The Witches of Merribay (The Seaforth Chronicles) by B.J. Smash Page B
Authors: B.J. Smash
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scanned the room until they landed on the shell curtain I had seen when Zinnia and I had first come here. A gut feeling overwhelmed me that that is where it had to be.
I crossed the room and gently pulled back the shell curtain . The shells made tinkling sounds.
I didn't bother to bring any candles with me , for I knew that when I stepped in the room, more would light. And as it so happened, I was correct. But I was not prepared for what I saw. What I thought might be a bedroom was no bedroom at all. The room glowed in candlelight, reflecting off from luminescent blue walls, causing the whole room to shimmer blue. Little individual specks on the walls, reminding me of stars, glowed and then dimmed repeatedly. Something lumpy moved slightly on the walls. Walking closer, I saw that there appeared to be several live starfish. Ew. It was creepy, but all the same, in a disturbing way, it was beautiful.
Significantly colder in here , I rubbed my arms to gain warmth. My breath formed in front of my face.
At the end of the room, sitting under a window that overlooked the sea, sat an impressive wooden alt ar, inlaid with jewels the size of my thumbs. I touched the white edges; they were covered in something cool and smooth. Ivory. I loved elephants, and I despised ivory owners.
A dead puffer fish blown up to its full capacity hung in a corner , or at least I assumed he was dead.
There was m ovement on the floor. Crabs?
“How were these things alive? ” I began talking out loud to myself. It was something I was fond of doing when I was alone and became extremely nervous.
Quickly I walked to the alt ar; it had to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
I quickly sorted through some things : vials of liquids and a huge book, each page filled with gibberish.
“Oh my, I wonder if Izadora knows about this book ?” I said to no one.
And as I spoke , the pages turned to English.
I read a few lines about some spell that would glamorize a man . The ingredients all had to do with the ocean: sea cucumbers, squid legs, porcupine fish. This was no ordinary book for an ordinary witch that you'd find at a bookstore. This was the book of a master witch, who I had no doubt could literally turn me into a frog.
I slammed the book shut, causing a noise like a grunt to escape from its pages.
“Oh God ,” I said.
I had to get out of there soon . I searched through things such as animal hair, bones, and teeth. I searched through things that I don't even want to describe, until I came to one solitary box that was totally out of place compared to the altar. It was a simple wooden box that looked to be two hundred years old.
No lock . I opened it to find one picture. A picture of four children sitting on a little hill under a single tree, with rolling fields spread out as far as the eye could see. It had to be taken somewhere such as Ireland or Scotland. None of the children had smiles; in fact, they frowned. I had to wonder what their problem was. The clothing was simple. The girls wore dresses, and the boys breeches with plain shirts.
If this were a childhood picture —although I couldn't imagine Magella as a child—then the other girl must be Izadora. And one of the boys was Izaill. But who was the fourth child? I shivered to think who this could be, knowing what I knew about the other three. Maybe he was dead?
I la y the picture back into the box, and as I moved forward to set it back down, a floorboard creaked. I looked around to see nothing, averting my eyes away from the creatures on the walls. I stepped again, and the floorboard creaked. There was something below the floorboard.
I grabbed a gold knife from the altar; it looked more like a thick letter opener. Placing the edge between the floorboards, I pried the board loose.
I breathed deeply, trying not to pass out . There in front of me, wrapped around what I believed to be the rolling pin, was a black snake. It had to be the rolling pin, although it looked different than
I crossed the room and gently pulled back the shell curtain . The shells made tinkling sounds.
I didn't bother to bring any candles with me , for I knew that when I stepped in the room, more would light. And as it so happened, I was correct. But I was not prepared for what I saw. What I thought might be a bedroom was no bedroom at all. The room glowed in candlelight, reflecting off from luminescent blue walls, causing the whole room to shimmer blue. Little individual specks on the walls, reminding me of stars, glowed and then dimmed repeatedly. Something lumpy moved slightly on the walls. Walking closer, I saw that there appeared to be several live starfish. Ew. It was creepy, but all the same, in a disturbing way, it was beautiful.
Significantly colder in here , I rubbed my arms to gain warmth. My breath formed in front of my face.
At the end of the room, sitting under a window that overlooked the sea, sat an impressive wooden alt ar, inlaid with jewels the size of my thumbs. I touched the white edges; they were covered in something cool and smooth. Ivory. I loved elephants, and I despised ivory owners.
A dead puffer fish blown up to its full capacity hung in a corner , or at least I assumed he was dead.
There was m ovement on the floor. Crabs?
“How were these things alive? ” I began talking out loud to myself. It was something I was fond of doing when I was alone and became extremely nervous.
Quickly I walked to the alt ar; it had to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
I quickly sorted through some things : vials of liquids and a huge book, each page filled with gibberish.
“Oh my, I wonder if Izadora knows about this book ?” I said to no one.
And as I spoke , the pages turned to English.
I read a few lines about some spell that would glamorize a man . The ingredients all had to do with the ocean: sea cucumbers, squid legs, porcupine fish. This was no ordinary book for an ordinary witch that you'd find at a bookstore. This was the book of a master witch, who I had no doubt could literally turn me into a frog.
I slammed the book shut, causing a noise like a grunt to escape from its pages.
“Oh God ,” I said.
I had to get out of there soon . I searched through things such as animal hair, bones, and teeth. I searched through things that I don't even want to describe, until I came to one solitary box that was totally out of place compared to the altar. It was a simple wooden box that looked to be two hundred years old.
No lock . I opened it to find one picture. A picture of four children sitting on a little hill under a single tree, with rolling fields spread out as far as the eye could see. It had to be taken somewhere such as Ireland or Scotland. None of the children had smiles; in fact, they frowned. I had to wonder what their problem was. The clothing was simple. The girls wore dresses, and the boys breeches with plain shirts.
If this were a childhood picture —although I couldn't imagine Magella as a child—then the other girl must be Izadora. And one of the boys was Izaill. But who was the fourth child? I shivered to think who this could be, knowing what I knew about the other three. Maybe he was dead?
I la y the picture back into the box, and as I moved forward to set it back down, a floorboard creaked. I looked around to see nothing, averting my eyes away from the creatures on the walls. I stepped again, and the floorboard creaked. There was something below the floorboard.
I grabbed a gold knife from the altar; it looked more like a thick letter opener. Placing the edge between the floorboards, I pried the board loose.
I breathed deeply, trying not to pass out . There in front of me, wrapped around what I believed to be the rolling pin, was a black snake. It had to be the rolling pin, although it looked different than
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