Magic (The Thornbury Chronicles Book #1) Being Edited

Chapter 3

I know this story is set in Australia, but they don't have a uniform. I just don't like uniforms, so yeah, sorry if that anoys you. 

The chest clicks open and a large number of dust particles escape and shoot up my nose and into my mouth. I turn away coughing and gagging. Once I shoo away all of the filth I turn back to have a look at what is inside the trunk. I snatch my flashlight up from where I dropped it after inhaling all that dust and shine it on the contents. I almost turn away, disappointed, but then something in the corner of the chest catches my eye. I pick it up, and blow the dust off the surface of the heavy, brown book titled ‘The Thornbury Chronicles.’ Thornbury. That was my grandmother’s maiden name. After she married my grandfather she never wanted to change her name, but somehow he convinced the stubborn woman to do it.

            I peel open the book only to discover that it is a spell book. Written by my grandmother.

            Martha Thornbury, the gentle, lavender smelling old lady, was once a dangerous witch. I could barely fathom this picture in my mind. Who new what she was? Did Annie? Did my mother? Or was she keeping it a secret from everybody, only letting her true feelings out through this book. I flick through the pages looking for something personal that she wrote. Defeated, I let the book fall open on my lap, an inked picture of a house being burnt to the ground fills one half of the page.

            ‘This vision can only mean one thing, she will strike again. I did not succeed in my quest to kill her, and now her first target will be me. I just hope that she doesn’t know how powerful my dear grandchild really is. She will strike again, and I just pray that it is not on someone I love.’

            I reach out to trace the picture, but I jerk my hand back when the pages start to turn. Back to the very beginning of the book, another passage written by my grandmother stands out on the very top of the page.

            ‘My daughter gave birth to her third beautiful child today. I already know that Dustin has the caster gene, I can see it in his soul. But Alex, is just a normal mundane boy. Her husband chose the name, Riley. It means courageous. This child opened my eyes. The first time I saw her, I knew she was going to be one of the most powerful witches of her generation. The Millennium Child only occurs once a millennium. When two children born with the caster gene are both from the same bloodline then one of them will be known as the most powerful witch that has been seen in a thousand years. I have been trying to track Dustin, but he has disappeared, taken by Darius. I just hope he remains true to himself, and that Darius has not affected the way he thinks. He is a smart boy, and I trust he will protect Riley, his sister.

            I feel a single tear roll down my face, and I see it drop onto the page before me, onto the name Dustin. I don’t really know what to take from what I just read, but I believe my grandmother just told me that I have a brother named Dustin, I am connected to someone named Darius, and I am one of the most powerful witches seen in a thousand years.

            I think back to the boy I saw at the funeral, how his eyes were just the same blue as mine. Could he be Dustin? And the man that I dream about, maybe he is my father. Maybe he is Darius. No, that’s impossible, my father was the man that lived and died with my mother. And no amount of truth is going to change that. Even if he isn’t my biological father, he was the dad that raised me and grew with me, that won’t be altered, no matter what.

            I stand up suddenly forgetting about the book on my lap, it falls to the floor, up side down, and on the back cover there is a photo of my mother and I, as a baby, strapped to the book. Just like how I feel, being strapped to this house, not being able to go back. I seize the book and rest it under my arm and inside my jacket; I then close the chest and retrieve the key from the lock.