Frowning, I swiftly leafed through the tome, haphazardly stopping here and there to look at random pages. They were all blank.
Letting the book fall open to its center, I leaned back, trying to make sense of the situation. Assuming the librarian knew why I was here (and to be honest, I wasn’t sure that she did), why would she give me a blank book? For that matter, why would anyone make such a spectacular item and just leave it barren?
Of course, it was possible that someone had intended to write something on the pages by hand and had simply never gotten around to it. Or maybe the words were written in invisible ink or something. Or maybe…
I groaned in exasperation. There were quite a few reasons why the book might have — or appear to have — blank pages. At the moment, however, I wasn’t sure if this book was even what I needed to help me figure out what Cerek’s clues meant.
Now vexed, I reached out, preparing to close the book and seek some other way to do the necessary research. My hand froze just as I touched the tome and my mouth almost fell open. Shockingly, words were appearing on the page, and the first one — positioned on the page like a heading — was “MOUSES.”
Chapter 43
For all intents and purposes, the book essentially acted like a published version of an internet search. It focused on the topic at hand (which I presume it somehow extracted from my mind) and produced page after page of related information.
By my estimate, it took maybe fifteen minutes of reading through the book’s references on “Mouses” to find the information I was looking for. When I did, I simply sat there in shock for a moment as the implications hit me. If I had truly figured out Cerek’s clue (and I believed that I had), then I knew who the murderer was.
That said, there was still a chance that I was wrong. More to the point, if I was wrong, a misstep at this juncture would just tip the killer off. No, I needed to be absolutely certain I was right before pointing the finger at anyone in particular.
Unfortunately, there was no way to establish the facts with any degree of certainty — not without more information. And then I almost laughed out loud. I had more information.
Or rather, I had a way to get more information: Kleop — the other clue I had received from Cerek.
Still chuckling to myself regarding my blatant oversight, I stared at a blank page of the book and started focusing on the topic I had in mind. As before, words began forming, this time with “KLEOP” as the heading.
However, words had barely begun forming on the page before I felt something like a small tremor pass through the library, rattling furniture and bookcases to a small extent. Without being told, I knew what had happened.
A few moments later, Rune appeared, sporting a gravely serious expression. He merely looked at me, without saying anything. On my part, I simply gave him a nod, indicating I was ready. A second later, we vanished.
Chapter 44
We popped up in what was probably a hallway on some blueprint of the castle, but it was hard to tell with the naked eye because the walls had been blasted to rubble for a hundred feet in every direction. It was obviously the handiwork of the killer, once again eliminating the possibility of the crime scene being reverse engineered.
I looked around to get a quick head count. In addition to Rune and myself, others present included Endow, Mariner, and Static. That meant…
“Pinion?” I said, directing my question at Rune.
“Yeah,” Rune stated with a nod. “He’s gone.”
His words seemed to echo around us, sullen reminders not only of the fact that we’d lost someone else, but that the killer was still among us.
Now that the subject had been brought to mind, I glanced at the person I believed to be the murderer. The suspect looked no less troubled or concerned about Pinion’s death than anyone else. However, that didn’t necessarily mean anything. The killer had played the role of grieving friend through two prior deaths; it was probably old hat at this point.
“So, Rune, is the third time the charm?” Static asked, cutting into my thoughts. “Have we had enough deaths to convince you that we need the Kroten Yoso Va?”
“If we keep dying at this rate, we won’t need it,” Mariner noted. “The killer will be the last man standing.”
“Regardless, I still say using it now would be premature,” Rune shot back.
The conversation between the Incarnates then turned into a bickering session that was almost a repeat of the earlier discussion, with Static calling for use of the Kroten Yoso Va and Rune rebuffing his arguments.
Having heard this topic discussed previously, I tuned them out for the most part. Although I personally agreed with Static, I didn’t like the idea of publicly opposing Rune on the subject (not to mention the fact that no one had asked my opinion), so I kept my thoughts to myself.
At that point, the squabbling came to a hard stop with Rune abruptly announcing, “This conversation’s over.”
Moments later, we were back in our suite.
Chapter 45
We appeared in the living room. Rune, with a scowl etched on his features, was obviously still dwelling on the discussion he’d just had. Thinking he might want a few minutes to himself, I excused myself and was about to teleport to my apartment when he called out.
“Hey,” he began, “I’m sorry you had to hear us quarreling like that.”
“Not a big deal,” I assured him. “However, I did have one question.”
“Go for it,” Rune said.
“Well, you guys keep talking about using the Kroten Yoso Va,” I stated, “but you told me that you left it.”
“I remember,” Rune declared with a
