The Dark Binding

Chapter 6

Sabrina heard a loud bell ringing through the air as she looked up at the calm blue sky. She had no idea as to what time it could possibly be.

Father had told her and her sister to get some rest before disappearing into uncle's office but neither of them felt very tired. Pam left her alone to do some independent exploring as she put it.

So, Sabrina found herself sitting on the steps of Argo Manor, bored. She was watching a group of students who were sitting around the fountain, laughing and talking.

A sudden sea breeze picked up which drifted through the courtyard and ruffled the students' clothes. It flapped Sabrina's hair awkwardly about her face before she matted it down harshly.

Feeling the warmth of the sun on her bare neck, it occurred to her that she might actually want to belong to this coven.

It seems nice, she thought. Although I'll have to do well during the apprenticeship.

Glancing down, she saw a short, chubby student struggling to gather up his scattered pages as the others laughed at him.

She frowned, why are people always quick to laugh but slow to help.

She gathered up the last of his pages and handed them to him. The man gave her a desultory nod and grabbed the pages before quickly hurrying off.

She fixed a hard stare as he walked away to a grey, dome-shaped building. She wasn't expecting a prize, but a little gratitude might have been nice. Feeling more than a little curious, she followed him.

The man walked up to a set of double doors, opened them and stepped inside. She burst through after him and found herself in an empty hallway with bare stone walls.

She watched the man she followed walk under a stone archway into a bright room. Hoping that she was not about to enter some classroom midsession, she walked underneath archway and entered the room.

It was a library. A massive library with forests of bookshelves and rivers of books. There were many different staircases leading up to the different floors of the library.

Light shine through the glass dome and reflected into the darkness below at irregular angles like a church at dawn. Sabrina passed a few students who were reading quietly at a table and stepped between two lengthy bookshelves.

I doubt that they have crumbling passages here, she thought as she traced her finger across their ancient spines.

She stopped when her eyes fell on a book that interested her, Fowstin's guide to lycanthropy. She had heard stories of violence werewolves before which made her scared of full moons for a year.

She skimmed through the book until she came across an artful image of a man transforming into a bulking beast.

The paragraph below ran:

These once mighty kings of Merovia have become scarce since the 17-year winter. Those who still exist carry on the gene through natural procreation or through the ''bite.'' Those who suffer the bite of a werewolf endure terrible agony during full moons. It is however rumoured that the curse is transferrable with the proper herbs and potions-

Sabrina shut the book and replaced it, wondering if she might ever get to see an actual werewolf.

She was about to search for another book when something caught her eye. There was a table at the end of the bookshelf with a few books scattered loosely on it. One book in particular was very large and stood upright, open to a large painting of a great battle between men in dark cloaks and men in golden sun masks and capes.