Chapter 15: Unraveling the Grimoire and Seeking Ancient Magic

"Man, I spent almost two months locked in the house, poring over that grimoire," I thought as I stretched. "Reading and studying exhausted me. Being confined, doing nothing but deciphering those ancient writings, was beyond boring..."

But the arduous journey was worth it. "I have uncovered all the secrets of the grimoire, every page, every word. And the most incredible thing is that I remember everything!", I stated, amazed. "It seems my brain just needed a boost to awaken its potential."

"Having an almost photographic memory is not common," I reflected. "Reading and memorizing over 1,077 pages of a grimoire... is definitely not human."

With a sense of duty fulfilled, I decided to take care of something more trivial. "AHH, man, I need to cut this hair. It's huge! I wonder if there's a hairdresser around here?" I asked myself, as I looked in the mirror. "Well, for now, let's settle this."

After trimming my hair and buying a cell phone, my next destination was the Mystic Falls police station.

"Hmm, that doesn't look bad," I thought as I admired my new look in the mirror. "Classes start soon... Right now, I'm 1.76m tall and I've grown a lot in these months. The training has paid off, and not just the studies."

"Of course my weights stayed in Reseda. I'm going to look for a gym around here... In a month, I'll be 16 and I'll finally be able to get my driver's and motorcycle license..."

But before anything else, I needed to find Sheila Bennett. "She's the only person I know in this town who can teach me about magic..."

I walked the streets, talked to people, trying to find out Sheila's whereabouts, but to no avail. With no other options left, I decided to use my last resort: call Caroline.

"Riiiing Riiing..."

"Hello?" Caroline answered.

"Caroline, hi, it's Clark. I need your help finding someone," I said.

"Clark? Hi! It's been a while since we last talked. Who do you want to meet?" she asked curiously.

"It's a lady, her name is Sheila Bennett," I replied.

"!! Grandma Sheila? Why do you want to meet her?" she asked, surprised.

"It's about my family. I need to ask her something about them...", I lied, once again.

"Um, I see. Her address is..." Caroline gave me the address.

"Great! Thank you so much, Caroline!" I said excitedly.

Arriving at the address, I rang the doorbell.

"I'M GOING... Who is it... 😳😳 Who are you?", a young woman opened the door, looking at me curiously.

"Hello, good afternoon. Does Sheila Bennett live here?" I asked politely.

"Yes. What do you want with my grandmother?" she asked suspiciously.

"Is she home? Could you call her, please?" I asked.

"HMMM, okay. Wait here," she replied, entering the house.

"Thoughts: Great, Bonnie, the youngest, answered me. She's really cute..."

"Who are you, young man?" Sheila asked, appearing in the doorway.

"Oh, hello, ma'am. May I speak to you for a moment?" I asked politely.

"About what exactly?" she asked suspiciously.

"Actually, I'd like it to be in private..." I asked.

"Okay, Bonnie, you can come in..." Sheila asked her granddaughter, who entered the house.

"It's okay, Grandma," Bonnie replied.

"So, boy, what do you want?" Sheila asked impatiently.

"Good afternoon, ma'am. My name is Clark, and I came here to ask for your help with something," I introduced myself.

"With what?" she asked, still suspicious.

"Actually, I came to ask for your help with magic...", I revealed.

"What? Magic? Are you an idiot or what? That doesn't exist. Go away, boy...", she replied, irritated, and made to close the door.

"Wait, ma'am," I interrupted her. "You and I both know that's not true. I have something you'd really like, and you have something I want. Why don't we talk about it?"

Sheila studied me carefully for a moment and then grabbed my arm.

"..."

"You're not a vampire, nor do you have magic inside you. But you definitely have something special inside you," she said, watching me curiously.

"Thoughts: That's interesting. She saw that there's something different about me, but I don't even know exactly what I've become in this world..."

"Actually, I'm just a normal human being with some knowledge," I explained. "I came to you so that you could help me channel magic into myself. In return, I give you this..."

I showed her the grimoire.

His eyes widened in surprise.

"This is... a grimoire. And a very old one, at that..."

"Actually, this is a Bennett grimoire, which I 'found' around here in Mystic Falls a while back. Since then, I've been reading what's inside it, and there's a lot of interesting stuff in there, especially for the Bennetts."

"Do you want me to channel magic for you in exchange for this grimoire?" Sheila asked, interested.

"Exactly that. I just need you to channel magic for me," I confirmed.

"And what exactly are you going to do with this channeling of magic? What do you want it for?" she asked suspiciously.

