✔ Secrets of the Amulet | ONC 2023 | EDITING

1. Death Long Overdue

Some secrets can kill you.

Little spiders dangled from the silken webs that stretched across the bookshelves. Everett Pepperheart found himself tangled in them again as he tried to shelve the returned spellbooks. The young librarian swatted the webs, cursing under his breath as he retrieved his wand from his velvet robe's pocket. He chanted a spell to levitate the well-worn spines from his rolling cart to the very tops of the bookcases.

Shadows spilled across the towering bookshelves of Briarwood's library. Outside, darkness had swallowed the town. Thunder rumbled the building and the book shelves all around him. The latticework archway curved over the entrance swayed with all the festive strands of orange lights and Jack-o-lanterns, but it didn't tumble over. It was only the second night of Harvest Fest, but the rain refused to let up.

After brushing the fake cobwebs from his dark green robe, he wheeled his empty cart to the front of the library. Paper bats adorned his desk, courtesy of the artistic school children who had checked out spellbooks and any fictional stories their little hearts desired. He admired the kids' display with pumpkin trinkets and a smiling skeleton across from him.

Business was more dead than usual, but Everett didn't mind. He made his way back around his desk and prepared himself a steamy cup of hot chocolate with a dollop of whipped cream and tiny pumpkin-shaped sprinkles. He took a sip of his savory drink, then retrieved a thick leathery book with an eyeball illustrated on the cover.

With nobody else around, it gave him a chance to study up more on spells and potions, but Everett wasn't reading one of the standardized books that the Supernatural Council approved of. Nor did his own folks. Everett was reading into black magic and death curses. It was one of the officially banned spellbooks, but it wasn't like the Council had the wits about them to ensure nobody ever discovered them.

Everett had uncovered them in the back storage, buried beneath boxes of damaged books, during his first week of working there and curiosity got the better of him. Weirdly enough, they were enchanted to never leave the library. Everett had tried to take one home once but the moment he stepped outside the library, it vanished from his hands and returned to the shelf inside.

With the wave of his wand, he opened the book to the page he'd left off on. Cursed objects. A wizard could use black magic to imbue an item with a curse. Such as a voodoo doll or an amulet, like the one he idly fiddled with around his neck. Everett never would've thought the heirloom he had inherited from his grandmother contained cursed magic. The Pepperhearts' had prided it as a luck charm for centuries, but Everett suspected it could be a cursed object.

Everett admired the scarlet gem with intrigue. After reading about cursed objects, he wondered how the amulet's true powers were unleashed and if the one around his neck was actually imbued with black magic. So far, he'd yet to encounter any unfortunate fates or suffer strange illnesses, like the book claimed could result from a cursed item. Perhaps he needed to do something to unlock its true powers.

While he poured over the sepia pages, an onslaught of rain unleashed hell on the library's rooftop. Over the roaring gale and thunder, he spared a glance at the unlocked door once before continuing his reading. It wasn't like anyone would brace the storm for some books.

Flames flickered from the pumpkin spiced candles Everett had lit around him as a burst of lightning struck the inky sky. An unearthly chill swept over him. Everett tugged his robe closer, frowning as he closed the spellbook and examined the display of books suspiciously. He swore a shadow slipped by, but perhaps all his reading had made his eyes play tricks on him.

The ghost of a little old lady emerged from behind the bookshelves. Wisps of gray hair flowed with her as she maneuvered around the shelves like a playful child. What caught his eye most was the identical scarlet amulet around her frail neck.