Page 31 of Every Shade of Shadow

A surge of longing and fear and pure wicked delight rushes through me. This is it. The door to desire and danger, ready to swallow me whole.

I know I should close this book and leave it behind. Slam it shut, run, and never look back.

But I can't.

I won't.

I use a duplication spell to leave a mirror of the book in place. There’s some material shifting if you look at it from too high an angle, but it will hold.

Book in hand—or under shirt, rather—I make my way down to the yet lower levels of the castle.

It’s cooler down here. Frigid.

I search for a somewhere secluded, eventually finding an old storage room with cobwebs cloying to the corners and dust coating the shelves.

I sniff.

Cinnamon—burnt for purification, or useful for the odd erotic love spell. Pick your poison.

But smell aside, this is perfect.

With a wave of my hand, I clear the room and seal the door behind me. Now, in silence and solitude, I open the book again.

A spell for conjuring shadows grabs my attention. According to the instructions, I need only focus my magic and speak the incantation to summon ‘creaturae umbra et vespera,’ which I take to be ‘creatures of shade and dusk.’

Charming.

The fuck are you doing? my head cautions, but I’ve come too far now.

But there’s hesitation, too. I think back to what Lily said. Should I have brought a razor? A pin? Do I even want to increase the power? I don’t have any answers to these questions. I’m clueless, down here alone with a book and fuck-all else trying to do what? Please Darkwood? Make him proud of me?

I don’t know why I’m seeking his approval at all.

“Focus,” I whisper.

I remember what the Professor taught me about summoning the shadow spirit. There is some crossover here, but not a lot.

I take a deep breath and begin the ritual. At first, nothing happens. Then a flicker in the corner of my eye makes me turn. There, sliding across the floor, is a wisp of inky blackness. More follow, swirling and dancing through the air, coalescing into strange, crescent shapes. They’re different from the spirit I summoned with Darkwood. More present. More alive.

I stare at what I've summoned, alive and writhing before me. They seem almost intelligent, regarding me with what might be curiosity.

Or hunger.

And yeah, I’m starting to think a little impulse control would have come in handy.

One of the shadows brushes against my arm and a jolt of cold shoots through me so alarming I jerk back. Gasping, I lose control of the spell. The shadows vanish in an instant. Thank Christ.

Shaken, I sit down against the wall and bring my knees to my chest. I hug them tight, struggling to control my quickened breath.

They’re gone. It’s fine, I tell myself.

Peaches.

Right?

But beneath the fear is a heady rush of power. I've done it. I've performed an act of Shadowcraft on my own and the world didn’t implode, and I didn’t sprout a penis, and all is well.

A smile pulls at my lips.

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