Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99700 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 499(@200wpm)___ 399(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99700 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 499(@200wpm)___ 399(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
“It’s a bit more complicated than that,” the shopkeeper said as she unlocked one of the glass cases. “Here we go.” She produced a gold chain with a pendant hanging from it. The pendant was also gold, and bullet-shaped, with a small window in the front revealing the glass vial hidden within.
“Let me guess,” Lucy said, eyeing it. “Blood goes in there.”
“Indeed, it does.”
“Whose blood?” Pandora asked, knowing there was no way she could get any of Victor’s without him knowing. And with his studies in vampires, she really didn’t think she could risk being any more suspicious than she already was.
“Yours,” the woman said. “Given willingly. While saying a specific enchantment.”
“That’s it?” Lucy asked, almost sounding disappointed. While Pandora was thankful. Though a bit worried about how much that kind of jewelry might cost. Because she was relatively sure it wasn’t just a normal glass-vial pendant. There had to be some sort of magic forged in it.
“Most of the work is already done,” the woman said, flexing her fingers as if she was the one to imbue it with magic. She probably had been.
“Will it work immediately?” Pandora asked. “Or is it something that has to be done on a full moon or otherwise primed?”
“The original spell was cast correctly,” the woman said. “You are simply activating it with your blood and words.”
Pandora nodded at that. “What reason could I possibly give Victor for why I’m giving him a vial of my blood?” she asked, looking at Lucy.
“Hmm,” Lucy said, squinting at the pendant. “I think if you fill it enough, you might not even be able to tell it’s blood. Will he be able to open it?” she asked the shopkeeper.
“Once it is sealed, it is sealed forever.”
“If he asks, you can just say it’s a family heirloom. I mean, the contents in it have certainly been … handed down.”
More lies.
The guilt had started to become a gnawing sensation in Pandora’s stomach that no amount of blood could satiate.
But this was for his own good.
To protect them both.
“OK,” Pandora said. “Yeah, I’ll take it.”
After shelling out a painful amount of sterling for the pendant, the shopkeeper jotted down the spell and told Pandora she should go outside under the moonlight and, with her bare feet in the earth, fill the vial and say the incantation.
“How will we know it worked?” Lucy asked.
“You will know,” the woman said.
Then, just as quickly as she’d appeared, she was gone.
Pandora and Lucy made their way back outside, walking until they found a semi-private patch of grass.
Pandora slipped out of her shoes and gave the piece of paper to Lucy to hold out for her to read.
“Oh, shoot. We don’t have a knife …” Lucy said, looking around like she might find one lying around.
“It’s fine,” Pandora said, uncapping the vial, then lifting her wrist and using one of her fangs to break her skin.
“Oh, gross. I mean … handy,” Lucy said, wincing as the blood flowed. “All right, as you drip, say the words.”
“Through my veins, a shield is cast.
“Your mind’s your own, your will holdfast.
“No glamour shall cloud, no spell ensnare
“My blood’s protection is yours to wear.”
“So mote it be,” Lucy said as the last drop filled the vial.
“OK.” Pandora reached for the cap. “But she said we would know it worked. Nothing … Oh.” She gasped as the cap clicked on, then the entire pendant heated to the point of burning as a light seemed to explode from it.
Then, nothing.
The light was gone, the pendant cool to the touch.
“Well, then,” Lucy said, nodding. “Insane amount of money well spent.”
Pandora was apt to agree.
“Now you just need to text Victor and ask if you can pop over and give it to him,” Lucy said as she fished in her bag for a spare tissue to clean up the outside of the pendant with.
Pandora reached for her mobile to shoot him a text while her mind raced.
She was going to give a spelled pendant full of her own blood to someone who knew more about supernatural things than the average human.
What could possibly go wrong?
22
Victor lived just a few streets away from UCL. Lucy’s flat was in the opposite direction, so she and Pandora parted ways at the shop. Pandora walked the rest of the way alone, the cool wind kicking her hair up, and she tried not to fret over the tangles it had likely twisted itself into as she made it to the block of rooms that Victor shared with a few mates.
“Sounds worse than it is,” he said as he met her outside the grey-brick building. “Mike has a girlfriend, so he’s over her place more often than not. Grant works two jobs on top of uni. Tate doesn’t go to uni and he currently sleeps on the couch in the living room. But since Mike, Grant, and I all have our own rooms, it doesn’t bother us much.”