The Witches of Marble Falls

XVI

'The creature was correct—he has a corrupt soul, he has not been the Harvey you knew in life since he was pulled from the lake. The woman that revived him lost her life in the process, which fed the corruption of his being.' Valerie explained. Agatha stood in front of Alaric, who still had his hands on her shoulders. 'No one is the same when they come back from the brink of death. No one is completely whole.'

Agatha barely heard the words coming from Valerie; she was more concerned with bringing her sister back to herself, which was apparent to everyone in the room.

'Bring me the book, Valerie.' Agatha whispered. 'Emilia, are you up for being here when I open the book?'

'I need to get this ability under control—it may be helpful to push myself through this experience again.' Emilia said, closing her eyes, attempting to ground and centre herself in reality.

Valerie returned with the book and there was silence in the room. Agatha touched the cover and smiled, feeling a sense of relief that showed in her eyes.

'We have been searching for this book for years. Our parents were searching for it before us. It has been lost for decades. When the original Wakefield elders arrived here in Marble Falls, they completed it—there are others, which we have safely stored away, but this was the first, the original. It has so much information that has been lost, and now we have it. We can do so much with this.' Her enthusiasm was innocent; Emilia could see a silver and white mist swirling around her aunt. There was no darkness, no evil intent in her mind. She was genuinely happy to have her family's grimoire in her hands. 'Valerie, get the salt. Alaric, bring me five white candles and a black candle.'

Agatha moved across the room and placed the book on a wooden podium—she moved the podium back to the centre of the room. She removed a small piece of chalk from her pocket and knelt in front of the podium. She drew a pentagram on the floor and marked each point with a strange symbol. Emilia watched the process, trying to commit it to memory.

'What exactly are you doing, Aunt Agatha?' She asked, standing from the couch. Agatha looked up and smiled.

'You did a good job, casting that protective circle—but it is clear that something stronger is needed to protect you, and the rest of us, from any residual corruption Harvey may have left on this book.' She explained. 'The pentagram is a universal symbol of protection, and these symbols are from the Elder Futhark—runes from Northern Europe.' She pointed to the top most rune, at the point of the pentagram and said: 'This is Thurisaz, a directed force of destruction and defence;' she moved clockwise around the pentagram and pointed to each symbol. 'Ansuz—a revealing message or insight; Kenaz—vision, revelation, knowledge; Algiz—protection, a shield; and Dagaz—breakthrough, awakening, awareness.'

Emilia's head was swimming with the information. Yes, she may be capable of performing magic on her own and with her twin, but there was obviously so much more that she needed to learn. Agatha noticed the look in her nieces eyes and laughed.

'Don't you worry about remembering all of this, you'll learn with enough practice and research exactly what is useful in what situations. A lot of our practice is trial and error, learning from our mistakes and moving forward with that new found knowledge.' Agatha smiled, reaching out for her niece. 'Here, sit at the top point on your knees. Place your hands over the pentagram and close your eyes.' Emilia followed the instructions and waited for her aunt to continue. She felt Agatha's hands over her own, and followed the woman's breath. She felt, more than heard, Valerie return with the salt and Alaric return with the candles. 'Alaric, put the candles down here next to us and bring Kittie close. Valerie, please pour the salt in a circle around this area. Make it large enough to hold all of us.'