Dark Shadows by Tynessia Lett (classic books for 13 year olds .txt) 📖

The light coming through the cracks in the torn blinds revealed a figure standing across in the room.

Blair lifted her head to see a green scaly creature standing in front of her. He had yellow eyes and hissed when he spoke. He was human by the face but had skin like a snake. She closed her eyes in fear but then she remembered her mother’s words. “Don’t be afraid, never show fear.”

She looked at the creature standing before her and she let out a sigh.” Why am I in this dusty old room with a creepy snake guy who looks like he could swallow me whole but says he will not harm me?” Blair said in a grating tone.

The creature hissed and then came further into the light to show he had no legs just a long green tail that split at the end into two.“Trust me, if I wanted to eat you, I would have done it while you slept idly” he slithered up close to Blair, so close she could smell his scent and his hissing sent chills down her spine

" Can you back up please?” Blair said swinging her arms at him and jumping up from the bed.

The creature backed away to avoid her aim at him. The slight feeling had come back to her legs, but not enough to hold her up for long because she tumbled right to the floor.” I’m so over this shit” Blair began to hit her fist at the ground. She then looked up glaring at the creature ” What are you?“.

He hissed around the room again then abruptly stopped to face Blair. He had a look upon his face as if he was trying to figure out a way to sufficiently explain what he was to Blair.” To simply put it I am a Serpent. A humanoid serpent. I can take the form of a human needed but in the comfort of my own home I wear my skin.”

Blair sat back up on the floor before she spoke: “OK, serpent freak, explain to me where I am exactly, and how did I get here?”

The Serpent moved quickly and stood before Blair facing her eye to eye ” You should watch your tone with me, little girl. “I am your savior if it wasn’t for me the dark shadow would already have you!” He hissed around her wrapping his body around hers.“Show me some respect or we can simply cut ties and you will be left to fend for yourself. All this spunk tells me you should be just fine on your own” He said as he released her, slithering back to the other side of the room toward the door.

The door slowly creaked open and he slithered out. Blair sat on the floor trying to hide the overwhelming fear she had from the thought of being left alone, without understanding what was going on around her. She cried out to the serpent to come back.

Instead, a familiar face walked through the doorway, it was Matt Durham.

“OMG, MATT” Blair was shocked to see him come into the room.

“What are you doing here?” she said as Matt approached her and lifted her off the floor.

" Hey sleeping beauty, let’s get you up off this dirty floor,” he said lifting her.

Blair, felt some relief of comfort seeing a familiar face, even though she and Matt never had any real interactions at school she knew him, he was a sight for sore eyes. He carried her through the doorway and into a dark and eerie hallway that seemed to stretch out to no end.

Suddenly, the floor and walls began to move and form into a different room. This new room was a sitting room with large shelves full of books and antique furniture with dim lighting from a large fireplace. In front of the fireplace stood a man in a brown suit and a pipe to his mouth blowing smoke that danced in the air.

Matt sat Blair down on an old vintage sofa and sat next to her. He kept staring at her which was making an already weird situation even weirder. She was so confused and curious about the things that were happening to her. Matt sat up on the sofa and scooted closer to Blair.

“Blair this is Mr. Crane, he’s the one that saved you the night you and your grandmother were attacked,” Matt said very calmly.

" Wait so you know about that? How?” Blair was anxious as ever to get some answers to what happened that night.

“I was assigned to look after you by Mr. Crane and your grandmother......”

Blair interrupted “My grandmother?”

“You two knew my grandmother?”

" Where is she?”

“What happened that night?”

Mr. Crane still standing in front of the fire never making a move began to speak in a gravelly voice that sounded familiar.

“Your grandmother did the only thing she knew to do to save her beloved granddaughter. She sacrificed herself and used all of her power to banish the spirit that attacked you that night.”

Mr. Crane dumped his piped into the fireplace and turned to face Blair and Matt.

" Before we get into that, I must tell you who you are. You are the daughter of Robert Blackwell and Monica Blackwell two of the most powerful Necromancers in history. They were widely respected among our kind. So respected they sat at the head of the table of the Society. They were respected because they worked their way from the bottom to the top and a lot of jealous eyes didn’t like that.

Blair interrupted “I’m sorry, Necromancer? Our kind? Society? what does all of that mean?”

Matt turned to Blair “Necromancer are magic users who are devoted to the study of life and death. They specialize in spells and incantations with people both alive and dead. The society uses Necromancers to bind lost or corrupted souls away. Blair your mother was a witch and your father was a warlock.

