Bridgette still went home every now and then, but did return home a lot less after her father’s disappearance. Mainly it was because she couldn’t deal with the house being so quiet and not having her father to talk to and some of it was because her awkward conversations with her mother and her mother’s occasional crying sessions. She did go home every couple of weeks though to do laundry and sometimes to raid the fridge for some more expensive treats that her mom might have bought. This time, Bridgette went home, knowing her mother was out of town for a short trip with some friends, so she could do all that she wanted to do in peace. As she pulled up, she saw a car on the side of the street and a familiar looking woman walking around from the back of the house to the front with a camera. Bridgette got out of her car and adjusted her jacket and put her hand over her eyes to shield them from the sun. “You know, I definitely thought that when the paparazzi showed up at my house, it’d be because I’m having a fling with a hot movie star who is filming something in Madison, Wisconsin but decided to run away to Edgewood to ‘get away from it all.’” Bridgette looked around before turning back to the woman who she recognized from a bar she was at one night. “Should I be calling the cops or…?”

“You’re not wrong,” Heather admitted, “but may I suggest night vision goggles. Or at least a headlamp. It would be less jarring for the muggles.” She used the Harry Potter word as a joke, and it easily got the point across without keying the other in to how much of the real magical world Heather knew. She had forgone her night vision goggles for tonight’s small task. “But I guess that’s a little less arts and crafts.” 

Heather snorted. “I never promised that.” She wasn’t planning on calling the cops, hoping to take care of this herself if something went south, but it wasn’t out of the question. Graverobbing was still illegal and morally questionable. Heather’s interest piqued at the mention of the spell book. Maybe if she helped Madison retrieve it, she could get a look at some of those spells. “And they just buried her with it? Usually the family would keep the book.” Okay, her playing dumb was over now that there was a spell book on the table. She was now all in as an accomplice for this task. “I already got what I came for, but I’ll take a chance at a spellbook as well.” She pulled out her cellphone and set an alarm for a few minutes before the hour, so that she wouldn’t miss the timing to get another sample of graveyard dirt at midnight.

          “Probably a better option, but I didn’t have time to really plan every detail of this out.” It wasn’t every day that someone needed to think of the tools they might need to go grave robbing. Still, it was probably a good idea to invest in a head lamp. Although she didn’t know what she’d tell Cat if her roommate ever found something like that in her stuff. “Ah, see, I like the arts and crafts. Personally, it’s a touch that makes things a little more unique.” But also it was a major part of her idea of picking the muses as her patron. She did enjoy arts and crafts. 

          Graverobbing wasn’t the best thing to get caught doing in the middle of the night since it was illegal. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t. I wouldn’t want to have to interrupt Cat’s beauty sleep.” Madison chuckled, but was speaking the truth. She began digging again and tried to recall some of the more minor details in her research on this book. Especially when it came to Heather’s next question. “I’m not sure...” She knew some about witches. Not as much as she liked to. “My research wasn’t clear about why it was buried and not kept in the family. This woman might be the last of her family? Do you know what they do in that case?” Madison was curious and it would help expand her knowledge. “Anyway. I think I’ve mostly got the digging done.” She knew better than to snoop and ask what Heather was doing here because she likely wasn’t going to get a response. 

Caterina scoffed at Madison’s comment, but with a sense of humor. “A difference of opinion, I suppose, but, dear Madi, you’ve known me for years now. I’m a little offended you’d insinuate that I’m wrong about something. After all you know I’m always right,” she added with a smirk. With the alcohol coursing through her system, she was much more easily flustered. So, she looked to the side to hide the blush. “Thank you, I know. But it is still nice to hear.”

Despite the inebriation, she could tell they were getting close to home. But she hoped that didn’t mean the conversation would come to a halt when they got inside. “Knowing I’m here only goes so far though, especially if you rarely let me offer any real help. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but I don’t know, it’s difficult for me to ignore how you handle me with some caution and distance now. I don’t like it…” she trailed off letting out a heavy breath. Especially because of how Madison hadn’t left her mind since their last night together in California where they made out and then parted ways.

