Chapter 2
Kat Henderson had been dumped yet again for what seemed to be the thousandth time. Her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Logan, said she never paid attention when he was around. That her head was often in the clouds.
Kat shook her head and tapped her fingers against her desk. Of course, she was absent-minded! Two months after her parents’ divorce, her dad went missing. Nobody just disappeared or went missing in the little ole town of Fairview, Arkansas.
Sure, some folks jumped at the chance to move from Fairview to Little Rock, leaving behind their overbearing family and nosy neighbors, but Kat’s dad was nothing like that. He loved his family, and he would never just leave.
Logan wasn’t patient enough to understand or care.
Kat brushed aside her blond curls from her face and sighed. She stared at the rows of books in her high school’s library. There was only one high school in Fairview, with around 100 students. Everybody knew each other, which was both a blessing and a curse.
Kat stood up from the table she sat at and unlocked her phone to open the camera. She quickly checked her makeup and adjusted her fake lashes to make sure no major damage was visible from the tears she shed when Logan broke off their relationship.
Her eyes were still red and puffy, so she decided to give it a few minutes before she left the refuge of the school library to face her friends. Classes were currently in progress, and she was missing out on a boring American history lecture, but that meant that she had the library space mostly to herself.
When the librarian sent her a skeptical glare, Kat began to walk up and down the rows of books, pretending to look interested. She’d only made out with Logan in the library once! Once! But could Ms. Linton, the librarian, ever just forgive and forget? Apparently not.
Kat muttered a complaint under her breath. “Stupid old hag.”
A book shot out from the side, clattering loudly to the floor. Kat jumped up and squealed.
“Quiet!” the librarian scolded, not having noticed the book moving on its own.
Kat clutched her chest and stared at the book fearfully. The cover was simple and black, with no title or author’s name written on it. The book was thin, about the width of her iPhone. She could feel the librarian’s eyes on the back of her neck.
To avoid incurring any further anger from the older woman, Kat picked up the book with two fingers, holding it out as if it were a ticking time bomb.
She turned to put it on the shelf when she felt the pages flutter in her hand. Kat gasped and almost dropped the book. She sent Ms. Linton a fleeting glance, but the old lady was typing away at her desktop computer.
Kat stood in place, trembling. What the hell was going on? The simple-looking book was freaking her out. Before she could talk herself out of it, she opened it to the first page.
“Spell of Levitation,” she said softly under her breath. A list of steps was included underneath. Kat flipped to the next page to see it blank.
Page after page was left utterly empty, except for the first. Despite her earlier fear lingering in her thoughts, something drew her to the little book that had appeared out of nowhere. A sense of calm draped upon her like a drug.
Making sure nobody was watching, she stuffed the book into her bright pink Michael Kors purse and headed to the door. Ms. Linton sank back in her seat, seemingly relieved to see Kat go.
Outside the library, Kat finally looked through the many texts her friends sent her; they were messaging her to make sure she was doing alright, which probably meant the entire school knew about her breakup. She would meet up with her girlfriends at lunch and suffer through the embarrassment, and hopefully, with their fussing and coddling, she would begin to feel better.
Then maybe, just maybe, with time, everything would return to normal.
