The Cromwell Sisters

The Secret Book of Shadows

The sound of the birds chirping high up in the trees woke Darcy Cromwell from her deep sleep. She rubbed her eyes and yawned. She grunted as she knew her alarm will go off any second now and she was not ready to get out of her warm bed. The thought of going to school today filled her with dread. She normally enjoys school but has recently had problems with one of the other girls. Her name is Faye Harper. Faye is one of the popular girls who is the school bully. She is picking on Darcy for no reason. Darcy tries to avoid her but the more she does the more trouble she gets. Darcy's train of thought is interrupted by her alarm ringing. She sighs and hits the snooze button. She lays awake in her bed staring at the ceiling. One more day she thinks to herself. I can get through this and the weekend will soon be here. She then drags herself up out of her bed and gets ready for the day ahead of her.

Once Darcy is dressed for school she follows the smell of breakfast coming from the kitchen. As she arrives in the kitchen she is greeted by her mother Elizabeth who is cooking a fry up for her daughters. "Morning my sweet girl" Elizabeth said turning around to give Darcy a kiss on the forehead. " Good Morning Mum. Breakfast smells so good!"she replied grabbing herself a plate from the cupboard. Alice is already at the kitchen table scoffing her face with food. "Help yourself darling you have a long day ahead of you."Elizabeth said loading Darcy's plate with Bacon,Sausages, Beans and Eggs. Darcy thanks her mother and grabs herself a slice of toast before sitting next to Alice to eat her breakfast. The girls enjoyed it and demolished it all not leaving a trace of any crumbs. Elizabeth kissed the girls goodbye and wished them a good day before cleaning all the plates and mugs up. Darcy and Alice grab their school bags and wave goodbye to their mother.

It was a fine Autumn morning with a slight breeze in the air.The leaves on the trees started to change to an Orange colour and slowly fell of the branches. Alice was walking rather fast and Darcy couldn't keep up. "Hey Alice ,wait up" Darcy insisted, speeding up to catch up to her little sister. " Sorry Darcy I don't want to be late for school" she replies flicking her long hair off her shoulder. Darcy scrunched her nose up. Alice has never liked school and could not care if she turnt up late or not. " Oh shh Alice. You don't care if you are late for school. You just want to see that boyfriend of yours. What's his name again? Danny?". Darcy teases her little sister trying not to laugh. Alice punches her in the arm playing. " Be quiet you. His name is Dennis actually so get it right". Alice giggles trying not to act like she is bothered. "Hmm ok then lover birds. When is he meeting mum then? She has been wanting to meet him for ages now." Darcy asks pulling her bag up onto her shoulder as it was sliding off." I'm not sure really. I will have to ask him later today. I have been asking him for ages now and he keeps avoiding it" Alice said looking down on the pavement. Darcy can see a look on her face as if to say she is cross with him but also tries to put on a fake smile.

" Well ask him today,OK? Don't take no for an answer. Tell him if he says no he will have me to answer to" Darcy said laughing trying to lighten the mood. Alice let out a grin and nodded. Before they could talk anymore they arrived at school. They said goodbye to each other as they headed in different directions. Darcy walked down the school corridor toward her locker. "Darcy. Hey Darcy!"a familiar voice called out to her. She swung around to see her best friend jumping towards her with a hug. " Hey Amelia" Darcy smiled hugging her best friend back before putting her books into her locker. " Everything alright?" Amelia asked looking concerned for her friend. " Yeah why wouldn't it be?" Darcy replies staring into the distance behind her. Amelia looks into the direction that she is looking. There is Faye Harper. The school bully. The girl who thinks she is better than everybody else. Amelia knows Faye is troubling Darcy. "Ermm C'mon Darcy let's get to class before she comes over here" Amelia tugs at Darcy's arm pulling her away from the lockers. Before they knew it Faye was stood right behind them. " Off so soon girls?", Faye sneers giving Darcy an evil look. " What do you look like today D'arcy ? Looks like you have been dragged out of the tras " Faye says looking Darcy up and down.

