GUARDIANS OF MAGIC: THE INVISIBLE CODED BOOK
CHAPTER THREE

THE DIARY

Fina opened the diary as they got into their room. She had had to wake the sleepy heads up when it was getting too late. Zora had woken up again after a bad dream and had decided not to sleep again.

Both were staring at the diary as if they have never seen one before.

“Do you think it’s from a student of Elfina?” Zo asked as she adjusted her glasses.

“I guess so. Carly Brooklyn. I don’t know”

“Maybe we should open it to replace out” Zora said

Fina untied the rope binding the leather to its cover and opened it.

Carly Brooklyn

1900

Fina gasped.

“1900?” She asked in surprise.

The diary has a yellow faded color and smelled of dust.

Fina turned another page and frowned suddenly.

“What? What is it?” Zora asked

“The pages are blank” She replied as she browsed through the pages.

Zora grabbed the diary from her and adjusted her glasses.

“That’s weird. I was getting very excited.”

“I will return it back to the shelves tomorrow.” Fina said and stretched to put the diary on the table.

As she did so, the diary fell from her hand and hit the floor.

“Maybe we should try to open it with a spell. Magic” Zora suggested as Fina bent to pick up the diary only to hit the glass cup filled with water on the table which fell to the floor and splashed on the diary.

“Oh, no, no, no. I have to return this back” Fina said

“If you don’t replace this question stupid, whoever owns that diary is probably ten feet in the ground now”

“You know~ wait. Zo, get me some water” Fina said as she saw a faint ink where the water had splashed unto.

“What? Are you thirsty?”

“No. I think it’s an invisible ink”

“That’s not water, Fina. That’s soda with lime”

Fina gave her a ‘I dare you to continue look’ and she shut up, grumbled and walked to their room to get the drink.

“Here” Zo said

Fina unscrewed the cap and poured it at the tips of the pages. The invisible ink appeared fast and became clear.

She opened the first page and saw a diagram.

“What’s that?” Zo asked, drawing more closer beside her.

“I think it’s a symbol of something” Fina answered

The symbol showed a representation of a star shaped heptagon with a ruby in the midst.

“I have never seen it before” Zora said

Fina opened the next page and another symbol came into view.

“That’s an ivy. They are poisonous plants.” Zora said

Another page showed a book. A very strange book with a large opened red eye. Fina dropped the book on the floor and tried to calm herself.

“That is one scary book” She said

“Don’t be such a wimp” Zora said as she picked up the diary. “I will stop them from getting it. Till death claimed me. They will never get it.”

“That sounds pretty much like anger” Fina said

“Yeah. I think you should see this”

Zora showed her a picture of a spider spinning its victim into a cocoon.

“When James sucked the air out of Amber because she refused to be manipulated by him.” Zora read “This is when the calm wave turned into a violent one. Three repeated deaths. One same goal. And it will all begin with a dream. Again. Until someone gets rid of the book. Permanently”

Fina went totally pale.

“Are you okay?” Zora asked

“I had a dream. That…that….of the spider. I mean dreams are just dreams but it is scary when it’s related”

Zora shivered.

“Did she say anything about the book except for how it looked like?” Fina asked

Zora scrambled through blank pages until she finally got to the end.

“Tonight, It all ends. Tonight, I will destroy their cherished dream. Tonight, I will have the invisible coded book. Tonight,……we all die”

“That’s it?” Fina asked

“How do you search for something invisible?” Zora asked

“The same way you feel things. The same way you feel air without seeing it.” Fina replied

“Well, that’s weird” Zora said

“Yeah. But I just had the feeling that the Rashford twins aren’t lying. What if there are dark secrets?” Fina asked

“Elfina has been built for centuries. It will certainly reek of secrets. Every one has secrets but the in-depth of some are extremely greater.” Zora said “ You do know we have Zedler’s class tomorrow?”

Fina groaned loudly.

“I don’t ever want to wake up again” She said

“Zedler is scary” Zora said “But we must go to her class with a well rested face.”

After hiding the diary in a safe place, they both went back to sleep.

*******

Mrs Knight delivered their rings in the morning before they went to class.

Zedler’s class was a bit on the dark side. Dark stained glass. Dark chandeliers. Dark walls.

The students shivered in fear as they walked in. Zedler was sitting on a chair, gently stroking her Grey cat on the back.

