Chapter 29:
Though I was feeling refreshed and somewhat positive about life, I was a nervous wreck. After getting some food, Reid told me that the others were waiting for us at one of their family libraries. Even though I insisted that I probably shouldn't go anywhere, Reid dragged me along with him in Tyler's car. During the car ride, Reid told me how everyone had been doing research to figure out what was going on with me and how to stop it from happening again. I didn't realize that the guys cared so much about me. It was different. My foot bounced the entire ride to the library, which Reid noticed but didn't say a thing.
We arrived to what looked like an abandoned building in the middle of the woods. There was a silver convertible and Pogue's bike already parked in front of the building, which Reid parked next to. Stepping out of the car, I could feel magical energy pulsating in the air. I looked at Reid who was watching me with a smirk as I realized that we were surrounded by magic.
"I was wondering if you were going to notice or not," he mentioned coming to my side and taking my hand in his.
"Are you doing this?" I asked as he led me up the stairs to the door.
"No, our ancestors built this library and placed powerful talismans around to protect the area. Only people of our bloodline can enter, to everyone else, it just looks like a regular decaying building," he explained. "Come on, everyone's waiting," he said, opening the heavy wooden door.
The library was grand and filled with an enormous number of books. Everything was lit by candlelight which didn't surprise me. Reid guided me into an open area where there were some tables. This was where the guys were. The three of them were surrounded by piles of books, their noses buried deep in what they were reading. The floorboard creaked which caused them to snap their heads in our direction. They all looked at me, surprised that I was actually there.
An awkward smile was plastered on my face, as I didn't know what to do other than that and look at the old floors. With everyone quiet, the sound of the flames flickering echoed throughout the building. Breaking the silence, Pogue's chair rubbed against the floor as he stood up and made his way to me.
He approached me and stood in front of me, just looking at me, letting out a sigh of relief. He wrapped his arms around me, bringing me into a bear hug. It surprised me at the moment, but it felt nice. I wrapped my arms around him, taking in the hug, feeling comfort.
"I'm glad you're here, sis," he whispered pulling away.
"What have you guys been reading?" I asked as I walked to the table, standing in between Caleb and Tyler, who made room for me. I looked at both of them, as they smiled up at me, each giving me a sideways hug.
"Diaries of our ancestors," Caleb answered. He pointed to the pile next to him, each other the books looked the exact same to me, made out of the same leather. I laid my hand on the side of his head where I could see a small bruise through his short, thin black hair. "I'm alright," he whispered to me.
I smiled down at him, glad that he was okay. "Isn't that somewhat an invasion of privacy?" I asked looking back at the stack of diaries, feeling a little bit awkward, reading personal writings.
"They are dead technically, and they are the ones that put them in the library, so we've assumed they wouldn't mind," Tyler laughed.
"Find anything?" I asked a little nervous.
"Nothing," Caleb groaned. "But that doesn't mean we won't. We still got a lot of things to go through," he quickly added looking up at me.
"Blair, is there anything that you can tell us about your dreams? Like location or names, anything?" Reid asked, fidgeting his fingers on his chin, staring at a fixed point on the table.
I fell silent, closing my eyes. I thought back to every confused and torturous moment that I had with Lillian and her followers in the dream realm. "They were chanting the same thing over and over again, the women that stood around me and Lillian," I said remembering. "They kept chanting, Illa est ortu."
"Do you think it's a spell?" Pogue asked as they all tried to go through their memories and figure out what it meant.
"It's Latin," Tyler snapped his figure excitedly and hurried to one of the shelves of the library. "Keep going while I figure this out," he shouted back at us.
"What else do you remember?" Caleb asked.
"Lillian was the only one who would ever talk to me. The others never said anything. At one point Lillian told me that I had all of them in me," I said, hearing exactly the way she spoke echo through my head, sending chills down my spine. "They were the ones that couldn't be born," I added.
"That doesn't make sense. Lillian was born so it makes sense that on some magical plane she is able to manifest herself, not exactly sure how but, how are the others able to manifest themselves, if they were never born?" Reid asked, now pacing around the room. The room went silent.
