Chapter 20 The Secret Chamber

Close to midnight, Scarlett felt faint vibrations of energy seeping through the cracks in her bedroom walls. She ran her hand along the inner wall of the dark passage and recognized Levi’s power lingering there.

‘Thank goodness I still remember this room. It is the only space connected to the secret passages leading to the main hall and the clan’s hidden chambers. I suspect even Grandfather has forgotten these tunnels. My father was the one who built them, after all.’

She moved slowly through the darkness, guided only by the pale glow of a flat white crystal held in her hand. Stopping at a fork in the passage, she sensed a sudden surge of energy coming from the direction of the great hall.

‘Perfect. It looks like Levi has taken the bait and is moving exactly as I hoped. Thankfully I still had enough strength left to place new warning crystals along every wall in this section.’

She turned and followed another branch of the passage until she found an old lever set into the wall. It looked just as rusted and worn as the first one she had discovered. Once again, Scarlett used her magic to pull it easily. The first layer of the doorway ground open.

‘Ah, right. This is the forbidden chamber. It has been protected for generations by seals of the highest order.’ She looked toward the entrance and the solid stone structure beyond it, a knowing smile touching her lips.

‘But Grandfather forgot one thing. I carry the pure blood of both my father and mother. I can overcome any seal placed here.’

Scarlett pricked the tip of her index finger with a small knife she carried in her pouch. She let a single drop of blood fall onto her right palm, smearing it to form a specific symbol. Then she held her palm out toward the doorway before her.

WHOOSH!

Suddenly an invisible barrier stretched across the entire surface of the wall, covered in intricate, complex patterns. The collision of energies stirred the air around her, sweeping across the floor where she stood.

A beam of light shot from Scarlett’s right hand. It spread outward, flowing into every mark and symbol on the barrier. In the blink of an eye, the entire pattern flared to life, glowing brightly for a heartbeat before vanishing completely.

Scarlett beamed with delight. ‘Yes. It worked!’

She stepped inside. The room was far larger than she remembered. Massive bookshelves lined the walls, and every cabinet door and every volume within was locked tight behind powerful magical wards.

‘True to its name, nothing here can be touched carelessly. Anyone who tries will burn their hands, or worse.’ Her smile softened as she recalled the lessons her late father had taught her, explaining exactly how to unlock every seal protecting the books in this forbidden place.

‘Now I must find that book. The forbidden tome of reversal magic. I am certain the most dangerous and restricted records are kept in the most protected spot.’ She walked toward a small table set in one corner of the room.

Her hunch proved right. According to every memory she held, forbidden and dangerous texts were always stored within a hidden inner chamber. A wide smile spread across her face as she looked at the stone doorway standing open behind the table.

‘There it is!’

She hurried inside. This room was much smaller than the library-like space she had just left.

Scarlett’s gaze swept over the rows of books floating mid-air all around the walls. She scanned them one by one until she spotted a thick volume on the highest shelf, titled Magic of Reversal.

Using her powers, she drew the book toward her. It floated through the air and stopped right in front of her. The dim room instantly flooded with brilliant light as the heavy cover opened on its own. Lines of symbols swirled out and drifted all around her.

‘This is it!’

Her face lit up with joy as she deciphered the meaning of the drifting symbols. They rearranged themselves into a long passage of text. But her smile vanished the moment the text shifted one last time to reveal an illustration at the very end of the sequence.

It was a drawing of a hand mirror with a black frame and an ornate handle.

‘This is bad! That ancient artifact belonged to my great-grandmother. I have no idea where it is now. What am I supposed to do? Without that object, the reversal spell will turn against anyone who casts it, not just the person it is aimed at.’

She paused for a moment, wondering if she should go ask her grandfather. She changed her mind quickly when her eyes fell on another book on a lower shelf against the far wall, titled Locating Ancient Relics.

She pulled it down fast and flipped to the section describing the artifact she sought. Page after page showed strange, impossible objects from the past, until finally, the mirror appeared at the very end.

Scarlett touched the drawing and whispered the spell of location. The image glowed and projected a vision onto the wall. It showed a great castle, which shrank down into a vast forest, then narrowed further until it rested inside a small wooden box containing the mirror itself.

‘Oh, no. This is far more difficult than I thought. The mirror is hidden in the forbidden forest near Hollowmoon Lake!’

She frowned deeply. The journey there would take two full days of nonstop travel. And that is without knowing what dangers I might face along the way. That area is known to be a haven for Rogue magic users. There is simply no time to go and retrieve it. The only choice I have left is to memorize the forbidden reversal spell exactly as it is written.

She looked back at the thick book still hovering before her, her expression hard with determination.

‘Very well then. I cannot waste a single moment!’