Bound: An Aurora Willow Nightingale Fantasy Novel, Episode 3

Credogrimiore

Previously: Aurora’s parents had a hard choice to make, but they were willing to do anything to save their daughter. Aurora noticed weird things through the years leading up to her parents’ death on her graduation day.

Shortly later, Aurora finds out her life is nothing like she thought. She’s magical.

Magical Reference Dictionary

Episode 3: Credogrimiore

I stood at the top of the stairs for several minutes. I wanted to know more, but I felt fear paralyzing me. It was like every question I’d ever had might have an answer that had been in my basement all along. Some people hide their secrets in closets. Mine were literally underneath me, buried under the floor, beating away like heartbeat… you get the point. I mean, it’s not like I’d never noticed a few weird things about my family. My parents always claimed my grandparents didn’t approve of their marriage so that’s why I never met them. My mom and dad both had jobs that never seemed to have Christmas parties or other get togethers. My mom claimed she worked at a library a couple towns over, and my dad always told me he was a professor at the university. While I’d never spent too much time thinking about it, I wondered now if that had been their doing. Had they made me forget every single time I got close to noticing? 

I reached out and pulled the ornate brass door handle. I’d never noticed how beautiful it was before. It looked like it belonged in an old Victorian mansion. The door opened up. I couldn’t remember how many times I’d tried to open the door out of curiosity. It never opened until now. I flipped on the light switch at the top of the stairs, and I looked in. I was prepared for grossness. Dampness. Dark and wet. A smell… Much to my surprise, the basement didn’t look like a gross damp room at all. It was fully finished with nice furnishing. It was cozy.

The room was packed with bookshelves, couches, chairs, a handful of tables, a huge copper pot, walls of little containers, and the most beautiful mirror I’d ever seen in my life hung on the wall. I walked down the stairs and crossed to the mirror. As I stood in front of it, I was shocked to not see my reflection. It stayed unchanged. It reflected the room back at me. I reached out and touched the mirror, and I felt warmth spread up through my body from the fingers that were pressed against the glass. The heat was gentle but like a vibration. 

I yanked my hand back in confusion. What on Earth was this mirror? It wasn’t a normal mirror for sure. I walked away, rather reluctantly, to examine the rest of the room. I walked over to a particularly puffy couch and sat down. There was a coffee table with a very large emerald green leather like book on the table. It looked very old with parchment like paper. The cover had a large emblem of some sort emblazoned on the cover. In magenta script the cover said Nightingale Credogrimoire. 

Credogrimoire? What was that? With a whirl of air, the book flipped open on its own. It opened to a page at the beginning of the book that said:

Nightingale 

Credogrimoire

Believe in the Book of Magic

What in the world? I just sat there absolutely fascinated. After several minutes of uneven breathing, I reached out and picked the book up. I felt warmth spreading through my hands. As I placed it on my lap, I noticed that it felt feather light even though it looked as though it should weigh at least twenty pounds. I flipped the page, and I found that there was a table of contents. There were sections in the book for everything. Magical creatures, potions, spells, the basics, and so many more. That isn’t what shocked me though. The contents of the book wasn’t printed. It was scrawled in my mother and father’s handwriting. I’d recognize it anywhere. 

I couldn’t help but think about all the times they must have poured over this book. One of the things noted was, A Letter for Aurora. I felt my breath seize up. I quickly flipped the big old pages to the page in question. The letter read as follows:

Dearest Aurora,

If you’re reading this, it means we’ve died. We wouldn’t let you read about all this alone for any other reason. If we unbound your powers, we would have been able to tell you all of this. We’d like to start with how sorry we are for not being here to comfort you in this hard time in your life. We were hopeful that you could be excited when you found out about your powers, but our death has surely cast a shadow of sadness, anger, and confusion upon this time in your life, and for that we are eternally sorry. 

There are so many things we wish to tell you, but we know it won’t fix the things you will never hear straight from our mouths. Undoubtably, you wonder why we chose to not tell you about your powers. We made the choice when you were still in the womb. You see, your grandparents raised us with magic. Your mother’s side, where you get your middle name from, was the Willow family, and your father’s side is the Nightingale family. Both of our families came from a long history of magic, and the cornerstone families all have strict rules of not marrying into other cornerstone families because it mixes our unique abilities. It’s worth noting that cornerstone families are families of immense talent that have produce only witches and wizards for centuries. Many families have only a few magical people within them, but cornerstone families always have magical children. People always thought that mixing the abilities of these families would either weaken them and dilute the family tree or make them so strong that the infant would be a danger to the community. People were outraged when we married and got pregnant. Our parents did support us behind closed doors, but they said there was nothing they could do to stop the fury of the community. 

Shortly after you were born, someone killed all of your grandparents. It was an extremely powerful demon that knew how to control other witches and wizards. We were reminded then, that we did the right thing by shielding you from the magical community. We took up important roles in the magical world, but we didn’t want those positions. Unfortunately, it was our destiny. We kept the secret from you for your safety, but I’m sure that’s little consolation now. 

Now that you have your powers, you will be on the radar of some of the best and worst people in the magical world. You will be in danger as long as you don’t know how to use your powers. You must train. We kept you from the magical academy to keep you off the radar, but you must seek it out. Sammy will know how to help you. Trust her before anyone else. She will know who else to tell you to trust. As a cat, she doesn’t like many, but she has good instincts. There is a difference in trusting and liking.

This book can teach you much more than just magic. Every magical cornerstone family has one. It can teach you about the magical community, and its history. It can teach you about our history. The more information you learn, the better prepared you will be for the future. It will help you understand your powers, your duties, and your destiny.

As a cornerstone family, your job is to serve and protect the magical community. You will be strong, but you will also be a target, so always keep your secrets close. There will come a day, hopefully sooner rather than later, that you accept your future, your destiny. When that day comes, look in the mirror and you will see what you need. It is filled with memories, but this isn’t what you need most. We are never too far away, and we’re always watching. Be safe.

All our love,

Mom and Dad 

I sat there crying.