Young Warlocks written by Enterprise1701_d

 

Chapter one: The Book, the Ancestor.

I, Aidahn, have finally determined the location of the Golden Book of Amon-Ra. It has taken me years of research and hard work, but it has finally paid off. I am not sure whether my powers extend all the way to Hamunaptra, the lost city of the dead, so I will arrange for the old fashioned transportation methods, namely by train, boat and camel.

If one tenth of the legends are true, I will be able to defend my position as First amongst the Council, and safeguard the future of my wife, two children, and future generations, as well as myself. Failure … cannot be contemplated. I can almost feel the hot breath of the opposing Warlocks in my neck. Therefore, I will hide this Book, my diary, my Book of Shadows, from whoever wants to lay their dirty hands on it.

It may cost me later on, but I have placed a heavy charm on this book, preventing it being read from anyone but my blood. Anyone trying to break the spell, or try to find a way around it, will find themselves destroyed. And don't forget it is written in ancient Latin, making translation long, costly, and difficult. Only one familiar with the Art has the familiarity with the language to actually make something out of it.

 

The mysterious writer, dressed in a long, black cloak with matching hood, turns to the first page of the thick book he wrote the last message in. The figure moves its hands over the first page, and an empty page materializes from thin air, and is added to the book. The writer bends over the page, and writes:

This message is intended for future generations, in case anything is the happen to me. If you are in possession of this book, and are able to read it, then you are of my own blood. I am Aidahn, First amongst the Council, and one of the most powerful Warlocks ever in existence. If you read this, then I have failed in my mission to protect my family, and am probably destroyed. It has always been my intention that my diary would be a Book of learning, of schooling, and therefore I have painstakingly recorded my every thought when it came to the Art.

It is my wish, noble descendant, that you fulfill my mission, and bring the Council to reason. We are not meant to work solely for personal gain, but for bettering Humanity. The Council has lost its ways, and it has been my mission, ever since I became aware of these happenings, now 400 years ago, to bring the Guild in general, and the Council in particular, to listen to reason.

It took me many years of hard work to attain the rank of First, and it has been my intention to correct the wrongs in the Guild. But, my opposition was stronger than anticipated, and they started a covert war against my closest followers and me. The first ones to go were my two Apprentices: Lucas and Jonathan. The moment I learned of this, I tripled my efforts in finding the Ancient Knowledge, lost since the First Empire of Egypt came to an end. It took me another three months to find the location, and I am presently ready to depart. But, I have to hurry. They killed Juliana only two days ago. She was my last bystander in the Council. Her death was number 62 on the list, consisting of friends, bystanders, and their Apprentices.

Written, the second of April, the Year of our Lord 1899.

 

The hooded figure presently closes the book, revealing a black leather cover, encrusted with gold lettering:

Book of Shadows

The black clad figure rises from the desk, and without effort, lifts the heavy book off it. The figure walks to a circled pentagram on the floor, and places the book in the middle of it. With a motion of his hand, the candles, placed at the intersections between the pentagram and the circle, erupt in flame. In a strange language, the figure chants, in a masculine voice, while raising his hands towards the ceiling. In a burst of light, the Book disappears.

"Safe." The person grunts. He then moves to a safe, takes a thick bundle of money from it, and walks out of the room.

 

Chapter two: the Book, the Descendants

 

Julie looked through the books, covered in dust and piled onto loose hills, buried deep in the basements of her local library. She, and her closest friend, John, who was working not far from her, had volunteered to help clean out the library of old books. Mr. Peterson had asked them to put the books on the far shelves and bookcases in boxes, for the recycler. Suddenly, something shiny caught her eye.

The twelve-year-old dug her hand deep into the pile, and pulled out a heavy tome, covered in dust. On top of the book is written: 'Book of Shadows'. Her eyes shining in delight, she lets her hand trail the gold lettering on the cover. Gently, she blows the dust of, as if she were scared of hurting the massive volume.

"Book of Shadows," she muttered. "I wonder what it's about?" Gently, she opens the book, and tries to read the first page. It's all gibberish to her, but for some reason she feels familiar with it.

