I thought being stuck in the car when Song had dragged us around was the worst car ride of my life. I was wrong.

The atmosphere inside the cab was suffocating and I wanted to scream. It wasn’t my training that kept angry tears from falling, for I was too jostled to reach my inner spark. Pure stubborn pride kept my eyes dry, but it only made my angrier that I even wanted to cry.

It only took about twelve minutes to drive to the old town library from Song’s restaurant. Rossberg County Library was a large building, sorta squat but with tall roofs almost like a church.

We parked on the other side of the lot from Espy’s car and Evan killed the engine with a sigh.

“Seth--”

I left the car, speed walking to the building. Maybe I was the worst partner on planet Earth, but I couldn’t hear about it anymore today. Behind me I heard the door open and then Evan walking, but I didn’t turn to look.

Beni was waiting just outside the doors, fiddling with the end of her long copper braid. Hey eyes ping-ponged between us.

“There you are.” She sounded relieved. “Auntie said something was wrong, are you guys okay?”

I shrugged.

“We’ll tell you inside,” Evan answered when it became clear I wasn’t going to say anything.

“Okayyyyy.” Beni swirled around, taking the lead. “We’re in a research room this way.”

She led us to a small room on the main floor where Espy was typing notes into her computer. Esperanza sat at the head of a long table surrounded by comfy chairs. There was a flatscreen on the wall behind her. When Beni led us in, Espy glanced up and sighed in relief.

“Thank Josh you’re alright,” she said. “The Spirit moved through me and I knew something had happened.”

We each pulled out chairs. I sat by Evan because it would have looked too strange if I hadn’t.

“We were delayed,” Evan began, “by some kind of powerful magician.”

He explained what Song had done to us, and the conversation after. By the time he was done, Beni’s eyebrows were nearly in her hairline. Even Espy allowed her lips to press into a grim line.

“Lemme just get this straight,” Beni said. “She just reached out and grabbed you? She didn’t have a personal focus from either of you?”

“I don’t see how,” Evan replied. “Neither of us has been here before.”

“From what I know of magic,” Espy said, “that’s nearly impossible unless she has dedicated the entire town to her ritual space.”

“She said her family had been here for years,” Evan said. “So that seems possible.”

“Which means she could cast on us while we’re anywhere in town,” Beni said darkly.

“A significant complication,” mused Espy. “There are hymns and psalms knights used in the past to dispel magic. We’ll have to look them up.”

“The Songs of Simeon.” I spoke up for the first time. “I have a copy at the safehouse. It was my mother’s.”

“Of course,” Espy said. “Sera was a Simon. I should have remembered.”

Beni asked, “Do you remember any of them?”

I hesitated, then said, “Nothing that would protect us from Song.”

Several passages had helped me sleep as a child whenever I’d had nightmares, but that was nobody’s business. The parts about evil spells were by far the minority of the chapters, and I couldn’t remember much about them.

“We’ll have to take a look at it later, if you don’t mind,” said Espy. “For now, let’s finalize our plans.”

“What have you ladies discovered,” Evan asked.

“Not as much as we wanted,” Beni replied. “There is a definitely-not-suspicious lack of old records in the town history section, but knowing about Song puts some things in perspective.”

“Rossberg was officially founded in summer 1885,” Espy began, “but it had existed as a mining camp and railroad stop for some years before that. All areas with those industries relied heavily on Chinese immigrants back then, which explains the town’s large Chinese American population.” She clacked some keys and an old newspaper clipping appeared on the screen behind her: FIRE IN CHINATOWN. “Now, in winter ‘84 a huge fire broke out in the Chinese camp. Hundreds of people died. The survivors appealed to their white neighbors for aid, but none was forthcoming.”

“There were even accusations the fire was set deliberately,” Beni put in.

“By all accounts, it was a hard winter for everyone in the area,” continued Espy. “Disease ravaged the white encampment, killing nearly as many people as the fire had. Desperation drove months of hostility and feuding until it seemed like open violence would break out. A man named Aaron Ross supposedly brokered peace, making each side see that they needed each other to survive the winter. Thus, Rossberg was born. The town was officially recognized in the summer, which the town celebrates to this day.”

“The founding festival,” I said. They all turned to look at me. “My nurse Cami mentioned it while I was getting my blood drawn. Apparently it’s a big deal. Like, social shaming if you don’t go.”

Beni and Espy shared a look.

“The murders always happen around the festival, I presume?” Evan said.

“I should have seen it before,” Espy said. “The dates change because the festival is always the third weekend in July, and the bodies turn up a few days later.”

“The festival is tomorrow night,” I said. “We’ve only got a day plus for Beni and I to attract the ‘right’ kind of attention, and we still don’t know who they are.”

“Song knows who they are,” Evan pointed out. “That must mean there are others who know the secret, too.”

“If they know, why don’t they try to stop it?” I asked.

“Two deaths every decade,” said Beni. “I imagine, compared to the death toll leeches usually leave, that would be an acceptable loss to almost any leader.”

...Leader. I remembered the other thing I’d learned from Cami.

“The sheriff,” I said. “He’s a Ross. That must be why he was so weird this morning. He knows something.”

Esperanza’s fingers were already flying across the keys. “Looks like a Ross has held a position of power, either on town council if not the mayor, for most of the city’s history. The last few decades, as the American tendency to over-fund the police department has risen, the Rosses started running for sheriff instead.”

“So our only leads are an extremely powerful sorceress or a gun-toting conspiracist?” Beni rolled her eyes. “That sounds great for us.”

“Not our only lead,” said Espy. “You two might still discover something at the college. That place seems to be at the common denominator concerning the victims. Speaking of, Evan why don’t you take them that way for the tour.”

Something about the way she said it made him ask, “And what will you be doing?”

“I think I’m going to pay a visit to Mrs. Song.”

All three of us began protesting at once.

“Esperanza--”

“No, Auntie--”

“Espy, not alone--”

But the Magda only smiled and held up a hand. “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be just fine. See to the mission, Young John.”

Evan sighed. “Yes, Sister Magda.”