Witch's Bell Book One

like it would help when danger was at hand.
    She had to do something, had to make some kind of move. Even if it wasn't a perfectly choreographed strategy coming from a perfectly formulated future-plan.
    She had no idea what she wanted, and no idea what the situation would bring. So what should she do now? Withdraw and try to find out what she really wanted, or plunge herself head first into the situation to find out what it was all about?
    To act, or to know?
    The silence seemed to trickle through the room like a gentle drizzle. No one spoke, and no one moved. They all seemed to be waiting for Ebony.
    But who was Ebony waiting for?
    Was she waiting for her mother to say sorry, to explain the truth behind Ebony's punishment? Was she waiting for the universe to reveal its strange little plan for Ebony, and to get it all over with so she could just go back to living her life?
    Was she waiting for Nate to finally reveal himself – to stop hiding behind unreadable "rights", and aggravating determination?
    What did he want, she wondered with a soft blink of her eyes.
    Everything seemed to be swirling around Ebony in a kaleidoscope of colors. Distracting, aggravating, and overcoming her.
    Not for the first time, she just wished it would all go away. Let the situation fold in on itself, and pack away into a corner, where it could gather dust until Ebony was finally ready to take a proper look at it. Or it could just stay there forever; fade into the dark past never to be seen again.
    But none of this was getting anything solved, she realized, her head starting to thump with a growing headache. None of this was helping Ebony to really understand what was going on, let alone what she really wanted.
    Ebony let out a desperate sigh, almost ready to just melt down onto the stairs and sit there with her head in her arms. But suddenly the staircase gave a rattle, and a book tumbled down from above, finally coming to a rest at her feet with a thump.
    She knelt down and picked it up, hardly aware of the people around her any more.
    It was a book on adventure; some kind of novel or something. The cover was bright, colorful, and exciting.
    'This store is a danger,' Nate said from behind her.
    'Harry,' her father admonished, 'you trying to get us all killed?'
    'This store has always been irreverent, uncontrolled, and mischievous,' Avery noted, staring around at the shop.
    Ebony ignored them all. She picked up the book and turned to the first chapter. It was titled, "To Boldly Go". She ran a hand over the words, the paper old but still smooth.
    'What are we going to do, Ebony?' Nate asked from behind her. 'Time's ticking. We really need to find out what's going on.'
    'You need to withdraw,' her mother's voice was keen, but the edge of anger was lost. 'You need to find out what you really want, before you try and face the rest of this.'
    'Eb,' her father's voice was gruff, 'is that a cut on your arm? You should really get that looked at.'
    Ebony turned to a random page in the book. She glanced down the contents. The heroine of the story was in some kind of trouble, she read. There was action, movement, and energy. Ebony flicked to another page later on, eyes scanning it quickly. Now the heroine was undergoing some great trial, some epic task that required strength, determination, and guts.
    Ebony kept flicking on.
    'Hey Ebony, are you listening to me?' Nate said from behind.
    'Stop being distracted, child,' her mother admonished. 'You must concentrate, this is critically important.'
    Now the heroine was up against the greatest imaginable force – perilous, and unimaginably dangerous.
    But no matter how far she flicked through this strange book, Ebony couldn't find out what the plot was. The heroine fought things – faced off against dangers – but didn't appear to do it for any great purpose. She had no idea why the lead character was doing any of the things she did. The book simply concentrated on the how: the determination, the courage, the steel, the concentration.
    'Ebony,' her mother's voice was now pitching high, like a kettle at the boil, 'put that book down and face the situation like a witch.'
    Ebony closed the book with a snap and tucked it under her arm.
    It seemed everyone wanted to tell Ebony something: whether it was that she was treating this situation too lightly, or what to do to fix it.
    Everyone had their own opinion.
    And here was Harry's. An adventure book, with, ironically, a heroine that didn't appear to have