Skeleton maze

The Magic Book

Arden residence was in hustle and bustle. Mrs. Arden was going through boxes discarding things she didn't need in one box ,and the things that she needed, in another box. She was a thin, pale, and tall black-haired middle-aged woman.

She was frustrated and was grunting a lot as she was complaining about how her daughter wasn't meticulous in keeping stuff when the door opened and Mira came in. Mira had blue eyes and was a pale, thin brown-haired sixteen-year-old girl.

"Mum, I have cleaned the lawn. Can I rest now? " said Mira a bit tiredly.

"No, the storeroom is still left. And why is this room so messy, can't you take care of your stuff better?"

"Mom, please leave my stuff alone and why are we even cleaning the house today?"

"What do you mean by why? Cleaning the place where you live is important, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is. What I meant was, why today? I barely got a break from my exams."

"It's been two days since your exams had over, and you have been lazing around all day. The whole house is a mess. I can't stand a dirty house. Now go and clean the storeroom."
Mira grunted and stomped out of the room.

She was furious but didn't dare to say no to her mother. She wanted to laze around some days and watch her favorite movies to celebrate the finishing of the exams before school starts again. But now she had to clean the house. "The house isn't even that dirty. Mum likes to make a big deal of everything." She said angrily as she stacked a pile of books in a box." I am gonna organize these books quickly and then I will watch my favorite movie."

Mira noticed a big dirty book on the top of the pile of books while she stacked them into a box. The book was brown and had a leather cover. It had circular markings on it with seven rings in the circle. The book had a strange aura. For some time she tried to ignore it and went back to her work as her instincts were screaming at her that this book was a danger. But that book was pulling her towards her as a magnet pulls iron nails towards itself.

She tried to ignore it but gave in at last. She picked the book and curiously opened it. But she was astounded. The whole book was blank. "What is this?! This whole book is blank! This book looked as if it was enchanted. But it's all blank!" She said indignantly.

"I shouldn't have got my hopes up. Well, my work is done. I am going to rest now."
But for some reason, she couldn't put away the book. More like the book didn't want her to put it away.

She took the book with her and went towards her house. She opened the front door, closed it shut, and strode towards her room upstairs when her mother asked,
"Have you cleaned the storeroom?", coming out of the kitchen.

"Yes, Mum," Mira said without looking up and staring at the book. "What's that?" Her mother asked pointing towards the book.

"I found it in the storeroom."

"I have seen it somewhere before". She thought for a second."Oh yeah, that's your grandma's."

"Grandma's....this book. But it's really strange." Mira said a little dazed in a faint voice.

"What?"

"Ah, nothing. I have cleared my task and now I am going to my room." She said as she sped towards her room.
"Lunch will be ready in half an hour." Her mother yelled from behind.

"Okay."

Mira went to her room and shut the door. She put the book on her study table and stared at it as if expecting something to happen.
She watched a movie last night where the protagonist finds a magic book and uses spells to get through his days.
Maybe she was thinking that she had found a magic book too.

"What am I thinking? Mira said and sighed."This book looks strange but that does not mean it has some magic spells in it. I should go to sleep.

She turned around and went towards her bed. She heard a fluttering sound similar to the fluttering of pages. She turned around and was in shock. The pages of the book were fluttering!

Mira backed away in fear. But she was more excited than afraid. Who wouldn't be excited if they found a magic book? But was it a magic book? Mira took a step forward towards the book, slightly on defense because she didn't know what to expect. The book stopped fluttering and opened at the center. She peered at the book. The book which was blank before now had something written in it.

She tried to read it but she couldn't make out some of the words. The pages were old and it looked like the book was written ages ago. Surely, it was written before she was born, Mira thought to herself.
" It's really a magic book. I can't believe it. It has spells." She said enthusiastically.

She decided to use the spell to float objects because she thought it would be an easy spell and she could almost make out the writing and what harm could a floating spell do?

She yelled the word"Novendo"
And pointed her hand towards a picture frame. She was completely focused but nothing came about. "Maybe, I should say it louder." She said to herself. She tried again but the frame didn't float. She tried again but then again nothing happened.
She was dejected.

"This book is magic, isn't it? Or am I doing something wrong? Or maybe it's too old that it has forgotten its magic."

She was discouraged and wanted to put the book down but she wanted to try one more time. "I am trying for last time." She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and with all her strength, she yelled, "Novendo."

She opened her eyes, a little nervous to look at the outcome as she wanted this spell to work. She was dumbfounded. The picture frame, it was floating. She directed her hand, which was focused on it, up and down, and the picture frame moved the same. She saw sone markings on her wrist.

Now she was convinced that she had found a magic book. But shouldn't she be concerned about where it came from? Or whose it is. If you have read Harry Potter, you would know a simple book could be very dangerous. She gave it some thought but then discarded the question as she wouldn't get an answer even if she thought all day about it.

She decided to try one more spell. Just a small one. What harm it could do? This time it was an invisibility spell. She yelled, "Erasheya". Again the markings were carved on her wrist.

To verify if the spell certainly worked or not, she opened the door of her room, paced through the stairs downwards, and went towards the kitchen where her mother was. She opened the door as silently as she could and shut it in the same manner.

Her mother was washing dishes. She crept towards her and poked her on her shoulder. Her mother turned around. She glanced at the kitchen then went back to her work as if she couldn't see anyone around her. Mira crept out of the kitchen and strode off to her room. She shut the door of her room and sat down. She was shaking with excitement and couldn't contain herself.

Now she had a magic book and maybe a hundred or more spells to try. Where should she start? She opened the book and fluttered the pages to look for a spell she would like to try and stopped at one. It was a spell to summon spirits.

"This spell looks rather complicated. Should I try it? She thought for some time. She didn't want to do anything detrimental. But she couldn't contain her curiosity and decided to try it out. She read the instructions to carry out the spell.

"I need a belonging of the person I want to summon." She got up and rummage through her closet and took out an old silver ring.
She held it in her hands, grasped the book, and yelled, "Atropio."

The room was silent. She waited for a little but nothing appeared. She tried again then again but nothing came about. She still lingered on. She glanced at the book.

"Oh no! I have been saying the spell wrong" she said vexedly. She wanted to try again. But her body felt too weak to stand. Feeling her head moving in circles, she fell on her knees and passed out.