Finally, though, Laurent drew them back to the task at hand. “We should get to work.”
Upon this signal, Gabriel and Anna cleared the table, leaving only the tea service, then left, closing the door behind them. They must have been told to give them privacy for what comes next.
“You truly know how to open the book?” Tag asked.
“I will show you. It is a closely kept secret within theGardiens, but if we wish to make headway, I have no choice.”
Sharyn still didn’t understand why this was necessary, but she had no intention of discouraging this revelation. Regardless of the terror and bloodshed that had brought them all here, she could not dismiss the raw curiosity that ached through her. Aboard the van, they perused a detailed biography on Saint-Germain that Laurent had printed out, which filled in much more of the alchemist’s history—or at least, what was known. She had spent the long drive lost in the man’s story, which only whetted her desire to know more.
Laurent leaned down, retrieved his case from the floor, and placed it on the table. “Ms. Karr, if you could pass me Saint-Germain’s diary.”
“Of course.”
She stood and shifted her crossbody bag around. She yanked the waterproof zipper and slipped out the book, still wrapped in the original cloth from when Professor Wright had thrust this responsibility upon her. As she set it on the table, the others gathered close. She drew back the folds of cloth to reveal the book’s scarred leather binding, the bands of copper, and the locking box embedded with the crystal orb.
As she did, Laurent dialed in a code on his hardshell case, then snapped it open. He lifted the lid to reveal a built-in computer, with keyboard and screen. Smaller leather boxes were aligned to one side, one of which Laurent took out and placed on the table.
The Frenchman then dropped both palms to either side of the book.
“It took five decades of study to learn how to safely open this, especially after Saint-Germain’s warning about its incendiary nature.”
Duncan frowned. “You said the alchemist soaked the pages in some flammable oils. Was this ever confirmed?”
“Indeed.”
“What sort of compound was it?” Tag asked, clearly intrigued from his biochemistry background.
“We don’t truly know,” Laurent admitted. “It’s a bit of alchemy that still defies us. After opening the book, an archivist took a small sample of a page, no larger than a pea. It was run through spectroscopy, electrophoresis, chromatography, and other methods of study. All that could be determined was that the chemical was somehow inseparably bonded to the very fibers of the page, which made elemental analysis so challenging.”
Naomi squinted down at the mystery sitting on the table. “Did you perform any other tests?”
“Oui.A few. But we had to be very cautious. The group once tried to x-ray the book, to better understand how it was constructed. When we did, the volume started to heat up. We believe the radiation excited something within its structure, as if this attempt to peer inside without permission risked setting it afire.”
Sharyn inwardly cringed, picturing all the jostling and abuse the book had taken to bring it here. They could’ve inadvertently destroyed it.
Laurent continued. “This brief attempt did offer some insight into the diary’s structure. We learned how its binding is run through with fine metallic filaments, a copper amalgam. Again, a strange fusion we don’t quite understand, one involving mercury. We’ve been unable to replicate it in our labs. Still, we’re fairly certain the filaments are involved in igniting and destroying the volume. In fact, microscopic fibrils of the same metal run through many of the book’s pages.”
“Insidethe paper?” Duncan asked.
“At the molecular level.”
Archie frowned. “How could they have done this in the past, with the level of tech at the time?”
Sharyn pictured the astrological symbols—formed of gold and silver—embedded within the crystal orb. She suspected those metals were similarly unique.
Though, I’m fairly certain of one detail concerning them...
Laurent continued, addressing Archie’s question. “Do not dismiss the technological capabilities of our forefathers. Even today, we continue to debate how the Egyptian pyramids were built. Or how the Mayans developed such a sophisticated calendar. My master’s thesis when I pursued my degree in archaeology was on early scientific innovations of ancient peoples. Many examples of which show how knowledge can be discovered, only to be lost again.”
“Like with Damascus steel,” Naomi noted.
Laurent pointed at her. “Exactly.”
Sharyn turned to her friend, who had clearly studied along similar lines in pursuing her own degree.
“Damascus is an exceptionally hard steel,” Naomi explained. “It had been produced for more than eleven centuries. Then in one generation, the method of its manufacture was lost.”
“And there are many other examples.” Laurent ticked them off. “The recipe to make Greek Fire, an incendiary weapon used in ancient times, remains a mystery. We still don’t know how to produce the resilient Roman concrete used to build the Colosseum and Pantheon. There is an iron pillar in Delhi that refuses to rust, but we don’t know why and attempts to replicate its properties have all failed.”
