Time's Tragedies- The Books Of Beginning [2]

53. The Theory Of Dark Magic

Eternity coughed. The attic of the deceased Stanislaus Pym's home in Cambridge Falls was thick with layers upon layers of dust. It gave everything a sleepy, sneezy, mildly uncomfortable and very old fashioned feeling, that she didn't particularly enjoy. The dust covered everything from old and broken furniture to the stacks of books Abby and Jake were methodically making their way through. The dust had even settled on the two youngest Wibberlys, and between the mustiness and the fact that they blended in with the shadows of the attic, it was as if they had been shut up here for just as long as the books.

Eternity could feel the dust settling on her skin too, making her shiver as if something crawly was dancing up her spine. She didn't like dust, too much of it had covered her father's home that he never cleaned, too much of it her caretaker forced her to mop up while the other children were having their magic lessons. Dust was impossible to escape - it blanketed everything.

Well, almost everything. Eternity found it hard to believe that even the dust and grime of this old room could touch Lili. Lili, who crackled with magical power at all times, even if she wasn't using it or even aware of it. No matter what, there was always that electricity lurking just below the surface. Lili was far too powerful for something as mundane as dust. To many, she might even seem untouchable.

(Eternity had seen her break down, had seen her cry, had watched her wake up with a scream in her throat and a nightmare on her brain. She had heard Lili's roaring laughter and seen her luminous smile and the way her eyes lit with awe. She had seen her drowning insecurities and her burning anger. Eternity had touched her. She would never make the mistake of thinking Lili was above it all.)

Shadows danced across the blonde's pale face as she furrowed her brow in that ever present concern and love, those piercing eyes analyzing her friend's expression. "Eternity? Are you okay?"

Eternity nodded, "I'm fine. Just got dust in my lungs. Now, I do believe we need to be caught up on what's going on here before we join in the research expedition."

"Right," Lili nodded, "Jake, Abby, what have you got through?"

"We've been working through this whole hour and we got through four books total," Abby reported, "two each. They're over there. None were useful, all were gruesome. We're each on our third now."

"Okay," Lili said, perching lightly on one of the broken chairs and grabbing a book of her own to start.

Eternity, meanwhile, made her way over to the completed pile. "What's the grossest thing you've found so far?"

Lili groaned, "why? Why do you have to ask?"

Abby ignored her older sister's protests and turned to her friend, "well, the spell to infest someone with flesh eating parasites is pretty awful. So is the one that causes it's victim to lose control of their hands and gouge out their own eyes."

Eternity felt her jaw drop, "damn. Those evil warlocks really didn't play around, did they?"

"Nope," Abby agreed. 

"It's honestly kind of interesting," Jake remarked, "not the spells themselves, those are just horrible, but what's behind the spells. So many of these dark wizards saw non magical beings as inferior, and yet a lot of these curses to cause one's own body to malfunction and self destruct are actually really heavily influenced by the medical sciences. There really is less of a line between magic and science then a lot of people think."

"Wow," Eternity said.

"It's slightly less wow when you realize I only started getting into the science and magic combinations because I wanted to enchant toy cars to fly and a little robot toy to help me make my bed," Jake admitted.