"John! John, you should see this!" the blonde blue-eyed girl screamed at her friend. They were both working deep in the basement, away from the other volunteers. John, her best friend and partner in many crimes, slid closer. He too, had blue eyes and blonde hair. They looked enough alike to pass as brother and sister, even though they weren't in the least related. Or so they thought.

John came from a well-off family, and lived in the East part of the small town. His parents were often away on business, but the money he got in return for this, more than made up for their absence. His parents insisted on a babysitter, but being the cunning little diplomat he was, John found a way around that. The babysitter was a nice looking senior named Anne, and he knew just how to take advantage of this. John made a deal: Anne got the ground floor, for doing whatever she pleased, and he got the top two floors. That way, she got paid for doing nothing, and John got room to do as he pleased. It was a good arrangement, and both he and Anne were more than happy when his parents had called her for 'babysitting' once more.

Julie was a different matter. Her mother was a housewife and her father worked in a factory. They lived in the worker-class homes in the West part of town. They were not often short on money, but the one-income family did leave its traces: almost no pocket money, second hand clothing now and then, and so on. It didn't bother her: John had more than enough money for both of them. She kept swearing she'd pay him back someday, but he kept refusing, noting to her that he would not be short of money in the near future, and 'what else are friends for?'

"What've you got, Jules?" John's curious voice asked next to her ear.

"Look at this," Julie's voice was awed by the black leather tome in front of her.

The moment John reached for it, Julie could swear she felt a slight tremor going through it. Her hand retracted in a reflex.

"What?" John asked, looked curiously at Julie's startled face.

"When you reached for it … it moved!" John looked at Julie's face, only half-visible in the sparse lighting. He looked for the twinkle in her eyes that told him that she was kidding. He didn't find it, and therefore decided to take her comment seriously. 

Tentatively, he reached for it. His fingers touched the yellow pages, brushing over them. Nothing happened, and he told her so. The moment Julie reached for it, John could feel a small tremor going through the tome. Startled, he withdrew his fingers.

"You're right! But this time … it moved when YOU reached for it!" he exclaimed.

"What IS this thing?" Julie asked, shock in her voice. "John, I would like to try something."

"What?"

"Let's touch it together." He nodded instantly. Both reached for the book, carefully, scared, but also thrilled. This was no ordinary book, and they knew it. When the two children touched the yellow pages, the book flared in an amber-yellow light, and slammed shut. Both kids jumped almost two meters backwards. When they looked at the offending tome, they could see the golden title flaring, and then it slowly died out, reverting back to its original gold color.

"Did we dream this, or is this real?" Julie asked quietly.

"This is not real . . .. this is UNREAL!" John exclaimed, and dove for the tome. Julie's hand snapped out, and held his arm away from the book.

"We don't know what this is! Maybe we should ask Mr. Peterson about this," Julie offered.

"Couldn't hurt. But, don't tell him about what we saw, he'll think we're nuts!" John agreed. He slowly reached for the book, and pushed it with his finger, half-expecting it to stand up and do the hula. The book didn't move. He shoved it with three fingers, again, with the same results. He shrugged at Julie, and held his hand mere centimeters above the black leather cover. Ever so slowly, his palm rested against the cover. Nothing happened.

His hand curled around the edge of the tome, and he pulled it closer to where they both were sitting, staring at the heavy tome like it was about to bite John's hand off. Ever so slowly, the book crossed the distance between the old bookcase, where they found it, and their sitting spot.

"Last time, it didn't do anything until we both touched it," Julie remembered something. "We should be safe as long as only one of us touches it."

Relieved, John agreed, and took the book both hands. He lifted the heavy volume off the ground, and clamped his arms around it. Together, they walked to the elevator, and rose to the ground floor.

"Mr. Peterson! Mr. Peterson! Look what we found!" Julie exclaimed, rushing ahead of John towards the librarian. The friendly man looked at the excited twelve-year-old, and let his gaze trail toward the black book in John's hands.

"Oh, my!" the librarian said. "The Book of Shadows."

"It's a cool book!" Julie said further, her excitement bringing a smile to the librarian's face.

