Chapter 20 #2
On reaching the correct chapter, he started to skim through it.
A lot of it was what he had first been told about death marks.
But the book did have some illustrations showing what internal marks would look like on the skin, along with a few gruesome external ones that he didn’t think were really necessary.
There was also more detail about the marks themselves, and it clearly stated that to see a mark, one had to view it in the reflection of something else.
Followed by an emphasis on just how difficult they could be to see, even for skilled Death Callers…
Ollie skimmed a bit more, stopping with a thrill of excitement when he came across a subsection titled ‘Death Mark Mirror’.
He started to read aloud, pausing briefly to paraphrase as he went, as it helped him better interpret Middle English.
“‘Death Mark Mirrors, an arcane object…that allows a Death Caller to…view a spirit’s Death Mark…without exerting effort. Creation steps’—which there are only two of—‘First, get a mirror and…a handful of sand. Second, sprinkle the sand on top of the mirror…chanting the following…’” Ollie trailed off, as he was hesitant to read the actual verbal spell part out loud.
He eyed the spell before looking at the drawing that was to the right of the steps. Drawn on the page was a circular mirror with a rather thick frame, which had, what he thought must be, Lichtenberg lines carved into the wood.
Ollie stared at it for a moment more before frowning and looking down at Red. “Would my grimoire happen to have this information inside it already?”
“While grimoires do often hold more knowledge than their witch may have, they are still limited. And what’s inside tends to be more basic knowledge, rather than advanced.”
“So, it’s up to me to grow it?”
“Pretty much.”
Ollie eyed the instructions again. “It doesn’t seem too difficult to make. Just need a mirror and some sand. Not sure if the size or shape matters, as they aren’t specific, but I assume a pocket-sized one would be best, as it’s easier to carry.”
Red jumped onto the table, and looked down at the book. “See those droplet marks underneath the name?”
Ollie’s brow rose as he glanced at the droplet-like marks—well, droplets if the drops spiraled a tiny bit at their tips—that he had assumed were just page ornaments when he had noticed them while randomly flipping through. “Yes?”
“It’s the spell’s difficulty ranking.”
Well, that explained why the number of them seemed to change. “What does seven mean?”
“Well, as the system usually goes from one to thirteen, with thirteen being the highest difficulty and one being the lowest, anything above a six is considered advanced magic. But…” The familiar tsked, before drawling, “I mean…considering what you have managed so far, I suppose all you can do is give it a try?”
Ollie eyed the cat suspiciously. “You sound less than confident about it.”
Red shrugged. “I’m here, so if things go wrong, it should be fine.”
Noble had almost reached the open double doors to Ollie’s private library when he heard what sounded like something bursting, or rather…exploding.
“Oh no, oh no!” He heard Ollie squeak frantically before coughing violently.
“Ollie!?” he cried as he rushed into the room. Noble headed straight for the already-open secret door.
His eyes widened as he got his first look at the secret room, and saw Ollie jumping around, waving at something on fire on the table, as if that would put it out…
Noble was about to run and grab the nearest fire extinguisher from Ollie’s kitchen when Red suddenly leaned over the mess and drew in a breath. The flames appeared to be consumed by the familiar until they were extinguished, followed by the cat letting out a stream of smoke.
“Umm…everything…okay?” With the fire out, he glanced at the mess on the table, which looked to be a mix of broken glass in the middle of a large black scorch mark, along with a pile of burnt—well, he wasn’t sure what it was, but it smelled almost like freshly laid asphalt with a faint metallic tang and a hint of burnt hair.
Ollie coughed one more time before barely managing to croak out, “Fine.” Clearing his throat, the witch turned to him, moving in closer as he wrung his hands together and tried again.
“Everything is fine. Just, um…a failed magic attempt. I was trying to make a Death Mark Mirror, which would have been super helpful if I had…actually succeeded—ha.”
While Ollie’s words were a bit more convincing the second time…the soot on his face and the singed ends of his stray curly red hair ruined it for him.
But Noble was not going to point that out. “I see…”
“Anyway, all good here. Oh, more importantly, I named my ghost kitten!”
He smiled as Ollie deflected. “I see, and what did you name them?”
“I named her Pumpkin!” Ollie beamed, bouncing a little on his feet.
“Cute,” he chuckled.
“Isn’t it?”
Noble had been talking about Ollie more than the cat’s name, but oh well. Wiping a bit of soot off the little witch’s nose, he asked, “Have you eaten yet?”
He’d sent him a text, but hadn’t gotten a response. It either meant his Baby had accidently, or purposely, ignored his text, or he had forgotten to text back. Which was why he decided to finish his cleaning another day, so he could come and possibly grab lunch with Ollie.
The witch blinked innocently, before looking away guiltily as he softly mumbled, “No…”
“Why don’t you go get cleaned up…” He showed Ollie the soot so he knew why he needed to. “Then we can head to the diner and grab a bite to eat. Hopefully this time the owner will be there, so we can finally get some answers. Or, at the very least, a name.”
“Fine…fine…” The man sighed, as if he was put out that he had to not only go out, but also eat.