The two men were startled by the noise ringing around the cavern.
"Is that... is that a telephone?" Lestrade backed away from the door.
John circled around the edge of the tomb, coming to stop in front of a small crevice in the wall. Candles sat upon it along with more chains and half-burnt leaves. A sleek black phone sat proudly next to a candle, its screen brightly lit with the words:
Bart's Morgue Girl.
The doctor snatched it up from the dusty rock, pressed the green button and held the phone against his ear.
"Hello?"
"Err, Hi Sherlock, its Molly," came the timid girl's voice.
"It's John, not Sherlock," he told her, signalling to Lestrade over the altar. The detective inspector jogged to him, coming to stand a little too close to hear the conversation.
"Oh... is Sherlock there? I have, err... that is, I know how the girls died." Molly's voice had an annoyingly proud tone to it.
"That's great. But listen, I don't know how we've got a signal down here, but I got myself into a little bit of trouble, is it possible that you could contact Scotland Yard and tell them I'm near Saint Mary's College? Please," he added.
"Well, um... yes, I suppose I could do that. Where's Sherlock?" she asked.
"We don't know. Wait a second," John pulled up his own phone and brought his contacts up on the screen. If Sherlock had secretly entered his phone number into the doctor's phone when they first met, then no doubt Madeleine would have done the same thing, especially as she had put an alarm in there.
He read out the number to Molly, who wrote it down at the other end.
"And Sherlock is at that number?"
"Probably, yes, he is," John nodded. "Tell him: Madeleine knows where I am."
"All right, um... okay then."
"Bye Molly," John sighed.
"Bye."
The phone line went dead.
"He will find us," the doctor assured Lestrade.
xsherlockx
Sherlock strode across fallen leaves as they walked through the large columns of wood, his hands sunk in his pockets. Madeleine strolled at his side, her shoulders bunched up around her neck.
Wind flickered through the trees, creating light howling sounds and seizing foliage from the branches before letting it fall to the ground. The pair walked silently in the darkness.
"Are you worried?"
"Hm?"
"Doctor John, he's lost in the woods, all alone, at the mercy of a murdering Coven. Are you not worried at all?" Madeleine elaborated.
"He'll be fine," he answered. But, from the tone of his voice, Madeleine was not sure if he was assuring her, or himself.
A light buzzing alerted the girl and she pulled her phone from her pocket, frowning at the unknown number on the screen.
"Hello?" she asked quietly.
"Hello, It's um, Molly Hooper from the morgue?" the soft voice on the other end spoke up.
"May I help you Molly Hooper?" Madeleine asked, her eyes flickering to Sherlock, who gave her a look of concern.
After a moment, his face lit up, and he grabbed for the phone.
"Molly Hooper!" he cried, "What are you doing up so early? It has to be at least five. No matter, what brilliant news have you got for me?"
Madeleine raised an eyebrow at his enthusiasm.
"I just... err... your phone, I called it, and John picked up. The man you came into the mortuary with?"
"Yes."
"He um... he told me that Madeleine should know where he is," she relayed.
"Yes."
"But I was actually calling you to tell you that I found how the girls died."
Sherlock could hear the smile on her face.
"Deadly Nightshade berries, yes, thank you Molly," he hung up.
xsherlockx
"Okay," Molly breathed, placing the phone back on the table.
xsherlockx
"How did you know?" Madeleine asked, taking the phone back from him.
"In your suitcase, there was a book on plants, Atropa Belladonna was marked," Sherlock informed her.
"Do you go through suitcases as a hobby?" his daughter asked casually.
He eyed her for a moment before returning his gaze to the forest in front of him.
"You read John's blog," he stated dryly, more to himself than her.
"You weren't really going to take the pill were you?"
"Why would it matter?"
"You need to stop being so selfish, Daddy."
"Your hypocrisy astounds-" he cut himself off. Madeleine tilted her head to watch him, as he had paused as was peering through the trees to his left.
"Can you-" Madeleine's eyebrows shot up when he put a finger up to stop her.
Very slowly, Sherlock began to step away from her, still looking. He was cautious not to make a sound, his shoes defying the twigs and dried leaves. Madeleine followed his eye-line, trying to see what he was looking at. The swirling darkness of the forest glared back at her.
Sherlock stopped, and turned his head back toward her, a manic grin on his face.
"Caught them," he mouthed.
Madeleine's eyes lit up, and she stepped lightly to the tree he was beside. She leaned forward to squint into the shadows, and saw tiny lights in the distance, flickering between the trees.
The pair exchanged a glance, before wordlessly following the lights.
xsherlockx
"Penelope!" the red-headed girl's voice echoed through the trees.
The blond whipped around to face the group of unhooded girls behind her.
"What?" she seethed.
Alexandra, the girl who had spoken, looked back at her friends and to the unconscious body they were dragging along the ground, before turning back to Penelope.
"We just wanted to know... err... her offence," she murmured.
"Her offence?"
