….

The cafe was just a few doors down from the antiques store. Lee would often go there during study breaks or to grab some coffee with their dad. Sometimes they even had live music during the weekends. They would be lying if they said they didn't frequent it so often because it had pride flags up year round inside. It was nice to have a space where you knew no one would look at you weird and Lee had definitely gone through a few names before they had settled on “Lee” and hearing the baristas call the names out did help them pick out which one felt right. That and the fact that it had a mainly queer staff and clientele, at least Lee did not directly ask but assumed, made the place feel safe. I’Ksha was already sitting at one of the tables and waved over at Lee when they entered. She was wearing a familiar black winter coat, her braids partially hidden under a beanie. They waved back and paused to order a hot coco at the counter. 

Alice scowled over Lee’s shoulder the whole time. She had blown up 15 minutes ago when in Lee’s room they had explained that they were going to meet up with I’ksha to talk about the papers. She had even at one point refused to go but as Lee was walking through the front door of the shop she appeared reluctantly ready to go. Lee realized as they walked to I’Ksha’s table, coco in hand, that Lee had never taken Alice to this place. She was darting around looking at all of the art on the walls. She turned back around to look at Lee and scoffed when she saw her friend looking over at her. Lee rolled their eyes at her and sat down.

“Hey” they said. Nice good place to start. They hoped that their blush looked like it was from walking in from the snowy cold outside. 

“Hey, good to see you,” I’Ksha smiled at them. “ I was worried about you at school. I'm glad you're ok.”

“ Yeah counselors said I should stay home.” Lee played with their cup blowing into the little hole in the top of it. 

I’Ksha smiled back. “Well I've got good news and bad news about the papers” Lee’s shoulders slumped. She pulled out her coffin shaped backpack and dug around for a moment, pulling out a couple of xerox pages. They were done at odd angles, some of the letters cut off at the edges. “ Technically, I'm not supposed to have these.” she warned before handing them over. 

Lee looked back at her wide eyed. “How did you get them?”

I’Ksha took a sip of her iced coffee. “So, technically we are not supposed to make copies of police reports. Whether they are old or an ongoing investigation. I went ahead and called my boss Saturday and she said that one of the other librarians  could let me in. So one of them did, they told me I very specifically can not make copies..”

“Why were you let in there in the first place?”

“They are open for public viewing, you just usually have to request it in advance, but being a library assistant and my boss’ favorite kind of let me skip that. I said something about wanting to look into something that happened a while back for school and that I had forgotten about it being due earlier this week. Surprisingly librarians here are VERY lenient with records.” she tapped the edge of the papers in Lee’s hands.'' Anyway, she left me alone down there because she had to use the restroom and I snooped and copied all of the pages I could about the case you were looking at. Let’s just say, we lucked out on getting this many pages and we will not be able to pull this bs again.”

Lee was staring wide eyed at I’Ksha. This was big. “A-are you sure this is ok? I mean aren't you going to get in trouble if they find out?”

I’Ksha shrugged. “I mean probably but, I don't see that happening. Like I said, they're pretty relaxed about this kind of stuff. If they didn't want copies to be made then they shouldnt keep a copy machine down there.” She paused and looked down into her coffee, “ To be honest if they do fire me it isn't the end of the world. I like the job but it's not like I'm planning on doing it forever.” She swirled some of the whipped cream into her coffee.

“Still…” Lee trailed. They didn't like the idea of anyone losing their job over them. I’Ksha didn't need to be sticking her neck out for Lee. They shifted in their seat and looked down at the papers. They were both a bit blurry so reading them took a moment. One was an official statement from the coroner detailing bodily marks, the other was a photo and description of the scene. From what Lee could tell everything looked like most of what they knew. “Ah shit.”

“What’s wrong?” I’Ksha perked up.

