The Library

The Rabbit-skin Journal

 When Allina finally did muster up the will to move, her body ached from sitting on the hard floor for so long. Still clutching the chest in her arms, she tiptoed out of the closet into a dimly lit room.

The room had a bed to one side, and a nightstand with a rosary on it. Old photographs hung on the walls: smiling people who looked like Ms. Coleman. Perhaps, thought Allina, those people are her family. Everything was lit as if by candles, but there were no candles in sight.

Allina walked to the other side of the room. On that side were shelves filled with bits of plants and bits of creatures, a wooden desk covered with odd stains, an empty cauldron, a stack of yellowed books, a map of the stars pinned to the wall above the desk. Within the books were diagrams of all sorts of creatures and writing in languages Allina didn't recognize.

Allina left the desk, then sat down on the bed. She opened the chest and took out the items within, marveling at the ebony scales growing on the wand. It was smooth and smelled of the ocean.

She picked up one of the journals. This one was older, its paper crinkling, the rabbit-fur binding musty. Allina was almost afraid to open it: it emanated a strange magic. But when she opened it, she couldn't read the neat cursive, for the entire journal was written in Spanish.

Allina spent a few moments looking at the diagrams within, then took the newer journal. It was written in spidery, frail cursive, and it was in English.

So Allina began to read.

Witch's Log:

I suppose I should make an English translation of my journal, in case I ever decide to take an apprentice here that wouldn't be able to read Spanish (for at this point I don't believe I'll ever be able to return to Mexico). So, this will be my journal in English. Also, it will help me become more comfortable with writing in this language.

Signed, Alejandra