Marked and Charmed by Morgan Cook (uplifting book club books TXT) 📖

Prologue
The feeling of it was like no other, the magic rising from you; it drained you as well as filled you. The sound was different to each others, mine was like a crackling fire; mine smelt like roasted pine nuts and forest air. My friends and my brother stood in a circle almost, looking down at the fire, absorbing its energy, we didn’t think it would come to this but it did and now two people were dead and two were in danger and something dangerous that none of us knew existed was coming. Now it was time to face the truth, we were far from ordinary, we were Witches, and we had to protect more than other peoples souls, we had to protect our own.


Felicity


Coming from a family of witches was scary at first, when I didn’t know that I was a witch I felt different, like there was apart of me missing. I was 13 when my grandparents told me about who I really was, my father and mother died when I was 6, the course of there death was unknown, they just died in there sleep according to forensics and police. My grandparents are my only real family that I remember, and my brother Hugh, he was 13 when he first found out about magic but couldn’t say anything around me till he was 15, my fathers parents were nice, they only ever had one child, my mothers parents were dead, but mum was one of two, we didn’t have anything to do with her brother, he didn’t like the magic and never used it. I remember mums blonde hair, its wavy curls that I used to play with when I was little, her green eyes, pink curved lips and her laugh, it was rich and small, but I would do anything just to hear it again. Dads brown sandy looking messy hair, his dark brown eyes and his tallness, and his muscles that i could feel when he used to pick me up and swing me around, his big book collection on every topic. They were my parents and they were perfect, I missed them so much, the smell of mums perfume early in the morning, dads bed hair, though I still could see dads bed hair because Hugh was so much like him, apart from his eyes, he had Nans eyes, hazel colour, he was tall like dad but so was I, I had dads dark eyes but my hair was like grandpa’s, a sandy dirty blonde, until I dyed I to a light chocolate brown, mum would of grounded me if she knew I dyed it.
I lay there on my bed, the silk feeling so smooth on my bare legs, my denim shorts clung to my skin, my hoodie was baggy but it felt comfortable. My bedroom wasn’t that big, but it was nice, I have a double bed and two windows which were covered with see through purple curtains, I have a long human sized mirror at the bottom of my bed stuck on the wall. As I looked up at the light custard coloured ceiling I was trying to produce a spell or a small fire in the middle of the air, but I wasn’t that strong, we hardly ever used magic unless it was absolutely necessary.
‘Concentrate Flick’ I thought to myself, Hugh would have been able to do this in a second when he was 17, why cant I do it at 17 as well, he’s 19 now and will be able to do this without talking to himself. I tried harder now, thinking about fire and light then I said in a small voice.
“Out of Air bring light” then a little spark started, I repeated it again. “Out of Air bring light, out of air bring light” then a little explosion happened, the colours were all different, I shot up off my bed, my head hurting a bit, then the colours faded to the ground like snow flakes melting to the ground, I did it, I mean it might not have been for long, but I did it. Feeling happy with my small achievement I walked to my closet, the hard wooden floor is a little cold on my bare feet, I grab a pair of white ankle socks and put on a pair of old white part black sneakers. The few bracelets on my wrist make little sounds as I move around;
After I put on the socks and the sneakers I decide to go and watch TV in the lounge, It wasn’t a great day as I looked out a my window before going into the hall, the sky looked drowsy, almost as if it was about to cry, it just looked sad, Nan said that was a gift of mine, to see things more clearly and for what they really are, like when I saw her, I felt happy and full of life, I mean she may be in her early seventy ‘s but the woman can truly move, she goes dancing every Friday night with Pop, they do swing and all different types of dancing from ‘back in the days’ they call it. I feel happy when she calls me special, when she calls me lucky but sad because if I was so lucky, I wouldn’t be living here, I would be with mum and dad, back in the beautiful white brick house with high ceilings and flowers everywhere, mum always had fresh flowers but Nan told me how she kept them so fresh after she told me about magic, it was mum who had magic also, her magic would make the flowers come to life if they died, I wish magic could bring them back to life. Just to speak with them for 5 minutes, just to feel the touch of mums hand as she use to do my hair in the morning and just to hear dad steady and reassuring voice, it hurt knowing that that would never happen again but I am better now, with Nan and Pop and I know mum and dad wouldn’t want me to be sad forever.
