Madam Sutherland's Arc

Chapter 1 of 3

Madam Sutherland pressed her finger against the yellowed page, tracing symbols she'd drawn decades ago. The ancient grimoire lay open on her workbench, its binding cracked and worn from years of study. She needed to decode the original curse—the one she'd spoken wrong-right. The one that turned Deadville's dead into walking corpses. Her hands shook as she compared the text to her notes. Every symbol mattered. Every word held weight. She would undo what she'd broken, even if it took the rest of her life. The attic room where she worked felt too small now. Papers covered every surface. Bottles lined the shelves. Bats fluttered outside the grimy windows, their wings scraping against the glass. She needed more space. More privacy. Somewhere the undead wouldn't wander past her door while she worked. The old house on the edge of town would serve her purpose. Dark. Quiet. Far from prying eyes. She gathered the grimoire and her most important notes. The eerie building waited for her, its windows black and empty. Bats circled the peaked roof in the fading light. She pushed through the creaking door and stepped inside. Dust covered the floorboards. Cobwebs hung in the corners. But the main room was large enough for her research. She set the grimoire on a sturdy table near the center. This house would hold her secrets. Here, she would break the curse she'd created. Here, she would restore the line between life and death. But solving decades of wrong-right magic required more than memory. She needed information about old curses—the kind spoken before her time. The kind that might hold clues to reversing her own. Madam Sutherland left the creepy house and walked into town. In the square, she found what she needed. A black gothic table stood waiting, its surface carved with patterns that suited her purpose. Candles flickered around a cauldron at its center. She placed a note on the table, requesting any knowledge of ancient curses. The townspeople would see it. Some might help. She tucked her hood lower and returned to her new workspace, where the grimoire waited and the real work would begin.