The Gargoyle's Sin

Accalia

After morning prayers I stood at the door and waved goodbye to my aunt and Sybil as they pulled out of driveway. I was itching to get started on my chores and finish them as quickly as possible because I was planning on opening that secret door under my bed and maybe visit Grimald. I was so excited that as soon as the car disappeared I ran into the house and started on the laundry. Once the washer started I began dusting each room before sweeping and mopping the floor and continue with the laundry. Thankfully we do the laundry often enough here that there is never a lot to do. As soon as the last piece of clothing was put away I checked the time and saw it was early afternoon.

I bolted up the stairs to my room and began shoving my bed across the room to the outside wall, cringing at the high pitched scraping news it made. Once the bed was finally moved I looked down and saw that the door perfectly blended in with the floor, the only thing that gave it away was the handle that was sticking up from my attempts to open it last night. I grasped the cold metal in my hand and began to pull upwards and it started to creak as it slowly opened to reveal what I can only describe to be a cubby. Inside was a box with many intricate designs along edge of the lid that looked like vines with roses and leaves along it. There was writing in the center of this design that I could not understand, so I hopped onto my bed and pulled out my phone to try and figure out what this writing said.

I quickly found out the language was Latin and if this translation I found was correct it said, "Beware to anyone who opens this box."

A chill ran down my spine at this and quickly ran through every possible idea of what this box could contain, poison, snakes, spirits, the list went on and on. Maybe my aunt just used this box to store maybe some money in and figured the warning would scare anyone away if they ever found it. My curiosity got the best of me and I slowly opened the lid, what this box held shocked me.

It was an old book that looked ancient by the worn leather and the yellow crispy pages. I was afraid to pick it up for fear it would crumble into dust if handle without absolute care. The leather had cracks and spilts in it from aging and the red book mark was frayed and dull. There was some faded gold lettering on the leather that was barely visible and seemed to spell out 'Accalia.' This name caused me to furrow my brow in confusion causing me to reach for it and carefully lift it out of the box. I very slowly opened the book and saw a lot of Latin writing on the inside which made me even more confused.

Why would my aunt have a book like this? What could it possibly be for? Does she even know it's here?

These questions just seemed to keep coming until my head started to hurt. I wanted to know what these pages said and why someone would hide such an artifact away but I couldn't just use my phone to translate every single page, I would have to go to the library to do some research. With my mind made up I quickly got myself dressed and left the house and made my way downtown. Once I found the library I walked up to the front doors and was sure to keep my head down as I entered, the smell of books filling my nose and bringing a sense of peace to my mind.

I made my way to the history section of the library and stood in front of the large collection of books not knowing where to begin. Panic started to set in when I realized I would have to go up and ask the librarian for help. Swallowing my nerves as best as I could, I slowly walked up to the front desk with my head lowered and my ears ringing.

"Excuse me. I...I am looking for something that could tell me about a book called 'Accalia'," my voice came out in a quiver.

"Why would a young girl such as yourself be interested in such things?"

I felt myself begin to shake as I replied, "I was just curious."

"Well you know what they say, 'curiosity killed the cat'. I'm sorry but I refuse to help someone as innocent minded as yourself get mixed up in such things. If you want that information you are going to have to find it yourself."

Her stern voice caused me to shrink back in absolute fear as I nodded and walked back to the history section. I decided to start with the history of this town and go from there, but unfortunately it just had the basic information like dates and who it was founded by. So I tried another approach and started looking for books on Grimald, and lucky for me I found one book. It was in the farthest part of section covered in dust as if no one wanted it to be found. Shaking these thoughts from my mind I began to read through the book which started out by letting the reader know this was all based of legends and stories.

As I continued to read I started to feel as if my endeavor was hopeless, that maybe this book wasn't as important as I had made it out to be. Just as I was ready to shut the book and go home, I saw the title 'Accalia' pop in the book. I was instantly filled with excitement and read as quickly as humanly possible to find out what kind of mysteries this book had. There was only a short paragraph about it and what it said made my heart jump in fright.

'Accalia is a book of spells and curses, used for witchcraft and sorcery during the Middle Ages. The ministers of the time used this book to trap Grimald in his stone prison for the rest of eternity claiming it to be the work of God. This book had spells that could be used to kill, control and curse enemies and even bless the user, but at a great cost. Thankfully this book was lost after its final use on Grimald that fateful night and has not been seen since.'

The ringing of a cellphone pulled me from my reading as I looked around trying to find the source of the noise. I quickly realized it was me and made my way out of the library before picking up the call.

"Lexi. Sybil and I are just leaving the doctors office. Please have dinner ready by the time I get home. We will be there in an hour."

The line went dead and I bolted as quickly as I could back to my aunt's house to make sure dinner was hot and ready for them when they stepped through the door.