“Tell me what happened when you opened the book.”
“Lula opened it.I can’t touch it.She flipped through the pages.”
“What spells did you see?”
“I couldn’t…” I stopped to gather my thoughts.“It wasn’t like a list of words, or a recipe.I saw concepts, power twisted into theories, magic forced into methods beyond my understanding.”
“You saw more than one page?”
“I think so.”
“Think?”
“I lost track.”
“Which means?”
“Abbi said my soul left my body.”
“Ah.”He sat back and drank again.“It’sthatkind of power.Don’t worry, I didn’t expect it to be easy, we’ll find a way into it.Could you see any words at all?”
“No.”
“That’s where we’ll focus.What about Lula?”
“What about her?”
“Did the book fight her?Was holding it heavy?Did it freeze, burn, try to fly out of her hands?”
“I don’t know.Lu?”
She stepped out of the kitchen.At her smile, my heart beat double time.
“I was listening.”She sat next to me, the cup of tea—mint and licorice—cupped between her palms.
“Tell me what happened when you held it,” Card said.“Was it heavy or hot?Did it try to escape your grip?”
She frowned, as if trying to drag up old memories.“At first, it just seemed like a book.When I unlocked it, the pages were blank.There was nothing on them.”
“There was,” I said.“There is.”
“Not that I could see.But after I turned the pages, it was…I don’t know how to explain it.It was aware of me.Like I wasn’t holding a book, but instead some kind of…intelligence.Some kind of creature.It did not like being trapped.”
The silence stretched out.
I wasn’t sure how to respond.In the very brief encounters I’d had with the book, it had lashed out and quickly put me in my place.I’d always sensed a kind of awareness in it.But an intelligence?
“Do you think there is something living trapped in there?”Card asked like this was a normal thing to discuss over after-dinner coffee.“A soul, a demon, a god?”
“For fuck’s sake,” I groaned.“That’s just what we need.”
Lu shook her head.“It’s not…I can’t fit it into a category that makes any sense.I’ve never felt anything like it before, and I’ve been around a lot of magical items.”
“Good enough.I’ll see what comes up in research.Ricky has the Crossroads looking into everything it can find about the book.I have a few sources I can ask.The Walches offered their library and archives.If nothing turns up, we’ll proceed with ample caution.
“When do you want to start?”
“Tomorrow,” I said.Lu huffed a breath, then nodded.
