Intertwined

Chapter Thirteen

After school, while standing idly in the doorway–I realized that Marleene's room was guarded with a distinct mood upon entering. Though, physically, it was small, it felt roomy. She didn't have much other than raised bookshelves, a twin bed and a small black desk. Her windows were covered by blackout curtains that did what they promised to. The room was dim, absent of light if not for the candles placed every so often. The wicks burned brighter whenever Marleene passed them. There was a slight whimsical aspect to the atmosphere. It was warm, while at the same time, foreign and cold. A room as confusing as the person living within it.

"Is it at all possible to let in some light?" Erica asked, pulling at the heavy black that was seemingly plastered to the wall. Thin stripes of gold danced around as she did so.

"It would be if I didn't have timeless tomes in here. The light could damage the leather," Marleene said, a bit of a bite at the end of her sentence.

"It takes months, maybe even years for light to damage–"

"Keep them closed," Marleene said.

Erica walked toward the open spot on the other side of Lyall, mumbling and making faces while her back was turned to Marleene.

Marleene rolled her eyes before going for one of the shelves against her wall. She spent long minutes pulling and reading and then shoving back books. Every so often she'd look at one, nod, and then drop it onto the rugged floor. That continued for a while.

"She's worried about light damage, but not the actual abuse," Erica muttered.

Marleen ignored her. "Em, did you bring that one you were talking about?"

"I did," I said, already lunging for my bag that slouched between Lyall's and my legs. I'd forgotten about the book's girth when I heaved it onto my lap. It felt like it weighed tons. I peeled back the zipper to pull out the massive chunk of knowledge.

"Don't strain yourself," Lyall laughed, taking the book from my lap.

"Woah, where did you find that?" Jason asked. I'd all but forgotten about both him and Mike as they sat in the corner behind Marleene. She really did need to open the curtains, the two boys had been immersed in shadows.

"I found it at the library," I stated.

"You couldn't have," Marleene said, ripping the book from Lyall. Without an ounce of strain, she flipped through the pages, entirely engrossed. "This is strict witch work, it's similar to one I've already read. It might be from the same one."

"I really did. It didn't have any labels or anything, I'm not even sure how I came to find it."

Marleene mumbled something before laying my book on her desk and returning to her search.

"How does she have so many of these books?" I wondered to Lyall, but as he was about to answer, Marleene cut in.

"They're not books. They're Tomes."

"What's a tome?" I asked, and as I did Erica rolled her eyes, Mike and Jason chuckled, and Lyall scooted back onto the bed so that his back rested upright against the wall, letting go of a huff.

"A tome is not just any old book. It couldn't even be classified as such on its weakest of copies. A book is merely a collection of information that ranges from fiction to nonfiction all with the purpose of demonstrating and relaying the contents of what the writer wants the reader to know. Tomes, on the other hand, are more like journals or collections of data, practices, and most importantly, the limitations that a single witch had compiled into several different categories. They're all very personal. This one for example," she yanked a hefty tome from the shelf, its leather not so much brown as it was stained, "Is from a single witch, her identity unknown, who put all of her workings on the magic of crystallization into one tome to keep track of her spells and data that pertains to that subject. That one over there is about the same subject but from another magic wielder. As the people who write the subject are different, the magic that they wield is distinct as well. Let's say that person A created a tome on... oh I don't know... mutation, for example, if someone else came along–we'll call them person B–can also wield magic, They might be able to replicate what A wrote about, but more often than not they can't. What works for person A could not work for person B, but if person B decides that they would like to dabble in mutation, they could use the work as a guideline, following A's step one, and finding what works, then moving on to step two, and finding if there are any similarities there, and so on and so forth."