Chapter 2. The Magic Book

A month passed, and Alexa finished one story again, and now she was going to a publishing house to apply for her book. She smiled while she walked out the door, looked at the manuscript she was carrying, and then walked to the taxi.

It took an hour before she arrived after an hour’s trip. She looked at the building and the entrance. “I’m hoping that it’s now accepted.”

Her face is full of desire for her story to succeed this time. She entered the building and went to the office of the editor. She’s now sitting in front of so many writers who are applying for their stories too. After a few hours of waiting, it is her turn to give her manuscript to the editor. She sat down in front of a woman after several hours of waiting.

She handed the story sheet to the folder she was holding. And the woman read it, this time reading the plot, characters, setting, genre, and some chapters of her story. Happiness could not be seen on the woman’s face, and at that moment, her hand was sweating because she was nervous about the result. As the woman reads her story, only her eyes move.

She took the folder after the woman read it and handed it back to her. “I’m sorry, Ms. But I can’t accept your story.” The woman’s serious statement

“But, ma’am, isn’t my story that good? I can fix it.”

The editor sighed. “Your writing style is outstanding, but your story is too common for me to accept; this time, our company is looking for something unique, with a twist to the story that is not typical, even in the romance genre; with so many books on the market, their stories are very similar to yours; therefore, if you want your story to be published, you need to make a story unusual, such as adding a twist to excite your readers. You can still come back here if you have a new story.”

She did not speak, and she was stunned to leave that building because she had hoped that her new story would be accepted now, but she failed again, and she would return home disappointed with herself. What she feels right now is visible in her eyes—sadness. But she didn’t go home right away. She went to the mall to comfort herself and not worry about what happened.

***

Lucas, the boy who lives in the magical house with Victor, is going to school. He acts like a human, but he does not show his powers, like floating in the air. He had to go to school, and he seemed to be looking for something.

“Where is it? I’m late!” he said as he rummaged through the bookshelves, but he couldn’t find what he was searching for.

He looked at his grandfather’s desk, and his eyes traveled back and forth until he found what he was looking for. In a hurry, he grabbed the wrong book because he was already late for school. So he didn’t notice that the book he got was different from the one he used in school.

Victor came out of his room and went to his desk, planning to write in the magical book again, but when he sat down and looked where he had placed it, he noticed another book and not the magical book.

His eyes narrowed at the sight. “Wait a minute, where’s the magical book? Why is there another book on my desk?” He checked the table as well as the drawers, but he really couldn’t find it.

“Where did my magical book go? I just put it here, but why isn’t it here, and why is there another book on my desk?” He wondered. He looked for it several times but could not find it, so he stopped and sat down again. “I’ll ask Lucas if he sees it later.”

***

Alexa was happily watching the kids playing on the mall’s playground. She smiled at a child waving at her because it was cute and it looked like it was only two years old. She was having so much fun at the mall that she didn’t realize that it was already night and it looked like it was going to rain, so she immediately took a taxi home before it rained.

***

On the way home, Lucas thinks to go outside the church, even though the church door was closed at that time. He is used to going there because it is quiet outside the church at night.

He sits in a chair outside the church, but as he begins to take the book out of his bag, suddenly someone calls out to the magical mirror that looks like a compact mirror.

He accidentally dropped the book on the chair rather than inside the bag, and he didn’t notice it. He opened the compact mirror, and Victor’s face appeared. “Lucas, what time is it? You haven’t come home yet.”

“I’m sorry, Grandpa, I’m at church.”

“Go home. I’ll ask you something.”

“All right, Grandpa,” Victor said, then disappeared from the mirror, and only the reflection of Lucas’ face could be seen.

When the rain began to fall, Lucas no longer noticed the book dropped on the chair, and the rain got heavier. He hurriedly walked away, but then the rain got heavier as he ran.

He’s going to meet Alexa, who is also running, on a narrow street. That time seems to slow down as the two-run, their skins almost touching.

They had already passed each other, and Alexa was forced to stop outside the church because of the heavy rain.

“Why suddenly the rain falls? Is it the rain comforting me at this moment?” she whispered, then wiped the parts of her body with a handkerchief.

The rain still did not stop for a few minutes. She sat on the chair, but as she waited for the rain to stop, she noticed a book next to her. “A book?” She grabbed it and examined it.

“It’s nice, even if it’s old.” She opened the book, and she was surprised to find nothing written inside. “So why is nothing written?” she wondered.

“Even though the book is old, why are the pages blank? But maybe I can still use it.” She’s unsure if she should get this book. It seems that the owner will not come back because it’s late, so she decided to get it.

“I’m sorry to whoever owns it; if I do not take this, the church utility might just throw it away.” She hugged it and looked up at the sky, glad that the rain had stopped and she could go home.

***

As soon as Lucas entered the house, he saw his grandfather searching through the bookshelves for something.

He shouted, “I’m already here!”