“I deal with mystical creatures” Zedler said as a greeting to them all. “It’s scary, wild and exciting”

She said with not a single hint of expression.

“There are some of you who are naturally born with powers. Others accumulate it. We use our powers sometimes as a defence and sometimes …..to destroy”

Her cat sneered at them all and hissed.

“Mystical creatures. You must have certainly heard of them before. There are some in Elfina and there are some outside the gates. In the foreign world. Creatures like the Basilisk which have a deadly venom and gazes lethally. Creatures like the Cockatrice which are part lion, part goat and part snake. This evil beasts are a natural in the world and may attack anytime.”

Zedler paused suddenly.

“I will only teach you how to face the wilder animals, you learn the rest yourself”

She stood up and walked to the center of the class where she waved her book wand and a giant blue moving spiral appeared on the board.

“The spiral is a portal to the monster world. You have to be careful and send them back” Zedler said

She clapped her hands and a Gorgon appeared.

“You have to be quick. The spell word is Duvius. Duvius defeat monsters. As Mr Walker must have already told you, you shouldn’t wave your wand like a drunkard but with a normal twists of the wrists. To top it off, you must know the name of the monsters you are dealing with. Believe me, it’s extremely important. CMANTUSGORGONISDUVIUS”

The monster was snatched back into the monster spiral.

“When you are dealing with spells, you mustn’t be too loud or too silent. It is certainly in between. Aries first. Talon Smith” Zedler called.

“What a she devil” Talon whispered to himself.

He cleared his throat but sweat beaded down his forehead as he stood at a distance in front of the spiral.

Talon clapped his hands and the monster appeared.

He rummaged through his brain for its name.

“Which monster has lots of snakes head?” Talon whispered to himself.

“Speed. And I forgot. They attacked after ten seconds” Zedler said

“What?!” Talon screamed “That was the most important!”

The monster jerked back into reality and became active. It’s snake head began to move and its eyes began to open.

“Meduuu..sa. Oh! I do watch a film like that! Um….what’s the spell again?” He asked with eyes closed. “CMANTUSMEDUSUSDUVIUS” Talon said with a slight wave of his wooden wand.

The medusa became sucked back into the monster world.

Zedler began to stroke her cat again.

“Shelly Jefferson”

As Shelly moved to the front of the blue spiral, Zora huffed.

“I don’t like her at all” She told Fina.

“Shh” Fina whispered.

Shelly Jefferson clapped her hands and a monster appeared.

“CMANTUSCYCLOPISDUVIUS” She said as she waved her wooden wand with a slight twist.

After the Aries, three students were called from the Leos, Virgos, Geminis~ whom Zedler had to save thrice, Zedler called the Capricorns.

“Nancy Miller”

Nancy Miller flipped her red hair and walked proudly to the front of the blue spiral. She clapped her hands and a monster appeared.

Nancy cleared her throat and with a wave of her wand said “CMANTUSZORROSIASDUVIUS”

The monster disappeared into the monster world.

“Zora Alvarez”

Zora adjusted her glasses and Nancy made a gag sound at her.

Zora heart raced wildly as she clapped her hands and readied her wooden wand.

“CMANTUSBASILISKDUVIUS”

“Fina Clark” Zedler said with her gaze fixed on Fina.

As Fina readied her wooden wand, she gave a little clap and nothing happened.

She gave a quick glance at Zelder but she only looked back at her as she stroked her Grey cat.

Then, a giant leg slowly appeared in front of her, followed by multiple legs and then the whole body. Fina eyes widened as she stared at the extremely giant spider with huge beady eyes in front of her. The whole class gasped and held their breath.

It was the same spider she saw in her dream with the cocoons. She froze on the same spot not even breathing as her mind went back to the dream. The way the spider lunged at her.

Eight seconds. Nine. And ten…

She couldn’t even replace her voice. Her mouth had become dry and her breathing was irregular. Every thing was spinning in front of her. Then the spider lunged at her the same way as the dream and she could only close her eyes.

It was when nothing happened after ten seconds that she finally opened her eyes and saw no spider in front of her.

“Learn more about the monsters, especially their names” Zedler said to the whole class. “Dismissed”

Fina willed her heavy lead legs to move and when she was finally out of the class with Zora and Talon did she released her breath.

“OMG! Clark got frightened by a spider. Mummy, mummy! The world is ending today” Nancy Miller said in a sweet voice and snickered.