"Since no one has ever wanted to read it, and those who wanted to couldn't read it, why don't you have it?"

"Cool!" Julie exclaimed. "Thank you Mr. Peterson!"

"Yeah," John piped in, "Thanks a lot! Do you know what it is, Mr. Peterson?"

"Curious kids aren't you?" the librarian laughed. "But alright, I'll tell you what I know about it."

John put the heavy thing down on a table, and sat down as the librarian and Julie did the same.

"It's supposed to be a magic book, written by the greatest magician of them all, a man named Aidahn. He was supposed to be over 450 years old when he disappeared, and this was his diary, where he noted down everything he ever found out about the Art." The librarian laughed. The kids listened in rapt attention.

"Before Aidahn disappeared, he encoded it, and it somehow ended up here, where it has been for the last 100 years. That's why no one could ever read it. It was said that Aidahn had two children, and that only they, when they were together, could read the book. Alas, the children have disappeared as well, and so the Book has waited all this time for Aidahn, his children, or descendants from those children, to come and claim it."

Both kids' attentions were at an all-time high. The librarian smiled at their expecting faces.

"Great story, huh? Personally, I think it's a load of … hogwash. The book was probably the work of some prankster, who wrote the pages full of gibberish, and then invented a nice legend to go along with it."

Julie and John laughed. <Hogwash!?> They thought to each other.

"It's past four, kids. Time flies when you're having fun. Why don't you come back tomorrow, and finish up?" The librarian said when he noticed that the other volunteers had left. After thanking him one last time, both kids got up from the table. Julie, deciding it was her turn to do the work, picked up the book, and dragged the heavy thing with her when they left the library.

"Now what do we do?" Julie asked, slightly out of breath due to the heavy thing in her arms.

"We take it to my place." John decided. "It's safe there. My parents aren't due back for two weeks at least, and even when they're back, they won't come up to my room unless there's some major shit storm happening."

Julie thought for only a moment. John was right: her mother snooped around her room every now and then, and the book wouldn't be safe there. "And Anne?" Julie asked.

"You know Anne," John answered. "She won't do anything to endanger our interdependence."

"Big words for a kid," Julie taunted him. John knew he used big words every now and then, and Julie just loved to tease him about it. Actually, her teasing had two functions: the first being just that, to tease John. The second reason was to let him know she had not a single idea what he was talking about.

"You want me to explain interdependence, don't you?" John said. It was his favorite come-back, just as Julie tried to make him feel bad for the big words, he tried to make her feel bad because she didn't understand him. "Anne and me are mutually dependent," he began. "I can tell my parents she didn't baby-sit well, and I can make up a lot of stuff about what she did. It's certainly enough to make sure she'll never baby-sit again. You know what my parents can do. And she can tell my parents about all the stuff I do up in my room. It's a two-edged knife. We trust each other, because if one goes down, the other goes with him. Or her," John explained.

"I see. So, the book will be safe up on your room?"

"Certainly," John said. By now, Julie had put the book down, backed away from it, and John had picked it up in her place. Both kids were terrified that the book might actually do something if they both came too close to it.

The kids talked some more, inventing stuff to coincide with the story of Aidahn, until they reached John's house. Without any sign of hesitation, John opened the front door, and walked up the stairs. Anne, sitting in the living room downstairs, didn't say anything, as usual. Both she and John kept the agreement, and she was not about to break it. She loved the free money, plus the benefit of having this huge house, of which she could use the ground floor entirely to her liking for the duration of the absence of John's parents.

Meanwhile, John put the book down, letting it rest against the wall next to a door. He took a key from a chain around his neck, and unlocked the door. "Never too young to be paranoid," John told Julie. Both laughed, and John dragged the book into his bedroom.

"Now what?" John asked. "The book is safe, now what do we do with it?"

"Let's see if we can make something more out of it," Julie suggested, and opened the book, which was now resting on John's bed.

Both kids' eyes grew to the size of coffee cups.

"This is not the same gibberish we saw in the library," John said, being the first to regain his voice. As usual, Julie didn't follow far behind.

