Page 69 of The Book of Unwritten Stories

‘She can drink it every day and it will help to keep all those raging, wild thoughts in check. Have you got something better, Lenora?’

‘Not really, I just thought you might have come up with something a little more dramatic and exciting.’

‘There is nothing more dramatic and exciting than trying to make sure Morana doesn’t inadvertently kill anyone else with some random thoughts. Although I fear that without The Book of Black Magic, she won’t be as powerful anyway. It’s as if it ramped up everything a million times over.’

‘That is a good thing. I think we should make her write out a spell to repeat three times before she drinks the tea.’

‘Three times the charm, that would do it.’ Sephy grinned. ‘You’re better at spell writing than me, so you write it while I mix the tea.’

Lenny picked up a pen and journal off the table and opened it onto a new blank page and began writing out lines, then scrubbing them out until she had four sentences she was happy with and sounded like a spell.

‘How about this, Sephy?’

‘I’m listening.’

With the power I hold inside of me

I grow the Goddess to help me be.

My heart and soul shall burn all bright

To help control my magic’s might.

Sephy closed her eyes. ‘Say it once more.’

Lenny repeated the words, and Sephy screeched so loud Lenny jumped off the seat of the chair. She frowned at her sister.

‘Perfect, I love it. You have invoked her inner goddess to help her control her magic. It’s good. In fact, it’s excellent. Well done, when they get back, we will make Morana drink the tea, repeat the words and then carry the protection pouch around with her until she can control herself.’

Lenny stood up and sniffed the concoction Sephy was brewing. Her nose wrinkled.

‘Dear God, Sephy, that is foul.’

‘It won’t be when I’ve added honey, lemon and a little sweetener.’

‘Yeah, good luck getting her to drink that.’

Sephy shrugged. ‘If she won’t, she’ll have to just use the pouch.’

They carried on working, Sephy trying to perfect her tea and Lenny carefully writing the spell out by hand on a piece of very old parchment for Morana to always keep with her to read whenever she needed to be strong and calm.

FIFTY-FIVE

Morana followed Dora back to Sephy’s house. She was feeling stronger, a little more in control of herself and as much as she wanted to revert back to her old self, she knew that time had passed. Whether or not she had wanted it to, the book had set off a chain of events that had led her to this moment in time and she had discovered that she didn’t have to be alone ever again if she chose not to. It was such a warm feeling inside of her to know that she could have a family, be part of one – as long as they could accept her flaws and all.

Dora opened the back gate and called out for Hades. As they walked up the garden path both women scanned the trees and rooftops for the crow.

‘Does he do this often?’ Morana asked. ‘I’m kind of worried about him.’

‘He does have a tendency to flit off. When my mother died, he was gone a very long time. He was taking her soul to the light.’

‘He can do that?’

Dora nodded. ‘He’s more than a bird. He’s our black knight in shining armour. He was there to save our souls the first time we died, which is why we keep living again. We owe a lot to Hades, he is very special.’

‘And I thought he was just a pesky, annoying crow.’

‘Oh, he’s that as well.’ Dora winked at her, then called out again. ‘Hades, Hades.’ She whistled but there was no sign of him. ‘I’m a bit worried actually. What are we going to do?’