This choice: Cassie tries a little magic to see what's wrong... • Go Back...Chapter #34Where the Eldest Fails, the Youngest Avails... by: Unknown With that, the plot to reclaim the perfect picture of a sister swam in Cassie's mind. The once pristine image of Amber she held so dear, tarnished and sullied by the imposter's behavior. At least, that's what seemed to be the case to Cassie.
If my real sister isn't the one here, something musta' happened! She thought to herself, and turned on her beloved Cinderella lamp on her night stand. She was supposed to be asleep in bed, and she certainly didn't want her mom to be upset with her. After all, she and the mean Amber had gotten into an argument earlier, and...well, it was all the more reason to figure out what had happened.
Taking out an empty notebook, the young, honey-haired daughter of the King family began to think. Amber was just fine before today. She was acting a bit mean this morning, but she said sorry and I forgave her. Smiling, she recalled the warm hug her sister had given her. Despite the meaner attitude upon waking up, she had still possessed plenty of her sister's traits.
Something happened at school. Amber said nothing, but nothing wouldn't make her yell at me or mom, and nothing wouldn't make her throw away Sir Teddy... Sighing, she began to emulate the old Amber as best she could and sought to meticulously jot down everything she knew. So far she had some information, but it was clear things were missing. Pausing for a moment, she tried her best to hear if anyone was still awake. After a minute or two of nothing but the wind blowing outside her window, and the hum of the heater in the hallway, she crept slowly out of bed.
Given that the wooden frame was a hand me down from her sister's youth; it came as little surprise that it would groan in protest at Cassie's movements. It didn't stop her from flinching at every creak, which compared to the silence around her might as well have been claps of thunder.
After an agonizing minute of sliding out of bed, and landing softly on the floor with a flashlight in hand, she was ready. Of course, since it was dark on the way to her closet, she had brought her second favorite stuffed animal along with her. A soft, plush blue elephant named Ms. Tusky, ever the stalwart companion to Sir Teddy.
Clutching both of them tightly, she quickly and quietly tip-toed over to her closet. Luckily, she had the foresight to leave it open before bed, and so did not have to worry about any creaks made upon trying to open it. After one more check to make sure no one was coming, Cassie shined the flashlight at the closet and instantly saw what she was looking for.
A bookshelf that carried many old children's fables she'd long since outgrown. Though, she would sometimes go back and re-read them, as she'd always marveled at many of the illustrations within. However, none of these were her primary concern as of now. Right now, she was searching for the one book on the shelf that didn't belong.
"Aha! Found you!" She whispered, and gently set Ms. Tusky down with a reassuring pat before slowly prying the book off of the shelf. Unlike the others, which had gathered some dusk, this was a volume that saw quite a bit of use more and more considering what lay within it. Gotcha! It may not have as much as Amber's, but I bet there's something in it to help me!
Picking up Ms. Tusky in her arms, she brought her haul back to bed, and once she'd slid back under her covers, sat up and studied the cover.
"Book of Spells: Abridged for Novice Learners" it read. A plain hardback red and gold cover that had once belonged to her sister, and entrusted to her once they'd found out she possessed magical talent. While it certainly had far less variety and potency than the volume her sister carried, it still had quite the list of things contained within its pages.
The problem of course, was where to start. Cassie's mind was one to get worked up rather quickly, and she knew she'd be here for hours if she leafed through without anything in mind. Taking a deep breath, she flipped over to the table of contents and took a look at everything available. Eventually, her eyes settled on a good starting point.
"Detect Magic: Clairvoyance." She mouthed, and read through the spell's contents. It was a pretty rudimentary thing, and allowed one to see a trail of magic leading to a person if there had been a spell cast on them in the past few days. However, it would fail to register anything if tried after that short time limit was up.
Seeing as how Cassie knew that Amber had been weird since just this morning, she figured it was worth a shot. She took a moment to gather power in her hand, just like Amber taught me, she thought sadly, remembering her refusal from earlier. Then, as the spell instructed, she brought the small amount of power to her eyes and let it flow gently into them. Blinking for a few brief seconds, nothing happened.
Then, a light suddenly appeared from under her doorway. It worked! It worked! Cassie silently cheered, and carefully extracted herself from bed once more. Creeping over to her bedroom door, she carefully cracked it open ever so slightly. Just a little bit of space to look down the hall was all she needed!
Luckily, she was afforded this chance, and looked down the hall to see a golden trail of magic leading to Amber's room from presumably downstairs. Likely the other end went to where the spell had been cast previously. However, she instantly noticed something odd.
Huh? The book said there's only supposed to be one! She had checked the spell over and over before casting it, and it had been pretty clear that each person would have one trail leading to them.
So if that was the case, why were there two trails, and why was the other one silver? I was right! Something fishy is going on here! There's gotta be something up at Amber's school messing with her! With that, she quietly closed the door, and hopped back into bed, processing the new information.
My school lets out an hour earlier than Amber's, if I can get home in time tomorrow, I can follow the trail to Amber's school and see what's going on! She gulped, she'd never been to Amber's school with her sister or mother, much less alone. In addition, in order to get to her sister's school in time, she would have to do two things she never thought she'd do.
Break the rules, and ditch school early. Both were terrifying thoughts to her. Not just for the fact of what would happen if she got caught, but also for how disappointed her parents would be if they found out! Having Amber mad at her was already bad enough!
Gotta be brave Cassie! Just like Sir Teddy would be! Sighing, she sank further under the covers, and reminded herself to pack her notes on a few different spells that might come in handy once she found the source of the issue. She knew that following that silver trail of magic was going to be her best bet, if nothing else came up.
She was gonna get her sister back, or at the very least, figure out what cause this! She had to!
Eventually, Cassie fell asleep, plan in mind. The next day...   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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