"It even has drawings in it now," She said, leafing through the tome. "But the writing is still gibberish to me."

For one instant, John forgot about the previous reaction of the book, and put his hand on one of the pages. He remembered the moment his hand met the heavy, thick, yellow paper. Both he and Julie looked at each other. The book didn't react anymore!

"What is happening here?" John said in frustration. "We find a book, full of gibberish. We touch it, it goes nuts, and now we have a book full of drawings and other gibberish. Did I leave anything out?"

"The book is cursed." Julie added, equally non-understanding.

"Not cursed … not really," John said. "It was supposed to be encoded."

"I say it still is," Julie's voice was as sarcastic as she could make it.

"It's not. I think I know what this is," John said. "It's Latin, but a form I don't recognize."

"Come on! You know Latin, you should recognize some of it!"

John's parents, being in international business, had pushed John into foreign languages. Not that he needed much pushing, mind you. He loved languages. At the age of 12 he spoke 3 additional languages: French, Italian and German, and he was learning Latin outside of them, just as a hobby.

"I think it's an old form of Latin. The Latin taught today is the last incarnation of the language. Look at it as if it were 11^th to 12^th century English. You know what it is, but you can't translate it," John explained. "But I think I know someone who can help us." He reached for the phone, and dialed a number.

"Who?" Julie begged while he was dialing.

"Hello, Aunt Maria? Is uncle Ben there, please?" John said in the phone, motioning for Julie to remain silent. He put the phone on speaker, and hung up. A friendly voice came through the speaker.

"John! And how are you?" Uncle Ben was his usual, friendly self.

"I'm fine uncle Ben. I need your help, though."

"And with what?"

"I helped clean out the library, and me and my friend, we found this old book. The librarian said we could have it, but the only problem is, it seems to be in some old Latin form."

"I see. I might have a dictionary for it, but you know it will probably be in medieval English, don't you?"

"I know … I was kind of hoping you would be able to supply me with one of those as well."

"Can you read me something from it? It will help determine what kind of old Latin it is."

John started reading from the page the book was on for the moment, not exactly sure of the pronunciation. Uncle Ben interrupted him halfway the sentence.

"I have one for it," the man said. "I'll have a copy made from both books for you, and put them in 24-hour rush mail. You'll have them by tomorrow, or the day after."

"Thanks, uncle Ben." John said. After the obligatory good-byes, which John would rather have skipped altogether, the connection broke.

"Uncle Ben is a book collector. I figured, if anyone knew about the language, that he was a pretty safe bet. I don't think he knows the language, but he might have recognized it enough to make the right decision. The man is a walking index."

"I see. Well, I guess we'll have to wait until tomorrow, then." Julie said, getting up.

John nodded. "I'll see you at school, then."

"Yep." Julie grinned. The kids walked to the front door, and said their good-byes. Tomorrow would be a long day.

 

Chapter three: The Art, the Descendants, and the school.

 

Location: unknown, England.

Three apprentices were sitting in the monitor room, doing routine scans of the entire planet. Since magic is almost extinct these days, it took only three apprentices and one warlock to monitor the planet. Suddenly, the computer in front of an apprentice named Jonathan bleeped. Immediately after, the big screen in front of the room centered on the western region of the United States, a big, red dot pulsing in the center of the screen.

POSSIBLE DETECTION OF ULTIMA OBJECTIVE.

The warlock on duty descended from his office, and walked into the control room itself.

"Is that what I think it is, Jonathan?"

"It appears genuine, sir. I'm running a confirmation scan from a second satellite as we speak." As he finished, the computer screen displayed a list of numbers, and the big screen flared with the message:

OBJECTIVE CONFIRMED.

"We have … Aidahn's Book, sir," Jonathan whispered. His boss, the warlock Darius, was even paler than usual.

"I have to call the First," he mumbled, and walked to the phone. Just as he was about to open the door at the top of the stairs, the big screen flashed, again. The view shifted to a world map, and everything returned back to normal.

"What happened?" the warlock yelled, running down the stairs, three steps at a time. "If anyone of you did something wrong, I'll fry you myself!"

