“Ok,” Kleo said, taking a breath as he stood before the bookshelf. It was an early weekday morning and the sun’s morning glaze filtered softly through the large windows as it began to rise. The birds in the trees sang their morning songs and the people of the town were just starting their day. Streets were still clear, save for a few early risers who were getting ahead of their day. Kleo woke this morning feeling as if a weight had been lifted from his chest, and what he thought to be a newfound perspective. He still didn’t know how to tell Alexei about his powers, however, he felt as if he had finally accepted this change to his life. Sure, he still had about a billion questions that didn’t seem to have any possible answers at the moment, (like, exactly why his mother decided to hide all of this?) but, for now, he could work with this. He could get better at his craft and learn a bit more about his mom and even himself. He could do this.

Kleo’s hand rose as he summoned the power deep within himself. The warm buzz in his chest bloomed, and a grin etched onto his face. His eyes bore into the bookshelf as he focused on what he wanted it to do. The warmth grew and spread through his chest, along his arm, and out the tips of his fingers. The feeling was nearly indescribable to Kleo. It reminded him of winter nights sat close to the fireplace. His little hands, never getting close enough for the flames to properly lick his fingers, but just close enough to let the warmth melt away the numbness from the cold. It brought a comfort he didn't know he was missing until now.

The wall began to shift, the bookshelf receding before sliding over to reveal a staircase. Kleo’s eyes widened and his smile grew as he punched the air.

“Yeah! That’s what I’m talking about!”

Nox chuckled from where he sat at his feet. He rose and inched towards the entrance to give it a look.

‘You’ve done very well. How did it feel?’

He said with a flick of his tail. The cat turned his head to look back at his witch.

“Honestly,” Kleo said, still riding his own mix of excitement and self-pride, “that was pretty awesome. It actually felt…” his voice tapered off as he searched for the right word.

‘Like control.’

Kleo laughed a bit to himself, crossing his arms as he walked to join him at the entrance. “I was going to say freeing, but I see what you mean,” he said as he peered in. Light from the main room filtered into the stairway, illuminating it just enough for him to find a light switch. The lights flickered, glowing dimly before completely going out. Kleo fished his phone out of his pocket, turning on the flashlight before they began their descent. The air was stale and Kleo put his hand over his mouth to cover a small cough from breathing in all of the dust.

‘It has been some time since anyone would have been down here.’

Once they were halfway down the stairs, they felt the wall shift as the bookcase closed back behind them with a thud. Kleo looked back at where their entrance used to be.

“Well, that’s not creepy at all.”

Cobwebs and dust lined the walls on their walk down and Kleo used the sleeve of his sweater to cover his mouth. Once they reached the bottom, he waved his phone around, trying to get a better look at everything. The space seemed fairly large and somewhat cluttered. The light from his phone did no more than help him navigate past some tables and shelves, their contents ranging from pots and jars of various sizes to half-rolled scrolls and books. From what he could tell, the walls were lined with shelves containing more books and jars with some other containers that held things unknown to him. One table housed an assortment of crystals and rocks, some with unfamiliar symbols carved into their smooth surfaces. Sitting upon another table, surrounded by bowls of different, dried out herbs and greenery, is a mortar and pestle. He swept the room yet again with the light of his phone, stopping when he noticed some sort of pedestal near the far end. It stood before the only wall free of a bookshelf. Instead, what appeared to be a large tapestry was draped over the wall. He walked towards it, and that warm feeling from before starts to rise up within him once again. He looked down at the pedestal and finds a large, leather-bound book. He can’t explain it, but he feels as if he is drawn to it.

‘That must be it! Your family grimoire.’

Nox certainly seemed excited about this. He'd told Kleo the importance of a grimoire and the way it held the history of a witch’s family. From the sound of it, Kleo thought of it as somewhat of a family scrapbook but with spells from each generation instead of clippings from a middle school play or something. Kleo placed his hand over the cover, his fingers tracing the grooves in the leather before he carefully removed the latch to get a look inside. The pages were smooth from wear, feeling almost like cloth. Kleo reached the first main page to find his family name scrawled across the top in a cursive font. He flipped through the pages, looking at how the handwritings change over time and noting how little notes had been added here and there, obviously by someone else. He took a handful of pages, skipping towards the end and finding more pages but these, even in this crap lighting, he could tell were written by his mother. He smiled softly, closing the book.