“Hey Miller! Catch this” Shelly Jefferson said and threw something at Nancy.

Nancy grabbed it with a pleased smirk, opened her hand and screamed so loud they had to cover their ears. A small tarantula dropped from her hand and went back to Shelly Jefferson.

“Oops, I didn’t know you are scared of spiders. The world is really ending today. Grandma, Grandma! Miller got frightened by a ‘small’ tarantula” Shelly imitated. “This is Matthew. Cute, isn’t it?”

Nancy Miller was still trying to calm her breathing down and with a hard glare at them all, she and her followers stomped off.

“Hey, you okay? That was one big spider. I almost wet myself” Shelly said

Talon sniffed and she glared at him.

“Oh, you are the holier than thou Mr Scared pants” Shelly said

“I didn’t say anything but it’s nice to hear you calling yourself that. Ladies, I’m off to some troubles” He said and walked away.

“Can I come with you?” Shelly asked

Zora looked away.

“Yeah. You are welcome any time” Fina said

Zora pinched her on the hand but she held her hand instead and winked at her. Zora just rolled her eyes and tightened her hand more with Fina, not sharing.

*******

As they settled on their chair in the Cafeteria, Zora began to eat her spicy noodles.

“I didn’t know you were this hungry” Fina teased.

Zo punched her on the arm and giggled.

“There was this rumour circulating around the Aries house.” Shelly said “About a student in a deep cocoon”

Zo’s chopsticks dropped from her hand and she took a heavy gulp from her water.

“I figure you don’t have much to buy a drink yet. Me too” Shelly said

Zo ignored her.

“I didn’t see it myself but I kind of saw a ghost whose lower body was covered in it. A lifeless eyes”

“Oh my God, Shelly Jefferson, will you just stop?” Zo shrieked out loud turning heads around them.

She shrink ten times on her seat, hating the attention.

“You are a wimp” Shelly said

“Thank you. I don’t even feel like eating anymore” Zo said

Fina made a move to grab the plate in front of her and she smacked her hand away and began to eat again.

“I don’t think it’s just a rumor. I think it’s true. Can I trust you?” Fina asked

“Yes” Shelly said

“No” Zo said

They both said it together and then proceed to glare at each other. Fina just stared at them, waiting for them to come back to their senses.

“I had a dream that a spider spun a student into a cocoon.”

“Well, that was scary” Shelly said

“What was scary?”

They turned to see Tyrell and Xavier walking towards them.

“Nothing” Fina said quickly

“You know I can tell when people lie to me and right now I am one percent sure you are lying to me” Tyrell said

“How is class?” Xavier asked “If you need anything…”

“What are you idiots mumbling about?”

Tyrell rolled his eyes and Xavier shook his head. Both turned to see a dark blue hair guy with gray eyes.

Shelly’s face went totally pale and she focused her attention on the noodles in front of her which has suddenly became extremely fascinating to her.

Fina forced herself to look away from her friend and to the new boy.

Her ability to notice things easily bearing in on her suddenly.

“You finally got your royal head out of the bathroom” Xavier said

“Hey! Don’t blame me. It’s not my fault I am cool and needs to be cool always. Why aren’t you reading your book anyway? You know the fiancee you always take with you every time?”

“Good luck” Xavier said with a heavy sigh and walked away from their table.

“This is Ozias Black” Tyrell introduced. “With the choking red scarf. I advice you to stay away from him if you don’t want to asphyxiate to death”

Ozias looked at them and blanched when he saw Shelly who wasn’t even looking up to begin with.

Just then, Jessica ran to the table and embraced Ozias from the back.

“I thought you died in the bathroom or something” She said

Fina collected two and two together, guessing that Ozias and Shelly must have known each other before.

“Oh, I didn’t see you there. This is Fina Clark. Zora Alvarez and I didn’t catch your name” Jess said, looking at Shelly.

“You never ask. And we just met” Shelly said and looked at her.

“Um…not to be rude, we have to go to class” Fina said as she stood up, grabbing Zora and Shelly hands. “See you later, Tyrell”

When they got out of the Cafeteria, Shelly cleared her throat.

“Well, that went well” She said

“Yes, it did. I didn’t know someone has a crush” Zo said

“Zo” Fina warned

Zora smirked at Shelly.

