The Book of Spells (Private 0.50)

Then, from out of the darkness, a voice whispered in Eliza’s ear.

“Turn back.”

Eliza stumbled. Catherine bumped into her from behind. Theresa swore under her breath.

“Eliza! You need to warn us if you’re going to do that!” Theresa admonished.

“Did you hear that?” Eliza said, her breath ragged.

“Hear what?” Catherine asked, her voice thin and high.

Eliza looked past her at Theresa, who shook her head slightly as if she thought Eliza was going insane.

Perhaps I am going insane, Eliza thought tremulously. Hearing voices that aren’t there.

“It was nothing. Probably just an odd creak,” Eliza told them, with more confidence than she felt.

“I can’t see you anymore!” Alice cried out from above. “Are you still there?”

“We’re fine, Alice!” Catherine shouted back. “Calm down!”

“I can’t calm down! What if you don’t come back?” Alice whined.

“We’re coming back,” Theresa said through her teeth. “Now kindly shut up!”

Alice let out a whimper but said nothing more. Seconds later the girls reached the bottom of the stairs.

Eliza moved aside, her shoes scratching across the floor as if it was covered in sand or grime. Theresa and Catherine joined her, holding out their candles and the lantern in front of them. With a deep breath, Eliza realized that there was nothing to be afraid of in the basement room. No devils or demons or mummies or ghosts. It was simply a small, circular room with no furniture save for a large wood trunk at its center.

Slowly Theresa walked around the trunk. After a moment, Catherine and Eliza followed. All three of them crouched in front of it, tucking their skirts around their knees. The trunk was made of a plain but sturdy wood. Its latch was simple and gold, and etched into the panel just above the latch was the intertwining circle symbol now so familiar to Eliza. She touched the locket around her neck, then reached out and traced the symbol on the trunk with her fingertips. Despite the cool air of the chamber, the wood felt warm to the touch. There was no lock.

“Whatever we find inside, it belongs to all four of us,” Eliza said, looking at her friends.

“We’re not including Alice,” Theresa said. “She’s done nothing but complain and protest.”

Eliza opened her mouth to retort, but Catherine stopped her with a hand to her arm. “She came inside with us even against her better judgment, which was very brave,” Catherine said. “This trunk belongs to her, too.”

Theresa rolled her eyes. “Fine.”

Together, the three girls lifted the heavy lid of the trunk. It opened and fell back from their hands, slamming against the bottom half so loudly, that all three jumped. Holding her breath, Eliza peered inside.

“It’s nothing but a pile of old books!” Theresa blurted.

Intrigued, Eliza reached in and took out the first hardcover tome. “The Mystical Realm,” she read from the spine.

Catherine put her candle aside and grabbed another. “The Lunar Seasons,” she read, her eyes bright with excitement.

Theresa removed the third. “Rites, Sabbats, and Festivals.”

“I’ve never seen books like these,” Eliza said, flipping through pages of diagrams and illustrations. Many of them had notes handwritten in the margins—arrows and measurements and sketches of planetary alignments. Quickly the girls removed each and every volume from the trunk, laying them in piles around their knees. Finally, Catherine reached inside and pulled out a heavy book that was bound in gray linen. When she opened the cover, Eliza saw that someone had drawn the same circular symbol on the inside. Catherine reached over and flipped to a random page. There was a list of ingredients down the center, followed by two paragraphs of directions.

“It’s a recipe book,” Theresa said, disappointed.

Catherine placed her palm reverently against the page, her middle finger just grazing the letters of the recipe’s title. She looked up at the others with an excited expression in her eyes.

“‘Potion for a Broken Heart,’” she read.

“Potion?” Eliza echoed, her brow furrowing.