"You're our leader, and we respect that. But, we were wondering what we might get punished for... I mean-"
"I know what you mean, Alexandra," Penelope snapped. A moment passed, and a grin appeared on her face, artificial, but sympathetic.
"You are in no danger, dearest Sister Alexandra," soothed the blond, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
"Oh."
"Only those who are tainted with respect for another will be punished as Stephanie has been. Now come, my sisters, another point needs to be added to our pentagram."
The Coven continued through the woods silently; only the hollow moans of Stephanie, the flutter of leaves and the dull thudding of their footsteps penetrated the silence.
It was a while before any of the girls noticed the two additions to the group.
Sister Grace screamed.
"Good evening ladies," Sherlock tilted his head forward in mock decorum.
Heads shot around, and small gasps and squeaks of surprise were passed on like a chain of war beacons. Their leader was the last to notice the man, and came storming back through the girls to see what was happening.
Penelope stopped short when she saw him, and Madeleine standing at his side.
Both father and daughter had an expression of curiosity and mild amusement on their faces.
"Penelope," she acknowledged the blond.
"Madeleine," her antagonist growled in reply.
"Sherlock," he drawled, clearly bored already.
"I didn't receive an invitation to your party," Madeleine told her.
"What are you doing here? Who's he?" Penelope shot back.
Sherlock made a 'tch' noise, but said nothing.
"We're in the middle of something, so please, go back to the hole you crawled out of," Penelope hissed.
The Holmes' faces darkened and they both glared at her, though Madeleine was first to speak,
"I can see you're quite busy, Penelope, murdering can be quite time consuming," her tone was almost deadly.
"She will die," Sherlock added, nodding toward the half visible body of Stephanie.
"She's been disloyal to her sisters."
"Disloyal?" his daughter straightened.
Penelope switched her gaze to Madeleine, glaring still, "Rebecca, Georgia, Lucy, and Stephanie, all tried to follow you, to abandon their sisters. You set the example to our Coven that they can simply leave when they want to. No one can renounce their position here."
"When was that rule written?" Madeleine frowned.
"Things changed after you left."
"I can see. This group has drifted far from the changing of grades-' Sherlock glanced sharply at her, '-and class skipping that it used to practise."
"Well I suppose that's what happens when you create a Coven and then abandon it to make its own way."
"You weren't supposed to start murdering, Penelope." Madeleine took a step forward, "No one is that stupid. Everyone in your 'Coven' is so scared they'll be next that they don't dare cross you, it's a shame you took the lives of those that stood up to you. And you killed them the way a coward would. Poison? Really Penelope, if you wanted to get revenge properly you should have stabbed them in the back with a dagger, instead of taking the easy way out."
"Revenge? You think-"
"You couldn't handle me deserting you, so you took it out on anyone that tried to follow."
"Selfishness, Madeleine," Sherlock muttered in mock reprimand from behind her.
"Let Stephanie go," she demanded in a low voice.
"No."
The wind picked up around them, sending the cloaks and coats billowing.
"All right, no one will be penalised for anything they have done if they follow me now. Anyone wishing to follow Penelope may stay, until the police find them," Madeleine called.
Twelve pairs of eyes stared back at her.
"They won't follow you now, Madeleine," sneered Penelope.
Madeleine's blue eyes locked hers.
"Alex, will you help me with Stephanie?" she asked, moving around the blond and bending down by the unconscious girl.
Several girls moved to help her, while others stood frozen, looking to Penelope for guidance.
"Don't you dare," the blond hissed.
Madeleine paid no attention to her, and with the help of Alexandra and three others, she wrapped Stephanie up in her coat and was in the process of hoisting her onto Grace's back when Sherlock stepped in and swept the girl up in his arms.
His daughter hid a laugh behind her hand.
"If you'd be so kind, Penelope, I have forgotten where the tomb is..." she blinked.
"I'll show you," Alexandra offered, smiling ever so slightly.
"You're not going anywhere." The Coven's leader had her cheeks pulled up in an unseemly smile.
Something glinted in her hand.
Aren't you all lucky, It's extra long (even though it really isn't) just for you! Because I kept you waiting for so long! I'm SUPER SORRY.
In the two or three weeks I haven't posted (Again, REALLY SORRY) things have been going on concerning this story.
Now, I have discussed with my beta, and we have decided to have another part to this story.
HOW EXCITING IS THAT?
So the end of 'The Coven' case will not be the last see you of Madeleine.
Of course it's up to you guys, so if you want the second part please feel free to review and express your joy at the fact that I have a time-line and story plot up on my kitchen wall (no joke, this is going to be a serious story). I have all holidays to write it.
I'd love to thank my lovely Beta, who has helped me through all of these chapters (I owe her another box of oreos as payment), and my Omega who just helped me with this particular chapter and reads them when they get posted, and my Delta, who reads the chapters for the fun of it, and of course to check that nothing is amiss. So thank you to them!
Hopefully the next chapter is updated soon.
Gosh, I just realised I need to go and write that.