“I think you mean Sly and Z,”remarkedSly.
“Well, the order isn’t important, only the awesomeness,”counteredZ.
“Excellent point, Z,”saidSly.
“If you two start talking about yourselves in third person, then I might have to go back into the other room and get that noose,” Annaquipped.
“But which one would you use it on?” asked Jewel. “There’s only the onenoose.”
“True, and they’re equally annoying. But I’m sure there’s another instrument of torture around here we can use on thesecondone.”
Jewel started to respond but stopped when her finger landed on a book and, unsurprisingly, she felt a tingle. She kept her finger on the spine, and the book began to grow warm. She tried to pull her hand away, but she couldn’t move it. Instead, she grasped the spin and easily slid the book from the shelf. A layer of dust came off with it, and she coughed as it blew in her face. She looked at the cover and read the title.The True History ofWitches.
“What did you say?” Annaasked.
“I was reading the title of this book.” Jewel stood and turned to show the others. They walked over and crowded close, staring at the ancient tome. The book was still warm, and her hands shook as she clutched ittightly.
“Are you okay?” Slyasked.
She nodded. “I just, I don’t know. I feel compelled to open this book, and the feeling doesn’t seem like it’s coming from within. I’ve been persuaded by outside forces before, and it usually ends up being hazardous to myhealth.”
“At this point, I don’t think there is much of anything thatisn’thazardous to your health,” Z offered. “You are in the business of converting normal women into witches destined to serve a dark fae. Nothing about that can possibly behealthy.”
“Thanks for the pep talk, coach,” Anna said dryly. Then to Jewel she added, “Do you want me toopenit?”
Jewel nodded and handed the book to Anna. She was surprised the other healer was actually able to take it from her, considering Jewel’s hand had felt locked to the book when it was resting on theshelf.
Anna frowned. “It’swarm.”
Jewel nodded but didn’t sayanything.
Letting out a resigned sigh, Anna gently but unceremoniously opened the cover. There was the title page, repeating the words,The True History of Witches.She turned the page, expecting to find some sort of table of contents, maybe, or an introduction, but was met with a page full ofhandwrittentext.
Jewel frowned. “Where are the pages? It looks like something’s missing. Look there.” She pointed to the inner binding, where small, ripped pieces of paper in the inside crack of the book indicated that several pages had beentornaway.
“And why?” asked Anna. “What was so important about those pages that someone took the time to tearthemout?”
Sly reached for the book, but when his hand made contact with the cover, the text covering the open page instantlydisappeared.
“Whoa!” He pulled his hand back. The text immediatelyreturned.
Jewel’s eyes widened as she looked from the book to Anna, to Sly, and then back to the book. It wasn’t until she looked down at the pages again that she realized the text was in an unknown language, totally unreadabletoher.
“Did anyone else find that a bit alarming?” Sly asked as he wiped his hand on his pants, as if the book had somehow left a physical taintonhim.
Jewel thought that might be a realpossibility.
“Mated to a werewolf,” Anna said, raising her hand. “And her, too.” She pointed to Jewel. “Alarming is a relative term now.” She flipped through more of the pages and started shaking her head. “I can’t read any of this, Jewel,” she said glancing up. “Canyou?”
“No, I don’t even recognize the language,” the geniusadmitted.
They heard a throat clearing behind them. Z grabbed the book as he turned and handed it behind his back to Sly. Jewel stepped to the side so she was just behind Sly as he held the book back to her, and she slipped it into the side pocket of the backpack he was wearing. All of it was so smooth it might have beenchoreographed.
“The museum will be closing in ten minutes,” a woman said from the doorway. She wasn’t the one who had initially greeted them upon their arrival. “You can come back tomorrow and finish the tour ifyou’dlike.”
Jewel knew if they were stealing the book, the last thing they needed to do was come back tomorrow. But was the book the only interesting thing they’d find here? Should they chance it and come back to look at the rest? Surely the curators wouldn’t notice the missing book thisevening.
“If our time in town allows, we certainly will,” she said before anyone else could respond. Jewel didn’t want it to seem suspicious if they returned at a later date. Did her response make them look more or less guilty? Her brain was working overtime since seeing the text in the book disappear and then reappear … in a language she couldn’t recognize. Had it been written in Old English? She couldn’t sayforsure.
