Page 50 of A Spark of Something (A Librarian’s Guide to Witchery #1)
A nnabel frowned, her head tilting as she eyed the young witch. “Tell me, why do you think that?”
Ollie wrinkled his nose. “Well, I’m assuming it has something to do with fire, and I recently may have made a fire pit burn hot enough to turn a body into ash.”
Her eyes widened of their own accord, before she managed to cover up her shock with a forced smile. This couldn’t be…
The man frowned. “Am I wrong? Or does that mean something bad?”
“It…surely means something…” Annabel licked her lips. “But I don’t know. That is not a combination that should be possible.”
Actually, it was a combination that simply did not exist. Or had never existed, as far as she knew. For the simple fact that it could not… But…if what Ollie said was true…it now did.
Annabel…hated the unknown. Not the being The Unknown, though she wasn’t a big fan of them either, but the word itself, in all its meaning, is what she disliked. Because in life and death, the greater the unanswered questions were, the greater the chance that they would lead to disastrous consequences. And this had disastrous consequences written all over it.
“W-why wouldn’t it be possible?” Ollie stuttered as he nervously worried his hands.
She took a deep breath, even though she had no need to, as she didn't have a physical body of any kind. “The Living Flame is essentially…the spark, the fire of life itself. It’s the polar opposite of The Endless Death, which is, well, the ending of life, and the after. Making it impossible—at least, I thought it was impossible—for a witch to hold an affinity to both.”
“I-I mean… I could see how those would be on different ends, but… Why is it, or was it, impossible?”
She grimaced as she tried to think of a way to explain without scaring the young man, but she could not. “The best way I can think of explaining this is to say that magic is confrontational. Especially the magic that was lent to us by these beings. Inside us, they fight against each other. The strongest tries to dominate and influence us to use those specific powers. With you having arguably the two strongest major arcana inside you… To be frank, if the rumors are indeed true, based on the words of those who have met The Endless Death and The Living Flame, they hate each other, and?—"
“WAIT!? M-met them?!” Ollie squeaked. “Th-they can exist?! H-here?!”
“Yes. If they want to. Though, thankfully, they generally don’t, because when they come, there usually is some sort of major cost or calamity, though it’s not always guaranteed that a price will be paid. But that is beside the point. The point is…they fight. And while this can help us by causing our own natural magic to build and strengthen over time on its own, it can also easily become detrimental if they fight too much.”
“Wh-what happens if they fight too much?”
“It…creates too much magic for us to contain and…” Annabel trailed off with a wince, not really wanting to voice the worst part. Though avoiding saying it wouldn’t make it any less true.
“And…?” the young witch pressed.
“And it starts to either dangerously leak out, or to break us apart at a… I believe the best modern word to use would be…at a cellular level.”
Ollie stared, remaining silent for a moment, before swallowing down his nerves and fear enough to ask, “It will…kill me?”
“If not released in time, yes… Yet, it hasn’t, and you have certainly not used enough magic to prevent it. But if what you told me is true, it is clear that you have an affinity to both The Endless Death and The Living Flame…” Annabel frowned, her brow pulling. “Much doesn’t make sense. As this shouldn’t be possible.”
Did that mean he wasn’t about to die in what sounded like a gruesomely painful way?
“I…I understand why The Living Flame would be considered powerful, but…is The Endless Death really equal enough in strength to cause a problem? Wouldn’t the flame one just win most of the time? Like, why is having an affinity to The Endless Death considered one of the strongest? I mean…I see dead people, which doesn’t seem that detrimental, except to my sanity—” Ollie cut off with a wince as he remembered one small horrible fact. “Well, I suppose that’s not true, as that one ghost was able to kill someone.”
“It was…the ghost who killed the man who attacked you?” she rasped softly, her words almost a breathy whisper. Annabel’s form flicked out, and then back into existence, before stabilizing as she shook her head and said louder this time, “I think that is enough for today.”
She looked almost…scared. “What does that…mean? You seem…worried.”
“I’m afraid I am. Then again, I have always feared the unknown. But you shouldn’t be afraid. If the magic was going to tear you apart, it would have done so by now. If it hasn’t already, it won’t. Too many weeks have passed.”
“But you think I also have a third affinity…”
“You should, but I am not sure now, as things already do not seem to be as they should. But only time will tell on that front. Again, nothing to worry about for today.”
The ‘for today’ part bothered him a bit, but he decided that until something bad happened, he was going to pretend all was well. Yep…denial was the way to go…
He eyed her as he had another thought. “Since we’re done with witch training for now, how about… Well, could I maybe try seeing your Death Mark?”
Ollie would have assumed ghosts couldn’t pale…but somehow, she did. “I’m sorry, I-I shouldn’t have asked.”
Ugh, how could he be so stupid?! As vague as the article on her death was, it had been emphasized that she had died not only violently but gruesomely.
“My death…” Annabel sighed. “Ollie, I am a fragment, and how I died… Well, I’m afraid I do not know what horrors you would see if you tried to look. And it would be horrifying. I do not wish for you to see that.”
“I’m sorry,” Ollie apologized again softly, as his heart clenched for her.
“It is the world we live in. And unfortunately, that world can be quite violent and cruel. I think you, however, may be one of the small spots of kindness left in it. I do not wish to tarnish that by having you practice looking at Death’s Mark with me.”
“I feel there are more spots of kindness than you may know. Though, that could just be me being foolish. I can’t help but want to believe that the world is more kind than cruel.”
She smiled, the ‘color’ returning to her cheeks. “I genuinely hope that you prove me wrong one day.”
A yawn overtook him and he covered his mouth.
“Ahh.” Annabel laughed. “You should sleep. Wouldn’t want you to have heavy bags tomorrow on your date.”
“Listening in on phone calls too, huh?”
She sent him a wink. “Spying is really the only hobby I have. You wouldn’t blame a girl for entertaining herself, would you?”
He giggled. “No! But you are right, I do need sleep! Noble is coming early! We’re spending the whole day together to make up for both of us being too busy to meet up during the rest of the week!” He clapped happily. “Ahh, it’s going to be so fun! We are going to go antiquing, then have a nice lunch, before finally going to a play!”
Annabel’s smile widened. “I know.”
They both burst into giggles at that. Yet as he met her gaze, he couldn’t help but feel…sad.
Annabel was stuck here. She’d been the first ghost he’d seen, but if she was right, she’d likely be the only one to never be free. That first time they’d spoken, Annabel had called it impossible, but surely that…
There had to be some way that he could help her. He tracked down rare items all the time; books, artifacts, really anything and everything he was interested in. If he really put his mind to it, he could free her, right?! Surely, he could… Ollie had to at least try…