I felt so lucky in a way to of had a mother as good as her and a father as caring, but my Grandparents were so nice too, they helped Hugh and me all the time, giving us books about our ancestors, about magic, it felt like a dream some days, when i would lay the thick dusty books right in front of me, I felt like it was a joke, that Samantha out of Bewitched would just arrive at my front door telling me I was insane, but I soon got use to it, I walked down the long hall way, the floor was carpet now, the walls were a creamy white and all the doors were a brown chocolate colour. As i kept moving softly just incase anyone was in bed i looked down the hall I was nearly there, just three small steps and then I would be in the lounge room, I walked down the steps very lightly, making sure that second creaky step didn't stir anyone awake, but as I thought at the back of my mind there hung a banner and my brother, trying to string it up to a lamp shade. I let out a small laugh and that got his attention.
“dan’it, I new that I would stuff this up” he looked disappointed but tried to hide it with a smile, I loved that smile, it was like nothing bad ever happened to him, but he was always like that, he was caring to the ones he loved the most, but also came across as shy at first. My Nan moved around the corner and put a gentle hand on Hugh’s shoulder, “Its ok, she hasn’t seen the cake yet, so that’s one surprise” Hugh grew an even bigger smile; Nan smiled and looked at me.
“Happy Birthday, my special Flick” she walked towards me, I hadn’t moved till now as I walked towards her and gave a her a big hug, she smelt like a whole different bunch of Flowers, sweet and delicate, her eyes looked like they spoke as she looked into mine. That’s when I saw it again in my mind, the joy and the life around her it was like an aura, it was so pretty. Pop came in from outside and took one look around the room, Nan and I pulled away from each other to look at him.
“Hugh didn’t do it in time, for the third year in a row, come on son, I cold probably run down the street faster than you can drive” he laughed and pated Hugh on the back like any bloke would probably do to his son or mate, Hugh just smiled at him and replied in a sarcastic voice “Old man, I would pay to see that, if you don’t cheat and use a secret potion or worse maybe even hypnotize me like Nan” he laughed and Pop joined in, Nan laughed at them and steered me by the elbow into the kitchen, I laughed at them as well.
Nan then stopped at me once we were in the middle of the Kitchen with the sun hitting us early in the morning, you could almost make out the sounds of birds chirping, the kitchen wasn’t big but it wasn’t small either, it could probably take at least 6 people in there, the marble green bench and the white tile around the wall and the little things sitting on the window seal inside, you could see the drive way leading to the back yard and the fence with one paling that was a purple kind of colour from when I ‘tried’ painting it in grade 2. Nan stood only a couple of centimeters away from me, her smile was getting bigger and happier, then she pulled a little box out of her pocket, the box its self was beautiful, it was wooden and carved to hold a small necklace or ring, she grabbed one of my hands and put it into one of hers and opened the box, there lye a necklace, a silver chain and what looked like a symbol, it was a gray silver, it was made to look like a Q but it was twisted, but in a pretty way, inside of it you could see a purple crystal like object sitting in there, it looked beautiful, then Nan looked up from the box to see my face.
“It’s so beautiful, and it's for me?” it was more like a question, I cant believe how beautiful it looked, she smiled more and nodded, she handed the necklace out of the box and sat the box on the marble green bench then walked to the back of me, then I felt her hands going over my head, as soon as the necklace touched my skin, I finally felt as if I was special, she clipped the necklace and walked back to face me again, I didn’t move. She finally spoke, and when she did I didn’t really believe the words that came out of her mouth.
“Your mother wanted you to have this, when you joined the other Witches” she rested her hands on my elbows which were at my side, i tried to open my mouth to say something; nothing came out first, but then i asked.
“Join other witches? There other witches here? Nan I can’t, we can’t, you told us never to use magic unless with you or Pop, and i don't want to