"I didn't do anything, sir. It just … vanished. Either the object wasn't genuine, or …"

"The Book was activated." The warlock let out a dangerous throaty growl, and uttered a teleportation spell. The three apprentice-warlocks looked at each other. The situation must truly be dire that a warlock would use a draining teleportation spell just to relay some information.

 

"Damn uniform," John growled as he lifted himself into his school uniform. He hated being told what to wear, but there was no other way. "Not yet," he vowed. After he finished, he walked downstairs, gulped down a bowl of cereal, and rushed outside. He had hidden the book in his room, knowing very well that even in the eventuality that Anne would break their deal, she still wouldn't be able to find it.

He walked to school, and met Julie, who came from the West part of town, in front of the gates. They didn't talk about the strange book, knowing very well what kind of results that would have: they'd be talking about it all day.

They walked through the gate, and found their small band of friends waiting for them in front of the building itself. The group of five people now walked inside, to get ready for class. The three friends, David, Peter, and Michael, found that both John and Julie were a little off, but they thought nothing of it. They probably were up to some mischief again. All three friends began working themselves up for something big. It usually was, when both John and Julie had their heads in the stars.

 

The warlock named Darius appeared in the middle of the study of the First, a warlock of the second level, named only by his title: 'First'. Nobody knew his name, and nobody had the guts to ask.

"Sir, the Ultima objective was detected, and confirmed." Darius came right to the point.

First, a spell of destruction on his lips, cancelled it immediately.

"Why is it so important that you do not use the phone?" First had learned that haste usually indicated something disastrous. He could always kill Darius later, if the information wasn't valuable enough to warrant the interruption.

"Two minutes and thirty seconds after contact, the Ultima objective disappeared from all scopes and satellites."

First's mouth fell open. "Who has the skills and power to breach Aidahn's encoding spell?" he barked.

"To my knowledge, no one sir."

"Send a contingent of warrior warlocks to the region the Ultima objective first appeared, and hope by the Art that whoever got to it is still there."

"It will be done, sir!" Darius snapped, turned on his heel, and walked out of the study. First remained behind, slumped in his chair. He waved his hand, and filled the glass with the scotch from the freshly created bottle of Glenfiddish. This was one of the days he just wanted to drink himself staggering drunk.

 

That evening, John and Julie couldn't wait until they finished up at the library.

"This must have been some kind of record!" John panted as he and Julie were running towards his house at full speed.

"Yeah," Julie panted back. "We finished up the basement, helped with the ground floor, and we'll be at your house in less than 1 hour and 15 minutes after school finished!"

John just grinned, his body not adequately trained for running long distances at top speed. Neither was Julie's, for that matter. They both arrived at John's house, panting heavily.

He rushed to the mailbox, and just as his uncle had promised, found the small package there. He rushed inside, with Julie on his heels, and flew up the stairs. The excitement had given them both renewed energy.

Once in the safety of John's room, the package was ripped to pieces, and two books were picked up.

"Uncle Ben even had them bound!" John exclaimed. "He copied the two books, and then had them bound!"

"Great uncle you have." Julie smiled. She opened the book she had, and found it written in a language she didn't understand. In fact, there were TWO languages she didn't understand.

"I think I have the one for Latin to medieval English." Julie said, giving the book to John.

"That would be right, since I have the one for medieval English to modern day English. Now, let's see what we can get from the Book of Shadows, ok?" He turned to his bed, pushed it a little from the wall, and removed one of the boards from his wooden floor. He reached in, and with effort, lifted the heavy tome from its hiding place.

He opened it at the first page, took the first dictionary, and opened it. Julie took the second one, and awaited for John to say the medieval words, so she could translate them into modern English. Like so often in the past, they had come up with a plan without communicating.

Not a word was said as John searched for the first word in the index-deprived, medieval book. It wasn't composed in any order, alphabetical or otherwise, and it annoyed John terribly. Finally, he found one. He said the word to Julie, who said:

"This."

"This?"

"This," she shrugged.

"So much work for the word this? I hope the next one is more worth it," John grunted, leafing through the medieval book once more. He again said a word. He found it faster this time.

"Message," was Julie's answer.

