Sinners of Magic (3 page)

The horror of what she saw sent
her mind into utter turmoil; was this more than just a nightmare
she was suffering? Fighting the agony of watching those she loved
slip away, she sobbed inwardly when William’s tear-stained face
turned from hers and began to shimmer like an illusion on a hot
summer’s day. Slowly, the two figures disintegrated into minute
particles of sparkling dust before her very eyes and in her sleep
she wept an ocean of tears.

Chapter
1

16 years
later

‘
Books back
in two weeks,’ cried the librarian, crushing the date stamp on the
blank page of the lender’s book. Snapping the last cover closed,
she pushed it across the highly polished desk. The visitor grabbed
her pile of books, shoving them into an old school satchel, before
turning on her heels and heading for the nearest exit.

Crystal watched the old lady’s
hasty retreat and smiled to herself. She loved it here in the
town’s local library where her mother had dropped her off for the
rest of the afternoon. She was often found to have her nose buried
in a novel of some kind and here inside this old library, she felt
safe within the confines of the solid brick walls. Her love of
books and thirst for knowledge had given her the courage she needed
to overcome the ghost stories she had heard concerning the library
as a small child.

She focused
her concentration back on her favourite novel, Emily
Brontë’s
Wuthering
Heights
. The story had woven its magic
within her soul many times in her short life, with the pages
portraying a lonely and bitter life entwined with love and ultimate
tragedy. Her gaze fell back to the printed page and she became lost
once more on the cold and lonely moors with Cathy and her volatile
lover, Heathcliff.

Whilst her mind conjured up
colourful images of times gone by, an unexpected burst of giggling
drifted down the long, cool corridors and was caught by her
sensitive ear. With her concentration broken, Crystal closed her
book and placed it back on the shelf, momentarily forgotten. Her
inquisitive nature pushed her eagerly towards the source of the
disturbance, her mind still filled with ghosts of long ago.

Almost on tiptoe, she hurried
between the oak-panelled bookcases, careful not to make a sound.
She passed row upon row of ancient literature, each book begging
for a reader to reach out and pluck it from obscurity. The columns
loomed high, each one branded with a large fancy gold letter of the
alphabet placed there to help the untrained eye differentiate
between the novels by the author’s name.

The giggling was beginning to
grow louder and more boisterous, making it extremely easy for her
to detect where the noisy culprits were hiding. Cautiously, she
moved even closer. Someone let out a yelp.

‘
What the
hell!’ said a startled voice, when a dark silhouette appeared
against the pale, even walls. It only took a moment for Crystal to
realise she had been detected and without delay she revealed
herself to the two surprised visitors.

‘
Hi there,’
she said, jumping out of the shadows. ‘I’m sorry if I scared you,
but I heard you laughing and just wondered who was down here.’ She
looked with interest at the two teenage boys who were staring
wide-eyed in her direction.

‘
Hi, my
name’s Alfie,’ said the smaller of the two lads.

‘
That’s Matt
over there,’ he added pointing a stubby finger towards his friend.
‘He’s my best mate.’

She nodded a greeting.

‘
My name’s
Crystal,’ she revealed, giving them a nervous smile. ‘I come here a
lot, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen you two in here
before.’

A short silence engulfed them
when no one spoke, until her eyes lit up with silvery sparks when
she hit on an idea. ‘Perhaps you need help finding something?’ she
probed, letting a slight smile hover around the corners of her
mouth. ‘If you do, I can help, because I pretty much know this
library inside out.’

‘
Well,’ said
Alfie, clearly toying with the idea for less than a second, ‘I
think we’re alright, actually.’

‘
Oh,’ said
Crystal, feeling a stab of disappointment. ‘Are you
sure?’

Alfie nodded his head and shot
her a look which told her he didn’t want any help from some
know-it-all. Crystal let out a sigh and stared at him with a sudden
critical eye. She thought by the way he was dressed that he looked
younger than her, although Matt looked around the same age,
sixteen. Alfie was wearing blue jeans and a personalised football
shirt. She decided his blonde hair was in desperate need of a good
haircut and sensed his behaviour was bordering on childishness.