Faye's two best friends giggled uncontrollably. They stood behind Faye like her puppets who do everything she says. Darcy could feel a lump in the back of her throat. She opened her mouth to speak but froze in fear. The gang of girls laughed at her. " Back off Faye!!" an angry Amelia demanded stepping closer to Faye. " Excuse me!? I don't think you know who you are talking to" Faye says right in Amelia's face. Amelia didn't step back and was growing more angrier by the minute. " Lets go Amelia. Just leave it. She is not worth it!" Darcy said looking Faye right in the eye. Amelia listened to Darcy and they both walked away. " Thats it run along you freaks!" Faye shouted after them .

The group of girls decided to head to class before they got into trouble as they were already late. Darcy's hands were shaking like a leaf. " Thanks for that back there" Darcy thanked Amelia. Amelia smiled and hugged her. " I'm always here for you bestie. I hate that girl with a passion. There is no need to be so mean. But You need to learn to stand up to her though Darcy". Darcy nodded. The thought of that frightens her. How can she stand up to a bully? She won't listen it will be impossible.

Their lesson went on what seemed like forever. Darcy could not help but daydream . She stared out the classroom window. A squirrel ran up the tree to his home. Darcy thought how lucky the squirrel had it. No need to get up early for school and no homework. Oh how life could be so much simpler if she were a squirrel. Hang on. Darcy thought to herself. Why on Earth would I want to be a squirrel when I can be a bird and poop on Faye's head. She sat there at her desk flicking her pencil on her book. Suddenly she was brought back to Earth when her teacher was calling her name. " Miss Cromwell am I boring you? " her teacher Mr Philips asked making the whole class look at her. She could feel the eyes from everyone on her and she slowly sank into her seat and gulps. " Err no Mr Philips."she responds trying to let out a smile. Mr Philips tells her to pay attention and suddenly the thought of being a bird seems so much better than it did a few seconds ago. She could fly away from this classroom and escape to wherever she wanted to go.

Finally the last bell rang for school and everyone was up in a flash racing out of the door to go home. Darcy felt so relieved and could not wait to go home. She left the classroom and headed for the exit. All of a sudden she was pushed really hard into the lockers. " Ouch!"Darcy cried out. Her books went flying out of her hands. She looked up to see Faye stood over her. " Be more careful next time Cromwell " Faye sneered with a nasty tone in her voice. " But you pushed me Faye" Darcy replied picking her books up and herself from the dirty, cold floor. " No you bumped into ME!!" Faye said stepping closer to Darcy with an angry look on her face. Darcy could feel herself shaking again but tried to control it. She looked Faye straight in the eye and apologised. Faye smirked and told her to get gone. With that Darcy made himself scarce. She never felt so scared in all her life. She ran home with tears streaming down her face.

When she got home she ran straight upstairs into her bedroom. " Darcy Whats wrong?" her mother asks . But before she could finish her sentence Darcy was already up the stairs. She slammed her door shut after her and chucked her bag across the room. She fell into her pillow and screamed as loud as she could with tears still falling from her eyes. She just wanted to get away and escape. She wished she never had to go back to that school again and see Faye. Darcy has not done anything wrong so does not know why she is so mean to her. Darcy suddenly could feel something tickling her face which made her roll over onto her back. She was greeted by her cat Salem with his long black whiskers and pink nose in her face.

Salem knew Darcy was upset so came to say hello. Darcy stroked him . "Hello Salem. It's good to see you to. I'm fine don't you worry" she said giving him a kiss on his head. Salem looked up at her with his bright emerald green eyes and meows as if to reply back to her. She then sat up in her bed and took a tissue from her bedside table and blew her nose in it. Her nose was so blocked up from all the crying she had been doing that the tissue was wet with her snot. She was then interrupted by a loud knock on her door which was followed by her mother's voice. "Darcy , Oh Darcy darling are you ok?".

