“Three pages,” I repeated.
“I know,” she said.“Are you ready, Card?”
“I am.Brogan, put the glasses back on first.Let me see if they are damaged.”
I did.“Good?”
“Good.Lula?”
“I’m picking up the book.”She held it carefully in her hands and squared off in front of me.“I’m opening the cover.”
I nodded, took a deep breath.I had no idea how far we’d gotten into the book, but somehow Lula did.She opened the cover and several pages at the same time.The page she opened too was not one I’d seen before.
“Three,” I said.
A soft wind brushed across my skin, and moonlit petals filled the space.
“Nice,” Card said, “but not a lost god spell.”
“Two.”
Lu turned the page.There were words there, all of them squirming and thrashing like worms caught in a blow torch.
“No,” Card said.
“One,” I said.
Lu turned the page.
The page was covered from corner to corner in black ink, the words written in a tight, precise script.
No other magics or sensations radiated off of the page.It just looked like ink on paper.
“Break time,” I said.
“No,” Card’s voice was thready with excitement.“Stay there.Don’t close the book.I think that might be what we’re looking for.”
Lu looked up at me.“Can you read it?”
I focused on the text.It wasn’t a language I’d ever seen before, but I knew how it would sound if I spoke each word.
“I can.I think so.I don’t know what it says, though.Don’t know what kind of spell it is.Card, you got some insight on this?”
“I can’t see god power attached to it.Not active.I can’t sense the god who made it.This is a lost god spell.I think it is.”
“Think?”Lu and I said at the same time.
“I know magic,” he said, “but I’ve never seen a spell from a lost god.But this…this could be it.”
“How do we know?”Abbi asked.“How do we know for sure?”
“Brogan and Lula cast it,” Card said.
The silence was unsettling, then I couldn’t help it, I snorted.“Fuck.All right.I need a drink of water first, and another cup of coffee.Lu, do you think you can find this page again?”
“I can.”
“Let’s put it back in the box.”
