Jamie coughed as the dust in the air hit the back of her throat. The old attic hadn’t been touched since her grandmother’s passing 5 years ago. She blinked and saw old boxes stacked haphazardly; pillars of stuff that needed to be sorted. Jamie noticed that the attic still held the scent of cloves, her grandmother’s favorite scent. She would wear it to ward off evil spirits, that’s what she had told Jamie anyway. Gran always wore a cloth pouch filled with cloves. Jamie smiled. She moved further into the room. She brushed a stack of papers and they slid down to the floor. More dust rising. “Oh boy” Jamie said. She bent down carefully to pick up the scattered papers. Her hands skimmed something cold. She moved a loose paper to reveal a dark metal box. The label read “Sapphire dust” “What could be in here? I wonder” Jamie said to herself. She lifted the latch to find a velvet lined box, smelling heavily of cloves. A blue stone lay at the bottom with a folded note. Jamie picked up the note and read:

First crush the sapphire by grinding the corner against the pumice stone. Then mix with oil of cloves. Dab onto the left earlobe to activate the magical protection spell. Use to ward off evil spirits

P.s. Remember Jamie needs the most protection of all the grandchildren. Most magical potential

“Oh Gran” Jamie thought “Always trying to protect me”. She set down the note and picked up the stone. As she held it in her palm, she felt the stone warm. Jamie noticed that a light had started to shine from the stone. It brightened gradually and spilled over the piles and shelves of her grandmother’s things. Jamie wondered if her eyes were playing tricks on her. Then she heard her Grandmother’s voice

“I always knew you would find magic one of these days”

“Gran?” Jamie called.

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This poem is directly inspired by the Tuesday Writing Prompt Challenge found here at Go Dog Go Cafe. The prompt this time was “sapphire dust”. I am working through older prompts to help spark my imagination. Tune in tomorrow to see the new challenge for this week! Photo by Kuromi Lu on Unsplash

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Liyona is an “average joe” kind of writer who likes to think about ordinary things and then write them down. Ever since she can remember, she has been rhyming words and creating lyric poems. During her college years, she took a more serious bent toward writing and started to post on her blog (The Life and Times of a Quirky Character.) Currently, she resides on the East Coast of the United States just north of the country’s capital.