Dream state? Asked Penny to herself in her mind. She had initially thought to ask father Antonio about it but she never came to ask after realizing that the man didn't know about it. To instigate dreams took skill and if one didn't follow the protocol there was no saying what would happen to the person's mind. Because there was a possibility of the present memories being wiped out.
"No," she heard Damien object over the suggestion which Alexander proposed, "Penny can take her time in finding the memories. None of us are in a hurry to know what happened in the past," he knew the consequences in meddling with fate, especially the current situation where Penny's mind was delicate. Before it was only during sleep which was rare that she experienced the flashback but right now even the shortest duration of time the memories would come to leak out but they were never in the whole picture.
"It is just a suggestion," Lord Alexander raised the glass he held in his hand, taking a sip from it.
"I can wait," Penny nodded her head. As much as she wanted to unfurl and know where and what had happened all these years, she didn't want to feel overwhelmed if she were to unlock the memories which would end up flooding through her mind. It would have the ability to break her emotions which she had been holding on to and she wasn't ready for it.
She could only hope her mother could disappear and they would never come to meet ever again. To never cross paths with each other but that was far from it. She needed mental peace before she would delve into anything.
"Then there is no rush. You can instead concentrate on creating the spells," he raised his glass to her, "I have an old copy of my mother. It isn't in the study room," this got her attention. Another book which she had not seen?
"What is it about?" she asked Alexander with her curious eyes looking at the Lord. Was it another book of spells? Or was it a book of potions? Or maybe a journal over the past of the white witches.
"It is about this," he pulled out the chain which he wore. Showing the cross where the blood-red stone sparkled very lightly in the presence of the fireplace in front of them. "It speaks on how to create charm stones."
"Oh," the excitement slightly went down as she already knew about to create some of the charm stones which she had seen in the church but they weren't done abundantly.
A faint smile was seen on his face, "Did you know that what the church is creating is only the synthetic version of the real stones?"
Penny blinked at him, "What?"
"It isn't real stones what they are creating, they are stones that only mimic and are made to fool people."
So all this while what she had been learning had been nothing but artificial stones?
"Why would they do that?" Damien asked himself curious about the witches who were creating them, "Do the people in the church know about it?"
Alexander completed the drink in his hand, placing the glass to the side and leaned back thinking about it, "I don't think the witches are aware of it. This generation of witches. It is very similar to what you did with the black witches. Giving out wrong information so that they believe it is true and go ahead with it. You should read it, Penelope," he said to her.
When the book was brought to her, Penny flipped through the first page and went through the pages. It was true. The composition which was used to create the charm stones was completely different from what was there in here.
"You never went to make one?" Penny asked Alexander looking up from the book she was reading.
"I never had enough resources to make one for myself and I already have one," he said pointing the cross that he was wearing right now that never left his neck, "My mother had only a few potions which she could make while most of it you will find in that church of yours which you have been working. With the nameless labels on the potions which are in the secret room, no one would be able to make one. Even if they were able to do it, it would result in bad luck. There's a little tale behind the book. Open it," he urged her.
Staring at him, she looked back down. Turning the book around she started to flip the pages from the backside. One after another empty page before she reached the last written page. The words were written down there read,
'Careful with the water, careful with the colored water. Never to add more and never to add less unless you want to bring yourself misery over your lack of conduct.'
It was a very few words that sounded more like a warning.
She then heard Damien say, "What about some of the pureblooded vampires or humans who have been wearing the stones. Are they just a hoax?"
"Maybe. Most of the pureblooded vampires do not wear the stones, it is just some of them. Some believe it to be fake and useless while some know-how malicious the stone can turn out to be. The humans, however, take it for luck, sometimes receiving it as a piece of the gift which in truth the gifter has ill intention if it is another human. Very few mean good luck while the rest will wish for your bad luck."
"How do we know then? If the stone is genuine or if it is artificially made or has the elements of bad luck in it?" Penny questioned Lord Alexander wanting to know more about it.
"Now that is the trick. It is the white witch who creates the charm stones and it is the black witch who you verify it with, because of their free access to the forbidden magic," Alexander replied to her burning question.