‘
Hey, speak
for yourself,’ Matt suddenly shot back, grinning at her.

‘
Really?’
said Crystal, flashing a smile and feeling intrigued. ‘Tell me,
what is it you need?’ She watched him stand up and walk towards
her. She hadn’t realised he was so tall, with thick, dark hair and
unusual green eyes. His limbs were long and athletic, and he wore a
faded denim shirt with cut-off sleeves, accentuating his lean
physique. He was what she would have described a teen heart-throb
and she lowered her gaze, slightly embarrassed for labelling him in
such a way.

‘
You’ve
caught us arguing over our homework on the British involvement with
the African slave trade,’ he explained, oblivious to her burning
cheeks. He offered her the book he was reading.

‘
We’re trying
to find out why they actually got involved in the first place,’ he
continued, ‘but none of the books we’ve found so far have given us
any real information. Everything seems to give a brief outline and
it’s just not enough material to get us at least a B grade in
English.’ He gave her a pleading look, raising his left eyebrow in
good humour.

‘
Any ideas,
gorgeous?’

Crystal laughed then.

‘
I really
don't know why you're looking in this old thing,’ she said,
flicking through the dated text. ‘But if you really do need such
detailed research, why don't you follow me and I'll show you
exactly where to look.’

‘
By all
means, lead the way,’ said Matt, grabbing his jacket from the back
of his chair. He nudged Alfie’s arm, gesturing that he should
follow.

‘
Come on
then,’ she urged, her eyes shining with enthusiasm. ‘No time like
the present.’

Crystal slipped through the
uneven rows of books followed closely by Matt and Alfie. Alfie just
couldn’t resist goofing around and he flicked Matt’s ear, making
him squeal in pain.

‘
Ouch, that
hurt,’ gasped Matt, rubbing his reddening ear with his thumb and
finger and trying to alleviate the pain. He threw an angry glare in
Alfie’s direction and shook his fist close to his nose, giving him
a clear warning.

‘
Are you
okay?’ asked Crystal, turning to peer into his face.

‘
I’m fine,
just fine,’ he said, still rubbing his skin. ‘But someone else may
not be so lucky if they continue to act like a complete
moron.’

Alfie focused straight ahead,
struggling to control a snigger that tickled the back of his
throat; he never could take Matt too seriously and, besides, this
place took the word ‘boredom’ to a whole new level.

‘
Believe it
or not, but there is an actual section in here dedicated to
slavery,’ Crystal said, pointing to the specialised selection,
before herding them like sheep towards the shelves. ‘Here we are, I
think this is just what you need,’ she said, pulling out a hardback
book and placing it on a table.

‘
Bloody hell,
that looks old,’ said Alfie, pointing to the dusty cover and noting
its protective wrapping was torn.

‘
Yes, it is,’
she agreed, ‘so you’d better be very careful with it.’

Crystal used her delicate
fingers to turn the musty pages, showing them the beautiful
illustrations contained inside. She gave her full attention to the
book, becoming more enchanted with each turn of the page. Unable to
find what she was looking for, she cast her gaze over the table of
contents.

‘
Ha-ha, this
should be just what you need,’ she said, with a smirk. ‘Within the
pages of this book you will get a complete overview of the whole
history of the British involvement with the slave trade. This book
is amazing. It will tell you about the world famous anti-slave
campaigner, William Wilberforce, who worked tirelessly for most of
his life after taking on the cause in 1787. It will explain why the
British actually got involved and why they chose African slaves.
You’ll probably get an A-star.’

The two boys gave her a look of
pure delight before pulling up a chair. Matt’s eyebrows shot up to
his hairline.

‘
This is just
fantastic!’ he said, giving her a heart-warming smile. ‘It’s really
good of you to take the time to show us this section,’ he added.
‘Thanks a lot.’

Crystal felt a warm glow reach
her cheeks for the second time that day.

