Magic Unlocked

Chapter 1

The day was heavy with an overwhelming sense of gloom. Despite the sun shining, heating the tiny town below it with it's warmth, it still felt cold as if winter had come early that year. Cars lined the usually quiet street of a small suburban neighborhood while people dressed in black suits and dresses converged upon a small two story home. The gloomy feeling seeming to emanate from the very location. 

Standing within a second floor window of the house, a young girl with fiery crimson hair peering out. Her eyes were downcast, watching as people entered her home. Some held others within their arms, guiding them to the front door. Others walked in silence on their own towards their destination below. Most of the people were silent, few wiped freshly shed tears from their faces, but everyone was certainly met by her parents downstairs at the front door. 

A pounding came from her bedroom door, startling and forcing the young girl's attention from what was happening outside. It forced her attention from the people entering her home to the person that was now intruding upon her evident solitude. 

As her eyes befell the door, it swung open to reveal an older woman with sad emerald green eyes, though she was trying to put some smile upon her face. Her dark raven colored hair was held up in a tight bun, a few strands having escaped since that morning. She had a simple black dress on with hidden pockets at it's side. Her heels she had worn earlier that day had been long since ditched, leaving the woman with bare feet. Her mother looked like a beautifully distraught mess no matter how one looked at it. 

"There you are, don't you want to come downstairs?" 

Twyla forced a smile upon her lips, trying to hide the pain she was feeling within her heart. However, her mother must have seen right through her forced facade because she launched yet another sad smile at her hoping to ease the pain. 

"Are you doing okay sweetheart?" 

"Yeah, I only need a moment and I'll be down." 

Twyla's mother closed the door quietly behind her, stepping further into the room. She seemed almost nervous, the way she looked around her room, contemplation sliding over her features with each object her gaze fell upon. 

"Mama? Are you okay?" 

"Oh, yes. It's just hard to believe Gran is gone." 

Her eyes followed her mother as she crossed the room and took a seat upon her springy little bed. Twyla nodded her head in agreement, moving from the window to sitting beside her mother and resting her head upon her shoulder. 

"I miss her too, but you know more than I that Gran isn't really gone. She is still here in spirit, always will be." 

"I know. . ." 

Twyla's mother took a deep, shaky breath, forcing her to sit up straighter and turn a questioning gaze onto the older woman beside her. 

"Anyway, I have something for you that Gran would have wanted you to have." 

"Me!? From Gran?" 

The questions had slipped from Twyla's lips faster than her brain could stop them. Her Gran had always been so hard on her, making it seem as if the elder woman hadn't liked her much. Now, with her passing, she had a hard time believing she would have wanted her to have anything. Let alone something that had belonged to her in any form. 

Her shock only rose when her mother pulled something from her dress pocket and revealed it to be a small black box with intricate silver swirling along the edges. 

"Open it when you're ready, but she would have wanted you to have it." 

With a kiss to her forehead and the black box gently placed within her hand, Twyla glanced up to say something only for the chance to slip away within a second. In all her stunned confusion, her mother had managed to cross the room and slip out her door. It left Twyla by herself with the little box and more questions swirling around in her mind than she cared to have. 

Twyla glanced down at the little black and silver box, slowly opening it to reveal the hidden contents within. 

Her curiosity turned into wide eyed surprise when she found inside a beautiful pink, holographic amulet. The pink gem was wrapped in an intricately twined copper wire. It was beautiful, stunning even. However, Twyla was having a hard time believing her Gran wanted her to have it. Something so dear to her grandmother, something she kept so close to her at every turn, why would it come to be within her possession of all people?

Delicately pulling the amulet from the box, Twyla turned it over in her hands to examine it in its entirety. It was then that she found something etched into the flat backing of the amulet's gem. Instinctively, Twyla read the inscription aloud as if it would help her understand it better: 

"Second sight, second sight
Come to me by this light
Make my psychic mind open
As this charm is now spoken" 

Confusion quickly flashed across Twyla's face, the feeling swelling deep within her. She thought it was going to bubble over as she watched the crystal begin to glow within her palm. At the same time, her body felt like it was humming with unseen energy. She felt warm and lighter than air, but at the same time there was a part of her that felt like exploding. There was something so overwhelming, she could barely contain the feeling. It mystified her as to why she would feel such a way while the now glowing amulet continued to mesmerize her with it's ever growing light. 

"I feel like exploding. . ." 

Twyla muttered how she felt aloud as if it would quell the feeling. 

Within a flash of bright white light, an energy so immense burst out of her from every direction. The windows within her room burst out sending shards of glass raining to the ground below. Anything that once stood within her room was now against the walls or left tumbling to the ground. 

A scream was ripped from Twyla, the light dimming just as her door flew open and a rather large group of people stood staring within her room. At the front of the group was her parents, both looking around in shock and confusion as to what had just happened. Their gaze slowly making its way to land upon her, stunned silence and questioning in every way possible. The silent questions being asked of her, Twyla didn't know how to answer, she was as confused and terrified as she was. 

Giving a once over her room, taking in the sudden destruction that had been caused around her reminded her that everything had indeed happened. She looked back, her tearful gaze landing once more upon her parents. Her hands trembled as the fear shook her from every inch of her being. She didn't understand what had happened and it was apparent neither did anyone else, but if anyone could help her it would be the one person she could always turn to. 

"Mama, help-"