"This message," John said. "It's a message!"

"No kidding, Einstein. Now, find me some other words! I want to know what message it is!"

It took them an hour to translate the first sentence. They were tiring rapidly. Their initial excitement had been replaced by boredom. Not much had been said in the first two sentences. But then, they stumbled on a word John couldn't find in the medieval book.

"Aidahn." John said. "The guy Mr. Peterson told us about was named Aidahn. What is going on here?"

"The legends must be true… but that would mean that one of use is a descendant from Aidahn, or we wouldn't have been able to read it."

"Or both of us. It took the two of us to have it do … what it did," John said, sitting on his bed, leaning against the wall. Julie was leaning against the opposite wall.

"There has to be a faster way to translate this," Julie grunted. "It took us nearly an hour and a half to translate two and a half sentences."

"Yeah, it annoys the Hell out of me," John said, leafing through his book for the next word.

The kids called it a day after they finished the third sentence. They just talked about Aidahn, inventing stuff like who he was, and what he did. The 'most powerful Warlock in existence' bit excited them, but the slow and tedious translation really darkened the initial excitement.

Julie left soon after, and John returned to the sanctity of his bedroom. He put the dictionaries aside, and just sat and read the first two translated sentences over and over. Soon, he didn't need the translations anymore, as he began to understand the words in front of him. The grammar is still way off, but he was not interested in grammar for the moment.

Finally, he stopped as his head started spinning, and he discovered it was past 9:00 p.m. He made himself a late dinner, and wolfed it down. His mind kept wandering to the book. What secrets lay contained in it? Who exactly was Aidahn? Except for the fact that he was the 'First' of a 'Council' they didn't know anything of the man.

Exhausted, he fell asleep over the book at around ten o'clock. He didn't sleep well. The book and its secrets haunted him even during the night. Terrible nightmares were followed by moment of absolute bliss, which turned rapidly into nightmares again.

By six o'clock the next morning, he woke up, almost just as exhausted as when he had gone to sleep. He put the book and the dictionaries away, and got ready for school.

"John! What did you do? Stay up all night? You look like Hell!" Julie exclaimed when she saw her friend.

"Didn't sleep well. The book kept haunting me," he mumbled. Julie just shook her head. As always, they walked inside, and teamed up with their three good friends, David, Peter and Michael.

"Jeezes! What did you do, John? Stay up all night, drinking coffee?" David jibbed.

"Nah. Nightmares," John grunted. "Monsters and stuff."

"Awch," Peter grunted. "Bummer."

John shrugged, and together, the five friends went to class. It was their first year at Junior High, but thanks to their numbers, they suffered far less than the other kids did at the hands of the High school students.

The classes passed ever so slowly for John, whose mind kept playing tricks on him.

After classes, John and Julie walked to John's house. They hadn't fully left the school yet, when Julie, who tried in vain to get John alone during the day, asked:

"Now, would you mind telling me the truth about these nightmares?"

"The Book… it haunted me. First, it was as if I were running across the pages, while the entire thing was slamming shut. It was so weird…flashes of lightning, fires, and so on. It was pretty chaotic. Hard to describe."

"You really should lay off it for a couple of days. I think it's getting to you." Julie grinned, knowing very well that John was too damn stubborn to take this kind of advice.

They reached John's house in relative silence, and went upstairs. John took the Book of Shadows, and the two translation dictionaries. As they had done yesterday, John took the old Latin dictionary, while Julie took the medieval English one.

John opened the book, and started where they had left off. He read the first word, and got a confused look on his face.

"John? What's wrong?" Julie's voice was full of concern.

"I know this word," John said, totally confused. "And the next one… and the one after that."

"You do? That's incredible! But how?"

"Maybe my dreams… I don't know. Here, let me translate it." Without trouble, John translated the entire message.

After he finished, both kids were speechless.

"Damn," was all Julie could get out. "So we really are his descendants. But how is this possible? We're from two entirely different families!"

"Maybe Aidahn's spell was broader-minded than he thought, and it sees everyone related to him as 'descendants'," John suggested.