“It’s the same shit over and over.” Lee handed the papers back to I’Ksha. She began to read over them. “There really is nothing to go off of.” Well that was that. The first ghost that Lee couldn't get to move on and it was their dead best friend who, at this moment, was staring daggers at their table mate from across the cafe. Lee’s throat tightened. Would it really be so bad if Alice stayed around? Why did the idea of that make them anxious? 

“Well there is one thing” I’Ksha slid the paper detailing the scene over and pointed near the bottom of the page. “Truck tracks matching Toyneeta brand tires. They also had chains on their car.” Lee snatched the paper up and looked at the report. She was right. Toyneeta tire pattern, spacing equal to that of a truck, and ladder chains all etched into the snow, leading out of the woods into a major road and blurring into all the other tracks.. 

“Holy shit.” Lee whispered.

“ You know this makes sense why they questioned that one guy from two towns over, he must have been in town and had a truck or something.” I’Ksha drained the rest of her coffee. “Actually all of those people they mentioned that they questioned but released may have just been truck owners.”

Holy shit she was right. Lee dug in their bag and pulled out their books, opening their notebook and writing the information down. As they were placing the xerox pages into their notebook I’Ksha pulled the  leather journal from the pile. Lee had forgotten they had put it in their bag. They didnt want to leave it around and have their dad find it. They tried to grab it before she could open it but failed as she opened the book to the ritual from Saturday night. She began to flip through the book.

“Uh, can I have that back please?” Lee asked hand outstretched to take the book back.

I’Ksha gave an embarrassed smile. “ uh, yeah i'm so sorry.'' She carefully handed the book back to Lee. She looked down at her cup as her fingers played with the condensation that had formed on its sides. “ That’s an interesting book.” she said.

Lee held the book close to them under the table. “ It was my mom’s.”

I’Ksha gave them a soft smile. “How long did she practice?”

“What?” Lee stared blankly back at her. 

“Her Practice?” When Lee did not respond she continued. “I don't mean to offend or anything, I just know a bit about this stuff and it looks a bit like she practiced something.”

Lee narrowed their eyes. “What do you mean by practice?”

I’Ksha held up a finger and dove back into her bag, pulling out a black journal with a golden crescent moon painted on the front and handed it to Lee. “ You can open it, I don't mind. I looked into yours without asking so it feels only fair.” 

Inside the book were pages of handwritten paragraphs similar to the  journal Lee’s mother had kept. Drawings of plants, herbs and other doodles dotted the margins of the pages. “I feel a little silly saying it out loud sometimes but there are a lot of similarities right? That is my grimoire. By practice I mean paganism. I can't speak for whoever had that journal but I myself am a wiccan.”

“Wait” Lee held their hands up. “Are you saying my mother was a witch?”

“No,” I’Ksha responded. “ but I am saying she was a little witchy.”

Lee hadn't planned on staying in the cafe long and after the realization that they had been holding their mother’s grimoire settled in they stood up to leave too fast. Their heart was beating quickly and the world tilted. They swayed and grabbed onto their chair as black specks danced into their vision from the side. I’Ksha stood up and helped to guide them into their chair.

“Are you ok? You look like you're going to pass out” her brows were knitted together and Lee tried to focus back on her. It made sense. The symbols, the drawings, the recipes. Those were runes, herbs and ingredients, and spells. Small memories finally made sense. Their mom burying pennies in the flowerbed of her herb garden to make it thrive. How she made her own tea and ‘special blends’ for her husband and for Lee. Jars of water always placed outside on the fire escape when the full moon was out. Their mother showed them all of these things like she had been teaching them. Lee had thought those were all just little odd things that their mother did, but now, they could see in another light that they were ‘witchy’. 

“Im ok,” Lee shook their head, it swayed back and forth until they coaxed it down onto the cool table to steady themself. These things, everything their mother was doing, it was real. It was real because when they said that..spell… things happened. Lee lifted their head and grabbed the book, opening it to the first page, the page from that night. “ Do you know what this means?” 

I’Ksha looked over the page. “ I can't read it but it looks like a spell. Do you know what it says?”

