Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 115432 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115432 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
I stood up and moved to her side.
“Whoa! Not so fast!” she hollered at me as I didn’t realize how quickly I had moved.
“Sorry,” I said, my eyes on the pages as they flipped. “Mine wasn’t like this at all. It looked like a book of sermons the first time I saw it, but when I touched it, it turned into a regular black and white composition notebook, the first time I really saw it. Then the next time I saw it, it was glowing and telling me something about the God of Eden and the Goddess of Terra.”
“What?” She looked back up at me, confused. “Disguised? Glowing? Are you sure you are talking about a grimoire?”
“About eighty-five to ninety percent sure?” I said back.
She rolled her eyes but then paused, looking me over again. “The God of Eden and the Goddess of Terra, you said?”
“Yeah. Do you know what that means? It had pictures of chaos. No spells, though…”
She flipped back to the worn, sand-colored pages of her grimoire, searching for something. The book seemed endless, and when she was getting to the end of the book, new pages would appear. However, she still didn’t seem satisfied.
“I could have sworn I read something about Terra once—wait, what am I doing,” she said, flipping back to the front. “The most important thing is unlocking your magic since you do not know its name. One of my ancestors had a different sort of reminding spelling.”
“Reminding spelling? Did she lose her memories?”
“No, Great-grandma Abagail was just forgetful, so she’d set these spells to remind her of her things… Here.” She pressed her hand over the colorful page of flowers, and the handwritten directions faded as she rose from her chair.
“Stand in the direction of the rising sun,” she ordered as her gaze was glued to the page.
“So, stand east?” I asked, moving to do what she had said. “Should we be outside?”
“No, it’s fine. Now light your finger as if it were a candle,” Adelaide directed.
“Fire,” I said, and the fire appeared right over my index finger.
“Okay, now read these words,” she said, moving to stand in front of me, her book held out for me to see as Arsiein and Atarah now gave me their undivided attention, watching as if we were part of a play and they were in the audience. “Druella, are you listening?”
“Yeah,” I said, focusing on the page in front of me.
“Okay, read, and then when you are finished, blow out the candle.”
I nodded and read the words.
I remember. I remember the sky I was born under,
It rumbles above me like thunder,
My mind cannot wonder.
The times are not torn asunder.
For I remember, I remember, the sky I was born under.
I blew out the fire on my finger, and all of us waited. Nothing happened. Nothing shook. Nothing moved. There were no memories or glowing grimoires. The only magic I felt was the fading power of the fire.
“Did we miss something?” Atarah whispered to Arsiein.
“I have no idea,” Arsiein said back.
“Nothing happened.” I frowned and looked at Adelaide.
“Let’s try it again,” she said.
And so, we did.
Again.
And again.
And then once more.
Then she tried to do the spell on me.
Still nothing.
“I don’t understand.” She huffed in confusion as she flipped through the pages. Finally, she looked back at me in anger. “Why is none of the magic working? Great-grandma’s spell always works for the other witches and me in the coven.”
I shrugged, ready to once again remind her how little I understood. It was then the door to the library opened, and to my relief, it was Theseus. He came in dressed in black, his hair a bit of a tousled mess, and he’d even missed a button on his shirt. The moment his gray eyes fell on me, he relaxed.
“You’re awake early. The sun is only just beginning to set,” Arsiein replied, looking up from his game of chess, which he had long since returned to, as our magic was no longer interesting to him.
“I’ve rested enough,” Theseus said, and in a moment, he was in front of me. He outstretched his hand for mine. “Good evening. How are you?”
“Fine, how are you?” I replied as he kissed the back of my hand.
“Fine?” Adelaide snapped, cutting into our moment. “Now that your boyfriend, husband, or whatever is here, we are fine? No. We are anything but fine. We’ve spent hours doing nothing and accomplishing nothing.”
“Then your existence is useless. Therefore, your current disrespect might cost you your life, witch,” Theseus said casually with a cold glare as he glanced over to her, as he still held my hand.
I squeezed his hand, trying to get him to turn off his murderous scowl as I smelled the slight fear in Adelaide’s scent.
“Adelaide, why don’t we take a break. You must be hungry,” Atarah cut in once again as she went to the door and opened it to show a tray of food ready to be delivered.