Bobby the Butcher's Arc

Chapter 6 of 6

Bobby drove out past the edge of town where the pavement turned to gravel. He needed to see the place where this all started. Allan and Melissa's property sat at the end of a dirt road, and Bobby parked near the bakery before walking around back. The trail led through pine trees to a clearing where Melissa had built the wedding arch. Bobby stopped at the edge. The arch still stood, but someone had placed candles around it in a circle, each one carved with symbols that looked like the ones Jessica used in her spells. In the center of the clearing sat a glass sphere the size of a melon, glowing faint blue like Desmond's ring. Next to it, a single flower grew straight out of bare ground, its petals giving off the same eerie light. Bobby recognized it immediately. Desmond had been here. He'd marked this place the same way he'd marked Jessica. Bobby knelt and reached for the sphere. The moment his fingers touched the glass, cold shot up his arm and the clearing went silent. No birds. No wind. The candles flared brighter and the flower's glow pulsed. Bobby jerked his hand back and stood. This wasn't just decoration. Desmond had tied his magic to the spot where Allan and Melissa got married, probably the same day. The town's luck didn't just flow to Desmond's store. It flowed through places he'd claimed first. Bobby pulled out his phone and took three photos of the sphere, the flower, and the candles. He couldn't break Desmond's binding on Jessica by confronting him directly. But if he could prove Desmond was using the town itself as a source of power, maybe he could cut off that source instead. Bobby backed out of the clearing and headed for his truck. He had evidence now. The question was whether anyone would believe magic was real enough to do something about it.