“I mentioned it in the hospital and they were going to have me undergo some sort of mental health screening, so I dropped it there…I don’t want anyone to think I’m insane, but I can’t convince myself that I’m entirely certain of what I saw.. but I haven’t told anyone else. I’ve started reading into some strange events from the town to try and follow up on, but nothing makes sense…so yeah, tonight’s behavior was a mix of both.” She trailed off until it dawned on her what Madison had said. “Wait - are you saying you believe me? You don’t think I’m insane or anything?”

          Madison closed her eyes, trying not to make a joke. “I guess that is true. However, between the two of us, you most definitely are the bigger snack. And you can’t argue with me because you know I’m right,” the warlock said with a little laugh to prove that she was joking, even though she wasn’t. “You have the best of fashion sense and a great taste in wine. And you’re my best friend in the entire world. I’d do anything for you. All you have to do is ask.” Madison knew that Cat was drunk, so she was hoping that comment wasn’t too weird. 

          She sighed. Madison knew that Cat was right. There were parts of herself that she hadn’t revealed to Cat and she wasn’t sure she would ever reveal them. She was scared to. “I’m sorry. What do you want to know? I can tell you that I’m partially here to look into my family. Apparently they were from here.” Before she’d gotten here, she thought that the reason she’d got her job so easily was because of Cat, but she was sure now that it was a family connection. “It’s part of the reason I ended up here. A small part, I mean. You being here and needing a change too.” 

Dominic laughed. “I think that his job may have been a bit dramatized.” He only took one archaeology class for his social science credit in college, but it seemed like the dirtiness was mostly from digging, not jumping off trains and running from Nazis. He himself didn’t mind getting dirty working on stuff, but in his job the messes were mostly alcohol or people’s puke. “So did you consider being a professor then?” He turned to look at the people in the blow up T-Rex costumes. “So what is the deal with the t-rex costumes? Kids keep wearing them in the club and they’re just clunky.” They had been especially big a few years ago.

          “Oh, for sure. He’s not getting chased by people and I don’t think archeologists are particularly looking for like ancient artifacts like the Holy Grail. But, you know, bones and pottery shards. But still... there’s a lot of dirt involved.” She let out a laugh. “And anyway, I settled on journalism really quickly. I can write about basically anything.” She liked that her job was a mismatch of different subjects. “I mean, I’ve thought about basically everything you could think of. I wasn’t a decisive person growing up. I settled on journalism pretty quickly after taking a bunch of different classes though.” She was curious about him though. “What about you? Did you always know you wanted to run a business?” It seemed like a difficult job. Madison looked at the group of t-rex costumes. “You know I missed the cultural significance of the t-rex costumes.” 

“All year–yeah, I could see that. I wonder if they’re one of those cosplayers?” Even having just spent the past month putting together and collaborating on her and Wyatt’s costumes felt like a bit much. Charlotte couldn’t imagine dedicating a whole year to a fun project like that. “And I’m only four cocktails in,” She added with a mischievous smile. “How about… we go ask them! And then if they give us a weird look, like you said, we’re four glasses of wine in.”

          “Right! I forgot about cosplaying. I guess that’s all year round if you think about it.” If a costume got more than one use, then it was different. She couldn’t imagine putting so much effort into dressing up as a specific character for one day. It’s why she was a fan of costumes from the store. Even if there was a chance she’d see them on other people. She could easily plan with a group and not have to worry about all the details. “Cool. So we both have an equal chance of offending them. Love it. Let’s go.” 

Returning from the bar with a bottle of water, Spencer slipped around people. Luckily with these kind of events he could just pass through people without worrying too much. It was dark enough and everyone was drinking, the chances of someone actually seeing it happen were slim. He stopped beside a column and surveyed the space. Catching a glimpse of Dominic in the crowd made him smile as the person next to him addressed him, snorting at how obvious his ‘costume’ was. Spencer glanced in her direction and then followed her line of vision to spot the person in question. “Huh. I would say a dinosaur. A melted one,” he said and tilted his head to the side with a frown. “What’s your guess?”

