not this.

Em gasps.

"Yeah and I think I know why too..."

Okay, I  already had too much to take in. What could it be now??

"And what is it?" I ask unable to contain the anxiousness.

" I guess I'm not normal. I'm - - I'm a wi--umm witch." she says.

Okay, I definitely didn't know this.

"I know something wasn't right, but I don't think you are a witch." Em says and I hope she is right.

"I am and I almost half-burned my room last night."

"You what??" I ask yelling at her.

" Well... I didn't know either," she says turning to brush past it.

Em runs behind her and I slow down lost in my thoughts.

I tune out their conversation once I reach the car and when we reach home, I see the light still on at the outhouse, indicating our guest or might I say the beast is still here.

I had a lot to process. If Ingrid was a witch, was I also one??

AUTHORS' NOTE :

Okay, I tried to keep this chapter as interesting as possible. What do you think of this??

What do you think would happen next? Who do you think is the person who stole the blood?

Hit the star and drop a comment.

Until the next update,

Lots of love
       ~Vaishnavi.