***
Leila approached the table slowly, her heart pounding harder the closer that she got. Finally, she stopped when she was close; all she had to do was lean over, and she would touch the table, and the book. It was a living thing to her, and for a couple of minutes she stood and soaked up the presence in front of her until she was ready, and then she reached out for it. As her hand passed over the edge of the table, the entire thing became engulfed in flames. She squealed in fright, and jumped back, pulling her hand out of the flames. She checked her hand, terrified that she was badly burned, and just couldn’t feel it yet, but it was fine, nothing had burned. Looking back to the table, she expected the book to be ash, but what she saw was the book unharmed in the flames. Reaching her hand out again, she jumped when the flames flared up, as her hand crossed the edge again.
“Leila.” She glanced at Kevan, who stood behind the still roaring wall of fire. “Leila, remember what the clue said. Don’t believe the lies, trust in the truth,” Kevan quoted.
“Thank you,” Leila smiled, as she understood what Kevan was telling her. Turning back to the table, she reached for the book again, watching as the fire engulfed the table.
“Don’t believe the lies,” she told herself, and forced herself to push her hand through the flames, telling herself that they weren’t real.
Kevan watched as Leila approached the table, and then pushed her arm into the flames. It happened so suddenly, there was nothing that she could have done. The flames flared and then Leila disappeared in a roar of fire.
She could hear screams, as she watched Leila’s body consumed by the flames, and it wasn’t until Marcus forced her to look away, that she realized that the screams she was hearing were her own.
“No,” she sobbed repeatedly, until Marcus’s voice finally registered.
“Kevan,” he whispered in her ear, making her turn and look.
Leila kept repeating the mantra over and over, making herself believe that the fire was a lie. The flames weren’t real, and she fought to overcome her natural instinct to run when they surrounded her. In the distance, she could hear someone screaming, but she didn’t stop. The book was right in from of her, and it was whispering to her all the things that she could do to get revenge on anyone that had ever hurt her, but she didn’t want that. Then it told her that she could bring back anyone that she had lost, because it wasn’t fair that they had died without knowing the truth. Her heart ached at the idea of having her mother and uncle back, and then she shook her head. It wasn’t right, but they were gone, and nothing could bring them back.
“It’s all a lie. I trust only the truth. My life isn’t about revenge, and I love my family, but they are dead, and I can’t change that. I accept this, I accept my legacy as Claviger, and embrace my destiny!” she yelled, reaching out, grabbing the book. The moment she touched it, everything stopped. It was anti-climactic, as she stood hunched over, holding the book to her chest, the whispers gone with the flames, and everything quiet.
Kevan turned, terrified about what she would see. She didn’t want to know that Leila was dead, that Kevan had sent her to her death over a damn book. But when she opened her eyes, they came to rest on a standing Leila, alive and well. Kevan pushed away from Marcus, and raced to Leila’s side.
“Are you okay?” Kevan demanded.
“I’m fine,” Leila promised, giving Kevan’s hand a squeeze. “Really, I am fine.” She let out a laugh.
“But the fire ...”
“Believe me, I know, I was there, but it was all an illusion. Part of a trap set up by Leonard, or maybe even by the book, to ensure that I was worthy. I don’t quite know how to explain it, but I didn’t give into the temptation to use the book to hurt people, or give me my greatest desires. When I refused both, it all stopped.”
Kevan smiled, and gave her a quick hug. “You had me terrified when the flames engulfed you. I didn’t know what to do, or how I could help you.”
“You couldn’t. I had to truly embrace my destiny, which I really hadn’t, even though I thought I had, but the second that I did, it all stopped.” She ran her hands over the plain binding of the book she held. It looked to be nothing special, just an old book.
“So this is the Drusa grimoire. Not quite what we were expecting,” Kevan stared at it, trying to adjust her expectations to reality.
“I think that it is whatever you want it to be,” Leila explained. “We thought it would be this ornate huge book, but hoped it wouldn’t be anything special. Therefore, that is what it gave us. It’s powerful, but only dangerous in the wrong hands.”
“Well, it is hard to believe that it could cause the end of the world.” Kevan paused, looking to Leila. “Should we look in it?”
“Not now,” Leila told her. “We have plenty of time for that. Right now, we need to figure a way to get out here,” Leila told her, as she slid the grimoire carefully into her backpack. “This place is starting to give me the creeps.”
“Starting to?” Kevan laughed, which felt good.