The Spellbound State of the Universe

Chapter 8

After a week of what felt like a soulful vacation with an always ominous undertone, Sheera's training had progressed to the second level. She now faced the tall order of learning the spells in the Ancient Egyptian text that was changing the course of history without the world even knowing it.

The first challenge for Sheera was to decipher ancient hieroglyphs, which seemed absurd for someone with so little time and scholarly experience. Despite the impossible task it was a crucial step, as the spells were stronger when memorized from the original symbols etched on the papyrus pages. The Shadowers didn't have that luxury, as Gabriel had only stolen the last few pages and committed the rest to memory. It made whatever he taught his followers that much less effective, but their advantage remained in having the pages that contained the most powerful spells. In the end, it would come down to whether the current class of Kindreds could use their advantage to overcome the Shadower's possession of the strongest spells.

With the future possibility of this battle in mind, Sheera had no choice but to focus on this seemingly impossible task. The only thing working in her favour was a committed work ethic of studying ten hours a day, paired with the fact that each of the spells was only a few lines long. She wasn't allowed to remove the book of spells from Madam Quillfern's secure study, so instead she made a home at an extra desk in the corner, with the always-glittering magical atlas keeping watch over her slow and steady progress...

***

Late one studious afternoon, Sheera shouted out triumphantly. "A-ha!"

She had finally deciphered and memorized first spell, and aside from the wholesome triumph of making progress in this all-important quest, it would also mean spending time with Luke, who was designated to supervise when she practiced any and all spells. All she had to do now was say the spell out loud and conjure it into life, a process that would normally take a few hundred repetitions — not that she had the time.

Despite the onset of another hurdle, Sheera was eager to have some human contact, especially if it involved seeing Luke. He seemed to be the only one who even had time for her lately, with the other Kindreds always busy double-checking mysterious plans she hadn't been allowed to see.

She pushed the lack of security clearance out of her mind, and for the first time allowed her thoughts to wander over to that night at the Eiffel Tower. Had that moment when he'd brushed the strand of hair out of her face been anything significant? Or was he simply worried about her hair getting stuck in her eyeball, where it would spin round and round until the tension of the hair strand squeezing around her eyeball caused it to burst into goo.

"Nah..." she said smiling. He had no eyeball worries and probably just liked her, which was awfully convenient since she found herself liking him too.

"Ding-dooonggg!" The gilded grandfather clock chimed to report that it was already two p.m.

Sheera carefully closed the delicate spell book, eager to get out of there and begin her first lesson in practical magic.

As she rose from her chair she heard a faint hissing sound, like someone slowly taking the air out of a plastic bag. The sound seemed to be coming from the magical atlas, which currently had the world map on display. The tiny glittering dots of vibrant souls looked no different than before, but then she noticed it: a small trail of smoke rising out of the bottom corner of the map. She started slapping it with the spell book, worried that it would catch fire. Than she realized she was slapping the legendary spell book against a possibly developing fire.

"Shit!" She gently put the spell book back on her desk, then turned back and started stamping out the smoking corner of the atlas with her shoe. When the smoke cleared she squinted and saw the percentage counter.