As we walked to her house, Cora would tell me nothing, insisting every time that she needed to show me. My interest had been piqued. Was it something that would let me get closer to Aria? Some secret of hers maybe? Her diary?
But why would Cora be this eager to show me something like that? Could it be something embarrassing? Was she planning to use it to blackmail the girl? She had said something about changing everything for both of us. But what could that possibly be?
When we arrived at Cora’s house, she took me downstairs to the basement, then turned to face me, her expression becoming nervous as she brushed a lock of frizzy hair out of her eyes. “Remember that weird book that used to belong to my mom? The one we found like five years ago?”
I narrowed my eyes. This wasn’t what I had been expecting at all. “Um…”
“Don’t you remember? The handwritten one with the weird language and that made no sense?”
“Oh yeah,” I said, the memory coming back to me. “It had one of those soft leather covers and sort of flopped around when you held it?”
“That’s the one,” Cora said, seeming pleased that I’d remembered. She pulled the book out, faced it toward me, and opened it.
I scanned the words and symbols on the pages. They were as incomprehensible now as they had been then.
“Revelo,” Cora whispered, the odd word sounding strangely sensual as it streamed from her thin lips like a wisp of smoke.
The words on the pages of the book rippled, transforming into clear English script before my astonished gaze.
My jaw dropped. “What…?” I managed. Wide eyed, I pointed at the book, struggling to form any more words with my mouth. What I had just seen was completely impossible.
“You see it too, don’t you?” Cora asked, her eyes glowing brightly. “The words? Can you read them now too?”
Still speechless, I nodded.
With a victorious smile, Cora withdrew the book, turning it over in her hands, so that she could read the text. She flipped through the pages until she seemed to find what she was looking for, tapping the page with a fingertip. She circled around, pressing her shoulder to mine, showing me the pages.
“Flight of Fancy Made Flesh?” I read the title, giving Cora an inquisitive sidelong glance.
She nodded. “Keep reading.”
“Product of each torrid night,
conceives of beauty blazing bright.
Allow another to acquire
the objects of my deep desire.
Transform this one by my request
with what I fancy are they blessed.
Every trait I find attractive
will this spell make very active.”
I turned to give Cora a confused look. “What the heck is that supposed to mean?”
She smacked me on the arm. “Asks the AP English student? It’s a fucking poem! Read it again and use that brain of yours to do some good outside the classroom for once.”
I turned to check out the poem a second time, willing my surprised mind to make sense of it. “So the first line sounds like it’s talking about a dream of beauty or something?”
Cora smiled. “Basically a sex fantasy.”
I felt my cheeks begin to flush again. “Uh, okay…”
“You’re cute when you’re embarrassed.”
“Shut up, Cora,” I countered instinctively, turning my attention to the poem’s next stanza in an attempt to get away from that subject as quickly as possible. “The next lines say that someone else will get whatever the speaker desires.”
“Yes,” said Cora, eyes shining. “Go on.”
“And the third line sounds like it’s saying this other person will be transformed by what the speaker likes.”
Cora nodded encouragingly.
“The final stanza says that every trait the speaker finds attractive will make a ‘spell’ active.”
“Exactly,” said Cora definitively. She shoved the book into my chest, and my hands rose to take it. “This is a spellbook, and that particular spell makes someone else into the caster’s sex fantasy.”
Cora walked over to a cardboard box in the corner of the basement, withdrawing a candle, a lighter, and thin wooden stick. She shoved the stick into my hand, then set the candle on the cement floor and lit it.
When she was finished, she crossed her arms, cocked a hip, and stared at me expectantly. “I want you to point that wand at me and read this spell.”
I gaped, blinking several times before I burst into laughter. Cora scowled.
“What the hell, Core? You can’t seriously believe that there’s anything to this, can you?” Still grinning, I fiddled with the stick. “And this is supposed to be a magic wand?”
“It is a magic wand,” Cora shot back. “I went to a lot of trouble to get it.”
I laughed again, waiting for her serious facade to crack and for her to join in. It didn’t.
“Look, Tony,” she said, pointing at the book. “That is a spell book. Did you not just see how the text transformed? So why do you have such a hard time believing that,” she pointed at the want, “is a freaking magic wand?”
She did have a point there. I had no idea how that little text trick had been possible. A trick of the light or something? Some sort of trick book?
I ran my fingers over the pages. It seemed like normal paper. “I-I’m not sure.”
Cora rolled her eyes. “Okay, this is the plan. You cast that spell on me. I get to look a whole lot more like Aria, who you obviously fantasize about. We both go to prom together, and Aria starts taking you a whole lot more seriously when you bring a hot date to the dance. Derek Smulders gets to see newly sexy me in a slinky dress and falls madly in love with me before graduation. And voila. Everybody wins.”
“You have a crush on Derek Smulders? The football player?”
It was Cora’s turn to blush, her gaze dropping from mine. “You have your fantasies. I have mine,” she said, shuffling her feet. “What does it hurt to give them one last shot before we graduate and never see them again?”
As she finished, her eyes found mine once again, the look in them imploring. I thought about her proposal. It was pretty far-fetched, but it wasn’t as if I had anything better. If there was any chance of attracting Aria’s attention before high school ended and I never saw her again, wasn’t it worth trying?
I thought of the girl’s stunning body, her heart-fluttering smile, and I found myself speaking before I knew what I was going to say. “Okay. I’m in.”
So I guess I was going to actually do this crazy thing. It wasn’t as if it would actually work, anyway. I pointed the wand at Cora, held up the book, and read the words.
The flickering candle between us suddenly snuffed out.
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author