Darcy threw her snotty tissue across her room and into the bin. "Yes Mum. I'm fine, I'm just catching up on some homework" she replied. She quickly wiped her tears and reached for her school bag to grab her books . "Ok Darling, dinner will be ready soon. I will be dishing up in five," her Mum said as she walked away to head back downstairs. Elizabeth headed toward the kitchen to check up on dinner. She is cooking Lasagne and garlic bread. The smell of food fills the air and travels upstairs towards Darcy's room and into her nostrils. Darcy could hear her Mum getting the plates out of the cupboard so she knew dinner will be ready any second.

Her stomach growled at her and with that Darcy rushed downstairs . Elizabeth dished the dinner up and placed the plates at the dining room table. She shouted up the stairs to her daughter Alice to tell her dinner is ready. All three of them sat in silence as they ate their dinner. Darcy seasoned her lasagne with loads of pepper. "Omg Darcy how much pepper do you want!?" Alice asked her scrunching her face up. " Oh be quiet I can have as much as I like thanks!" Darcy hissed at her little sister. Her mum looked up at them both after swallowing a mouthful of garlic bread. "Now now girls. I won't have this talk at the dinner table!".

"Sorry mum" Darcy apologised after taking a sip of her diet coke and giving her sister a little look . "How was school today?" Elizabeth asked the two girls. Darcy scoffed her mouth with loads of mince so she couldn't answer. "It was fine Mum. When can Dennis come over for dinner?" Alice asked. Their mother stopped in her tracks and put down her knife and fork. " Well sweetheart I'm not really sure when. We will discuss it soon ,Ok?" Alice rolled her eyes and sighed. Elizabeth then looked over at a nervous Darcy who looked miles away. " Are you ok Darcy? You seem a bit lost" her Mother asked looking concerned. "Hmm yes I'm ok" she answered looking down at her plate.

"How was school for you?" her mum asked still looking at her. Darcy gulped down her drink and slammed the cup on the table. " It was FINE!!!! she snapped looking up at her mother. "Darcy Cromwell,do not use that tone with me young lady!!" her mother said raising her voice. " Stop asking me questions then, ok?" Darcy yelled pushing her plate away . She stood up and headed for her bedroom. "Get back here and finish your dinner!" Elizabeth shouted after her. "I'm not hungry anymore. I'm going to my room." Darcy slammed the door shut and was gone.

Her mother huffed and shook her head. Alice kept quiet throughout the whole thing and didn't want to get involved with the cross fire. She was to busy enjoying her dinner. Their mother put her head in her hands. There was an awkward silence between her and Alice. Alice tried to chew quietly trying not to disturb her mother's thought. "Well this was a lovely dinner!" Elizabeth sighed. She picked up her glass and took one last sip before taking her plate into the kitchen.

Alice gave her mother half a smile before shoving her fork into her mouth full of mince and tomatoes. Elizabeth cleared up the dinner table, stacking plates and the bowl which was once full of garlic bread. It was just Alice left at the dining table. She had cleared her plate and was now full. After wiping her mouth with a polka dot napkin she took her phone out of her pocket. She had a lot of text messages from her friends. One was from her friend asking her what she was up to tonight. Alice replied back saying nothing and they can meet up as she was fed up of family drama. After the argument her mother and sister just had she needed to get out the house.

Whilst Alice got dolled up to meet her friend Lara her sister Darcy was laid on her bed feeling sorry for herself. She didn't mean to snap at her mother like that at dinner. Emotions were running high. Very high. They always get the best of her and she needs to learn to control them. Darcy thought to herself if only there was a way to turn back time and relive that moment and not shout at her mother. She rolled on to her side to find Salem sat on her bedside table staring at her . It's almost as if he understands. "You understand don't you Salem . What it's like to feel lonely?" she asked him reaching out a hand to stroke him. Salem bowed his head down to prepare for the incoming attention. "Pur, purr,purrr", Salem pured. That is all she is going to get from her pet.

