The Charm (H. Academy Series #2)

Chapter 9: Advanced Demonic Palaeography

Being cooped up in my library felt good. Familiar. Having books underneath my fingers felt purposeful. Even if I was literally going through pages and pages of Demonology.

"Why is it so much easier to study now?" I asked when I realised I've gone through more today than in the past three months.

"Because your life depends on it." Morta, sitting in the middle, flipped the page.

I glanced at Amma, sitting on Morta's other side, "Is that why your grades are so perfect? You feel like your life depends on it?"

"Pretty much." Amma was leaned back, her hand now wrapped in her hoodie.

Her phone was in front of her, and she was staring at pictures of the little book she's found in the hidden parts of the library all those months ago. The one written in Daemon Tongue. Even having those words cross my mind felt eerie, like my body remembered the shudders that went down my spine that day. When the words rolled down my tongue.

Amma stood up and walked over to me, then put a blank piece of paper in front of me.

"Write it down."

"What?" I looked up.

"The spell you used to bring Leon back." Amma put the pen next to it as well. "The pronunciation."

Chills went down my spine, "Why?"

Her eyes widened, "Because I need more letters for the alphabet."

"You sure are taking this seriously." I murmured and took the pen. "How do I write it?"

"The way you've heard it. How... the demon pronounced it."

Fortunately for her, the word was engraved in my memory, and I still sometimes thought I heard its echo. Ashah-han. Revive.

"Why did you put a dash here?" Amma put her finger underneath the word.

"That's how I heard it. Like it's re-vive."

"Don't think in English."

"How am I supposed to think?" I raised my eyebrow.

"It could be two words." She stared at the paper. "Or it could indeed be a dash."

A second later, she hopped off, then returned with a phone. She put it on the table in front of me and scrolled through the photos. When she came to my father's spell, she pointed.

"There's no space between the letters." She scrolled further, to the book she stole from the library, "And there are spaces here between letters. Or maybe those are sentences. There seems to be no period. Or maybe the dash is a period-."

She scrolled back. Then back.

"Shit!" She cursed. "Jade, write it down."

I grabbed the pen, my gaze jumping to Morta's wide eyes.

"This." Amma pointed at the spell I used to bring Leon back. "Write it down."

I quickly scribbled the symbols underneath the word-

"Neatly! We don't know if the angle of the lines means something!"

"Okay, okay." I rewrote the symbols.

"Look." She scrolled back to the photos of the book, but I was already too confused to keep track. "I think this might be a dash. Since the As are the same as in the words the demon- Jade!"

"What?" I looked up.

"You need to be writing this down!"

"Okay, okay." I grabbed the pen, but I had no idea what she wanted.