I walked past him. “We were talking.”
“Well, we’ve been waiting.” He made an attempt to sound casual, but failed miserably. “Alara found something and she wants to show all of us at the same time.”
Alara was sitting on the grass with the journals spread out in front of her.
“So what have you got?” Priest asked.
“Take a look.” She opened Jared’s journal to a page covered in rows of letters with blank spaces between them.
Jared sighed. “That’s been there forever. It’s an old encryption technique. You leave out every other letter in each word. But it’s not easy to crack because the words aren’t separated, so the pattern’s hard to figure out. Lukas already tried.”
“What if we don’t need to identify the pattern?” The hint of a smile played on Alara’s lips.
Priest leaned over the page. “There’s no other way to decipher it.”
She held up one of the disks from the magic shop. “That’s what I thought. But you said the colored glass could reveal different layers of the infrared spectrum. So I ran them both over different pages in our journals on the off chance one of them might pick up something.”
Alara ran the green glass over the page, and one by one the missing letters appeared. They were still strung together with no breaks, but the letters were all there. She held up the disk between her fingers. “Turns out, it’s this one.”
Lukas’ jaw dropped. “Get me some paper.”
Alara dictated the letters while Lukas transcribed them. Within minutes, the page was covered and his pen still hadn’t stopped moving.
“What does it say?” Priest leaned over Lukas’ shoulder, the Beastie Boys’ “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” blasting from his headphones. He nodded in time with the beat as Lukas slashed lines between the letters to separate the words.
When he finished, Lukas turned the journal around. “Take a look.”
derek / lockhart
the piece is hidden where most will never dare to look / in the hands of its guardian who most will never pass but if you are reading this the task remains the same remember the lessons from others who have tried to steal from the dead no one will ever get it out of hearts of mercy may the black dove always carry you
Alara added a few more packets of sugar to her coffee. “That’s encouraging.”
“Ever heard of Hearts of Mercy?” Priest asked.
Lukas took out his cell and started typing. “It has to be a place.”
Alara picked at her silver nail polish. “You sure about that?”
“All the other clues referred to places,” he said. “I’ve already got some hits.”
I wasn’t listening anymore. I couldn’t stop thinking about the part of the message none of them were talking about.
Remember the lessons from others who have tried to steal from the dead. No one will ever get it out of Hearts of Mercy.
“The family of five was discovered late last night after a neighbor reported gunshots.” The newscaster’s voice crackled over the van’s radio. “This is the third multiple homicide in western Montgomery County in the last two weeks. In an official statement this morning, Police Chief Montano stated that this level of violence is unprecedented. Frightened citizens are looking for answers.”
It was the second report chronicling an incident of violent crime in less than an hour.
Lukas turned off the radio. “Either we’re getting closer to the Marrow, or a crapload of criminals all decided to move to the same area.”
Jared guided the van along the narrow back roads that twisted through the woods. “I just hope you’re right about where we’re going.”
“The children’s home is the only Hearts of Mercy within two hundred miles,” Lukas said. “And judging from what happened in that place, the disk will be there.”
Priest dumped out the bag from the sporting goods store and a pile of guns clattered onto the floor. “Don’t worry. I’ve got us covered.”
“Someone sold you those?” I asked. Priest didn’t look old enough to buy a lottery ticket.
“Paintball guns.” He held up a black military-style model. “Close range with a laser sight.” Priest opened a package of gray plastic balls. “I’m going to fill the cases with holy water and agrimony instead of paint.”
Alara examined one of the cases. “Not unless you grabbed a jar of agrimony from the warehouse.”
“Is there anything else we can use?”
She picked up a silver double-barreled pistol that matched her nail polish. “Rock salt and cloves should do the trick. They both repel spirits.”
Priest leaned over the front seat. “Can you find a market and a hardware store? I still need a caulking gun, fireplace lighters, and hair spray. You know, the basics.”
“Planning a little home improvement?” Alara teased.
Priest started sketching a weapon design on a sheet of paper. “Something like that.”