Be Careful What You Witch For (Unexpected Witchcraft Book 1)

by Ava Day

  “Good idea, I still haven't mastered reading it yet,” she replies.

  “I'm getting more comfortable reading it every day,” I say over my shoulder as I walk into my room to grab the runic language book.

  “Yeah, I noticed. No fair. Do you have a second language learning power, too?”

  Bringing the book back into the kitchen, I pull a scrap of paper out of my pocket to write on. I never realized how important pen and paper were until I met Beth. Joy picks up the piece of paper from the table.

  “This could take us all night to find,” she whines.

  “Stop complaining. Beth has been without a voice for years, I think we can spend a little extra time to help her.”

  “I'm not complaining. It's just that so much of being a witch is doing the research or finding things.”

  “I'd much rather be stuck with my nose in a book all day than be fighting monsters.”

  “I have to admit, even though that wraith was sucking my soul dry, I've never felt more alive!” Joy says.

  “There will be more monsters to fight, I'm sure of it.”

  “Just like I'm sure there will always be another book to find.”

  We make our way downstairs to the auditorium. Even though we've been through these shelves a few times already, neither of us has been able to discern an order to them. Most of these books don't even have any author names. Some are missing a title. The ones I find to be the most interesting are the books that have small locks holding them closed. What could be so sinister that the knowledge of it needs to be locked away?

  “Why even have these books if you can’t open them?” I ask.

  “Huh, what did you say, Penny?” Joy looks over at me.

  “Where's the key?” I ask Joy as I heft the book in question for her to see.

  “I'm sure Verne knows.” She shrugs, uninterested.

  Putting the book back on the shelf, I continue searching. We work silently through an entire row of shelves without any luck. Joy sighs as we begin on the next row.

  “Having too much fun?” I ask her.

  “So much fun, so much dust.”

  “You know, I think we still have those dust masks.”

  “Ha, no thanks. My suffering will motivate you to work faster.”

  “How kind of you,” I say.

  She's not wrong, about the dust that is. These books are fascinating. There are topics I had no idea existed. I found a book titled Unclutter Your Life with Dimensional Pockets. That one I put on the side to read later. Joy looks miserable, but she's not complaining about it. I'm about to call a break for lunch to grant ourselves a little reprieve from this task when Verne pops up between us.

  “I found it!' she says excitedly.

  “That's wonderful news,” Joy replies with relief in her voice before letting out a sneeze.

  “Thankfully it was in the vault,” Verne says.

  “What vault?” Joy and I ask in unison.

  “The one in the basement where I stored anything of importance,” Verne replies nonchalantly.

  “There can't be. We searched this entire place. How many more secrets are there in this theater?”

  “I'm still surprised by what this old building is hiding. There wasn't an apartment above the lobby when I lived here. Beth and I had rooms in the basement,” Verne explains.

  “Seriously? Is this building alive?” I ask.

  “No, that's silly. It's just a building. It’s only special because of where it sits. I thought I explained all of this already? The Dimensional forces make it somewhat malleable. Although, some days it may seem like the Beacon is alive, I assure you that it is not. I had it tested years ago.”

  “Let's see this vault already,” Joy says with a gleam in her eye.

  “If you ladies would meet me in the basement by the boiler,” Verne says before disappearing.

  “Why does she always do that? Can't she just float away like a normal person?” Joy asks.

  “Maybe because she's not a normal person anymore?” I reply.

  “Hmm, that's a good point.”

  “Come on let's go explore this vault,” I say. We head into the projectionist booth and down the ladder into the basement. Verne is waiting for us next the boiler.

  “Ok, you need to pull that lever and Joy needs to push that button at the same time,” Verne explains.

  “What happens if we don't do it at the same time?” Joy asks.

  “I've never found out,” Verne replies mysteriously.

  I rest my hand along the smooth piece of metal as Joy stands beside me, ready to press a large rectangular button. She nods at me and I pull the lever towards myself. Loud clanking erupts from behind the boiler. Gears grinding against each other groan after years of not being oiled. Slowly, the boiler swings away from the wall to reveal the actual vault door. In the center is a large red metal plate in the shape of a hand.

  “One of you will need to place your hand on that plate. You have nothing to worry about. Mostly,” Verne says.

  Joy waves me back and places her hand against the red surface. Small bolts of electricity fizz out from around the edges of Joy's hand. The door clicks loudly as she pulls her hand away to inspect it. I give the vault door a nudge and it creeps open at a snail’s pace on rusty hinges.

  “It doesn't look that impressive,” I say.

  “Of course not, it's the final door. An illusion to make you think it's nothing special.”

