Page 7 of The Book of Unwritten Stories

Bring in power

Money spell

Stop thy neighbour coveting what is yours

Morana stared at each page in fascination; whoever had written this book it must have taken them forever. Each spell was incomplete, though, she noticed. Is this what the note meant? – first you must finish the spells and stories – Was she to add the final words to make them work?

She sighed, it was a beautiful grimoire. This Lucine who had written it must have loved it to take such good care of it. There was nothing to fear from it, well not if she ignored her name on the second page there wasn’t.

She set it back down on the coffee table, pulling her robe tighter. It was cold in here and she needed to turn the AC down. It had gotten dark as well, the bulbs must need replacing because she could barely see into the corners of the room. The shadows were longer than the last shreds of daylight seeping through them.

Morana walked to the window, opening the blinds, and was surprised to see it wasn’t fully dark outside. Not sure why her electrics were out of sync, she shut the blinds again and flicked on all the lamps. When she looked at the AC controls it was on low. She shut it off. It was too chilly in here with it on. Feeling drained after all the excitement of her day she decided to get an early night.

Morana cried out in her sleep so loud she jolted awake. Her hair was plastered to her forehead, and her sheets were tangled around her arms and legs. Her limbs were wrapped so tight that she’d thought she was being held down in her bed and expected to open her eyes to an intruder sitting on top of her, restraining her.

Turning on the lamp, she felt some of the tension leave her body to see it was just her and the nineties Furby sheets she’d found in the bargain section of TJ Maxx. Nobody was standing in the corner, nobody had been in her bed. Picking up her phone she looked at the time: 3.13 a.m.

She sat up. Clearly that woman had freaked her out far more than she’d realised. Getting out of bed she shivered, it was freezing in here. She grabbed a sweater off the chair next to the bed, tugging it over her head, and pushing her feet into a pair of carpet slippers she headed into her open-plan lounge/diner to make herself a hot drink to take off the chill that had wrapped itself around her shoulders like a cloak. Even when she flicked on the lights it was still dark and for a second she thought she saw a shadowy figure move out of the light, backing away into the corner.

‘I don’t know what’s going on, or what you’re doing in my lounge but unless you have a very good reason you need to leave. I never asked you to come here or gave you permission.’

She was proud of the strength in her voice, proud that she had the courage to stand up for herself. She was sure it was a spirit.

It happened occasionally; ghosts, three-dimensional beings, whatever they were, turned up looking for her help. She wondered if it was the planchette necklace she’d brought home with her yesterday. Hadn’t she heard it call her name? Morana groaned, she was too tired for this.

‘Look, if you’re attached to the necklace I’m taking it back. I’m sorry but I haven’t got the time or energy to give you what you need.’ Her gaze fell onto the book that looked as if it had been moved from where she left it last night. ‘If you’re attached to the spell book then you should know you have to leave. I never asked for you to come here. I never asked for the damn book either. So, can you just let me sleep in peace, no bad dreams and we’ll sort this out in the morning when I can think straight?’

It was at times like this she wished she didn’t live on her own, a cat or a dog would keep her company, but she worked long hours, and it wouldn’t be fair. Although cats didn’t give a rat’s ass about what their owners got up to as long as they were fed on time.

Taking her mug of ginger and lemon tea back to her bedroom, she shut the door behind her, a clear sign that nothing was to follow her inside. It was a simple act that had worked on the rare occasion a spirit had followed her home. Somehow, they knew not to cross that line. But she still felt out of sorts. There was a heavy tiredness inside of her heart that had come from out of nowhere. She wanted to curl up in bed, get under the covers and hope that maybe when she opened her eyes in the morning this would all have been some kind of bad dream. She wanted to have imagined the shadow in her small apartment. She wanted to wake up and find that The Book of Black Magic was nowhere to be seen.

SEVEN

LONDON, PRESENT DAY

Dora and Lenny made it home without a hitch, but as the Uber pulled up outside Lenny’s penthouse apartment block, Dora paused. London no longer felt like home, everything had changed, and now she wasn’t sure if it had ever really been her home. After dumping their backpacks and freshening up, Lenny had left Dora alone while she went to the hospital to speak to her head of department about handing in her notice.

Dora stood in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling glass windows, staring down at the South Bank for probably the last time. This was a flying visit, she simply wanted to see how Katie was now she was out of hospital and to say goodbye to her friends. The autumn sun was setting, casting its burned orange glow over the buildings that were reflected in the water below them. All the twinkling lights from the buildings and boats across the river were so pretty, this was her favourite time of day in London. The merging of day into night was always something Dora had loved. She let out a long sigh. Her soul felt weary. The past few weeks had been exhausting in ways she never knew existed. Finding her mom, Lucine, Aunt Sephy and Hades, then losing her mom to the cancer that killed her every lifetime. Fighting that monster George Corwin, finding Ambrose and realising that she had loved him for centuries. Almost losing Katie. All of this weighed her down. She hoped the guilt over Katie would ease a little with what she was about to do, at least that would be something.

Her stomach was a little queasy as she strolled past her beloved flower shop. She kissed her fingertips, pressing them to the glass, then carried on to Marco’s, the little Italian restaurant that she and her two friends, Katie and Mabel, adored.

Even though Corwin had taken Katie to Marco’s for a meal before he’d attacked her, she still insisted on meeting Dora and Mabel here. Dora had hoped to arrive before her friends but as she walked inside and inhaled the aromas of garlic, cheese and fresh bread she spied the pair of them sitting in a booth near to the bar. Dora grinned and rushed towards them, first scooping Katie into a hug and then Mabel who didn’t want to let her go. The older woman was definitely the best hugger she knew, although her aunt Sephy’s hugs were almost as good.

Katie squealed. ‘Dora, you look amazing. Your hair, it’s beautiful. It’s like pure silver. How much did that cost you? I bet it was expensive. It looks so natural and really suits you. I would never have thought you’d go silver in a million years.’

Dora tugged at her hair. She had forgotten that neither of her friends had seen her with white hair. She grinned at them.

‘Katie, you look much better than I expected. How are you?’

Katie shrugged. ‘I’m okay, well I am if I don’t think about what he did to me, but I’m having counselling and I’m not letting that man ruin my life forever. Is it true that he’s gone?’

Dora nodded. It was hard to know how much to tell her friends about what had happened to her in Salem. She didn’t want to hurt them; all she wanted was to protect them. Would they believe her if she told them she was a bloodline witch who had first been executed in 1692?

‘He’s gone, for good,’ she said. ‘At least I think so. He chased me to a cemetery, and we had this huge fight.’

Both Mabel and Katie were staring at her wide-eyed.

‘Oh my God, did he hurt you too, Dora?’ Katie asked.