Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 95475 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95475 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
It was spreading. Faster than yesterday. And nobody noticed except him.
A fortune teller’s table outside a souvenir shop caught his attention. She was staring at her own reflection in a small vanity mirror, head tilted, confused. Her lips moved in the reflection, saying words her actual mouth wasn’t forming. She touched her face, checking to make sure she was real.
Bastien kept walking. He couldn’t stop to explain. Couldn’t reveal what he knew to civilians who wouldn’t understand the danger they were in.
A street musician sat on a corner playing violin, case open for tips. His reflection in the shop window behind him moved differently—bow strokes that didn’t match the actual music, fingers pressing strings that produced no sound. The reflection was playing a different song entirely, though Bastien couldn’t hear what it might be.
A mime performing near Jackson Square froze mid-gesture when he caught sight of his reflection in a nearby window. His painted face went pale beneath the makeup. He packed up his props and left without finishing his act.
They were starting to notice. The corruption was becoming obvious enough that ordinary people could detect it, even if they didn’t understand what they were seeing.
Maman Brigitte’s shop occupied a building whose facade had weathered two centuries without major change. Brick darkened by time and humidity, shutters painted green for protection, windows that showed carefully curated displays of spiritual merchandise. The kind of establishment that served tourists during business hours and serious practitioners after dark.
Wards inscribed into the doorframe pulsed faint blue as Bastien approached, recognizing him, allowing passage. He crossed the threshold and felt the temperature shift—ten degrees cooler inside, the air cleaner, pressure dropping like stepping into a church or a tomb. Sacred space maintained through constant effort.
The interior smelled of sage and frankincense, of herbs hung to dry in corners and oil lamps that burned without smoke. Shelves lined the walls floor to ceiling, filled with jars and bottles and bundles wrapped in cloth. Ritual implements hung from hooks—blades and chalices and mirrors of varying sizes. Books stacked on tables, their spines cracked from use, pages marked with dozens of bookmarks.
Light filtered through colored glass bottles on the windowsills, casting patches of red and blue and green across the floor. Candles burned in holders that had been forged specifically for this space, their flames steady despite the draft from the door.
Maman emerged from the back room, reading glasses perched on her nose, carrying a mug of coffee that smelled strong enough to strip varnish.
“Mon cœur,” she said, taking in his appearance with one assessing look. “You look like you haven’t slept. Coffee or something stronger?”
“Coffee’s fine.”
She poured from a carafe that sat warming on a hot plate, handed him the mug. Her fingers were warm against his when she released it. “Sit. You got that look means you found something you wish you hadn’t.”
Bastien sat at her work table—a massive slab of cypress wood scarred by decades of ritual work. Burn marks from candles that had tipped over. Knife scores from ingredients that had been prepared directly on its surface. Stains from oils and blood and liquids whose origins he’d never asked about. The table had witnessed more magic than most practitioners performed in a lifetime. He spread his sketches across the surface, arranging them in order. Vault entrance to altar, progression laid out clear.
Maman settled into the chair across from him and pulled her reading glasses down from where they’d been pushed up into her hair. She studied the first sketch in silence, then the second, then the third. Taking her time. She never rushed to conclusions.
Her expression shifted as she worked through the pages. Recognition first, then concern, then something harder to name. Understanding, maybe. Or resignation.
“Where did you find these?” she asked finally.
“Beneath a courtyard on Rue Chartres. Sealed vault. Partially flooded, lined with sacred glass.”
“How’d you know to look there?”
“I was led there.” He didn’t mention Gideon’s name. Maman would figure it out on her own, and some details he kept close even with people he trusted. “Someone wants me to see what’s down there.”
Maman set down the sketch showing the circular mirror arrangement and looked at him over her glasses. “Seven mirrors. Sacred glass. All of them holding echo imprints from Charlotte’s confessions.”
She pulled her chair closer and studied the drawings without touching them. Smart. Some things carried resonance even on paper.
“The mirrors were arranged in a circle,” Bastien said. “Seven of them. Each one warped differently, but the pattern’s intentional. Amplification, not just storage.”
Maman traced the air above the altar sketch, careful not to make contact until her spell was complete. “How deep was the water?”
“Ankle height. Smelled like the river.”
“Old water, then. Been sitting since they sealed it.” She lifted the sketch showing the celestial and mortal glyphs, held it closer to the lamp on her table. Her finger hovered over the overlapping marks. “These marks overlap on purpose, mon cœur. Someone was binding heaven and earth in the same working.”