order to satisfy your curiosity as quickly as possible, here it is: it’s a book of runes for more powerful shaman spells. Some spells in this book are known by the shaman community. Some are definitely not known. By anyone. And it must stay this way. Some of these spells are dangerous.
Holly, there’s nothing I can do now to guide you and your insatiable curiosity, but I believe in you and that you’ll make the right decisions.
Put the book away.
I’ll try my hardest to get back to you. I’ll do whatever it takes. Just…be prepared I might not make it. I’m so sorry life has turned out this way, honey. Don’t ever forget I love you very, very much, and in some form or another, I’ll always be by your side.
Mom
I took several deep gulps of air to calm my breathing. I gripped the paper tight in my hands, my eyes roaming over the words again. I read the entire letter through three more times before I folded it and gently placed it on the floor next to me.
I leaned over the trunk and stared at the book. Mom didn’t want me touching it, but she’d said she expected me to—in so many words—in her letter. Besides, a quick look wouldn’t hurt. It wasn’t like anyone knew it was in the house. I just had to take a peek at all these runes I’d never seen before, get a glimpse of all the magic I was missing out on.
I lifted the book from the corner of the trunk and opened it, the leather spine creaking. The old papers fanned out in front of me. I turned the pages slowly, glancing at each rune. I didn’t recognize any of them, and the words underneath were in some language I didn’t know, but Mom had gone through and written the runes’ names in English. Seek, Speak, Listen and Smell were on the first few pages. I kept turning. Chain. Wave, Bind and Shadow.
I didn’t know what any of these meant. On several pages, she’d jotted out a two or three word explanation of what the rune did, but left the specifics of how they should be cast in the original language. I guessed she didn’t want to make it easy for me or anyone else who stumbled across this to translate the spells.
The shrilling sound of my phone made me jump.
“Hello?” I asked before bothering to glance at the readout. My eyes were still glued to the runes.
“I need you.” Jason’s usually lighthearted voice sounded shaky and rough. Blood rushed to my head when I heard a scream in the background.
“What’s going on?” I asked. “What’s wrong?”
“We can’t wait any longer, Holls. Whatever this thing is, it came out of my room and went after the rest of my family.”
“Is everyone okay?” I asked in a whisper.
“No, it attacked my youngest brother, and my parents took him to the hospital. They think it’s my fault. They think I did something to him, and when I tried to tell them what it really was…they grounded me. I have to stay here and watch my other brother and sister. I’m trying to talk everyone out of the house, but they think I’m being a jackass.”
“Oh god.”
“Megan called me a few minutes ago. Same thing is happening over there, and she got her family to go to the movies, but she’s freaking out about what will happen when the movie is over.”
“This is bad.” I bit the inside of my cheek. Fear crawled all over my skin, making my arm hair stand on end.
“Holls, please help me.”
I’d never heard anyone sound so hopeless. I didn’t even want to think about what would happen if his family was left with a spirit loose in their house. How had it gotten out of his room?
“Yeah, okay,” I said, trying to come up with a plan. Anthony and the Congress were going to stop the shamans, but it would obviously not be in time to help Megan or Jason. I closed my eyes. I have to help. Something heavy weighed on my shoulders, and my body curled into a defeated slump. I didn’t want to fight spirits right now, not with Mom like this, and I didn’t want to risk running into the shamans again. But I didn’t know what else to do. “Get the kids outside somehow. Maybe a game of Capture the Flag or something. I need to get Laura, and then I’ll come over, okay?”