Chapter ONE - Weebly

had never seen someone who had been murdered.
That … that wasn’t true. I should have told you earlier,
but I wasn’t…” He shook his head. “There was another
child who died. It was some time ago now, on Pope’s
Day of last year. And I thought at the time that he
couldn’t have died the way people said he did. I asked
you about your conjurings because as I told you
already, I have speller blood in me, too. I’ve forsworn
witchery for the Lord, but if ever I see another child
killed this way…” He shook his head and swallowed. “I
need to know how to do what you did today. I need to
know how to determine whether spells have been used
to kill.”
Ethan stared at the man, not sure where to begin.
He had so many questions he wanted to ask, not least
among them, whether the minister had mentioned any of
this to Troutbeck or Caner, or, for that matter, to
Ethan’s sister.
“How do you even know about this?” Ethan finally
asked. “Was he taken down to the crypts as well?”
“Hardly,” the man said, a note of bitterness in his
voice. “He died near the chapel and was carried there