E.C. EDWARDS - The Mighty Antimagic Spell

Outside, night was as gloomy as the darkest place in the closet. As it was cloudy, no light in the sky managed to cross the thick blanket between the stars and the moon that watched the Earth and the land of Elmbridge School of Magic. There was also fog so thick that it gave the feeling that it could support almost anything ... even a person.

Elizabeth slept peacefully in her room.

Her hawk had a pedestal made especially for it. The bird didn’t rest, but watched over the girl.

Suddenly, there was a bump in the drawer of the little nightstand near the girl's bed. The noise was strong enough to wake Miss Edwards. Scared, she sat up and looked at the protective hawk.

“What was tht?” she looked at the bird, as if waiting for an answer. As she raised her head from the pillow, the candle immediately appeared to light everything around the bed.

Thus, the girl saw her hawk looking at her calmly and quietly.

“It can't be something ... dangerous. Because you're quiet. Alexander and Mr. Knudlac told me that guardians only get agitated when a danger is near. Even more agitated if the danger is nearby. You don't seem to me anxious at all. Maybe I just imagined it ...”

She wanted to put her head back on the pillow, but just before she did it, the noise repeated itself.

The girl was no longer scared this time. She noticed the noise came from the drawer so she opened it.

Inside was ... just that diary with nothing written. A useless diary that probably everyone would throw away at one point, but for Elizabeth it was the only thing she had from her parents.

She looked a little at that diary, but nothing happened.

“I could try my magic,” smiled the girl at her pet.

She took her wand from the nightstand.

“Utebatur!”

Slowly, slowly the diary floated to her and fell into her lap.

The girl smiled happily that the spells succeeded, just as Merlin probably did when he was a child trying his first spells.

The smile disappeared when the diary cover began to light up and its lock, which had a strange little padlock and for which she didn’t find a way to open, now opened itself, as if by magic.

The cover went aside and the first empty page turned up.

The girl looked at the blank page for a few moments, until finally something began to appear on it. Some letters began to appear on the sheet, one by one, until one could read the following text:

What was written with magic ice ... will only be seen through the ice.

The girl rubbed her eyes. It seemed to her that what she read was real. As she could see the writing persisted a few moments, she began to get worried. As it popped out, that writing completely disappeared.

The girl understood that someone or something wanted her to find out what that diary was about. Her wizard mind could understand there was certainly a hidden purpose when such strange things happened and that magic would help her to reveal the secret.

Elizabeth stayed awake for several minutes, browsed the diary, but only saw the same blank pages. She turned the object on all sides, but nothing. She waited a little longer to see what other strange stuff could pop up, and then took a pen from the desk next to her bed and an inkwell.

She wrote something on one of the pages but the writing disappeared instantly. She waited a few more moments, repeated the action and waited again.

But as nothing happened, she placed the writing utensils back on the desk where she took them, nicely placed the magic diary back in the drawer, and laid her head on the pillow.

“It’s definitely a magic diary, from my mom and dad. Who are trying to tell me something,” she said, smiling at the hawk. “And the ink, as it’s not made of ice, has no effect.”

The hawk this time, unlike the other times, made a quite loud enough sound the echo was heard throughout the room ... and maybe even in the corridors.

The girl got scared, but at the same time she laughed.

“You agree with me,” the girl sat up again happily. “It’s certainly something written in that diary, given that those letters appeared. And I have to find out what it’s written. Maybe it's a message from mom and dad.”

The girl laid her head on the pillow, but couldn’t sleep. She kept thinking.

“What was written with ice will only be seen through the ice. What does it mean?”

And she kept thinking with her eyes open. The candle remained near her bed, but she moved away a little and lowered the flame, so as the light doesn’t disturb Miss Edwards.

There persisted some kind of opaque, ambient light, which didn’t leave the child in the dark, but wouldn’t disturb her sleep, in case she wanted to fall asleep.