My Hockey Alpha



Chapter 0763

Nina

I stared down at the book in front of me, my breath catching in my throat as the strange blue glow intensified. The moonstone in my hand glowed as well, its light almost seeming to pulse in tandem with that of the book.

"What the hell?" I muttered, reaching out to touch the book.

Gasping softly, I quickly recoiled my hand when, upon my fingers grazing the leather, a small electric shock lightly touched my fingers. With my eyes wide, I looked down at my hand-unharmed, but still almost fizzling with that strange energy.

There was magic here.

The realization struck me then: maybe this moonstone, somehow, was a key to finally decoding this book. Drawing in a shuddering breath, I tightened my grip around the still-glowing moonstone, feeling its warmth melt into my palm. Then, before I could second-guess myself, I pressed the crystal down onto the open pages and watched in fascination as the glow flared brilliantly.

For an endless, breathless moment, the room was consumed in a blinding light that stung my eyes and made me grind my teeth.

But then, just when I began to fear I had made some catastrophic mistake, the illumination slowly ebbed away. Both the book and the moonstone stopped glowing; for now, at least.

Dazed, I blinked away the spots dancing across my vision, refocusing my eyes on the yellowed pages in front of me. They looked the same. Utterly the same.

"What the..." I whispered to myself as I flipped through the pages. "What the hell was that?"

"Nina? Everything okay?"

I flinched violently at the sound of Tyler's voice, whirling toward the door with my heart in my throat. My brother leaned against the frame, eyeing me with a mixture of concern and confusion as he took in the scene in front of him.

"Tyler-1-"

For a split second, I hesitated, unsure of where to even begin. But then, finally, the words poured out. I quickly scooped the book up off of the desk and explained everything to him.

When I was finished, he furrowed his brow and sat down on the edge of the bed beside me, where I had moved to during my speech.

"So what do you think happened?" he asked.

"I... I'm not sure," I admitted, still flipping through the pages. "It doesn't seem any different, but..."

Tyler cocked one eyebrow quizzically. "Have you tried decoding it since then?" he asked.

The realization hit me, and I gasped. With my eyes wide, I quickly pointed at my desk, where the decoding sheet was sitting. "Quickly!" I breathed. "Let's try before... whatever this magic is dies out."

I didn't need to tell Tyler twice. He quickly jumped up and grabbed the sheet, handing it to me.

And together, over the following hours, we worked.

The book didn't snap shut once. It was as though, somehow, whatever had happened between the book and the moonstone had pulled the magic out of the book or maybe it had... calmed it, somehow.

Either way, the book seemed placated for now. It felt as if it had allowed us entry, like the moonstone was the key we were missing.

When we were finished, though, all we could do was sit there in shell-shocked silence. The translated words sat innoveldrama

front of us on a crisp, clean sheet of paper, and their contents were.... horrifying.

And that was putting it lightly.

"I can't believe it," I whispered, still staring down at the page. "All of that for... this?"

Tyler drew in a ragged breath and picked up the translation, poring over it one last time. "A ritual for binding spirits to unborn children," he said softly, letting out a low, disbelieving whistle under his breath. "That sounds..." "Dark," I finished for him.

He nodded and threw the translation back down on the bed between us, his gaze meeting mine. "Maybe we shouldn't have snooped around," he said.

"Maybe we should burn it," I added.

Tyler chuckled. "Something tells me that that book is too... intelligent to let us burn it. Like something bad will happen if we do,"