Genre Savvy by Dani Carr

Thank goodness for the wisdom of older sisters.

A sourceless wind had picked up, blowing her brown hair around her face. Green glowing runes lit the warped floorboards beneath her feet and the moonlight streaming in through the large gothic rose window turned deep red. Yet Cassie paid attention to none of it, absorbed as she was in the dusty, leather bound tome she’d found her in the attic. She didn’t realize she was chanting, she didn’t realize her eyes had turned the blue of lightning bolts. 

“excita omnes qui hic antea habitabant, animas quae hanc terram domum vocabant -“

SLAM!

The book shut. Gone was the wind, out went the runes, and the moonlight returned to silver and Cassie’s eyes were once more brown. She blinked rapidly, as if coming out of a daze, and saw the manicured hand of her older sister Libby, her fingers spread and palm pressed to the book’s leather cover. 

“Don’t! Read! The book!” Libby yelled, and tugged the tome from Cassie’s hands, tossing it back into the ancient trunk they’d found in the old attic. 

“I swear, it’s like you’ve never seen even one movie…” Libby muttered, shaking her head as she left her curious sister to the attic and its mysteries.

-fin-

for more brilliant works from Dani Carr, check out: @thisdanicarr on Instagram, @itsdanicarr on bluesky