"You mean we could both be related to him, but that doesn't mean we have to be his direct descendants?"

John nodded. "Possibly. He said himself his children were probably killed. Mr. Peterson said they disappeared, so I think they got killed along with Aidahn, and their mother. We're probably just distantly related."

"Cool!" Julie exclaimed.

"Let's see what else we've got, ok?" John flipped the page, and started reading in the old Latin dialect.

"John! Translation, please?"

He made a hand motion, indicating he'd do it in a minute.

"According to this, we need to go through something called the Ritual of Ascension if we want to attain our full potentials."

"And what's the ritual of Ascension?"

"According to Aidahn, a 'trial' would be a better name for it. The ritual of ascension asks of us to abandon all human emotions. The best time to start is on Halloween, the ancient druid's time of celebration over life and death. We must become as pure as we can, few faults will be tolerated and then only if they are minor. We must remain pure, which means no sexual activities, no outbursts of anger and so on. We much exercise every day to keep our bodies fit, and we shouldn't go see a doctor if we are feeling sick or weak or something."

"Jeezes! What is that? A way to kill yourself as painfully as possible?"

"You ain't seen nothing yet," John grunted, and continued his translation. "We must find a clean bowl or container, fill it with water, and make sure it's not emptied until the trial is over. We must gather elements to represent the spirits. Water we already have. Then, we must find a rock, or some leaves for Earth, and for Fire a candle is recommended. We can keep it at that, but it is recommended to have it lit for the duration of the trial. If one is beginning to extinguish, we should set a new one alight. For Air, the air will suffice, but a feather can be recommended. For Death, some blood will probably suffice."

"Yuck! Blood! And what do we do with that stuff?"

 "We put the stuff in the bowl… hey, there's some more stuff on the bowl itself. A Copper bowl works the best, and we better make sure it's a ceremonial bowl, so I guess I'll have to buy one. So, we put the stuff in the bowl on Halloween, and focus on the elements we have. We demand the spirit we focus on to come to us and give us power. We must do it for each spirit separately. Once the rituals are done, we bury the bowl near our house, and ask all five spirits for power each night. We should keep exercising each day, until Christmas day, when the spirits are awakened. The results should be clear almost immediately. Then, we can indulge ourselves if we want to."

"I don’t know if I want to do this… it sounds hard."

"I know what you mean, Jules. But, if we don’t do it now, we'll have to wait a year, and I'm not sure if I want to wait a year to get whatever we're going to get."

Julie nodded her head. "You're right. So, when do we start?"

"We'll have to get a copper ceremonial bowl, water, a rock, leaves, a feather, and some blood. That shouldn't take that long."

"You know, it's a drag that you are the only one who understands that gibberish. I wouldn't mind reading that ritual over myself."

"Do you want to try something, Jules? Do you think you'll be able to hide the Book in your room for one night?"

"Probably. Why?"

"Well, I learned it by falling asleep over the Book. We could try and see if you learn it as well."

"And how are we going to get that big thing all across town?" Julie was all for it, but her practical side had thrown up some questions.

"Damn," John muttered. "If only there was a way for me to get older, or to appear older at least. My dad's car is in the garage, and I know where the keys are hidden." Julie didn't hear the last part of John's statement. Instead, she tugged on his sleeve, and pointed to the Book. It was glowing in a ghostly amber light, and was leafing all by itself. As suddenly as it started, it halted on a certain page.

John bent over the tome, and read:

"Glamour. An illusion so real it fools everybody. The glamour has two levels, a pure illusionary level, and an illusion-creative level."

"An illusion? That Book not only heard us, it also answered us!" Julie was ecstatic. "Now, what's the difference between those two spells?"

"The first one is purely a mind-control spell. It makes people see a thing that isn't there, and is limited to the people the spell caster intones. The second one actually creates the spell caster's wish, making sure that everybody sees it. I'll probably need the second one."

"Cool! We can do cool stuff with this!" Julie exclaimed. John just nodded.

"Here's what is needed. Damn. I need a flame for the initial incantation."

"Does Anne smoke?"

