Page 120 of Castle of the Cursed
I opened to the first page, where a note had been tucked inside. It was clear the writer had only a rudimentary grasp of my language, but the message was this:
Your ancestor is dangerous
Their plan to share power with your world will destroy it
It is what they did to mine
Now I give my life to end theirs
I have gone far to spell this Book
I hope it can stop the threat when it appears
Give the Book to one not of Brálaga blood to hide
They and their descendants will be its keepers until the right Brálaga comes for it
I was only ten, and I doubted my parents would believe me, or give me permission to go. So I ran off on my own to the first place I could think of, the home of a family friend I could trust, and I explained what happened. They agreed to hide the Book and tell no one, but only if I would let them walk me back to la Sombra, as I was young and it had gotten late.
When we reached the castle, the front door was open, and there was a sinister aura in the air that made us both hesitate to enter. The keeper of the Book was too afraid to go inside, but I barreled ahead.
I did not find anyone. It was like my entire family had vanished. Deep down, I knew someone powerful had come looking for the Book.
My aunts cut their vacation short. They kept asking me what happened, but I could not speak of it. It was then they decided to tell me about my twin brother.
They showed me the journal room and shared the story of how they sent him to the other castle. It was only after reading others’ entries that I discovered the Brálaga curse.
My aunts had damned us all.
As punishment, I never told them the truth of what happened to our family. I write this entry many decades later, long after their deaths.
Seven years after losing my parents, my twin returned to me. I could feel Franco’s presence in the castle, and we found a way to communicate using the mirror. The manifestation spell bound his spirit to me, and he possessed one of our aunts to corporealize and return to Earth.
When her body gave out, he took her sister’s. When hers gave out, he possessed people outside our bloodline, but their bodies broke down even faster. The whole time, we searched for a permanent solution to his problem, some kind of Earthly shell that would last, but we never found one. We barely had six months together before he faded away.
It has been seventy-one years since that day. At eighty-eight years old, I am the oldest Brálaga in recorded history. I have not returned to this room since Franco died, and I do not plan to come back here again. I record this message for whoever needs to read it in the future.
The keeper of the Book and I never again mentioned what happened that day. Yet, shortly after their death, I received a note:
I am the new keeper of the Book. I vow to keep this secret alive through the generations of my bloodline, so it will not be forgotten.
I have no idea what the Book is or what makes it dangerous for us to behold. I wish I had read some of its pages, but I was a terrified ten-year-old when it was handed to me.
If you are the one for whom the Book was meant, I wish you good fortune.
Your ancestor,
Lala
I read through it to myself a few more times.
Six months.
That was how long Franco managed to hang around. Antonela could cause a lot of damage in that time.
“I need to find the Book,” I say to Sebastián.
His face hardens like I’ve said the wrong thing.
