Spell-Bound

"Kelvin, what in the Devil's name are you doing?" Aiden asked as he walked into his younger brother's room.

The 13-year-old looked up from the large book he had buried his face into. "Reading. Is there a problem with that?" he questioned mockingly.

"Yes, as a matter-of-fact there is." With one swift move, Aiden snatched the book out of his brother's hands and turned his back on him.

"You idiot! Give it back!" Kelvin shouted, grabbing at the silver spine of the book. Aiden grabbed him by his black hair and held him back, flipping through the pages casually. Finally, he snapped the book shut and glared down at his brother.

"You do realize this is a spell book, right?" he inquired, shoving it into his brother's arms.

"What do you care, asshole?" Kelvin growled, walking nonchalantly back to his seat by the window.

"What did you say?" Aiden yelled, pursuing his brother with clenched fists raised high. "First you steal from the grand library, and now this-"

"Leave him be, older brother."

Aiden and Kelvin both turned their heads towards the doorway, where Cyrus now stood. In one hand he held an old scroll that had yellowed over the decades. In his other hand he gripped a book similar to Kelvin's, only this one was fairly larger and decorated in gold.

Cyrus held up the book. "For once, Kelvin didn't steal anything. He and I were given these spell books by our teacher."

Aiden's eyes widened. "Impossible! Orfiel would never encourage sorcery! It's against the law!"

"Which is probably why he did not present you with one," Cyrus replied calmly, tossing the book onto Kelvin's cedar desk.

Aiden stood there, shuddering with anger. How dare anyone perform witchcraft behind their backs!

"What do you think we should do to him?" Kelvin asked with an evil grin.

"Nothing. We just tell Father, and he'll take care of it."

"Aw, come on, Aiden!" Kelvin whined, punching his brother's shoulder. "There's gotta' be something we can do to get back at Orfiel!"

"Revenge isn't necessarily the correct way to pursue this," Cyrus explained, brushing a strand of his blonde hair out of his eyes. "But if we don't have any proof, Father will not believe us."

Aiden looked at his brother curiously. "So, you actually agree that we should get back at Orfiel?"

Cyrus flushed. "No! I just think that a little prank here and there would probably do the job."

"The job of revenge?"

"I prefer to call it retaliation."

Aiden looked from Kelvin to Cyrus, then sighed. "Alright, fine. I'm in."

Kelvin grinned and punched the air. "Yesss!"

Cyrus smiled slightly and held the old scroll out to Aiden. "I kind of figured this would happen, so I've already chosen several curses from here that aren't necessarily 'witchcraft', but definitely 'immature pranks'."

Aiden took the scroll and unrolled it to find several long curses circled in red ink. He shook his head disapprovingly. "If this doesn't work, you're going to be in sooo much trouble." Still, he smiled.

"What's he doing?" Kelvin whispered from behind the kitchen door.

"Sssh!" Aiden put his finger to his lips and peeked around the counter at Orfiel. The old man wore a long black robe, as he always did, and no shoes. He was hunched over something on the kitchen stove, completely oblivious to the three spies watching him.

"Look at the coals," Cyrus said in a low voice. "They are practically glowing from the heat. There's no way he's cooking a meal."

Kelvin chuckled. "Unless he likes burnt anchovies."

"SSSH!" Aiden shushed louder. "We can't let him hear us."

Silently, Cyrus pulled the scroll from behind his back and unrolled the yellow paper. Without a word, he handed the parchment to Aiden, who glanced over the neatly written words.

"Third down," Cyrus whispered.

Aiden nodded and read over the curse silently. Definitely immature, but worth a try, he told himself. Finally, after memorizing the pattern of rhyming words, he whispered:

"Foolish mortal that I see,

What be it you do in greed?

As punishment for the evil you teach,

I force your body to become a leech."

They waited. And waited. And waited.

"Are you sure you read it correctly?" Cyrus inquired, slightly disappointed.

"Yes, of course!" Aiden whispered loudly. "I read it word-for-word! This curse is just too foolish!"

"Lemme' try," Kelvin offered, reaching out to grab the scroll.

Aiden pulled it away. "No! You'll just mess it up."

"You idiot!" he yelled softly. "That's not fair!" He moved out from behind the door and grabbed the scroll out of his brother's hands. But as he did so, his arm bumped against a glass vase on the counter and pushed it off the tabletop. Glass shards flew every where, cutting the boys' skin.

Orfiel whirled around, a large knife in his hand. "What the-why you little!" he yelled, lunging at Kelvin.

"Get out of the way!" Aiden shouted, shoving his brother against the door and out of Orfiel's reach. He quickly grabbed a nearby spatula and pushed the knife away from his throat, his arms shuddering from the effort.

"You brats! If you weren't my students, I would have killed you by now!" Orfiel exclaimed, forcing Aiden to the ground.

Cyrus grabbed the old man's arms and held him back, straining to keep him under control. "Kelvin! Read the curse!" he called to his brother.

Kelvin fumbled with the scroll. "Which one?"

"The second up!"

"There are two of them!"

"Just pick one!" Aiden yelled, shielding his face with the bent kitchen utensil as Orfiel tried to strike his neck again.

Kelvin scanned the words and repeated them, stuttering in fear:

"All you people, hear me out,

Do not make me scream and shout.

Darkness will come ever near,

If any of you refuse to hear.

Darkness will rear its grizzly head,

Upon the families that fight with dread.

In just three days, the sun will parch,

And all those with light will feel the rath of the Dark!"

Suddenly, the ground below them began to shake violently.

"Kelvin!" Aiden screamed, holding onto the counter. "You just read a Summon Spell!"

"What?" Cyrus yelled, covering his ears as a loud noise broke through the dark room.

Then, just as quickly as it had come, the earthquake and the noise disappeared, along with their teacher.

Aiden grabbed Cyrus by the shirt and forced his to look at him. "I thought you said those weren't actual spells!" he shouted.

Cyrus tried to pull away. "Let go, Aiden! I said most of them weren't spells!"

"Uh, guys?"

"What the hell do you-" Aiden stopped in mid-sentence when he saw the tall, red-haired man standing in the doorway.

King Nikolai looked around at the torn-up kitchen, seething with rage. "What did you boys do?" he shouted, his face turning red with anger.

Kelvin pointed accusingly at Aiden and Cyrus."They started it, Dad."

r/r/e: I hope you like it so far. I will definitely be updating this story often... or at least writing it. ;)

BTW, I don't know why, but I think this story looks cool in italics. :D