As he wrote, the rhythmic scratching of the ball point pen against the notebook paper coincided with the taping of Elliott’s sneaker on the brick courtyard floor. He sat on the edge of a poured concrete flower bed filled with plants slowly transitioning into dormancy. The four exterior walls of HavermillHigh School protected the quad from the harsh September winds, but a brisk chill lingered across the ground. Crossways from where he sat, an identical planter provided the atheistic of the courtyard with a matching set of perfectly planted landscaping
Elliott held a small, hardcover book with bristly yellow pages. The sprawling text on each sheet with crumbled corners was a flowing handwritten script. Each word was harder and harder to recognize, but not because the book was rapidly aging and the print was fading. Mystical spells, magical incantations, and confusing instructions written in Latin were the only words held between the two covers of the book. Owned by Adrian, the watcher had an impressive collection of occult books jammed inside his impressive three bedroom apartment and since he had taken a liking to Elliott, Adrian opened up that collection to him.
“What are you reading?”
The voice cut through the silent courtyard and bounced between the cement benches, smaller planters, and barren trees in the grassy areas lining the walls of the school. Elliott slightly tensed before lifting his eyes from the paper to the space next to him he thought was empty. Rebecca stood next to him, smiling as she held a hand with bright blue painted fingernails across her brow, shielding her eyes from the sun’s late afternoon rays. Elliott cleared his throat slightly and closed the book, but making sure to keep his thumb inside to mark the page.
“It’s… a… um…” Elliott replied. “for… ancient world history class.”
“Really?” Rebecca asked as she craned her neck a little bit more to see the pages.
“Yes. It’s… just something Mr. Schmidt recommended for me to read outside of class,” he replied.
“It looks like a book of spells from here,” she said.
His mouth dropped open a few centimeters as if he was going to answer, but Elliott had no response. He was ill-prepared, to say the least, that Rebecca might be knowledgeable about things like spells and magic. Or, at least, the spells and magic that were not the fabled legends of fairy godmothers and witches with warts flying around on broomsticks. Rebecca pointed to the area next to where Elliott sat and said, “Do you mind?”
“No,” Elliott said as he pulled his backpack from the planter edge.
Slipping the strap of her corduroy messenger bag from her shoulder, Rebecca smoothed the back of her billowy knee length shorts as she sat down beside him. She set the bag on the ground and spun it around until the front faced her.
“Have you gone to see Violet?” Rebecca asked.
“Yeah, I saw her the other day,” Elliott replied, “She’s doing well and should be getting out in a few days.”
“You only went once?”
“Has anyone ever told you that you ask a lot of questions?”
Pursing her lips together, a short chortle rolled through Rebecca’s nose. It was something many people told her since she was a little girl. For as long as she could remember, Rebecca was quizzical about everything. She seemed to lack a filter between her brain and mouth that said ‘enough questions.’
“If I promise this is the last one, will you answer it?” Rebecca asked.
“You’re a nice girl and everything, Rebecca,” Elliott said, “but…”
YOU ARE READING
Dylan the Vampire Slayer
ParanormalWhen 17-year-old Dylan Hennessy found out she was a Potential, her world was overcome by vampires and demons. She was forced to learn, and quickly, all there was to know about the mystical, the magical, and all the evil entities she never knew exis...