She continued to stroke his silky,black,soft fur as he rubbed his head in her hands. They were the best of friends. His whiskers were so long they tickled Darcy's hand. Darcy's arm started to ache so she stopped stroking Salem. He looked up at her as if to say do not stop I was enjoying that. "Good boy Salem" she said giggling. With that the black cat jumped down and vanished behind her bedroom door. Darcy went to pick her phone up from her shabby chic bedside table when she was stopped in her tracks by what sounded like movement up in the attic. She stopped and listened. Nothing. Maybe she was hearing things. She checked her phone but no messages from anybody. She let out a huge sigh and chucked it on the end of her bed. She was about to get her homework books out when BOOM BOOM THUD!

It came from the attic. The same noise she just heard seconds ago. Huh? She thought to herself. Darcy listened again only this time much harder to try and make out what the sound is. The sound seemed to be moving across the ceiling. She followed the direction it was moving. It led her out on the hallway then toward the attic door. Darcy froze. No way was she opening that old rusty door. Noone has been up there in years. All that is up there is dusty antique furniture. She thought maybe it was just an animal that had somehow managed to find a way in. But then she thought to herself it sounded to big for an animal. Then she thought nope just an animal. It has to be right? Darcy shook her head and decided it was an animal then headed back toward her room.

As soon as she turned her back from the attic door . The door slowly creaked open. Darcy gulped. She looked over her shoulder to see the door slightly ajar. How could that have opened? It was closed a second ago! A very light breeze blasted out in between the gap. Darcy shivered. It was enough for the hair on her arms to stand up. What should she do? She stands there for a good two minutes trying to come up with theories in her head of how it opened. It has never done this before until now. All the windows are shut. There is no other breeze entering the house so how can this door open by itself. Darcy finally managed to move her legs which were glued to the ground to stop Salem from entering. She rushed to pick him up.

Once she had her cat in her arms she heard a familiar voice behind her. "Darcy what on earth are you up to?", her little sister was standing behind her. Alice has just come home from seeing her best friend. " N..nothing", Darcy replied putting Salem down. Darcy's face was pale like a milk bottle. " Was you going in the attic? You know mum says not to go in there", Alice said trying to look over Darcy's shoulder. Darcy tried to answer but hesitated. " No. No I wasn't. The door was open so I went to close it" she answered pointing to the door that was somehow now closed again. Alice looked in the direction she was pointing in. She raised her eyebrows and looked back at her sister and laughed. " Darcy the door is not open . What are you talking about?".

"Well it was open. I saw it and heard it opening", Darcy raised her tone . Darcy looked confused as ever. How did the door close? "Hmmm, oook then. If ya say so!" Alice said in a sarcastic voice walking away into her bedroom. She did not believe her. Before Darcy knew she was alone in the hallway again. This time she ignored the door and went to her room. She kept wondering what had just happened. Perhaps she is just imagining things and is tired. She put it down to lack of sleep and decided it is time for bed. She fluffed up her pillows and pulled the duvet back. After setting her alarm she climbed into bed and tried to get comfy. Darcy turnt her little lamp off that sat next to her and closed her sleepy,heavy eyes. It couldn't of been ten minutes since Darcy drifted into a deep sleep where she is awoken by a loud bang. Slowly opening her eyes to adjust to the darkness she sat up. Darcy flicked her light on.

The sound kept getting louder as if someone was walking about up in the attic. This time Darcy grew the courage to find out what the noise was. Putting her slippers and dressing gown on she grabbed her phone to use the torch. After stepping outside of her bedroom she slowly made her way across the landing toward the creepy looking door. It looked even more inviting than in the daytime. She extended her arm to open the door. The door knob was so rusty that the paint was starting to fall off. The door squeaked open echoing through the hallway. The blast of cold air hit Darcy which made her shiver. She took a deep breath and climbed the narrow , spiral staircase toward the abandoned attic.

