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No…itcouldn’tbe.Itwasn’t possible. It had only been a dream, hadn’t it? I rubbed my eyes and opened them, sure that I was hallucinating. But no, the grimoire was still there, laying among the pillows. Where had it come from? I had been holding it in my dream…but then I had woken up. When I reached out to grab it, I could feel it respond to me, a surge of energy running up my arm like electricity.

“Let’s go, Diana!” I could hear Jake yell from the bottom of the stairs.

I needed to hide this and deal with it later, but where could I put it that neither Jake nor my mom would find it? I crossed the room to my dresser and opened my underwear drawer, tucking it beneath the stack of fabric. That would have to do for now, at least until I had more time to figure out what had happened and what I planned to do with the grimoire now that I had it. If this truly was my family’s book of shadows, I had to protect it, at all costs. In the hands of the wrong witch, it could be dangerous. It likely contained long-forgotten spells.

I hurried downstairs before Jake came back up looking for me, crossing the living room and following the rich smell of pancakes. Mom had the works set up. The countertop was filled with all sorts of toppings in little bowls. Chocolate chips, blueberries, strawberries, whipped cream, even sprinkles. It wasn’t a proper snow day without pancakes. I pulled a seat up next to Jake and we filled our plates with short stacks while Mom turned back to the stove and continued cooking, a smile across her lips. Jake poured a heavy mound of maple syrup atop his before digging in, while I covered mine in chocolate chips.

After digging my car out from last night’s snow, I’d have plenty of time to catch up on homework and study for Friday’s biology exam. I wouldalsohave plenty of time to investigate that mysterious book of shadows I had hidden up in my room. Thank God for snow days. How had it justappearedbeneath my pillow like that? Had I actuallypulledit out of the dream with me? I didn’t think such a thing was possible, but there was so much about this magic that I didn’t know yet.

I couldn’t wait to call Tess and tell her about it. I wondered around a mouthful of chocolaty pancakes if the roads would be plowed enough for her to still come over later and practice magic with me. I felt a new sense of control and confidence with my magic. I wasn’t as nervous to tap into it as I had been. Would I be able to try my hand at some storm magic soon?

Mom joined us at the counter and served herself a stack of warm pancakes. The three of us ate breakfast together, laughing and smiling for the first time in what felt like forever.

I warmed myself by the fire and focused on my homework, anxious to call Tess later and investigate the mysterious appearance of the grimoire. I hadn’t touched it since this morning. After a few hours spent studying by the fire, I made my way out to shovel the snow around my car and take care of the driveway. By the time I had successfully shoveled the nearly three feet of snow away, the sun was almost setting. I shook out my snow boots and jacket in the foyer before sprinting up to my room to text Tess.

Plow has already been by here a bunch of times and the roads are clear. Just finished the driveway. You still coming over?I texted.

My phone pinged, and I checked the message.

You got it, see you soon.

I couldn’t wait to show Tess the grimoire firsthand. A piece of me thought that when I went to fish it back out of the drawer it wouldn’t be there, and the whole thing had been an elaborate dream. I hopped in the shower, letting the hot water loosen the tension in my muscles from being out in the cold for so long. I brushed my hair out and pulled it into a bun at the top of my head before returning to my bedroom and searching for the grimoire in my underwear drawer. Sure enough, there it was, right where I had left it.

I sat cross-legged on the carpet before my dresser, the grimoire in my lap. It looked and felt exactly how it had in my dream. The cover was composed of tattered and worn leather, the leather string bindings fastening it shut in a knot at the front around the amethyst crescent moon. I moved to open it, but the bindings would not budge. In my dream I had needed to say a spell to open it. What is it that I had said?

“Aperi reginam tuam, aperi mihi.” The words came to me as they had before. As if I had always known them and was pulling them from the deep well of my memory. As I said the words, the leather bindings began unfastening on their own, falling to the side and allowing me to open the grimoire. When Nik had said he was sure my family had a book of shadows, I never imagined I would find it. The dream had felt so real, but itwasjust a dream, wasn’t it? Had the grimoire come to me, knowing I had been searching for it? Could a grimoire do such a thing?

I could hear the front door open downstairs and Tess bounded up the staircase, throwing my door open in a huff and tugging her jacket off excitedly.

“Puck asked me on a proper date, can you believe it? We are going to dinner tomorrow and I am beyond excited.” She paused when she saw me sitting on the floor, the grimoire in my lap. “What. Is. that.”

“I think it’s my family’s grimoire, my book of shadows,” I replied, stroking the leather-bound book with a delicate finger.

“Your—what?” Tess finished throwing the jacket down on the bed and joined me on the floor.

“My book of shadows. Nik said that every family has a book of shadows, or a grimoire. Since we aren’t sure which of my parents is the witch, I wasn’t sure where to even begin searching for mine.”

“So where did you find it?” she asked excitedly.

“I found it in a dream. Last night I dreamed of this long dark corridor. I’ve dreamed of it before, but never like this. In the dream…I followed the corridor. I went down this spooky spiral staircase, and in the room at the bottom was this book. It wouldn’t open at first, not until I said a spell. I think it’s spelled to only open for me, or those of my bloodline at least,” I told her.

“Let me see!” Tess grabbed for the book and as soon as her fingers touched the tattered pages, the book snapped shut, fastening its bindings. Exactly as it had for me when I had originally touched it in the laboratory. “Woah.”

“I know, right?” I laughed. “Let me put this theory to the test,” I handed Tess the grimoire, and she held it firmly in her lap.

“Repeat the spell and see if it opens for you. Maybe it’s the spell that opens the grimoire.”

Tess repeated the words, but the grimoire did not budge. She tried to pry it open with her fingers, but it was firmly fastened shut. She handed it back to me and I held it in my lap, repeating the spell. The book popped open once again and Tess and my eyes met.

“So, it only opens for you, then,” Tess said.

“Looks like it.” I shrugged. That confirmed it, then. It must be that because it wasmyfamily’s grimoire, it would only open for someone in my bloodline, even with the opening spell.

“Since when do you speak Latin?” Tess asked, confused.

“Since…never. I have no idea. I never studied Latin before, but the spell came to me when I needed it. Maybe I always knew it, but was spelled to forget it. I don’t know…” I trailed off, turning to the page for awakening. I moved so that Tess could see the book over my shoulder.

“When I read this page, I felt something wake up inside me. As if there was this magic that was locked down and I couldn’t fully reach it before. I felt a new ember of energy that I could pull on, but I haven’t done any magic since this morning to test it out,” I told her.