He Thought He Saw – Part 30

The teenagers gather Sterno and candles, hoping to warm the room without attracting the fire elementals. Fortunately, they are successful. Brian’s theory is that the petroleum based products don’t attract them like natural items, such as wood.

“We can, indeed. Just as well I’ve got a couple gas space heaters for emergencies.”

They sat down with mugs of hot chocolate and talked about what to fix for breakfast. By the time Jordan and the women were up, the two of them had prepared a feast of waffles, fresh fruit, scrambled eggs and grits. Brian would have loved sausage and bacon, but the only thing they had was meat flavored tofu patties. That didn’t sound very appealing to either Brian or Heath, so they didn’t prepare them.

School had been cancelled for the day, due to the weather. Neither of Jordan’s parents had to go to work for the same reason. They were able to take their time and enjoy one another’s company as long as they liked. The adults were still sitting around talking an hour or so later. Brian and Jordan asked to be excused, saying they wanted to study, and went to the den. Instead, they got out Brian’s laptop and plugged in the flashdrive of his father’s notes.

Brian didn’t know what he’d been expecting when he opened the first file, marked wood. It seemed like precious little information and he couldn’t understand why his father had bothered. He’d listed types of trees and the supposed magical properties of each. Most of them were for protection from evil spirits. Some said things about elementals. There were websites listed, but Brian didn’t want to look at them all. Annoyed, he closed that file and opened the next folder labeled stones. This gave more of the same—the magical characteristics of stones. Brian closed the file in disgust.

Jordan smacked his hand and opened it again. “I was reading that.”

“But it’s stupid. Why do we need to know anything about magic or stones or wood!”

“You’re really dense, you know that? Of course, this is important. My mom and dad believe that everything that comes from the earth has special properties. Some people call it magic, some call it metaphysics. Tomato—tomahto.” She scrolled down a few inches and squinted at the page, pointing to something. It looked like a thumbnail for a picture.

Brian clicked the image and saw a photograph of his amulet. Gasping, he read the neatly written notes. His mom may not have touched the amulet, but his dad sure had. It fascinated him and he read the information several times before he realized that Jordan was staring at him.

“What?”

“You certainly changed your mind. You were all bored a second ago.”

Brian’s hand ducked inside his shirt. He pulled out the amulet, warm from his body. Jordan gasped, touching it gingerly.

“I remember seeing this last night. What is it?”

“I don’t know. Something my great-great-grandmother gave to my mom for me.”

“No kidding? This is so cool! Take it off so I can look at it.”

Brian put his hand over it. “I’m not supposed to.”

“Okay, leave it on, but don’t get all squidgy when I lean over and stare at it.”

Laughing, Brian, held it out for her to examine.

“My rock knowledge is pretty limited,” Jordan said honestly. “I know an opal and amethyst when I see them, but some of that other stuff—never even heard of it.”

Brian pointed at the stones, starting at the top. “This is lodestone, a natural magnet. According to Dad’s notes, it’s a projective stone. Whatever that means.”

“That means that it can be used to project things. Like a spectrum comes from light through a prism. Its abilities aren’t passive. You can use them. What else does it say?”

“Lodestone is used for protection and reflecting spells. It’s of the Earth and helps to ground spells.”

“What’s the pretty blue one there?” She pointed to the stone to the right of the lodestone.

Brian looked at the stone, then at the screen. “That’s azurite. It helps psychic projection. Oh, now that’s just silly.”

Jordan smacked his arm. “To you, maybe. My folks talk about this all the time. It strengthens your abilities. Look, so do the other blue stones. Aqua aura—the one at the bottom there, blue topaz and lapis lazuli.” She read more, pointing to the stones on Brian’s necklace, her lips moving without being audible.

Brian waited anxiously, glancing from her to the page. He even tried to see, gazing down nearly cross-eyed, the amulet clutched in Jordan’s hands. Without missing a lick, Jordan turned his chin so he was facing the page.

“You need to know this, Brian. Your safety could depend on it.”

“But I don’t understand any of this. It’s all hoodoo voodoo to me.”

© 2016 Dellani Oakes 

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