  Verne shakes her head in frustration as she floats into the vault and disappears behind the illusion. Joy takes a step forward, also vanishing. Taking the plunge, I close my eyes as I step into the vault.

  “Penny! Look!” Joy squeals excitedly as she grabs me by the shoulders. The room before me is seemingly endless. Squinting, I rub my eyes to make sure I'm not seeing things.

  “The book is over in Section 10,” Verne informs us.

  “There are sections? This is way more stuff than you have upstairs,” I say.

  “Of course, I would never keep anything valuable in the auditorium for any third rate witch to find. No offense to you ladies.”

  “You told me that some of the reagents we used were priceless.”

  “They were but not irreplaceable by any means,” she says with a smirk. “There are priceless things and then there are really priceless things.”

  “And the books we were looking through?” I ask.

  “All very basic stuff. Although I should have not left that copy of A Beginners Guide to the World of Magiks up there. Look at all the trouble it's caused you.”

  “So you're saying we were looking through the kid's section while you searched the adult library?” I say, trying to hide the frustration in my voice.

  “More or less,” Verne admits. “I’d use the terms novice and expert.”

  “Next time just tell us what we need to know. Deal?” I ask.

  “Yes, of course. My apologies. I'm so used to working alone, even Beth was never that interested in the preservation aspect of running the Beacon,” she replies.

  While I’m busy trying not to tell off Verne, Joy is discovering Section 10. This place is great, everything is marked and easy to locate. Stopping next to a random set of drawers, I pull one open and discover several crystal points laid out on a piece of red velvet. Each crystal has a small hand written note next to it, in runes of course.

  “You even translated everything here into runes? Paranoid much?” I say.

  “One can never be too careful. There are a few things that escaped my hand. but they are far between,” Verne says. Sliding the drawer shut, I keep moving in the direction of Joy's sneezing. I round a corner to see her surrounded by a cloud of dust, holding a book.

  “Found it!” she coughs.

  “You're the best,” I tell her as I offer her a tissue from my pocket. Trading her the book for the tissue, I read the title to make sure it's the correct translation.

  “How many sections are in the vault?” I ask as I flip through the book.


  “Last time I counted we were at 538 sections. It's a small collection compared to some, but what it lacks in quantity it makes up for in quality.” Verne beams like a proud mother hen.

  “This place is enormous. It's anything but small,” Joy replies.

  “That's very flattering. Maybe you ladies will continue to add to the collection?”

  “I'm sure it will happen sooner or later,” I say. “Now we have to get this book to Beth so she can point us to the right spell.”

  “Let me lead the way out of here.” Verne says. “It's tricky at first until you learn to better control your magic.”

  I shut the vault door as we leave. “So how do we contact your sister? Beth told us you would know how.”

  “It's simple really. There's an item in the auditorium that will suit our purpose.”

  “There's a big difference in what you call simple and what I call simple,” Joy laughs.

  Verne knows exactly where to find what she’s seeking for a change. “You try it, Joy. I'll show you how easy it is,” Verne says as Joy lifts the lid to a plain pine box. Inside is an exquisitely carved bird. It's something I would love to show Brent, he would appreciate it's artistic qualities. It reminds me of the small cat he carved for me.

  “Do I pick it up?” Joy asks.

  “Of course,” Verne says.

  “Now what?” Joy replies with the small wooden bird in her palm.

  “Picture in your mind the person you want to contact and then whisper their name to the bird,” Verne explains.

  Joy eyes her skeptically before following her instructions. I barely hear her whisper Beth's name to the bird. Joy begins to look up at Verne but stops when a small ghostly bird springs forth from the wooden artifact. It flits around Joy's palm and tweets before taking flight. Everyone watches as it soars towards the hole in the auditorium’s ceiling, disappearing into the sky.

  “That was awesome!” Joy says.

  “It was only a small display of what magic is capable of,” Verne tells us.

  “How long do we have to wait? I ask.

  “Not long, the spirit of that bird will travel faster than its corporeal counterparts,” she replies. Within seconds the alarm on the basement door begins screeching throughout the auditorium.

  “That was fast.”

  Joy and I head towards the alley to meet Beth. The first thing I do is close the door to stop the incessant noise. I then offer the book to Beth, whose eyes lit up when she sees that we've found it.

  “Do you know which spell we need to use?” Joy asks. Beth nods her head yes as she flips to the page we need.

  I take the book from her hands and scan the page. “Creating a Backdoor through a Greater Warding,” I read aloud.

  “That's not too many reagents. We can have that ready pretty quickly,” Joy says, looking over my shoulder.

  “I’ve seen a lot of these lying around, yeah,” I say, “Do you mind waiting this time?”

  Beth pulls a scrap of paper from her pocket and scrawls on it before giving it to me. I'll wait but hurry up. This place isn't safe after dark.