"Thoughts: Damn, I knew she was going to ask that. Now what do I say? The lie has to be convincing for her to believe me."

"Actually, Mrs. Sheila, a few months ago, my parents were killed," I began to invent. "I saw them being killed by a vampire..."

"I was sleeping, it was 2 in the morning, then I woke up with a noise in my parents' room. And I saw that filthy being ripping off my mother's head. My father tried to fight it and was killed. I hid behind the door, it didn't see me and left. Since then, I have been researching what that thing was and I found several sources that confirm that it was a vampire. Since then, I have been researching all of this, looking for a way to defend myself against these things and also to get revenge on that despicable being that killed my parents..."

"Kid, how old are you?" Sheila asked compassionately.

"I'm 14. I'll be 15 next month...", I replied.

"You're still a child. I'm sorry, young man, that you had to see this," she said sadly. "Come in, let's talk..."

"Clark, can I take a look at this grimoire for a moment?" Sheila asked, her eyes shining with curiosity. "Come in and sit on the sofa. I'll make us some tea."

"Do you prefer tea, coffee or juice?" she asked as she headed to the kitchen.

"Tea is great, Sheila," I replied, sitting down on the couch.

"A few moments later, she returned with the tea and sat down as well."

"Thoughts: I gave her the grimoire. I hope she doesn't notice that I ripped out 6 pages of it," I thought, apprehensive. "I tore out those pages so that no one else would have access to that magic. It is certainly powerful, but very destructive to those who use it... And also another page about something else..."

"About 25 minutes later..."

"This grimoire belonged to Emily Bennett, an ancestor of our family," Sheila revealed, her tone solemn. "Where did you find this grimoire, Clark?"

"I found it while I was researching the old graves in the Mystic Falls cemetery," I said, lying. "I didn't open it or anything. It was near the grave of a guy named Giuseppe Salvatore. I saw that he was one of the founders of Mystic Falls."

"Interesting, very interesting," Sheila murmured thoughtfully. "Now, Clark, I have to tell you the truth. No normal human being can use magic, except those loved by nature. If that were the case, everyone could use magic..."

"I know that, but I have to at least try. Otherwise, I'll never know if I can do such a thing," I replied, determined.

"Yes, but your magic seems to be blocked for some reason..." Sheila said, analyzing me. "Come here and let me try something..."

"Okay," I agreed, moving closer to her.

"Okay, Clark, I'll do whatever you ask. Just know that the rest is up to you," she said, taking my hands. "Give me your hands..."

She held my hands and began to recite some words.

"Greetings from the Evil One, Land of the Dead Where the Flames Burn, And the Vessels Where I Will Be Signed," Sheila recited, her voice firm.

"I could feel the magic being released..." I thought, as a wave of energy ran through my body. "ARRRG..."

I looked down at my arms and saw that everything was brighter, more alive.

"So this is magic?" I wondered, amazed.

"Amazing, Clark! Your magic is incredible. I've never seen anyone with so much magical power before. Your family must have great wizard ancestors. Amazing!" Sheila exclaimed in surprise.

"Everything is so clear now, Sheila. I can see different colors that I couldn't see before. I feel nature all around me, it's amazing..." I said, amazed.

"I understand. Even if you recited that, if you weren't someone special, you are now a wizard. Without a doubt, you have magic and it is growing every second. I have never seen anything like it..." Sheila said, impressed.

"Thoughts: Hmm, so that's it. 'God' did something besides that 'more ability than normal' thing. Maybe if I become a vampire or a werewolf, I'll also have more ability than normal... But now that I've become a witch, it'll be very difficult for me to become a vampire or even a werewolf. And there's also the fact that in this world, theoretically, only those who are born of blood can become werewolves. But what if that doesn't happen to me? What if I only need a single bite from a werewolf to activate the curse on me? HHA... This has definitely gotten much, much more interesting now..."

"I may have some witch descendants in my family, Sheila," I commented.

"Yes, that's the only thing that comes to mind at the moment. You must have someone connected to your bloodline who was a very good wizard," Sheila agreed. "Very good, Clark. I can teach you everything I know about magic, for 'self-defense'. You should never use it on normal humans, only on supernatural beings. If you could promise me that, I would teach you..."

"Of course, Sheila. I agree with that. I only want to learn magic for one purpose: to get revenge on those who killed my parents...", I promised.

"Okay, then I'll teach you everything. And also don't tell my granddaughter Bonnie about what we're doing. It's not the right time for her to learn about it yet...", Sheila requested.

"Okay, I promise that too..." I agreed.