"What if they were created but never born?" I blurted thinking about how it could be possible. The three of them looked at me confused. "Answer me this first. Did your mothers ever experience magical powers from the womb?"
"Yes, but little things. Mom said that when she was pregnant with me that if I was happy inside, she would burp bubbles and if I wasn't, I'd make her burp fire smoke," Pogue chuckled.
"What does that have to do with this?" Caleb asked.
"You're born with your magical abilities. Yes, you don't get them until you're thirteen after you're born, but that magic has always been a part of you since conception. Which means, that you didn't have to be born to have magical abilities," I explained. The boys looked at me like they had no idea what I was talking about. "The women I am seeing, other than Lillian, they were conceived but never born. Their mothers had miscarriages, which is why they weren't born because of the no girls curse placed on the families,"
"Which would make sense as to why they would be there since they have their magical capabilities!" Reid excitedly spoke, figuring out one piece of this large puzzle.
"We need to find the family trees and figure out if any of the wives wrote anything about miscarrying," Caleb demanded. Pogue nodded and ran off somewhere while Tyler came back with two books in hand, both of them opened to a certain page.
"It's not a spell," Tyler burst. "Well, not exactly. It translates to, she is rising," he revealed setting both books on the table.
"That doesn't sound pleasant," I retorted. "What do you mean that it isn't a spell exactly?" I asked, looking at Tyler. I was new to all the magic stuff. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that my powers had anything to do with spells or enchantments. I didn't know that I was exactly a defined witch.
"In terms of how magic and incantations work, they typically are used to pool power together. The more times you say it, the more powerful it'll become or you'd need to say it enough to pool enough power to make it work," Tyler tried to explain. I understood what he was trying to say, but not really.
"I liked it better when all I'd have to do is throw fireballs," I groaned. I rubbed my temples, trying my best to wrap my head around everything. "So let me get this straight. Lillian and these women, who are technically dead, who are in a magical plane, are somehow in my mind or are able to enter my mind, and are using their birthright magical powers to make themselves rise from said unknown magical plane?" I told making sure that I knew what the hell I was talking about and understood what exactly was happening to me. Well, more done to me.
"Yes?" the three of them slowly said, looking at one another to make sure that they too understood.
"This is great. Absolutely fantastic!" I sarcastically shouted. They all looked at me, not knowing what to say. Pogue finally came back, a bundle of rolled up papers in his hands.
"Found them," he huffed, placing them on the table, making sure they didn't roll off. "Those are a bitch to carry," he pointed, irritated at the rolls.
"I'm sure they would make great friends with the bitches in my head," I commented back. Pogue looked at me then began to chuckle, which made me do the same. We definitely are very similar.
"You two are definitely siblings," Caleb said giving us a look like we really weren't that funny. He went back to sorting the rolls of paper that Pogue brought over. Each one was handled gently as the papers were old and delicate. I noticed Caleb was sorting them by the colored ribbons that were secured around the paper. There were five piles. I forgot about there being five families.
"Now we just have to go through them, find the women's name, then find their diaries and then go through those," Pogue said placing his hands on his hips, looking at the separated piles of rolls.
"This might take a while," Tyler commented. "Let's go down our family history," he sighed, grabbing the pile with the royal blue ribbon. They each grabbed their families, leaving the fifth families on the table.
"Do you guys want me to go through the last families?" I asked as they took a seat in their chairs.
"You can go ahead, there might not be much there though," Pogue replied.
"Why is that?" I asked taking a seat.
"The Putnam family line ended in during the Salem Witch Trials," he said.
That sucks. Well, might as well see what could have happened before that. Let me see.
I reached for one of the rolls but then I stopped, looking at Pogue, who was watching me. He knew exactly what I was thinking.
"It's not going to send you flying away in defense," he laughed.
Damn, he really is my brother.
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Author's Notes:
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story! If you liked it, feel free to give this chapter a vote and/or comment. I would love to hear what you guys think. See you at the next chapter!
- Impact