Page 3 of Heart of the Cursed
Chapter 1
6 months later
Selene poured herself a cup of coffee and carried it over to the dining table she used for studying. She had walked the same path so many times over the years, she was amazed the old stone floor hadn’t been worn down.
There were several tables in the large, open kitchen diner. Most sat unused and covered in dust. She only used two. One for eating, and one for studying. That way, she didn’t have to keep clearing the table every time she wanted to sit down to eat.
Perched on a seat, Selene sipped on the coffee while examining the book in front of her. Several books were scattered across the table waiting for her to finish reading, but only one held her attention today.
After leaving the library where she found the book with the Ouroboros symbol on the cover, she had taken the long way home, stopping off at three more libraries. None of which held the book she was searching for either, but they hadn’t been a complete waste of time. She had come away from each with a few more books of interest.
With her finds sprawled out on the large dining table, she slowly worked her way through each one of them. It had taken a while to go through them all, but she was glad she found them.
There was a lot of useful information inside them that she could use in the future. There were spells and incantations, herbal remedies and crystal healing, talismans and sigils, astrology and the elements, just to name a few.
They contained a mountain of information between them, but none more so than the Ouroboros book. The locating spell she had found hidden in the spine was by far, her best find.
It wasn’t the spell she was searching for, but if she could get the locating spell to work, it would help massively in finding what she was looking for. She would be able to find the book containing the correct spell in no time. But first, she needed to get the locating spell to work.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t figure out what she was doing wrong. As soon as she returned home, she tried the spell, but nothing happened. She didn’t know what went wrong. She had followed the instructions to the letter, but nothing.
Admittedly, she was still learning how to harness her magic. She’d been practicing for years, but there was so much to learn, she was always finding something new.
It was times like this that she wished there was somebody she could turn to for advice. Because she was learning it all on her own, with absolutely no guidance, she was learning by trial and error. Which wasn’t always the best way to learn magic.
Sometimes the spells she tried worked, sometimes they didn’t. And sometimes, they backfired completely.
She might not have been able to get the locating spell to work so far, but at least it hadn’t backfired on her like some others she had tried in the past.
“It’s going to work this time. I’m sure of it.”
Selene grabbed a stick of white chalk out of the kitchen draw, picked up the piece of paper with the locating spell on it, and made her way into the library. Kneeling on the floor in the centre of the room, she drew a large pentagram. Inside each of the five points of the star, she drew a sigil and then a sixth in the centre.
When she was done, she drew the five elements on the outside of the circle and then placed a different coloured candle on each point. She was careful not to smudge the chalk on the floor as she moved around.
Once she was done, she took a step back to inspect her work. Satisfied that everything looked how it was supposed to, she began to light the candles. Starting at the point depicting water, she worked her way around clockwise, finishing on spirit.
As she made her way around lighting the candles, she chanted the words to cast a protective circle.
“From East to South, and North to West, as guided by spirit to manifest. I call upon Mother Earth and Mother Moon, join with me this sacred night, to brew my spell and honour it well. Together until its end, with hands steadfast, the circle is cast. As I will it, so mote it be.”
She’d made the mistake of not casting a circle before performing a spell once, and that was more than enough for her to learn her lesson. Her magic had been totally out of control. Anything and everything that hadn’t been tied down had become a projectile, shooting around the room and hitting her on several occasions.
Thankfully, she’d been able rein it in before she was seriously injured, but not before half of the furniture in the room had been destroyed. It had taken her weeks to reorganize the books and replace all the broken furniture.
It wasn’t like she could just nip to the shops and grab new bookcases or tables and chairs. Everything she owned, she’d collected from scouring rundown buildings, and had dragged each piece home by herself.
Since then, she always made sure to cast a circle before she performed any spell, no matter how small. That way, her magic was contained within the circle at all times, making it easier to work with.
Depending on what she was doing, the circle could be small enough to fit just herself inside, or large enough to encompass a group of people. Not that she had anyone else to cast spells with, but at least she had the option if she ever got the chance.
Grabbing the piece of paper with the spell on, she sat in the middle of the circle with her legs crossed. She unfolded the paper and read the words in her head, memorising them.
When she was confident she had the spell committed to memory, she refolded the paper and placed it on the floor in front of her.
Holding her hands up to the sky like an offering, she began to chant the words.
“Mother Earth, hear my plea, show me what I cannot see. Mother Moon, hear my plea, light my way so I can see. Earth, Air, Water, Fire. Reveal to me my heart’s desire.”