  “We'll do our best,” I offer. Joy and I hurry back inside the theater.

  Verne is waiting right at the entrance for our return. “Which spell is it?” she asks.

  “Creating a Backdoor through a Greater Warding,” Joy replies without stopping to discuss it further.

  “I'll help,” Verne says.

  “We’ve got this, unless you happen to know exactly where all of the reagents are. Didn't you have a system for keeping things in order?” I question Verne.

  “Of course I did! How awful of a thing to say.” She floats ahead into the auditorium angrily.

  “See, it's not quite as dramatic when she just floats away,” Joy points out.

  “Maybe I would rather have her do the disappearing act.” I say, following the sensitive ghost into the auditorium.

  “This row here is for scrying spells, that row over there is wards. Back that way is everything you need for a proper curse. It's all sorted by spell type. Some reagents or artifacts don’t have a specific category so they go wherever they fit,” Verne explains.

  “This is a warding spell?” I ask.

  “No, this would fall under enchantments and sorcery. Which is the row to your right,” Verne replies.

  “I wish I would have known about your system beforehand,” I say as I start searching for things on the reagent list.

  This spell only calls for six ingredients. I hand Joy the book so she can help too. The first two items are right next to each other. Joy finds an opossum foot which we also need. I can see the sky darkening through the hole in the roof. I grab the last three reagents and we head outside.

  “I'll go get the bowl we use for spells,” Joy says, stopping at the stairs to our apartment.

  “You two really need a proper cauldron,” Verne interjects.

  “Yes, we know. Now isn't the time,” I reply.

  Outside, the wind is starting to pick up. A really nasty storm must be on its way based on the gray sky. Down the alley, I see Beth looking around nervously, expecting to be attacked at any moment.

  “We found everything we need. Joy is bringing a bowl,” I say.

  Beth begins writing and hands it to me. What is the bowl for?

  “Oh, it's what we use for a cauldron. Somehow we haven't stumbled across a proper one in the Beacon. Verne says we need to stop using it but it works just fine,” I reply as Joy approaches with the bowl in question.

  Chapter 22

  Beth's laugh is eerily silent as Joy puts the bowl down in front of the basement door. Beth holds the book for me as I read the order the reagents need to be added. Four whiskers from a werewolf go in first. Next, I carefully pour two drams of fireworm on top of that. The mixture begins to smoke and Beth urges for me to work faster as she points to the book where it says how volatile mixing these reagents can be and recommends working quickly. A pinch of crushed mermaid scale and 15 drops of liquified ogre brains go in one after the other.

  The worst part of the entire spell is counting out 117 individual grains of salt from a basilisks eye. We should have done that first since time is of the essence. If the wind wasn't gusting so bad this task would be a lot easier. Right at my breaking point, I remember my powers can serve as a shortcut.

  Focusing my mind, I keep the 117 grains in place and let the rest blow out of my hand to be carried down the alley. Carefully wiping every grain from my palm into the concoction, I begin to stir it with the opossum foot. For once, can’t we just use a normal spoon? The mixture bubbles and spits as it shrinks in on itself. Joy stands ready to recite the incantation. I continue to stir as it becomes thicker and the opossum foot starts to get hot.

  “Now, Joy!” I shout over a sudden crack of thunder.

  “Barrier no more, make us a door. This witch will be thwarted no more,” Joy's voice rises above the howling wind as she struggles to keep the spellbook from blowing out of her hands.

  The reagents in the bowl begin to lift into the air. They stay tightly together, hovering motionless before flying into the side of the theater and exploding in a shower of sparks. The invisible wall that keeps magical forces at bay shimmers and flexes. The warding starts to tear like a seam being pulled apart where the spell detonated. Beth pulls open the door into the basement and tentatively puts her foot inside. A look of triumph crosses her face as she descends into the bowels of the Beacon.

  The storm outside is getting worse as fat drops of rain begin to fall. Joy slams the book shut and chases after Beth. I watch in amazement as the warding heals itself, the hole that allowed Beth to walk through is growing back at a rapid pace. Does that mean Beth is trapped inside the theater now? That's a question I'll have to ask one of the sisters later. I decide to head inside myself before I'm soaked through to the bone.

  Joy is standing just down the steps staring awkwardly at Beth. Locking the door behind myself, I move to stand next to Joy. Beth finishes scr
ibbling and hold the paper for us to read.

  I can’t believe I’m back inside! Thank you for helping me.

  “Of course! Verne will be so happy to see you,” Joy replies.

  “Is there anything we can get for you?” I ask.

  No, I just want some time to be alone and walk down memory lane. Maybe search for a spell to fix my voice.