The children's hands were bound by their wrists and had been tied to the branches of the tree all around. None of them had eyes, not because it was closed but there were deep hollowness in each of their faces as if the eyes had been scooped out along with the eyelids. They were children who barely looked like they were eight or nine years old. Unable to look at it, she took four steps back before bending down to throw up the bile that had risen in her throat.
Her eyes watered. How could they do this...how could they, thought Belle to herself.
"It is the witches works," she heard Lucas say it behind her. She heard some sounds coming from behind and she guessed that Lucas was pulling down the children who were on the tree.
"This won't stop will it?" Belle asked who already knew the answer to her question.
"The black witches don't have the spells nor people who can perform the opening of the gates. One way to do it is by dying and going to open the gates but the witches are not fully aware of it. Even the people who are in the council don't know how to open the gates," said Lucas to her, taking the children down one after another as carefully as he could. Their bodies were already damaged, "Because of their inability to open it, they have brought in their own code of conduct and ritual."
Belle took a deep breath and turned to look at him, "What kind?"
The children had dried blood that had trickled down their eyes to fall on the cheeks and then on their neck and clothes. The blood didn't look red which meant it had been more than two to three days since they were tortured and hung.
"The kind only the black witches would perform. Unholy and immoral activities and spells. Sacrificing and killing, doing things that would generate energy to pull out and use it to open the gates."
She then asked, "This gates...is it the same as the one which the souls pa.s.s through?"
"No. This one is different. Even the Grims and other reapers are not aware of it," replied Lucas, he stood up. Wiping his hands with the kerchief he carried in his vest, "These gates are hidden. It was created by the white witches which was never spoken of. Killing children, using their organs, the ma.s.sacre of entire villages and using people who are dead and alive; these are the things the black witches indulge themselves in. These children must have been hanging there for more than a week. A ritual of sacrificing innocence who have not been touched."
"Where can we find the list?"
"There's no point now in finding it. The list is almost complete. The last one is creating ma.s.sacre of the newly built towns," the marking they had seen, it was one of the towns, "Like Edith said, the gates will be opened but it might or might not be closed by taking more than the magic that will be received. There is something that needs to be done."
Belle gave him a questioning look. It was unfair for the children to die that had nothing to do with with the witches or the other people who were trying to get the higher power.
"We need to go see what the witches are up to. But for now, let's put these children to their graves," Belle agreed to this. The children needed to rest.
"What about their souls?" asked Belle.
"It's safe. The reapers took them to the land of the dead. They should be fine."
Belle helped Lucas in digging the graves and once they had done it, they placed the bodies in the hollow pit that was pushed back with mud with sticks being placed upright, stuck into the ground.
On their way back, Belle asked him, "Do you think I can turn like you?"
This had Lucas' eyes turn to look at Belle with curiosity, "Do you mean a reaper?"
"No," Belle said not knowing how to bring it in words what she just thought, "I might be one person and my second half is another who lives in the land of the dead. By proper logic I should be a person of both the land of the living as well as the land of the dead, isn't it?"
"Or you can be a person who belongs to neither of the realms," Lucas shot down her hope but he said, "But continue."
"A living person cannot pa.s.s through the land of the dead without being dead but I do. What if I can turn like one of you were the living cannot see me?"
"That is interesting but I doubt you have ever gone invisible in front of the living. If you did, you might be hidden in the eyes of the living but you will only turn that much more visible in the eyes of the reapers. You will need clothes to identify as one of the deads."
"Where do you get them?" Belle asked, making their way back from the heart of the woods to see the corpses of the witches who were still lying in the ground.
"There are no shops or boutiques in the land of the dead, Belle. But," Lucas paused for a moment, his footsteps halting, he said, "There are shops here. You will need to ask one of the tailors to st.i.tch reapers clothes. Hallow is approaching, it shouldn't be suspicious to get yourself a dress of a reaper."
Belle was pleased hearing this but Lucas didn't stop there, "The clothes will belong to this world so you will need to learn how to vanish it along with you. This is only the beginning, Belle," her ability had started to awake and if Belle's theory was right, then she would be the only one who would come to belong to the two realms.