Lee opened their spiral to the back and pulled out the page. They had translated it to english so they could better read it back for reference. “ It’s in Spanish, most of it, but there is this bit,” Lee pointed to the incantation, “that I can't read.”

I’ksha looked at the paper and then back to Lee. “And you didn't try to use a translator app?”

Lee stared blankly at I’Ksha. They felt warmth spread from their cheeks to their ears.”That… that is a fair point.” I’Ksha smiled and pulled out her phone. The typed a bit on the screen and then held out a translation provided by the search engine. 

Oh spirit who lies in the forest, in the lake and in the earth, I ask for your protection.Incline, please, your ear calling to me.

Lee looked it over a couple of times.”What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” it didn't look good. Why had they not thought to look up what the words were?

I’Ksha returned her phone to her pocket and grabbed at her empty cup tapping it with her manicured nails. “ I think that it is calling out to a specific entity, asking for protection. The last line is a little garbled but I'm pretty sure that it is asking for the entity to hear and respond to them.” I’ksha looked down at her book and traced the crescent on the cover. “ did you do this spell. 

Lee knew they looked guilty. They pushed away the hot coco and looked down at their hands.”Yes.” they choked. How do I tell her about the thing I saw? Will she think I'm lying? Will she want me to do the spell again? He had said that he wouldn't be as kind the next time I called on him. Has she ever seen anything like this? Would she even believe me?

I’ksha sighed and looked back at the spell written in english. She seemed to be looking closely at it and then opened her own book. The turned through the pages quickly skimming them until she set the book in front of Lee. they looked down at the book, it had illustrations of handbells around the title. ‘Bell Spells’. “ If you did this, you definitely called something to you.” I’Ksha looked nervous.

“Isn't that a good thing? That means T called this guy right, The One in the-”

“ i wouldn't say their title if you don't know exactly who or what they are.” i’Ksha’s normal soft expression had been replaced with hard lines. “ You also don't know if it was them, right? Do you know who they are?” Lee shook their head. “ So it could be anything. Did anything odd happen?”

Lee swallowed down hard. “Has anything weird ever happened to you?” they asked.

Iksha thought for a moment. “ i've had things go missing. Things i've never found again. Ive seen some things out of the corner of my eye. But mainly I have felt things or been pulled to walk places or do things. I'm never forced to but it feels like something in my gut tells me where to go or what to do.”

Lee had felt it too. The night that they did the spell they had felt something warm and strong pulling them back to the closet, to the box, to the book, to the page and then to… him. Lee looked down at their hands. They had been pulling at the space between their finger and thumb on their right hand and it was red and swollen. “I've felt that” they admitted. “The night that I did the spell, that's why.” 

They expected to be scolded. She clearly knew enough about this stuff to know that what Lee had done was foolish. They expected her to yell, to chastise, to say how they could have been so stupid. They closed their eyes and waited for it, pulling at their hand. They felt warmth glide over their fingers and opened their eyes to see I’Ksha’s hand rested atop theirs. They looked up at her and where they had expected an expression of anger on her face, she instead looked gentle and worried, her soft lines returning to her face. “ It’s ok, I understand.” she looked down again and pursed her lips. Lee tried not to think about how she hadn't removed her hand from theirs yet. 

Finally he pulled away and Lee’s heart remembered how to beat. She closed her book and placed it back into her bag and shifted in her seat. Lee’s shoulder’s drooped as they realized she was going to leave. “Is it ok if you come with me?” she asked, standing up. 

Lee looked up shocked. “Uh, yeah, where are we going?”

“ I may know someone who has some answers about what’s in that book.” she smiled down at lee tilting her head towards the door. Lee stood up to follow. It didnt occur to them until they were at the door to try and find alice to see if she wanted to follow. When they turned around they saw her, standing beside the table they had been at, her arms crossed and a sour expression on her face. Lee raised their eyes as to say ‘ you coming?’. Alice made a show of stomping her feet and huffing as she followed far behind Lee and i’ksha.