Page 11 of The Evil Twin
The curator carefully lifted the book out from the box and placed it in the cradle, setting the spine along the base of the V so that the sides of the book were supported when it was opened. The spine creaked as he opened the cover, and the yellowed pages crackled.
“No eating, no drinking, no naked flames,” he said. “Don’t even breathe directly on the book if you can help it.”
“Understood,” I said. I mean, he’d really driven his point home. Mr Subtlety, he was not.
“And do not let that thing anywhere near the text, do you understand?”
I thought he meant Hamish for a moment, but he pointed toward the pocket where I kept the lodestone. I wasn’t sure what harm a little rock could do to an old book, but he was the expert. I nodded.
“If anything damages the book, come and get me right away. Don’t try to hide it. I will know.” He glared at me. His blue eyes were so pale they seemed silver, and for a moment, I felt hypnotized.
I really wanted to ask if he was a vampire, but wasn’t sure it would be polite.
“Sure,” I said. I hesitated a moment before asking, “So, what exactly is this book?”
His glare turned from hypnotic to withering, then he sighed, as if he was stupid for expecting better.
“This book is a transcription of a series of scrolls believed to have been rescued from the library of Alexandria. It details several magical artifacts, such as that stone you have, how and why they were created, and how they should best be used.”
I nodded. “So, literally a handy user manual for my stone.”
He rolled his eyes. “Yes. ‘A handy user manual for your stone’. Please do try not to destroy anything.”
I took the seat at the desk, and the curator backed away, not taking his eyes off me until he bumped into a shelf of books and had to either stay there watching me from the shadows or go back to his desk. I was honestly surprised he didn’t decide to just sit with me while I read, but I got the feeling he wanted to be as far from the lodestone as possible.
Because it was in the cradle, I had to sit up super straight and crane my neck to see the book. I rearranged myself so I was partially kneeling on the chair, then, carefully, I turned the first page of the book.
CHAPTER FIVE
I’d wondered why Althea had never mentioned this ancient text full of lost wisdom; surely she knew about it, even if she hadn’t read it. But as soon as I hit the first page, I realized why. Firstly, it was written in tiny, cramped handwritten letters. Secondly, it was in Latin. Probably. I didn’t actually know Latin, but that was what people wrote stuff in back in the old days, wasn’t it? The letters seemed more or less the same as the alphabet I knew, so it wasn’t in hieroglyphs or runes or something, but I had about as much chance of understanding it either way.
I glanced around. The curator was nowhere to be seen, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t lurking in the shadows. Or had some kind of nanny-cam set up for his books. He hadn’t explicitly told me not to use my phone around the book, but I doubted he’d approve. Still, he must’ve known I couldn’t understand Latin, right?
I wasn’t sure, but I didn’t have much choice. I pulled out my phone and loaded up my translation app. It was going to take forever, scanning each page to see if it was relevant, but if it gave me a step-by-step guide to using the lodestone, it would be worth it.
It was chilly and uncomfortable down there, especially perched weirdly on the chair like I was, but I didn’t want to take a break to get the feeling back in my knees or go grab a sweater. I didn’t trust that the curator would give me access to the book a second time, especially if he knew I’d exposed it to radiation from my phone or whatever.
So, I kept on. Carefully turn a page, place the weighted string, aim my phone, and wait for it to translate, realize it wasn’t relevant, pick up the string, and repeat. Assuming the book had a hundred pages – it was definitely more, but for the sake of easy math – and it took around a minute per page – it was definitely longer, the app was super slow all the way down in this book dungeon – then I’d be there for a few hours at least. My belly rumbled, but I ignored it and kept on. Turn the page, place the string, translate the text, over and over.
There was some super interesting stuff in this book, but I didn’t have time to be diverted by it. I thought Hannah would probably give her right arm for some of the rituals, and occasionally I’d screenshot the translation if something sounded particularly awesome.
When I finally got to it, I almost skipped the page. It was headed “nexum e cursus”, which I just assumed would be about a curse of some sort, which wasn’t helpful to me, but my app started translating before I could move the string and turn the page, and as soon as it did, I realized I’d found what I was looking for.
“Cursus” wasn’t anything to do with a curse, it was course, or journey, like the “lode” in lodestone; and nexum was the same as nexus, like a coming together, a convergence. I sat back on my heels, giving my body a break for a moment while I thought about what that meant.
A meeting of different paths? Like a crossroads? Maybe. But how did that relate to the power of the stone?
My neck cracked in protest as I sat up to crane over the book again, but I couldn’t stop now that I was so close.
It was hard going. The translation app worked fine to get a gist of what the text was about, but it got a little confused when it came to the details. There were about five pages in total about the lodestone, then it moved on to an entry about a talking tree, which sounded awesome but not helpful.
I made sure the flash was off in my camera app and photographed the pages about the lodestone carefully, making sure every word was legible in the photos. I screenshotted the translations as well, but figured it was best to have the original so I could get a more accurate translation when I was out of there.
I’d barely made it halfway through the book, and I just bet there was a bunch more awesome stuff, but now that I had what I needed, I realized my body was screaming at me. It wanted the bathroom, food, and sleep, in that order. Then maybe a massage.
I flicked through my camera roll one more time, just to make sure everything was clear enough to read, then carefully closed the book and stood up. My legs were like jelly after kneeling for all that time, so I bounced up and down for a minute to get the feeling back into them. Probably, I shouldn’t make any sudden movements near the book, either, but I was going to face-plant otherwise.
I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find my way back to the curator’s desk, but it was surprisingly easy, as he’d put an extra lamp out at each turn. I hadn’t expected him to be so thoughtful, but maybe he just didn’t want me lost among his precious books.