          Madison didn’t think that her costume was that original compared to some people. She wasn’t here for the costumes, but for the company and the chance to get out for a bit. She needed to have some fun. Not everything had to always be about work. She was glad to be out though. Bar crawls were fun and it was neat to see a bunch of creative people in one place. Madison was a few glasses of wine in at this point, so she wasn’t thinking about what she was saying. “A melted dinosaur. That’s a new one...” she said tilting her head to the side. “I’m gonna go with half baked alien? I really have no clue. Your guess is probably better.” 

Charlotte’s gaze followed in the direction Madison pointed. She didn’t know what she expected to see, but it certainly wasn’t anything on that level. “Holy shit. It looks familiar,” The witch blurted out, then looked back at Madison as though she might read her mind and pluck out the answer. “Why does it look familiar? And it’s way too complicated to be store-bought, I bet they made that themselves.”

          If someone wanted to go all out fr Halloween, Madison wouldn’t be the one to stop them. She loved to see the different costumes and effort that people put into their costumes. “They must have been planning this like all year or something. Looks good, though.” Madison remembered the day when she planned her costume the day after Halloween. “Kinda sucks that it’s a costume I don’t recognize. Though I am like... four glasses of wine in,” she laughed. 

          Although Madison had left the conversation with Dominic feeling oddly relieved, it was his reluctance to talk about the situation that made her want to not take him up on that eventual offer for help. She remembered his words from that night. He said he’d help, she didn’t want to overstep. Whatever he was comfortable helping her with, she’d be fine with. He’d already given her enough clues and information to go off of anyway. Madi was at least a little bit of an investigator from some of the stories she’d gotten to cover in college. She wasn’t sure how to deal with this though because it was a little more personal. There were lines she needed to be careful about crossing. One of those being trespassing, so hopefully this wasn’t going to far. Madison had driven past the Kingsley house... or manor a few times now. It didn’t look like anyone was home, which was a bummer, so she’d parked and walked up. Confirming no one was home, she looked around the house, camera out. No one seemed to be around until she made her way around to the front of the house and spotted someone. 

          “Okay, I know this looks bad, but I’m not snooping.” 

Dominic enjoyed these type of events where he could spend the whole night grazing in and out of conversations, then head back to his partners when he needed to. All of the discounted alcohol wasn’t too bad either. This year he had managed a decent costume out of stuff he already owned of Indian Jones. Well, the jacket was Spencer’s and he had no clue how he had found the right hat in their stuff, but he was still pretty proud of it and the whip that he had made from some rope. He was moving from a conversation when someone else near to him started up another. With a start, he recognized Madison, his long-lost distant cousin–maybe? “Well I hope mine is fairly recognizable,” he joked in good nature, more because he hoped it pulled it off well than because it was a well-known character. At the mention of witches, Dominic wondered again if Madison had any sort of magic over in her branch of the family. That was something to be brought up once the ties were clearer and they had maybe connected more. “Surely it has to be some sort of alien. I think I’d have to see the reference to know if that makeup job is actually horrible or just spot-on.” He definitely had to give them credit for going all-out.

          Madison thrived in social situations. She liked people: listening and talking. Because everyone had a story to tell and hearing them actually was a part of her job. She didn’t care for the drinking as much. She’d already had a couple of glasses of wine though because it was a bar crawl after all. Her costume wasn’t one of the better ones. An outfit she didn’t really like ripped in a few places with some old Vans, pale looking makeup but dark around the eyes, and a white streak in her hair. She looked like regular Madison that hadn’t gotten enough sleep. She figured that was scary enough. “You are,” she replied with a smile. “Once I thought about being an archeologist. Then I realized you had to get dirty. Teacher Indiana Jones was a much more intriguing job than running through the jungle.” That was the outcome of most of Madison’s previous career ideas. One of the many she thought about when she was growing up, but before she realized that journalism was more her style. She kept the smile on her face. Madison didn’t know much more about Dominic than what they spoke about last time. She had yet to ask Cat what she knew. “You think? At least it’s better than the group of t-rexes in the corner over there,” she laughed, pointing to a small horde of the blow up t-rex costumes. “Points for creativity? I feel like I should know the reference.” 

