Read Online The Hex Breaker's Eyes by Shaun Tennant - Free Book Online

closed, because I really don’t want to have my
dad or brother walk in and see the pile of witchcraft books. You
might expect witchcraft books to be huge and old, with
leather-bound covers and a strong ‘old book’ smell. One of Marlie’s
books is like that, but most are new printings, soft covers, with
colourful pages and a lot of talk about positive energy. It seems
modern day witches are much more positive and helpful than the old
Macbeth style of witches. I’m flipping through one of these newer
books, and see a page titles “Cures.”
    “Hey, check it
out,” I say. “This book has cures.”
    She doesn’t get
up to come look, since she must have read that already. “It’s not
cures for spells and hexes. It’s cures for ailments like the common
cold and sore knees.” I read the page a little more and see that
she’s right. Apparently if you burn a certain kind of incense, say
a specific incantation, and carry a smooth black stone in your
pocket, you can break a fever faster than if you take aspirin. Of
course, the book cautions that you should also take aspirin and
follow your doctor’s orders. I switch to another book.
    Marlie’s
hogging the cool old leather-bound book, but I think she probably
spent a lot of money on that one, so I don’t mind that she’s
protective of it. I start flipping through a book about ‘The
History of Witchcraft,’ but it seems to be more of a bunch of
biographies than a how-to manual.
    “Here’s
something,” Marlie says. “I think this is the same spell that I saw
people mention online.” I’m up on the bed and Marlie’s sitting in
my desk chair, so I get up to go see what she’s got. This book is
very old, with thick yellow pages. Marlene points to a spell on the
bottom of a page.
    “Turn Luck
Against Thy Foe,” I read. “This is the bad luck hex?”
    “Looks like it.
It says here that you need a personal item from your ‘foe,’
something of importance to yourself, feathers from a black bird,
and wax from a black candle. You tie your object, your foe’s
object, and the feather together, then drip wax on it while reading
the incantation three times. As long as your ill will holds strong,
and this talisman you’ve just created holds together, your foe will
have luck turn against them at every opportunity.” She’s
paraphrasing a bit, but I can see where she’s reading it from.
    “Where did you
get this book?” I ask.
    She holds it up
proudly, and smiles. “I got it on eBay. Three hundred bucks but
totally worth it.” Personally, I think her game-playing hobby is a
little on the expensive side, but I don’t criticize her for it.
Marlene’s a bit of a geek and I think she’s happy to be sharing
this part of herself with another girl, so I try to be
encouraging.
    “Does it have a
counter-spell?” I ask.
    “Nada. It’s the
same as the websites; I see the same line everywhere about how
hexes are bad feelings made manifest and it’ll fade when time heals
the ill will.”
    “But this thing
is getting stronger,” I say.
    “So then we’ll
just have to find that talisman and break it apart,” she says. “At
least now, we know what it’ll look like.”
    “Black feather,
black wax,” I say, nodding. “But let’s hope for a counter-hex. Keep
reading. I’ll look in the other books for any kind of protection
magic. Maybe we can keep Dina safer, in case we never find that
talisman.”
    Marlene agrees
and we go back to reading separately. After a couple hours, my dad
knocks and asks if Marlene is staying for dinner.
    “No,” she calls
through the door. “I’m just leaving.”
    We haven’t
found a viable counter-spell, or even a protective hex that will
work on someone who’s already hexed. Unless our bad guy’s feelings
suddenly change, our only hope of destroying that yellow aura is to
find the black-feathered talisman, which could be anywhere in
town.
    Hopefully Dina
doesn’t do anything else to anger her foe.
     

     
    Wednesday,
November