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Inside, the notebook looks like the musings of a madwoman, with notes scribbled in the margin, smudges of graphite from a dirty palm, words crossed out with thick, black lines. Some of them look like riddles, or rhymes, some like recipes. And yet, a pull draws me in, page after page, as if that something seated deep within my soul recognizes the writing. It pushes against my ribcage, begging to be let out, screaming for freedom.
I repeat one of the rhymes I can read in its entirety: “In soil, roots entwine, with spirits to guide, and reach for life that in death resides. With energy from the Beyond, flowers bloom, a magic token, in nature’s sweet perfume.”
Something inside me crackles, like a fire coming to life, but nothing happens.
Tei watches me with an eyebrow quirked. “Elementary, but it’d do the trick.”
“Shouldn’t something happen?”
He sweeps his arm to the room around us. “Do you see any seeds? Soil? Magic sets an intention, but you can’t exactly grow something out of nothing. Not with a spell like that, at least.”
Then he stands, circling around me to check out the notebook from over my shoulder. He reaches a hand past me to flip the pages. “These spells are… simple. Lots of incantations, some basic rituals. Some of them look like trial and error, more error than anything. A grimoire is passed down the generations, meant for posterity. I doubt this is it.”
I run a finger over the page, the deep indents of my mother’s heavy handed writing like a secret language under my touch.
He grabs the notebook from me so he can inspect it more closely. “It’s safe to say that if your mother was scribbling her own spells, she didn’t have access to the family grimoire. Was your grandfather an only child?”
I pick at a cuticle on my thumb. It’s embarrassing how little I know about my own family tree. “All I know is that he and Àvia left Spain after they got married. Not even Mama has ever met anyone from the family… we only ever heard stories about my great grandmother.”
I reach my hand out, and Tei places the notebook in my open palm. I move it against the ray of sun streaming in from the skylight, as if changing the book’s angle, its lighting, could reveal all its secrets. It still looks like the same tattered notebook. “Do you think there’s anything of value in here?”
“It’s possible. At the very least, it’ll be a good starting point for you to get more familiar with your magic.”
I nod, tightening the book against my chest. It feels like a piece of my splintered heart returning home. “I guess I’ve got some reading to do, then.”
We return the attic to a state of semi-cleanliness before making our way downstairs. When we’re standing at the front door, Tei stops, turning to me. He reaches a hand for my cheek, brushing his fingers against it. “Would you like to come back to the house with me?”
I’m tempted to say yes. If I’m to learn any magic, having Tei around to help would be useful, but I also get the sneaking suspicion that if I go back with him, studying would be the last thing we’d do, so I shake my head.
“I think I need some time alone with my mother’s thoughts.”
He leans over me until our lips are a breath away. “As you wish, my little witch. Call if you need me.” Then he presses his mouth to mine, quick and hard, and steps away.
My eyes follow him until he’s out of view as he walks down my driveway and rounds the corner. Then, my attention snakes to the flower pots in the front of the house, to Àvia’s beloved camellia bushes. At this point they should’ve flowered, but to be completely honest, I haven’t taken very good care of them. On a deep exhale, I close my eyes, and murmur my mother’s incantation again.
Tension swirls in my stomach, turning into electricity as it travels down my limbs. I wiggle my fingertips, feeling static. The air around me feels charged, too.
Finally, I open my eyes again. I don’t know what I was expecting, but when I see the pink blooms dotting the shrubs, I laugh.
chapter 36
ever been to spain
teizel
“So…” Mei sing-songs, standing at the entrance of the library tapping her foot.
I look up from my book and quirk a brow. “So?” I repeat.
“You found the grimoire.”
“Not quite,” I correct her, but don’t add anything else. Judging from Mei’s jerking motions, like a short-circuiting robot, she’s not happy with my silence.
She waits for another minute, during which I get to turn my attention back to my reading, before throwing her arms out with a huff. “Seriously, Tei, just tell me already!”
Sighing, I put my book aside for good — I won’t be getting any more quality time with it this rainy afternoon — and catch Mei up to speed.
She takes a jerky step closer. “So what happens now? Should we be looking for the grimoire? Or maybe getting her a different one?”