Heather snorted, unable to hide her disbelief. “Yeah, glow in the dark paint,” she said sarcastically, “Like everyone uses to decorate their crowbars.” She didn’t know a glow spell, but that couldn’t be a difficult one. Luckily, her shield produced a bit of light, as it glowed like many magical things. For tonight, she had a good old fashioned flashlight, and she pulled it out and turned it on, shining it on where Madison had been digging. She walked slowly around to the other side of the dig site, keeping the flashlight trained on Madison and keeping out of reach of the crowbar if she decided to swing it. Heather did not sense any hostility from Madison, but most people caught in the act were at least defensive.

“Same as you; graverobbing,” she said with a smile. The witch was actually not graverobbing, since she needed nothing from the graves, not even their dirt; the spell required graveyard dirt, not grave dirt. So, the main tools she had were just the flashlight, a small trowel, and some plastic tubs to hold the dirt–the katana was for protection in an emergency. Madison, on the other hand, had a full shovel and crowbar, which Heather thought might be for prying open a casket. “So, who are we digging up?” she asked casually. “And what are they?” You could dig up humans, of course, but if Madison had magic then perhaps she was digging up a witch or magical creature for magical reasons. If they proved to be bad reasons, Heather would make sure to interfere.

          “It’d make it easier to see in the dark,” she muttered under her breath. Madi knew that it wasn’t a believable lie. At least having magic wasn’t weird. At least she hadn’t gotten caught by her parents who would have chastised her for using her powers in the first place. Madison didn’t understand why it was so taboo to use why she’d been given. At least she hadn’t used much effort in making the crowbar glow. Light was such an easy spell and useful, even if it was simple. Being able to see in the dark without a flashlight would actually have been more useful when flashlights weren’t automatically put on every cell phone someone bought, however when grave robbing in the middle of the night, it helped to have a free hand. She shrugged. “I like to get creative.” But at least she wasn’t in trouble... yet.  As optimistic as she was that this would pan out, Madison knew that missing with dangerous magic items could potentially end up with her in... well a dangerous situation.

          She looked at the stone, so worn that she’d only managed to find it based on visiting this place in the daytime. “Good. At least you won’t call the cops on me.” That didn’t mean it still wouldn’t happen. She hoped their needs aligned for a little while longer. Madi wasn’t ready to fight and there was probably proof somewhere that she’d been at the cemetery at night. “It’s not who, it’s what. This witch apparently had a relatively comprehensive spell book.” She wasn’t even going to bother lying about what she was doing now. “What were you looking for?” It wasn’t defensive, more curious because maybe Heather would help her, if she promised to help in return. “I could help you look for whatever it is you’re after. Probably.” 

“My dad understood that sometimes you have to be loud.” Beatrice said, thinking back to the different games that Papa would invent to help her work through all her feelings and frustrations. “That’s true. I don’t think I could actually bring myself to do any of those. I wouldn’t have yelled earlier if I’d known you were around.” Which. She’d already said before, but she figured it wouldn’t hurt to say it again.

“Hopefully.” Beatrice said, although she was feeling rather doubtful about that. She also went in the direction she pointed, but moved a little away from Madison, figuring they’d have more luck if they spread out. She still felt bad about taking up her time and figured the quicker they got done the better. “Lots of people call my Bea.” She said, figuring it was only fair to give out her own nickname.

          “Exactly! There are some times that talking normally doesn’t work. You have to get loud.” Madison knew she wasn’t exactly known for being quiet. She liked to speak her mind, even if it did occasionally get her into trouble. “Well, next time you need to yell and I’m around, I don’t think I’d mind all that much. Feel free to let your frustrations out.” She kept the smile on her face. Even if Beatrice didn’t do that, at least the offer still stood. Madison liked hearing other people’s problems because it meant she could focus on them. 