‘
I’ll leave
you to it, then,’ she answered, feeling suddenly
redundant.

‘
It was
really nice meeting you,’ Matt nodded, his eyes absorbing the
invaluable text. ‘Thanks again.’

As she turned to leave, a wave
of nausea burst into the pit of her stomach, followed by a crushing
pain in her skull. She grabbed hold of a vacant chair to steady
herself. If she waited, surely the moment would pass.

‘
Are you
alright?’ asked Matt, realising she had become unwell.

She opened her mouth to answer,
but felt only spears of hot pain shoot through her brain, causing
her to gasp. Her limbs grew heavy with an intense pressure as
though huge boulders had been placed upon her shoulders and she
felt herself edging towards the floor. Then the coloured images
within the library started to spin away in a spiral of dense fog
and unknown voices invaded her mind whilst she fought to stay
conscious.

Alfie felt his stomach
lurch.

‘
What’s
happening?’ he cried, feeling a stab of unease. ‘You’re not going
to throw up or anything like that, are you?’

‘
Death will
take the innocent!’ she shouted, forcing the two boys to stare at
one another in astonishment. Alfie’s face turned blank and Matt’s
head snapped back as he took a reality check. Her body language was
strangely stiff, but her eyes were huge and lucid, moving rapidly
from side to side.

‘
Beware of
the water, for he hides there!’ she cried out. Small beads of
perspiration were forming on her forehead, sparkling like diamonds
in the bright sunlight. Confused, Alfie moved his chair closer to
Matt’s.

‘
There’s no
water here,’ Matt soothed, trying his best to reassure her. His
eyes switched to the library, looking for signs of an imminent
tidal wave.

Crystal’s facial muscles
tightened as her mind was taken over.

‘
Don’t get in
it!’ she pleaded, her arms reaching out, but her fingers touched
nothing but emptiness. ‘I beg of you, listen to me.’

The vivid images they couldn’t
see were so extraordinarily real to her and her alone, and she was
coherent enough to realise she was experiencing some kind of
extrasensory vision. Her distress was mounting and she held the
chair tighter, her knuckles turning white. Without making a sound,
Matt pushed his chair away from the table.

‘
Stop right
there!’ Crystal shrieked. Huge sobs broke from her body and Matt
tensed.

‘
The darkness
has won,’ Crystal wailed, her eyes pouring with tears. Her hands
suddenly flew to her throat and a choking scream echoed from her
lips, as though she was suffering some kind of a constriction
around her windpipe. Her eyes flickered for several seconds and
then she fell unconscious to the floor, her arms lying limp by her
side, her breathing a faint whisper.

Matt was petrified. Dropping by
her side, he shook her fiercely, calling her name and trying to
wake her. At first there was no reaction and niggles of acute
apprehension pricked sharply at his brain until he admitted to
himself that he didn’t know what to do to help her. Finally he
received encouragement when a moan touched her lips. So soft was
the sound that escaped that he thought for a moment he had merely
imagined it. She groaned again, louder this time, and relief
enabled his blood to flow freely once more.

‘
Go and get
help!’ he shouted to Alfie, rubbing her frozen hands with his. ‘Go
and get someone quick.’

A woman’s voice broke his train
of thought.

‘
What’s going
on here?’ she demanded and before he could answer, the stranger was
by his side and a firm hand gripped his arm, trying to pull him out
of the way.

‘
Is she
hurt?’ the woman asked, sounding genuinely concerned. ‘Come on,
please move out of the way and let me get a better
look.’

‘
Who are
you?’ asked Matt, feeling somehow responsible for Crystal’s
welfare.

The stranger eyed him
critically.

‘
I’m her
mother,’ she said, tight-lipped. ‘Now, let me get a closer
look.’

Dropping to her knees, Beatrice
stooped over Crystal’s shivering body. Concern was knitted deep
upon her brow.

‘
Who has done
this to her?’ she gasped, throwing Matt an accusing stare. ‘Are you
the cause of this?’ she demanded, her eyes flashing
angrily.