✔ Secrets of the Amulet | ONC 2023 | EDITING

2. Cursed Library

Pink clouds resembled cotton candy in the sky that brisk fall morning. Petrichor wafted in the air from last night's thunderstorm, and stray bits of debris and broken branches swept down the barren road.

Trees shed their golden and crimson leaves around him as Everett crossed the sidewalk downtown. He tugged his robe closer and brushed his fingers across their family's crest wrought into a pendant of silver bordered by shiny green star-shaped gems.

Everett couldn't stop thinking about his encounter with the vampire last night. After the storm had eased up, Kieran flew away with promises of returning to help solve Rowena's murder. Everett raked a frustrated hand through his short, tousled burgundy hair, plucking a crunchy leaf out of his head and tossing it aside.

If his folks caught wind of him messing around with a vampire, they'd murder him. But he couldn't deny how much he wanted to see Kieran again. He draped the back of his hand over his forehead, as if expecting to be warm with fever and causing delusions of desire for the vampire. He had literally met the man last night.

Maybe there was a brief moment between them after he'd rescued Kieran in his bat form, but Everett wouldn't rush to get his heart broken again. He always fell for the wrong guys. Sometimes he wondered if he was even meant to find true love or if it even existed for him.

As the library came into view, Everett dug into his robe's pocket for the key and climbed the concrete stairs to the entrance. Magical energy pulsed like a heartbeat around the building from the barriers he'd constructed. A sinister sensation trickled across his gooseflesh-ridden arms as he stepped inside and shivered.

Burnt pumpkin pie mixed with sulfur wafted in the air, and Everett wrinkled his nose as he followed the unsavory stench. He disregarded the spellbooks piled up from the dropoff bin. Normally, he'd work on returns or find a cozy place to catch up on his reading, but something was wrong.

"Rowena?" Everett called out for the ghost, his voice catching in his throat. He raised his wand with a shaky hand and illuminated the dimly lit library with silver embers.

Everett marched toward the source with false confidence, maneuvering through the towering bookshelves with familiar ease before he found the source of the stench. Remnants of black magic hung in the air like small, fading thunderclouds.

Sudden movement on the opposite side of the bookcase made him freeze. Everett barely heard the rasps of the intruder over his own thunderous heartbeat. He pressed his back tightly against the shelf, crouching down as he prepared a defensive spell, and awaited his attacker. Thankfully, nobody popped out of the shadows to kill him.

Curiosity urged him to creep toward the bookcase and pluck a few spines out, giving Everett a glimpse of the other side. Another pair of eyeballs stared back into his very soul, and a scream tore through his throat as he jolted away from the shelf.

Magical energy pulsed around his body with the defensive shield he conjured around him. Heartbeat throbbing against his chest, legs numbed with fear, Everett forced himself to tip-toe around the shelf. Nothing prepared him for the horrendous sight.

A bodiless head was perched on one of his rolling carts, turned to face the exact position he'd peeked through. Everett reeled back, clamping a hand over his mouth. It couldn't be real. Someone had to be playing a cruel prank on him, right? Despite how he tried to rationalize it, Everett knew deep in his unsettled heart that the head belonged to someone human.

"Everett!"

The young wizard whipped around and sent a spell of hellwind that knocked over the little display the kids created. Rowena's ghost appeared before him. Something troubling washed over her rigid face as she pointed toward the head.