The stairs creaked with each step she took. Looking up into the darkness she grew colder and colder. When she finally reached the top of the stairs she switched the light on. As soon as the lights flickered on she was surrounded by unused furniture covered in white dusty sheets. Darcy could feel the air getting heavier. She began lifting up sheets and moving a rocking chair to look for any animals. The rocking chair had trees carved into it and had a blood red cushion attached to it. Darcy could not see or hear any animals. Looking around the attic once more she noticed a photo hung on the moldy damp wall.

She walked over toward it to have a better look. In the black and white photo three females could be seen wearing old victorian style clothing. Darcy moved her head toward the woman on the left. Something was very familiar about her. Her eyes staring back at Darcy made her feel on edge. It was almost as if the photo was alive. The woman looked alot like her grandmother Maggie. It might be from when she was younger. Darcy wondered why her mother would not let her and Alice into the attic. Nothing seemed dangerous up here. It just looked like a normal attic .Darcy scanned the cold room to see if there was anything else interesting that has been hidden away.

She passed dirty wooden chairs that were guarded by huge spider webs and an antique dressing table that had gold markings on. The mirror had a huge c***k going down the middle. Darcy opened its worn out drawers. Empty. She looked up at the broken mirror and noticed something in the reflection behind her. Darcy studied the object before turning around. She fixed her eyes on a beautiful, historic chest. The chest was wooden with black rusty hinges that held together a lock. She bent down and tried to open the lock which was very heavy but with no luck. There must be a key around here somewhere she thought to herself. Darcy hunted for the key. She raided every drawer she could find and on top of the shelves. But No key.

She decided to give up until she heard a massive clicking sound that sounded like something opening. The sound came from the chest. Darcy walked over to the chest and got down onto her knees. She grabbed the heavy,metalic lock which was now unlocked. Darcy held it in her hand just staring at it. She didn't unlock it as there is no key. It was certainly locked as she could not open it seconds ago so how did it just magically unlock all on it's own? Was it unlocked this whole time and Darcy was just being silly? But she knew it was locked. Before she could think of anything else she had opened the chest. Inside were loads of family albums. She flicked through but doesn't notice anybody in the photos. At the very bottom of the chest under the photo albums was a brown book. The book was huge with a latch that closed it. A thick layer of dust covered the writing. Darcy blew really hard to get the dust of. She also had to use her hand to wipe it off . The fancy writing read 'The Book of Shadows'.

Darcy unhooked the latch on the book to reveal what was inside. She was amazed to see fragile pages full of what looked like poems. One poem was titled A witches Brew whilst another was called Spells to talk to the otherside. Darcy skipped through some pages whilst scanning the words. One page caught her eye. This page had a picture of a triquetra. She read the words out loud three times as instructed...

" On the night of the full moon, powers entwined, your magic will reach you soon, holy and divine.".

Darcy gazed down at the words. This is the shortest poem she has ever seen. There was no author underneath like there usually is. She turnt to the next page which has a list of candle colour meanings.

White Candle - Peace, Purity, Healing, ,innocence, divination.

Black Candle - Safety ,protection,banish negativity, pride,shapeshifting.

Brown Candle - house blessing,pets,animals,earth ,stability , locating lost items.

The list went on. Darcy wanted to read more but she heard her mother's bedroom door opening. She slammed the book shut and quickly closed the chest whilst getting her dressing gown stuck at the same time. She tugged at her dressing gown and put the lock back into position. She heard her mother go into the bathroom so she decided to make her move back into her bedroom , with the book in hand. Darcy reached the bottom of the attic staircase and listened to make sure the coast was clear. She tucked the book under her arm whilst she quietly tiptoed into her bedroom . Phew! She made it without getting caught. If her mother caught her up there she will be mad and there will be consequences. Darcy slid the book of shadows under her bed and climbed into her bed which had been waiting for her return and dozed of to sleep.