"Not to my knowledge," John answered. "But there might be some matches downstairs. Hang on a sec." John shot up, and raced downstairs. Not two minutes later, Julie heard John climb the stairs.

"Got 'em! " he shouted, racing back in the room. " Hey, the spell itself is in English. I wonder why." He lit a match, and held his hand over it, while repeating from the Book:

"This is to feel." He removed his hand from over the flame, balled it into a fist, and put it over his heart. "This is to be. By the powers of three times three, as I want it, so shall it be!"

The following moment, John felt like he was being eaten alive. He wanted to scream, but found his vocal cords not responding. He wanted to open his eyes, but those didn't do his bidding either.

The next instant, he sat up, and slowly opened his eyes. His body felt strange. He was at eye-level with Julie, who was standing next to him. Her eyes glowed in amazement, and awe. That, and she obviously terrified.

"Jules?" John's voice was strangely heavy. "Damn," he muttered, as he looked at his right hand. It was the hand of a grown man. "It worked! I can't believe it worked!"

"Do you have any idea how long this stays?" Julie was getting over her anxiety attack, slowly.

"The Book didn't tell. I guess it depends on the practitioner, and the experience of the practitioner, I guess. And it hurt like hell!"

It took another five minutes before the two children were over their initial excitement, and dread, enough to implement their plan.

The girl and the boy/man snuck into the garage, John carrying the heavy book as if it were nothing. He produced the keys to the Jaguar XKR, and sat down behind the steering wheel.

Julie got in the seat next to him, after John put the Book on the back seat. "Are you sure you know how to drive?" she queried.

"How hard can it be? Accelerator, brake, steering wheel," John pointed out. "Push this pedal to go faster, this one to go slower, and turn this to go left or right. Can't be that hard."

He opened the garage door with the remote, and put the automatic transmission in reverse. He pushed the accelerator, and 370 horsepower come to life. The car shot back like a rocket. John pushed the brake all the way down, and the car groaned to a halt. Shaking, he pushed the 'close door' button on the remote. The anti-lock brakes had done their job.

Julie was white. "Are you sure we shouldn't be walking?" she tried.

"Nonsense. I'll get the hang of it." John said, totally sure of himself. He released the brake, and rested his foot against the accelerator. He pressed a millimeter. The car accelerated a little. He turned the wheel, and made it on the open road without hitting his parent's mailbox. He missed it only a centimeter, but neither mailbox nor car was damaged.

It indeed didn't take long before John got the hang of it. After a few minutes, he got the car reasonably under control. Now all he had to do was make sure he didn't break any traffic laws. Or at least not break too many of them.

John managed to get Julie to her house without too many problems.

"Remember, read the stuff till you drop down from exhaustion, then spend a night in Hell, and you'll read it like a pro." John said, with his heavy-bass voice. He appeared brave, but inside, he was scared to death he would be spending the rest of his life looking like this. Fun as it might be, he knew he didn't want to be an adult just yet.

He drove off, turned the car, and eased the car towards his house. A couple of minutes away from his house, his body felt strange, it started tingling, and his vision blurred. For a moment he was scared to death he would be getting the same experience as when he cast the glamour, but it limited to the blurred vision and the tingling. He pulled over, and turned off the car.

"What the fuck is happening to me? Is the spell wearing off?" he said out loud. The next moment, he was back to himself, John, 12 years old. The small boy looked around the big car.

"SHIT! How am I going to get this thing home? I can't drive! I'm 12 years old!" he shouted. He sat there, totally confused, for at least five minutes. Then, he thought: But I already drove. Maybe I still can. I'll give it a shot; it's only 2 more minutes.

He put the seat as far to the front as he could, and raised it to its highest point as well. He still had to sit at the front tip of the seat to be able to reach the pedals, and to look over the wheel, but at least he could drive.

John turned the key, and the engine roared to life. He signaled, and turned back on the main road. He got home without further trouble, although he needed at least five more minutes to calm himself afterwards. It had been the most nerve-wrecking experience of his young life. He turned the key to the second position, switching on the electronics, and pushed the first memory button, setting the car back the way he had found it. He hid the keys back where he had found them, and raced to his room. It felt empty without the Book there