From, Lila

Grammy wrapped herself into her black shawl and walked inside the Blue Tower. I’ve never been inside, but from stories I’ve heard from my mother, who had passed away 3 years ago, it was a place where other descendants from the Gizem and Liraz meet to work on their latest project, a life bringing dust to bring back the dead. The Blue Tower’s a mystery to me, with my grandma going in as a little old lady, to coming back like a bat, spreading her wings wide and proud. 

Gram sat on the edge of my coffin-like bed. “Lil’ Liy, what story would you like to hear today?” she asked.

“I don’t want to hear a story, but I have a question. When will I get to enter the Blue Tower?” 

“Dear, you know that’s not something we talk about. When the time is right, you will enter.” 

“But Gram……”

 “Now dear, go to sleep, or you will not have enough time to recharge your heart battery, and will get stuck in this world until the next transportation.” 

“Where’s Gramp?”

“Gramp is not a descendant, for he doesn’t know our powers. We cannot exist in his world after 9, so we cannot go visit him. I am surprised your mother got that gene from me.”

“Is dad a descendant?” 

“Yes, luckily.”

“Nighty night.” she said as she pushed up from her lap and placed her hand on the switch.” 

“Nighty nighty night Gram.” 

She switched off the light and walked into the light of the hall. The way she said “nighty night” felt weird today. Like something was missing. 

The sun shone brightly on my woken face. My wet hair was now dry, and we were in a normal bed again. In this world, I had a regular mattress with pink sheets. To this day I still wonder how and when I came back here. It never really bothered me, but today I felt like I just HAD to find out. So I did. Let me tell you, never again. 

So I wrapped Gram’s shawl around and went inside the Blue Tower. Ok. First thought. It was WAY lighter inside than I would’ve ever thought. The tower was STUNNING. Everywhere I looked there were beautiful pictures of the God of Magic. Then, I looked around to find The Room of Secrets. Gram had once told me stories of the Blue Tower, but that was before Mom died. Before. I wonder why. I came across a room with three blue locks on the handle. Blue locks were known in the magic world as an important sign of danger, which made me think that this was the room. I used an ice freezing spell that had just mastered the day before and froze the locks until they cracked. Then I opened the door with a shawl-wrapped hand and pushed it open. The world inside mesmerized my eyes. 

Every bookcase was color coded, every bottle of “Maj Mik” was in the order they were supposed to be used in. My eyes fell upon a book with a black leather cover. On top were  layers of dust built up from many years of time. I blew most of it away then wiped my hand across to remove the rest. There was a latch to the book, and I looked around the room for a key. Under the cushion of the biggest chair, I found a zig-zag piece of metal attached to a wooden base. I released it from the chain it was held in and stuck it into the key-hole. It fit perfectly. As I turned the latch open, my hand felt empty. I opened up the leather-covered object and opened it. You would think that when I opened it, a genie or sparkle would appear and knock you to the ground, but this isn’t Barry Botter. This is the Blue Tower. Anyway, I opened it, and inside there weren’t pages of spells and what-not, but instead a cloth covered thing. I lifted it up and was shocked to see,

You looked at this object, you lucky one, 

Looks like this journey has just begun. 

Take this knife and you shall see,

A feeling of what you should be.

But this little object is not free,

For I know what I want for me.

The letters were lined in gold paint, and in the middle was a folded knife. It had our magic symbol on it, and I could feel a little temptation in my hand. It drew me closer and closer to the book, until my hand was only inches away. My first instinct was to close the book, but the force was so strong I couldn’t pull it away. I pulled with all of my might and finally managed to get some distance. I slammed the leather shut and brought my hand, supposedly with the key, to the lock. That’s when I noticed the key on the floor, about ten feet away from where I was standing. The book was now stuck to the speech-podium it was placed on, so if I let go to get the key, the leathered title would open and it would be the same thing over again. But if the latch was not secured, the book would also fly open, making me have to hold the cover down forever. That’s when I heard flying footsteps coming towards me. 

Uh oh. Here comes trouble, I thought as I quickly made the decision to grab the knife and hide. I opened the book and grabbed the souvenir as fast as I could, and ran behind the shelf of Maj Miks. I was skinny enough to fit through the gap, but the dust was everywhere. Unfortunately our Gods believed that it was dust who gave us our magic, so they didn’t sweep it off. I felt a sneeze in my throat and choked it down. Just as I couldn’t hold the sneeze anymore, I heard the footsteps get lighter and lighter, until it faded away into the tower. That was a close one, I thought as I crawled out of my hiding place. I wonder why Gram was so confident walking out. I didn’t feel that at all.

I ran down the hall and out the door, not stopping to take a break all the way until I was safe in my home. Home, sweet home. Gram was there to meet me at the door. 

“Gram!”

“Lil’ Liy!” she said and brought me in with a warm hug.  

“Where’d you go?” 

“Um, to Gramp’s” 

“Huh.” I could tell she knew something was wrong as I shifted my hand into my back pocket. 

“Liy, follow me to the living room.” 

So I did. 

“Liy, you understand that everything has its consequences, good or bad, correct?”

I nodded. 

“And we all do things for a reason, yes?” 

“Yes.” 

“So, I have a reason for keeping you away from your castle. It has its dangers, and your mother had died as a consequence for sneaking in.”

“I didn’t know that.” I whispered. 

“Dear, she did the same things, and also got tempted by the leather book.”

Uh oh.

“That was something left from the Liraz. They were forced to keep that book when they surrendered to the Bruxo. That box was never meant to be opened by one of us, for all of this was planned. The consequence for temptation is to die, but you are too young to go. So I will for you.”

“No, but gram……” I held on to her hand, hoping that would stop it.

“I’ll put the knife back. Please.”  

“Lil’ Liy, once the latch is open there is no turning back.”

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” I was now blinking back tears.

“Lila dear, I long to see the day you control your powers, but for now, goodbye.” my grammy said as she faded away slowly. The day had come for her, and we will once again meet. Her bony hands in mine turned into dust. This I kept in my little jar. It still sits there today. I walked out of the living room in tears. So this was why she stopped telling me stories about the Blue Tower. In my heart there will always be holes never filled. I love you Gram.

From, Lila.