Spellcaster series #1: The Neophyte

Dark Magic

TRISTAN

The police confirmed that the skeleton belonged to Mrs Ryans. They sealed off the house for further investigation. The detective assigned to the case interviewed me, asking why I was in her bedroom. I described to him all that had happened. He jotted down in his notepad, never reacting or emoting to my recount.

"How close are you to Mrs. Ryans?"

"Not close, detective."

The man nodded and scratched his pencil onto his notepad. Then he pocketed them in his pants and eyed me for a second.

"Come with me for a moment, Mr. Embers."

I followed him to the side of the road, away from the scene. His blue eyes squinted then exhaled. "There are numerous reports on djinn activity. People have been using them, communicating with them for their own gain."

I kept quiet and he continued, "More people are dying. Just last week, a student hung herself in her room. My—" his voice broke and quickly patted his coat for his cigarette pack. He pulled it out of his jacket pocket, took one out and lit it up before continuing, "my daughter used to go to school with her."

I nodded. "This is grim news, detective. I will alert the other two Sages."

I returned home after that, weary and drained. The paramedic advised me to go to the hospital to check on the suspected broken rib. I ignored this and decided to heal it myself. I locked myself in the bathroom and removed my jacket and shirt. There was a bruise the size of my fist on the middle-left of my torso.

"Tristan," my mother called out from the other side of the door. "Are you all right?"

I placed my palm on it and channelled the healing spell. In mere minutes, the aching dulled and then disappeared. I sighed and put on my shirt.

"I'm fine, mama," I opened the door.

My mother held her hand to her chest, her green eyes watching me. My father was drawing the day curtains in the living area.

"Well, I'm glad you're staying with us for the week," she said and placed her warm hand on my cheek. "I'll go make some dinner."

"I'm not hungry," I told her and planted a kiss on her cheek. "I'm going to sleep now. The djinn drained my energy. Goodnight, mama."

I made my way up my old bedroom. It was left untouched and maintained well. I threw myself on the bed and I fell asleep immediately.

~

A piercing scream startled me awake. I sat up and reached for my wand upon instinct. It sounded like my mother. I raced to my parents' bedroom across the hallway. My father rushed down the stairs from his office on the third floor.

"What happened?" He asked, eyes peering at the darkness of the corridor.

The bedroom door was closed. From downstairs, Robert climbed his way up, eyes wide in frantic horror.

"The garden!" He yelled. We followed him to the garden at the back of the house.

It was past midnight. Robert was a relatively collected person but at that moment, he was visibly shaking. In the middle of the garden, in the dead of night, we saw something we did not expect.

"Delilah?" Robert uttered.

She was in a white gown, her material state shifting and morphing. It was desperately trying to look human but my father and I knew it was not.