“Let’s take this upstairs where we can actually look through it,” he says to Nox.

‘Agreed. If I’m being honest, this place is giving me the creeps.’

Kleo let out an amused breath, “Really now? Someone not a fan of dark spaces?”

‘More like, not a fan of spiders.’

Kleo paused, suddenly very aware of the amount of creepy crawlies that could be parading around in the dark.

“Yeah, let’s get out of here,” Kleo said, carefully taking the grimoire and tucking it into the crook of his arm before making their way back up the stairs. “We can go back down and get it cleaned up some other time when we actually have light to see what we’re doing,” he said as he opened the entrance again. The wall shifted, moving to the side to let them out. Kleo waved his hand to disperse the dust that was now in the air, trying not to cough again as he stepped out. “I really, really hate that,” he said to Nox but stopped as he noticed someone standing before them. Flora was bent over a table, towel in hand as she watched them with a look of surprise in her eyes. Kleo’s own eyes widened in shock. The world froze as his mind raced.

Flora wasn’t normally there that early to open the store?

How could he forget about that?

How could he even explain this?

What was he supposed to say?

What was he supposed to do?

He felt the wall shift behind him, the bookshelf falling back into place with yet another thud and the sound shook him out of his frozen state. He didn’t know how to deal with this right now, so he wouldn’t. Clutching the grimoire, he quickly ran past her, around the front, up the stairs, and through his front door. He shut the door behind him, Nox jumping in just before it closed shut, and Kleo sunk to the floor.

“This is bad,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “This is real bad, Nox!” He turned to the cat, panic rising in him as the gravity of the situation began to sink it. Someone saw him, and maybe he could try and figure out a way to deny that it was magic, but Kleo was a terrible liar. What would he say? Hey Flora. Surprise! There’s some weird secret door that definitely has no magic at all and definitely does not lead to some dusty, witch room. Nope, totally normal! Yeah, no. That definitely wouldn’t work. Kleo dragged his hands across his face as a groan escaped his lips. This was a disaster and it didn’t help at all that Nox was now… laughing? He pulled his hands down to find his cat lying on his back, basically cackling right before him. Was he missing something? What was so funny?

“Would you mind cluing me in on the joke?” Kleo asked, frustration building from both what just happened and the fact that Nox seemed so damn amused by it. It took a second for the cat's laughter to calm down before he rolled back over to look at him.

‘Trust me, you’ll figure it out.’

He said, another laugh bubbling out of him and Kleo furrowed his eyebrows.

What the fuck?

A hard knock at the front door surprised Kleo, causing him to suddenly jump forward from his spot on the floor. He hopped up, facing the door as the person knocked again. He cursed to himself as a knot started forming in his stomach. He couldn’t run away this time. He could probably try to ignore her this time, but he knew he’d run into her most likely the next time he’d need to leave his house. He needed to figure out a plan. He needed to figure out what he would tell her, and quick. He took a deep breath and opened the door. Flora stood there on the landing with a determined look on her face. Immediately, she raised her hand to point a finger at him and that didn’t help to ease his nerves at all.

“You finally got your powers, didn’t you?” She asked and Kleo was completely blindsided by this. He took a step back, obviously confused about how the hell she must have known this. Flora stepped into his home, obviously taking a quick look around before returning her attention back to him.

“How did you,” Kleo’s lips started to form a question but she cut him off, as if not even hearing him.

“You did, I can feel it,” she said, her tone suggesting she knew it for a fact and was no longer asking him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kleo finally managed to say, unconvincingly so. Flora rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest.

“Is that so?” She was mocking him. “Then, care to explain what happened downstairs?” She smirked. She knew he didn’t have a way out of this and Kleo felt the knot in his stomach tighten. He was fucked.

Flora laughed, but quickly stopped herself and covered her mouth. “I’m sorry, listen, calm down.” She said to him and he was no closer to being calm. His eyebrows furrowed in his confusion and he took another step back. She must have noticed because she stopped, the smile dropping from her face. “Kleo, I didn’t mean to scare you,” she started and Kleo could tell she was being sincere. “I’m a witch too, Kleo. That’s how I know.”