Hex Girl | The Dark Child Prophecy Series

Chapter Four: Crawl (Carry Me Through)

I peeked over my shoulder hesitantly before I knocked on Adrian's door to his side of the shared suite. I had done my best to dodge Luce all evening before he could see me. I'd stayed in my bedroom under the guise I was still asleep until I knew he would be going down to the gym for his usual workout. I had even escaped Marcus and James carefully so no one could ask me what I was going to do tonight. I had heard James make a comment to our guardian that he was going to be joining Luce in the gym for a session with Luce's grandfather and uncle. He was up and gone not long after the sun sunk beneath the horizon. Once Marcus had left to do some last minute planning with Elizabeth, I had gotten up and went to meet Adrian.

Dodging my brother before I had gone to bed hadn't been easy, either. True to form, James had attempted to wait up for me, as usual, but I had waited outside in the hallway until nearly eight in the morning before I heard him finally get up off the couch and shut his bedroom door. Then I had snuck in and slipped into my own room. He knocked on our adjoining wall after he heard my door close, his way of asking if I was okay. I returned his question with two knocks back. "I'm okay."

It felt like sneaking around, but I didn't want Luce or Avalon to find out I was going to learn dark magic. They would be furious with me, and even more so with Adrian. And while the consequences of what doing black magic would lead to, I knew I needed to have the knowledge to protect my loved ones and myself. I had perused the Internet before I went to bed finally around nine in the morning, and what I had found was a mix of solid potential leads and a lot of gothic wannabes.

Adrian pulled his door open and held it wide for me. "Hey, I thought you were coming over right after sunset," he said, his head tilting to one side.

"Sorry, I didn't want anyone to know we're doing this," I apologized. "The last thing I want is your father and brother freaking out. And I didn't want James or Marc to know either." I stepped into his side of the suite he shared with Luce and made sure the connecting door to the joint-bathroom was closed. I glanced around the room to see he had actually cleaned a lot of his normal mess to a certain extent, the room now cluttered with open spell books and unrolled, yellowed parchments.

"Learning dark magic doesn't make you a bad person, Jen. Makes you prepared for when the real shit goes down. Like last night. I'm glad you're on my side to see that black rites can be helpful and not a hindrance."

I shook my head as I sat down in the desk chair. "I'm not on your side, AJ. I just want to learn how to protect myself. I don't want to use it if I don't have to. I already put darkness on my aura from killing that man."

He rolled his eyes as he flopped down on the edge of his bed and pulled the book that was next to him into his lap. "Well, I'm still glad you're willing to consider my specialty as a means to save yourself. Even if you're not going to use it." He flipped through the pages for a few seconds before he found the spell he was looking for. He handed the book out towards me.

I leaned forward to take it, looking at the page. It was mostly in Latin, which I only knew the basics of, but I could pick out the key words easily. "AJ, this is a human transmutation spell," I said slowly.

He nodded with a grin. "In case you need to turn someone into a cockroach and then step on them, or any other easily killed foe. Or, you can go all Beauty and the Beast and turn them into objects. They won't talk, though, of course."

I read over the incantation. "How do you prep a spell like this to use whenever you want?" I asked.

Dark magic that had an outcome of someone dying didn't just have a cost that had to be paid, but it also had to be pre-made for the practitioner to use at any given date. I had read accounts of witches and warlocks creating multiple spells and bottling them, leaving them on a shelf or in a cabinet for a later date to use them. Like making cake batter but not deciding to bake it yet.