Page 4 of Spellbound
To become a keeper, I had to get a perfect score. Anything less was a fail, and I couldn’t afford to wait three years to take it again. “Please, stop.” My tone came out harsher than I expected. “Sorry, but I’m not going to do it this year. As I said, next year I will. I promise.”
He shook his head, then turned away. “If your mind is made up, then there’s nothing I can say.”
“So...” I looked at the page, needing a topic change. “What now?”
I breathed in the stale, musty air and tapped my fingers against the side of my legs. I wanted to help, but the markings on the pages were ones I’d never encountered. I knew I’d only been brought along to learn, not to aid, but Edmund would pretend otherwise. He wanted me to feel like I was needed, but as he was the grandkeeper, I knew that wasn’t true. He didn’t need me to go down there with him or hold the book.
“For now, nothing. We are the only ones who can read it, and as you know, it cannot be copied.”
“It’s as if they have a mind of their own.”
He looked at the open pages wearily. “Yes, they do.”
“What happens again? When you try to copy the spells?”
“You forget. As soon as we close the book, the instructions inside will leave my mind. It’s a part of the curse placed on this thing a century ago.” He blew out a long exhale as his gaze trailed over the symbols inked onto the parchment.
“I guess it’s clever, like it’s preserving itself.” I shoved my hands into my pockets, then rocked back onto my heels. “A failsafe, preventing anyone from copying the spells we need and just getting rid of the book.”
“Yes.” He tapped his fingers against the spine when he closed it. “It’s going to take a few days to complete the tracing spell. Maddox will bring a caster in and help them translate so they can cast it while the book remains open.”
“Oh.” It made sense. Maddox, who also happened to be one of my best friends, was almost as skilled as Edmund. “Then why did we need to come down here now?” I asked, keeping my tone kind. I hated when Edmund and I would have disagreements. He was one of the few people in my life who hadn’t left but believed in me, so I made a conscious effort to structure my tone to come across light and breezy with him.
“To ensure I had the correct one, and it was where I thought it was.”
He always did have to double-check everything, even though he was almost always right. I watched him place the book back between two others. Edmund glanced at his watch. “It’s almost time. Frederick will be arriving back from Salvius shortly.”
I thought back to when Frederick, the fetcher who was tasked with traveling between Salvius and Istinia when necessary—had picked me up and taken me to Istinia.
My eyes were beginning to burn. I rubbed them, then rolled my shoulders back. “Let’s go. My bed calls to me, and you know how I feel about sleep.”
He let out a small chuckle. “We all know how you feel about your bed, Elle. You spend half your mornings complaining about leaving it.”
I played with the heart on my necklace as we left the basement. When he opened the front door of the mansion, the cold, crisp air hit my lungs, forcing me to cough. The moon was high in the sky, and time ticked by slowly as we walked to the drive. Edmund looked up at the starry night and cast his bespectacled stare toward me. I glanced at my watch, a gift from him for my twentieth birthday a few months back. It was black and matched my long, painted nails. On them, tiny specks of white shone out. They were meant to be stars, but I wasn’t great at doing my own nails.
It was our job to retrieve the Serpent’s Ring, a dark object used to deactivate the spelled arches that nestled between the only passable part of the mountains separating Istinia and Salvius. I had almost forgotten about us needing to retrieve it from Frederick. I’d have slept in that morning if I’d remembered I’d have to be up this late.
“It’s going to be one soon.”
“He shouldn’t be much longer,” Edmund replied. “He’ll be here. I know you’re tired, but this is what comes with being a keeper, so think of this as practice for the future.”
“Why has he gone?” I asked, drumming my fingers against the side of my leg. My pants were dark blue, contrasting my white top, and four of my fingers were lined with rings. All of them protected my physical body from the magic of the objects I worked with daily. My particular magic protected my mind. “Do you think they found a dark object? I mean, it’s been two years since they’ve brought one in.”
“I’m not sure.” He gazed up at the moon. “Our job is to retrieve the Serpent’s Ring, not to know the latest news. That’s Alma’s and the other elders’ concern.”
I bit down on my bottom lip. “I bet one of the humans found a cursed hair comb or something.”
Edmund attempted to contain his smirk. “Why a hair comb?”
I shrugged. “It’s always something ordinary. They find one in an attic somewhere in an old house or locked away, and because it looks normal, they use it. Then they die, get sick, or end up possessed or something. It’s been the case with the last three.”
“Want to bet?”
I couldn’t help but smile. Although he tried to be serious most of the time, occasionally I brought out a hint of mischief and fun.
“One skal.”
He arched a tangled, dark-brown eyebrow. “Only one?”