Blair had this confusing look on her face, “so you’re saying that my parents were Necro...Necromancers? Witches and Warlock aren’t real? Matt, are you saying that I am one as well?”

Mr.Crane walked closer to Blair and Matt. “Yes, you are true of Necromancy bloodline, A witch to be exact. That means you possess the ability to master all sorts of powerful magic, dark magic. ”

Mr. Crane went on to further explain to Blair about the Society’s role in everything. “The Society of Magic is a group of higher-level magical users who have political control over how magic is used. They Impose Penalties on those who violate the laws. At the head of the society sits five elders, who promote and advance the art of magic.”

“Your Grandmother was one of the Five elders, after the death of your parents she gave up her seat and put this life behind her. Now only Four elders sit at the head of the society”

“This is too much. My Grams was a witch! f I was this powerful necro whatever why didn’t my grams tell me any of this?” Blair proclaimed.

Mr. Crane walked over to where Blair and Matt was and sat in the large chair across from them.“Your grandmother was dead set on keeping you away from the life that got your parents killed.”

Blair’s eyes grew wide and she spoke with a shaky voice ” Did you say killed? My parents died in a car accident!”.

“That’s just the normal version your grandmother came up with to protect you from the truth and your necromancer heritage. Rumors were going around that a Necromancer had linked up with a fiend” Mr. Crane sighed shaking his head and dumping the ashes from his cigar.

“Fiend” Blair said confusingly

“They’re demons set on reviving the evil spirit of Alastor, a tormenting demon. He once took rising over the lands of Arcania, hoping to siege the control of the entire Magic Realm. If not for your parent’s bravery we would have all felt the wrath of Alastor. Your mom and dad faced him head-on and destroyed his body. His spirit was said to be captured and hidden away for all eternity. Alastor was an immortal being and the Society didn’t have what they needed to kill an immortal being.”Matt took a deep breath and placed his hand on top of Blair’s ” Alastor has been after you since the day you were born. It was prophesied that the one born under the red moon will destroy his immoral Shadow.”

“When the moment comes that the mark of the one becomes the mark of many, a child born in red shall bring forth a rise of a new era and an end to enemies.”

" If thou should fail, as soon as the prey kills its predator, a suspicious death shall mark the rise of a new evil and an age of fury.”

Blair snatched her hand away from Matt’s and stood up on her own, “So you’re saying I’m the child from the prophecy, but what is it about me that he wants exactly, What is it that I’m supposed to do? How do you all even know that I’m the child in speaking?”

Mr. Crane sighed “When the prophecy got out and a child was indeed born under the red moon, there were several babies born that year and all were stillborn all except you. Alastor was dead set on ending your life. He attacked all those who stood behind the society in protecting you. So enough was enough your parents couldn’t keep letting innocent people die in protecting you so they took a stand to bind him away until you were of age to face and kill him yourself as prophesied.”

“What is binding? if my parents bound him shouldn’t he still be locked away, how did he get free? ” Blair questioned.

Matt began to explain as best he could “Binding is like a temporary spiritual handcuffing. You can bind a demon spirit, much like tying something up with rope or chains. You cannot bind a person’s free will. Binding is NOT the same as casting out demons, casting out demons brings forth lasting results, whereas binding is only to tie them down for some time.”

Blair stood up and began to pace the floor biting her nails going over everything Mr. Crane and Matt were telling her.

Mr.Crane began to choke on his smoke from his pipe so he dismissed himself.

Matt stood up and approached Blair placing arms around her in an attempt to calm her.“Don’t worry, we are here to help you through this, it’s a lot to take in but with some training, we believe you can and will succeed.”

Blair took a deep breath and embraced the hug from Matt. It was nice and warm and his words were of comfort. She took a deep breath and stood back facing Matt “Matt, I’ve been knowing you since we were kids, have you been watching over me ever since then?”

Matt hesitated to look for the right words to explain exactly what he was. “I was an orphan, taken in by Mr. Crane around the time we first met. He found me back in Arcania when I was a pup.” Matt let out an awkward chuckle and was scratching the back of his head.

" A pup,” Blair said with a confusing look and giggle.

“I’m a Dire wolf, set with the task of protecting you. I’m your familiar, the main purpose of familiars is to serve the witch or young witch, protecting them as they come into their new powers”.

Blair began to laugh hysterically “Seriously, a wolf, like the cute little wolf from Bolt, awww” she began to pat his head.

Matt pushed her hand away “Not so little and not cute, try fierce and enormous”.

They laughed and continued to talk more. Matt was just glad he could get her to laugh and relax because he knew thus far how frightening everything had been for her and that going forward things were destined to get more frightening.