“Ha, ha. Very funny. I wasn’t the one with the frozen body when Xavier came to say hi” Shelly said

Zo gasped.

“I did not!”

Fina rubbed her forehead with her fingers and left them arguing their heads off until they finally ran to catch up with her.

“Zo said you found a diary” Shelly said

“I did not! It slipped. Hmphh!” Zo said

“You so sound like one of those grandmas right now” Shelly said “Go ahead and give your foot a little stomp too. It helps a lot”

“Arghhhh. Shelly Jefferson, you are the most annoying…

Fina shut Zora up with her hand on her mouth.

“Shh. Did you hear that?” She asked

They were in the midst of the tree of fog and the fog has descended upon them extremely.

They heard laughter behind them and turned to see a small growing tree laughing at them. They all screamed and jumped, running as fast as they could to get out of the weird forest.

“What…What…. was that? I have never…. seen a tree ……talk in my life …..not to say a tree ….laughing!” Zo said breathlessly.

“Oh, great. I will have to watch out for talking things anytime I go to eat.” Shelly said “About the diary..”

“We found it in the library.” Fina took the diary and gave it to Shelly to have a look at it. “I couldn’t put it in the room. I don’t know what goes in there when we are not there”

Fina shivered.

“It’s blank” Shelly said

Zo took her soda lime water from her bag and pour it on the diary.

“Doing this for Clark” She mumbled

“Wow” Shelly said as the ink appeared and she began to look at the pages. She stilled when she saw the red eye. Her eyes widening when she got to the last page.

“Except that the book has a star shaped heptagon symbol and that it’s invisible, what else do you know about it?” Shelly asked

“Nothing” Fina answered

“How do you even expect to replace an invisible book? That is a very hard quest. It’s like searching for air or wanting to see air. And by the dream you had about the spider and…. the rumour….Did you hear about the Gemini twins? One of the twins that died?”

Fina nodded.

“The diary is implying that they mustn’t replace the book. Who is ‘they’? And even if they did replace the book, what will happen?”

Zo turned to Fina.

“I think bad things because she said she will never let them get it until death claimed her. She will protect it till the end.”

“She also said she will have the invisible book tonight. Did she get it? Did she die during the fight?” Fina asked and they all went into deep thoughts.

“She said it will all began with a dream and with the rumors, It has already begun” Shelly said

“Well, that would mean someone is looking for the invisible coded book” Fina said

“Not someone. It would be They. Like before. They” Zora said

“I thought you said you were going to class”

They turned to see Tyrell behind them. “Can I walk you to class? I miss my normal friends and Xavier is too busy reading his book. He shuts the world out with that book. And…Bryce isn’t here either. Kit too”

“Uh…yeah” Shelly said

“Okay. So, what were you talking about?” He asked as they began to walk back to the castle.

“Girls stuffs” Shelly said “Tampons and stuffs”

“Eew, Shelly Jefferson!” Zora shouted, deeply embarrassed.

Shelly shrugged.

As they got closer to the castle, two flying cheetahs descended majestically in front of them.

Two male students got down and the girls around them swooned.

“Oh, there they are” Tyrell said excitedly.

One had very dark hair like midnight with deep blue eyes. He was tall, slim and extremely handsome. The other had brown hair with light brown eyes and a rectangle shaped glass on his face hanging smoothly on the bridge of his nose.

The one with the midnight hair smiled when he saw Tyrell, revealing two charming dimples and Fina almost swooned herself. He was too charming for her senses to cooperate.

“Bryce Parker, there is something called a letter which you can send when you do not have a broken hand” Tyrell said

“It’s good to see you too, monkey”

“Oh, shut up, Kit Martinez, how many gorillas do you see wearing rectangular glasses again?”

“Um…. I really don’t want to be late for my first martial art class” Zo said

“Oh, Zora. You won’t survive martial art class” Shelly said and they began to bicker again.

“Oh! Bryce, Kit. This is Fina Clark, Zora Alvarez and Shelly Jefferson. New students” Tyrell said

“Nice to meet you” Bryce said gently.

He looked at them one at a time, wincing as he saw Shelly Jefferson while Kit shut Tyrell up and re-introduced himself.

When his gaze landed on Fina, her heart went into a frenzied state and she quickly looked away before she did something stupid. But, he kept staring at her, his expression not revealing anything.

Shelly shut Kit up and dragged the girls into the castle to change for martial arts class.