The Gift of Magic

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

An hour later she pulled into the parking lot at the university, the case with the grimoire sitting next to her in the passenger seat. She pulled into her assigned space, turned off the car and looked over at the case wondering how she'd get it inside the building. It wasn't uncommon for books from private collections to be loaned to the library, but in this instance, she doubted that Peter would appreciate the paper work that would entail, so it seemed the only option was to sneak it inside.

It would only take a few hours to do what she needed to do, then she'd sneak it back out and return it to Peter when she saw him at the café in the morning. She opened the case, let her hands hover over the book for a second, then grabbed it, shivering when her fingers began to tingle and the feeling of pleasure washed over her. It wasn't unpleasant so much as disarming, so she quickly grabbed the cloth it had been laying on, wrapped it up and tucked it into her jacket.

At the security desk, she signed into the night log, hoping that no one would notice her late night visit to the library, then calmly walked to her office, although calm was the last thing she felt. The book was pressed up against her side, making a warm spot where it rested, almost as if it was alive. The moment she shut her office door, she pulled it out of her coat and set it on the desk, relieved to have it away from her body she took several deep breaths until the strange feeling passed.

Once her head had cleared, she pulled on a pair of cotton gloves and went over to the safe in the wall where she'd left the other book. This book hadn't made her fingers tingle like the one Peter had given her, but she wasnt taking any chances, gloves firmly in place, she took the book out and set it down next to the one on her desk then stood back.

The books were almost identical in size and shape, but the one from the private collection was in much worse shape. Now that she looked at it closer though, she realized that there were letters emblazoned across the front of this book as well. Taking a tray off the shelf behind her desk, she took the special oil she used for leather and began to gently rub it onto the cover, hydrating the leather until the letters became clearer.

When she'd finished Bradbury could clearly be seen on the cover, a name that meant nothing to her, but for some reason her heart began to beat faster as she looked at it. Stripping off the gloves, she reached into her desk drawer and pulled out the paperwork that had come with the book. It really didn't tell her much besides that the book was believed to be a grimoire that was hundreds of years old, found in a used book store, it had been passed from owner to owner for the last fifty years until it had found it's way into the hands of a man who understood what it was.

She'd only done an initial evaluation of the book the last time she'd looked at it, but now she wanted to examine it more closely. Sliding the gloves back on, she tentatively touched the book, the memory of touching the other one making her extra cautious. When nothing happened, she opened the front cover to discover a list of names with dates next to them, much as would be found in old family bibles. The entries began in the early 1500's and ended with an entry dated 1967 with the birth of a son named Malcolm.

She flipped thought the pages one at a time, past the oldest pages which were a strange combination of spells and what looked like recipes. The spells were simple, not unlike what could be found on the internet today, spells for healing or attaining wealth and love. But as she paged further into the book it became clear that something had changed, the spells became darker, more sinister.

When she reached a section of the book that had clearly been added after the book's initial construction, there were not only spells but vivid pictures. The first one made her gasp and pull her hand away, the image so dark and evil it shocked her after the simple and often beautiful words on the pages before. But her curiosity got the better of her and she flipped to the next page, the impact of an equally awful picture not so shocking this time.

As she continued to turn the pages, the images and spells became even darker, until she began to feel physically ill. Unconsciously, she reached out and placed her hand on the other book, instantly soothed by simply touching it, she was able to flip through the last few pages. The last image was the one that finally made her slam the book closed, nothing able to cut through the feeling of fear and doom that overwhelmed her when she realized that it was a spell to summon a demon.

She sat back in her chair, taking deep soothing breaths until the feelings began to abate, then looked at the other book not sure if she was strong enough to even open it. The possibility that she might find the same thing almost paralyzing her, but then she thought of her father who was the kindest man she'd ever known and knew that this book wouldn't hold the same evil that the other one had.

Briefly she considered taking the gloves off, but then the memory of the words swimming when she looked at them made her change her mind. She carefully opened the front cover and looked at the first page which much like the other book, contained a list of names. Quickly scanning to the bottom of the page, she gasped when she saw not only her father's name but her own.