          “That’s a cute nickname,” she commented, turning her attention to the ground, looking for the book. “This thing isn’t some weird book right? Like it can’t walk on it’s own or something? I can’t say I’ve ever heard of that happening before, but I’d like to think that explains why I can never find the hair tie that I sat down on the edge of the sink.” 

“I feel like yelling into a pillow is more socially acceptable than yelling obscenities in the forest, though.” Beatrice said, appreciating the woman’s effort but still totally embarrassed at being caught. “You definitely see the pillow thing happen a lot more in movies, at least.”

“I can understand that.” Beatrice said, knowing how restless she could get. “Um…” Beatrice said, biting her lip as she surveyed the area they were standing in. “I think over there?” She said, pointing. “I’m Beatrice, by the way. I think that if you’re going to be helping me out you should know who you’re helping.”

          “Yelling at all is completely unacceptable in my parent’s book, but that’s... I mean that’s their opinion. Sometimes yelling is helpful.” Madison laughed. She did believe that it helped let out frustrations. “If you’re going to yell out loud outside, it’s best done in the forest instead of the middle of a coffee shop. Imagine yelling a curse word in the middle of a mall? In the movies, everyone stares.” 

          Madi smiled at the introduction and took in the comment. “Maybe it just fell on the ground or something? Hopefully that’s all it is.” She headed in the direction the other pointed in. Chasing a book around wasn’t the worst way to spend an afternoon. This probably would have a better outcome than her other current searches. “Nice to meet you Beatrice. I’m Madison. Or Madi. Whichever one you want to use.” 

Heather was once again beholden to the weird rules of magic, and was consequently found at midnight in a freaking graveyard. Frankly, she didn’t know if magic took into account daylight savings–it didn’t seem to her that it ever would–so she was going to have to stick around the graveyard for another hour to collect another sample of graveyard dirt to make sure she got one at “midnight”. She’d have to update Spencer on her findings. She smiled, thinking about how this could be one of the first mysteries solved in their magic investigations.

She saw a faint glow coming from a few rows over and crouched down to slowly approach, ready to draw her katana. Maybe it was overkill to bring a sword to a simple ingredient collection, but it was still a graveyard at night. She found a tree nearby to hide behind as she watched the other graveyard goer. She recognized the woman pretty quickly as Cat’s friend from the party, but even more interesting was the glowing crowbar. Interesting. So she had magic. Maybe she was also wanting some midnight graveyard dirt. She ducked back behind the tree as Madison looked around, and then approached as the other woman had returned to digging. “Nice crowbar you got there.”

          She really didn’t want to be in a graveyard at night, alone. It was dangerous and her parents were absolutely against dangerous things. Unfortunately, Madison didn’t have a choice. There was a reason she’d come to Edgewood and she absolutely wasn’t giving up her search for more power. Other warlocks were able to gain power over time. Her parents had told her about that at least. Although it was more of a warning than anything else. Those people had to use their powers to get more and her parents didn’t want her to use her powers at all. Madi wanted more though. She wasn’t able to do as much as she wanted to with her powers, even if they were handy at times. Especially when it came to the abilities that helped her in her current work field. So, sure, this was potentially dangerous being alone at night in a graveyard, but Madi didn’t know what else to do. This was one of her first leads. And if all she had to do was read a book for more power, well that was an obvious choice. 

          Madison apparently wasn’t the only person out. After she looked at her surroundings and didn’t see anything. She went back to digging. Her imagination was running wild tonight, she supposed. The warlock figured that’s what she got for reading so many horror books. But then she heard a voice. She dropped the shovel and clutched the crowbar before looking up. Okay, so she hadn’t imagined the noise. “Yeah, glow in the dark paint does wonders,” she replied. Madi had only spoken to Heather once. She didn’t know the other well enough. So it wasn’t glow in the dark paint. That was obvious. It sounded good as a one liner though. 

