The Secret, Stacey Clement [best english novels for beginners txt] 📗

said "Come on mom" I paused “Emma wants me to stay with her and so don't I" She looked at me, her eyes piercing through me. I knew what she was doing; she was trying to get out that planned party that was never planned. But when she couldn't, she finally said;

"Fine" she paused "But I'll be checking up on all three of you throughout the week"

"Thank you" I said fast and then walked away, running up the stairs and to my room. I grabbed a duffle bag out of my closet and then place it on my bed. I grabbed seven shirts three of which were tank tops and the others were blouses or sweaters. Then I grabbed seven pants two which were yoga pants and the rest were either jeans or leggings. I grabbed bras and underwear that would last me the whole week and socks. I grabbed my hair brush and make up and I put them in the bag, then zipped it up and then sat it on the bed.

I went back downstairs and saw that mom had left to go back to work. I listened for the sound of a TV or the creaking of the floor but heard nothing. I was home alone.

* * * *

As the hours passed and the time came to go back to Emma’s and try this spell; I grew more reluctant. I kept telling myself I promised. But, despite my effort to try and calm my nerves I could not. I grabbed the bag that sat on my bed and put it in the trunk. I then got into the car and drove off to Emma’s house. When I got to Emma’s she was waiting for me, as I pulled in she stood up. I shut the car off and got out.

“So, are you sure this is what you want to do?” I asked her. She nodded and said;

“I’ll drive” she walked over to her car and got in and I soon followed in after her; moving a brown paper bag that had all the things we needed for this spell.

“You know, for someone who knows that this won’t work you seemed to spend a lot of effort and time to prepare for it”

“Alyssa” she said, looking at me as she came to a stop sign “Stop worrying, have some fun”

“Going into the woods and saying a spell isn’t exactly my idea of fun” I said.

“Well step outside your box and make it fun” she said. We sat the majority of the ride there in silence. When we came to a sign saying Now Entering Bad River I said;

“You never said that it was this far” I said.

“Relax” she said. It was really difficult for me to relax, but when we got through town I was at least able to breathe. We came to a road that said Quests Lane. A road which; was filled with swamp land and dark woods on both sides. The trees were thick evergreen and occasional oak which made it pretty much impossible for the sun to break through. When we came to the end of the road Emma shut the car off and unbuckled her seat belt and I did the same. Before getting out Emma opened up the glove compartment box and took out a tiny flashlight and said “Just in case” and then she got out and I followed. I walked over to the other side of the car and followed Emma onto the trail.

About fifteen minutes of going up and down small hills and crossing little creeks we made it to our destination. We stopped at a gate like entrance; which was made of vines, twigs and leaves. A light was coming out on the opposite side that we were on. Emma went through the gate like entrance and I followed quickly behind. The light was from the sun shining through the trees and for a moment I was relieved. Around us was an opened area filled with only a few trees. It almost looked like a large camping site. In front of us the land stretched for miles with only a few trees standing alone. But where we were standing the dark forest threaten to close in on us.

“Come on” Emma said “We have a few more minutes before dusk” she went straight into the field and I wasn’t stopping her because I so badly wanted to get out of the woods.

“Be careful” I said beside her “We don’t know if were heading straight into swamp land. Emma stopped, realizing that I was right.

“We should go back than” she said and then turned around and retreated back to where we once were.

As the minutes passed it came time to start. I sat down as Emma prepared for the spell. She took a stick and drew in the dirt a Triquestra sign and then turned to me and said “Can you bring me that bag” she pointed to the bag that sat beside me. I got up and walked over to her. First she took out the stones and placed them on the outside of the Triquestra symbol creating a pentagram.

“Why did you buy so many stones?” I asked.

“Because it required a lot of stones” she said, taking a handful and then handing me the bag. I sat back down and looked over to my right. I slowly got back up and walked over to the big oak tree. Emma saw me and said “What?” It took me a moment to respond and when I finally did I said;

“Nothing” I paused “I just thought I saw something”

“Were in the woods Alyssa” she said “You probably just saw a deer or some other animal”

“Yeah” I murmured to myself. I couldn’t help but feel that we were not alone in the woods, that someone was watching us. I sat back down and drew in the sand I waited and watched Emma as she finished up with what she was doing. She asked for the bag once again and took out four white candles.

“So what are the candles for?” I asked.

“According to this paper” she paused “We need to call on the five elements”

“So this must be fire?” I asked. She lit the candle and said;

“No, oddly” she paused “the candle is supposed to represent the element spirit”

“Well, that doesn’t make sense” I said. She nodded and placed it between two stones and then lit the rest and did the same. Moments later, it was done and Emma said;

“It’s ready” I stood up and looked behind me as if something was there. I walked over to Emma and she said “We need to stand inside the Triquestra.

“Aren’t you worried that we might catch on fire?”

“We're nowhere near them, ” she said. We both stepped inside the Triquestra symbol that she had made and then she said “Now we join hands and recite the spell” so we did. At the same time we both said;

“We call upon the elements of the Earth, Air, Water and Fire to grant us power” we said this line twice and the wind started to pick up. I looked at Emma in surprise, “The power of us to call upon the elements to grant us eternal power.” There was a transparent cloud above us sparking with endless light. I started to panic not knowing what was happening. I tried to let go of Emma’s hands by I couldn’t.

“Emma let go” I said to her. she struggled to let go as well and then said;

“I can’t” she looked up and the wind picked up and the transparent cloud descended onto us. Suddenly it felt like we were lifting up off the ground and Emma said “We have to finish the spell” she paused “From the five Elements grant us be”

“From the north, east, south and west” I said.

“We call upon you” we both said “We call upon the element spirit and command you to release this power, to the power of three” the ground shook and the transparent cloud shattered like broken glass. Emma’s and my hands broke viciously apart whipping us in two different directions. I grunted at the impact as the back of my head hit a hard surface. Everything went dark. I felt a burning sensation run through my body and then it went cold.

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Publication Date: 12-04-2014

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