Chapter 58

“So if someone is cursed to sleep, what spell would you use to counter the curse?” I ask Aunt Shanna.

“Ah!” she exclaims after pausing to think. “I know just the spell.” She begins to flip through the pages. Words fly past in rapid succession, but I manage to read a few. They mean guard, bind, and dispel. After flipping through half of the book, Shanna stops and points to a page. The explanation of the spell is short and merely states that the spell will wake up the recipient. The magic word is ‘izuzzu’ which means ‘arise’ in the language of magic. This is written at the center of the magic circle and is surrounded by lines that form the shape of z’s. Shanna seems to be watching me because when I glance up at her, she is staring back at me.

“How do you end a spell? You said that you end a curse by casting it twice,” I question, looking away from her penetrating stare and back to the book.

“Great question!” she cries. “Spells are normally negated by casting the opp