          “What are you doing here?” 

Trevor wasn’t exactly sure what type of magical being was in front of him right now but she didn’t appear to be vengeful or angry at being interrupted– so that was a start. “Yeah the lights back here are pretty rough. I was about to call it quits and head home myself. I followed the light hoping it was a flashlight or something…” he shrugged, not needing to finish the statement of what he’d found instead.

He nodded along with the other woman as she parroted back his own story back at him, and snorted at her description of the book on the ground before them. “Yeah it’s pretty bright,” he agreed, as they both just stood there looking at it like it was the most normal thing in the world and not a glowing freaking book. Trevor mentally noted that she made no motion to pick it up again. Maybe she was waiting for him to leave. But he couldn’t exactly get out of there easily without tipping his hand that he suspected she had done it, and pissing off a magic user was not how he had planned to end is day. “So do we just… leave it there? Or should we call someone?”

          She eyed the man in front of her. Madi knew to be wary of strange people. She tried to give people the benefit of the doubt, but when it came to magical things she was far more cautious. Besides, not even her best friend knew about her magic, she didn’t want to tell a complete stranger. Didn’t matter who that person was, the warlock should have known better than to use her magic in public. “I thought so too or at least a place that wasn’t so... dark,” she replied with a shrug. Even if it was evident, she was keeping the lie up. 

          Madi looked down at the book. She should have cast it on her pen, but she’d gotten so distracted. What book had she even been looking at? Madi looked down at it, though couldn’t read the title. “I don’t know. I guess we can leave it. I assume it’ll... stop?” She always dispelled light after casting it. Though the spell did have a time limit, the warlock didn’t know it. “Who would we call? I don’t know that the librarians are equipped to handle a glowing book. Is there la person we call about strange stuff? Other than the police.” 

As Trevor rounded the bookshelf he’d expected to see the light caused by a flashlight, or maybe even a lantern, this far back in the shadows, but certainly not a book. The book, which he assumed was otherwise a normal book, was glowing so fluorescently that he immediately flinched back, raising one hand to shield himself as his eyes adjusted. “God, you need sunglasses with that thing,” he blurted out, unsure of what else to say as he blinked away the halo that was now tinging his vision to focus on the woman in front of him. She’d thrown the book on the floor so quickly it was clear she hadn’t wanted to be associated with it, but… Trevor could only assume she’d been the cause of the glow. Even as she protested so convincingly.

He wasn’t a stranger to magic, or at least, he wasn’t a stranger to the existence of magic, but he didn’t want to challenge her version of things, lest he find himself glowing next. “Sure,” he said good naturedly instead, shrugging like that made perfect sense. “That thing was glowing so brightly, you’d notice it anywhere. You must have gotten here a second before me.”

          So it was probably a dumb idea to even use her powers in a public setting. That’s how people ended up seeing things they weren’t supposed to see. That was the kind of thing that her parents warned her against. But Madi wasn’t stupid. She knew how to not get caught doing something. And really what was the point of having powers if she never got to use them? She didn’t agree with her parents anyway and she was an adult. Except she sometimes made careless mistakes. It seemed that most people in Edgewood were used to strange things happening. The town was weird and had it’s quirks, but the residents seemed more into magic than she expected. Honestly, the warlock wanted to find more power and get on with life. She didn’t want to use it unless she needed to, but it was difficult finding the information that she wanted and she was growing frustrated.

          Obviously, she was lying. She wasn’t a great liar. This person was a stranger however. Even if Madi didn’t agree with her parents, strangers didn’t need to know about her magical powers. “Yeah, I was curious. So I investigated. You’d think they’d just fix the lights instead.” She laughed nervously, as if charming a book to light up when someone walked by was a normal thing. “It’s like the lights in the frozen food section at Target.” 

          “Crap,” she muttered, walking forward to the place where apparently the book was. She looked around once more to make sure she was alone and when she was satisfied that she was, Madi began to dig.