Next to her father's name was her mothers and the date of their marriage, when she saw that the date of her father's death had been added in fresh ink, she couldn't stop the tears from streaming down her cheeks. When one landed on the page, she sat back in her chair and wiped her face with the back of her sleeve, and took a few deep breaths. It had been six months but she still missed him, knew that it would be a long time before she didn't think about him every day, but now wasn't the time to wallow in her grief, so she blocked him out of her mind and looked back down at the book.

Closing her eyes, she turned the page, then slowly opened them and looked down, wishing that the words would behave as they should. To her great relief the words didn't move, flicker, or fade, simply stayed on the page as they should have, so she began to page through the book. Each page held spells similar to the ones in the other book, but there were also illustrations, some simply decorative, other depictions of the tools and items necessary to carry out the spell.

She'd only turned a few pages when she noticed that not only was the book giving off a faint glow, but that she could feel what could only be described as a vibration in her chest. As she turned the pages, the vibration changed to a hum as the words and pictures seemed to come alive, granting her their secrets without her even asking. All at once the feeling became too powerful and she slammed the book shut, afraid of all that she'd suddenly understood.

As soon as the book closed, the feeling faded and she let out the breath she'd been holding almost as if she'd been in pain. She stared at the book, astonished and confused, the power of what had just happened to her momentary leaving her full of wonder. But all too soon those feelings passed and she fear began to creep in, now more than ever she wished her father was still alive, he would have been able to explain what was happening to her. But her father was gone, had left her alone to deal with a world she'd never imagined existed. The knowledge that she was part of that world left her breathless.

Unsure what her next move should be, she glanced up at the clock to see that it was 4:00 am, much too early to see her mother or Peter. Getting to her feet, she looked down at both books on her desk trying to decide what to do, then decided that she needed to get away from the books, both books. Give herself some time to process all that she'd been through before she met with Peter, and now she had every intention of meeting with him.

Then she and her mother were going to have a little talk, if the pieces she'd managed to put together so far told her anything, it was that her mother was just as involved in this as her father had been. It was time someone told her the truth, the entire truth, so she could at least try and make some sense of the craziness that had suddenly invaded her quiet life.

Peter got out of his car and looked up at the windows of Morgan's apartment, they were dark as he'd expected since it was only 4:30 am. It was much too early for him to be at the cafe but he'd woken an hour ago from a dream he couldn't remember but with the nagging sense that he needed to be here, so he'd gotten up and driven over. The coffee shop was open 24 hours a day, was cozy and quiet this time of night so he'd find himself a comfortable spot and try and get some work done while he waited.

Once he'd gotten himself settled, a cup of steaming coffee and a Danish on the table in front of him, he pulled out his computer and tried to work, but he just couldn't concentrate on what he was doing. The dream he'd had tugged at him, but no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't get it to come into focus, he knew it was because he was overwhelmed by too much responsibility. It had long been a struggle for him to control the gifts he'd been given, at times because he felt it was too much of a burden at other times because he hated being able to sense when bad things were going to happen.

Most of the time his premonitions came to him in the form of dreams, dreams that often left him drained and exhausted the next morning but they were always very clear in his mind. But this dream had been different, all he knew was that Morgan was in danger and that was it, and the harder he tried to remember, the more distant the dream became. It was almost of if someone was blocking him, keeping him from seeing what was going to happen, something that would require a very powerful spell.

There were very few people he knew that could cast a spell that powerful and one of them had sworn log ago to get even with Morgan's father. He knew that this train of thought was only making things worse, making it harder for him to remember, but he couldn't seem to shake the feeling of doom and the knowledge that Morgan was in danger. Part of him wanted to go up to her apartment and make sure that she was okay, but he knew that she wouldn't appreciate him showing up there again, so he tried once again to concentrate on his work, hoping that if she needed him he'd know it.