The Power Field

Chapter 20

It takes several days before Josie has a chance to break into the armory. This room is almost always locked, and the key to it is kept in a safe place, which only the headmaster Alaric Saltzman knows about.

However, one day Josie gets lucky. By a happy coincidence, it is on this day that the math teacher asks her to take some documents to her father's office. In fact, local teachers often use her as a courier. Being the daughter of a school principal doesn't always mean having privileges.

Josie knocks as usual, but no one answers her. Then she pulls the handle on herself. The office is unlocked. When she goes inside, she finds no one. Only the door to the armory stands open.

All this is extremely suspicious. Her father had always been very concerned about the safety of the artifacts stored at their school. He had never left even the most harmless weapons unattended before, not to mention a whole storehouse of dangerous magical artifacts.

On the floor, an inch from the door, Josie notices a small purple bucket filled with water. Of course, he's just putting things in order. Josie is glad that at least he didn't spend time alone with a bottle of alcohol.

She takes a few steps forward and says softly.

"Dad, are you there?"

But no one answers her. Then she goes to the armory and looks inside. A dark room greets her with an unpleasant smell of dust and decomposition. Josie, as expected, does not find her father there. Then, a little emboldened, she goes inside. The room, which looks more like a warehouse of dark artifacts from the movie The Conjuring, makes a depressing impression on her. The dim light of a single bulb doesn't give Josie the opportunity to see all the objects in the room, but Josie does not lose sight of a creepy doll in a glass box and a torn black dress that reminds her of a ghost.

She goes inside and takes a deep breath. Her lungs are filled with the millennial dust of every antique lying there.

«Well, if you want to find Mora Miserium, you have to stop being afraid of every rustle». With these thoughts, Josie carefully begins to inspect the shelves for the presence of a treasured artifact, which, according to the promise of her crazy uncle, should help her contain dark magic.

The wooden floor under her feet creaks unpleasantly, causing her back to be covered with goosebumps. She slowly, step by step, overcomes shelves closely lined with all sorts of ancient spears, arrows, magic boxes, knives, strange rusty rings and even whole devices, the purpose of which Josie sincerely does not want to know. But suddenly she catches a glint in the corner of one of the shelves.

Josie comes closer. Finally, she sees them: a huge hourglass, fastened on all sides with black appendages. Josie imagined them differently. She thought that Mora Miserium looked like a creepy artifact, covered on all sides with equally creepy pictures depicting monsters and the like. She never thought that Mora Miserium would look more like an antique clock.

She stretches out her hand, trying to grab the artifact, but something invisible pushes her away, and a light current runs through her entire body.

«A protective spell». She concludes.

It should be expected that the protection in the armory is much more complicated than a normal door lock.

Then Josie starts siphoning out the spell. Her hands flash bright scarlet. She can feel the dark magic dancing under her skin. However, before she has time to pump out at least half, something behind her creaks loudly. Josie immediately removes her hands and abruptly straightens up. The papers that the math teacher gave her, fortunately, are still in her hands.

Just as she has time to clean herself up, the silhouette of her father appears in the doorway with an iron poker in his hands.

"Josie?" He asks, lowering the poker down. "What are you doing here?" His gaze is watching her suspiciously.