Auguries of Midnight by Richard Burtenshaw

Author:Richard Burtenshaw [Burtenshaw, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: OSKA
Published: 2023-12-31T00:00:00+00:00

SIXTEEN

Maggie opened her eyes. She always slept soundly and now she was awake, and she was sure there had to be a reason. The room was lit by a single white candle fixed on a silver spike holder on her dressing table. She did not believe anything unwanted could cross the threshold into her sacred space, but she liked to have the candle to boost the protection.

She looked at the book on her bedside table. Her mother had given it to her on her twenty-first birthday, and one day she would pass it to Jessie. It was by a man named Francis Barrett and entitled The Magus, printed in 1801. It took pride of place in her collection. The book contained the collected ideas from the most famous magicians, including a Magi, throughout history. She had original copies of the Three Books of Occult Philosophy by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, De Occulta Philophia Libri, but they did not flow as easily, her proficiency in Latin not as fluent as she would have liked.

A creak and she held her breath, listening. The seconds passed and there was nothing but silence. She wanted to relax, to close her eyes and return to sleep, but there was no comfort in the silence. There was only the anticipation of the creak. Sometimes there was comfort in sound.

She knew she would get no further sleep unless she could clear her mind. There was a new pack of chamomile tea in the cupboard in the kitchen. Nothing made her feel more relaxed than freshly brewed chamomile tea drunk from her favourite bone china cup. She was vegan, devoutly so, but she would never give up her bone china. Not for all the tea in China she thought to herself and smiled. Even just the thought of her tea was making her feel more relaxed.

She got out of bed and slipped her feet into her slippers. The house was warm, but the old floorboards could get cold at night and the last thing she wanted was to get cramp in her feet and spend the next ten minutes hopping around in pain trying to locate her hot water bottle.

She slowly walked down the stairs noting that, despite their age, they did not creak. Wherever the creak had come from, it had not been the stairs.

She found her way to the kitchen without turning any lights on and, in the kitchen, she only used the under-cabinet lights. She emptied the kettle and refilled it. She knew it made little sense, but she was sure re-boiling water created a terrible taste. Jessie had told her it was all in her mind, but she knew what she knew, and she always changed the water.

While she waited for the water to boil, she got her cup and saucer and put two teaspoons of the tea into the teapot. She stood and stared at the kettle willing it to boil. She was sure it was true that it always took longer if you watched it.

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