Her grandpa shifted his focus on him and suddenly stopped. “I’m glad you’re here. I have a question for you.”

“What is it, Grandpa?”

“Did you see the magical book? Maybe you played with it earlier?” Grandpa’s eyes narrowed at him.

“No, I didn’t touch the book when I gave it to you.”

Victor’s brows almost came together. “But why did the book vanish from the table? I just put it on the side of my desk, and the strange thing is, there is another book on my table.”

“But, how?”

His grandpa walked over to the table. “This is the book.” He grabbed the book, and then his grandfather turned to him.

His eyes widened because of the book his grandfather was holding. “That’s mine. I put it on the table, but I picked up another book there that I should not have taken.”

They stared at each other, and he realized that he had gotten the wrong book earlier. “Give the book back to me, Lucas.”

He opened his bag and searched for the book, but he didn’t have a book to touch inside his bag, so he became worried.

“What’s the problem?” his grandpa asked, and his face turned pale.

“It looks like the book is missing,” he whispered.

“Wait a second, I can’t hear your voice.”

He closed his eyes tightly. “It looks like the book is missing,” he mumbled.

Grandpa looked confused at him. “What! Are you saying that the book is missing? It cannot be lost because that book is not ordinary, Lucas!”

“But the book is no longer in my bag.”

His grandpa lifted his head and tried not to get angry. “Of all the things you might lose, why the Book of Destiny? Don’t you know that the people who are written about in the book might be messed up because of your carelessness?” He just bowed his head because he knew he was wrong, but while bowing his head, he remembered something dropping on the side of his church chair as he was talking to Grandpa Victor.

“It seems that I already know where the book is.”

“Where?”

“While sitting outside the church, I felt something fall on my side.”

“We’ll have to go there before the book disappears forever.”

They went there and headed to the church, but when they arrived, there was no book in any of the chairs, including Lucas’ chair, where he was sitting an hour ago.

Grandpa asked him, “Did you see?”

He shook his head and showed his disappointment with the situation. “Grandpa, it seemed like the book had already truly gone.”

Grandpa Victor’s frustration with him can be seen in his eyes. “You know that book is sacred, and I’m the only one who should be holding it, and do you know that two people will be delayed from meeting again because of what you did?”

His eyes sparkled because tears started to fall in his eyes from what Grandpa said, “I’m so sorry, Grandpa, I didn’t mean to.”

Grandpa sighed and focused his gaze on him. “In the meantime, let’s go home and think about how to find the book,” his grandpa suggested. He agreed and followed him.

***

Alexa got home and searched for Lexie as soon as she opened the door.

“Lexie, I’m here!” she said and searched inside the house, but Lexie was nowhere to be found, even in her room.

“She must have worked overtime once again.”

Before going to the kitchen and cooking her dinner, she put her things down, including the book she found on her bedroom table.

She ate and waited an hour before going to sleep. She was lying down on the bed, but sleepiness did not come to her after a few minutes of lying down and closing her eyes. She opened her eyes and saw the book on the table. She got up, took a few steps forward, and examined it.

“Who owns this?” Then she flipped through the book’s beautiful pages, and there was a feeling that she was excited to write in it. “But the question is, will the owner be able to come back to the church?” But eventually, she decided to write in the book because she felt it was necessary to do so.

“What kind of story can I write here?” She was thinking of a story while playing with the pen in her hand while she gazed at the ceiling. “Right! A high school story like what happened to me back then, and I’ll get a feel for what I had over there before,” she said, smiling as she recalled her high school memories.

Until they graduated, she liked one person. She used to secretly look at him, but she couldn’t talk to him face-to-face or express her feelings. Also, another man teased her whenever she tried to talk to the person she liked, and until they graduated, she couldn’t express her feelings for the one she loved. She just found out that person has already married now, maybe because they weren’t the ones for each other back then. And the other man, who was constantly teasing her back then, never gave any news about where he is now.

“My story was good then; I’ll just change the scenes, characters’ names, and behaviors, and I won’t include other people I have met; this time, I’ll make the heroine brave and true to herself, and she can say whatever she feels; and the male protagonist is handsome and rarely smiles and is quiet; I’ll just include other characters based on what I want to include, and I’ll just write some scenes based on my imagination, not only from in my own story.” First, she wrote down her characters on a piece of paper.

Daniella is the heroine who has the amazing freedom to say anything she wants to whoever the person is, even if they aren’t aware of it. She’s also a happy person.

William, the male protagonist, has a quiet attitude and rarely smiles at other people. The one Daniella loves.

Charice is Daniella’s rival with William, and she is the reason why William does not keep his promises to her.

Bree, Daniella’s friend, is always willing to protect her from Charice when something bad is happening to her.

As she reviewed the paper, she smiled. “I think my character is okay; I can start writing right now.” She pinned the paper to the wall and held the pen to start her new story.

By the time Alexa’s hand moved to write, that was the beginning of Daniella and William’s story.