“The Queen I don’t know,” said Erin, “But my master, my master is good with Spirits.”

“Spirits?” Lane asked, “Doesn’t he have the reveal this winter?”

“Yes,” she said, “But he can already channel part of their energy. And at this point, there is not a single doubt he will succeed in linking.”

That brought a stop to the conversation as the group stood frozen, staring at the small Lady in shock.

“No doubt?” asked Dahlia after collecting herself, “There is always a chance for it to fail.” She said.

“Not when you can already manifest the spirit,” She said smiling, her eye in a squint, “His reveal is practically a fact at this point, and he only needs the winter for it to come through completely.”

“That’s… That’s ridiculous!” Said Lane, “There has been no one in the kingdom able to manifest without linking since, since…”

“Say it,” Said Erin, and now her smile was a full grin.

“Since the First King.” Finished Lena. And Lane trembled, as a shiver ran upwards his back.

“But my master can,” Said Erin looking at them one by one, “He has been doing it for a whole month already.”

“That’s no good,” Said Dahlia, “With that kind of talent there is no way the shards are going to sit still and wait for it to bloom.”

And Erin’s smile faded as quickly as it had appeared.

“Do you see now?” She asked looking at the table, “Why your Father swore on his life? I am not that close to the Queen to understand her motives but... But there is no doubt about her trust in them,” She said looking at the teens again, “She entrusted the life of her only child to both of them, The Shield and The Sword.”

The words lingered in the air, letting their weight drop on the group as their meaning became clearer.

“Then us…” Said Dahlia.

“Yes, My Lady,” Cut Erin, “You three, and me, are the ones she picked to share on that link. The twins of The Sword and the daughter of the Shield. Will you stand to it?”

“Absolutely,” Said Dahlia standing up and putting her right hand to her heart with the siblings following soon after. As he put his hand in his heart, however, Lane could not help but feel the book, weighing on his back more than it had in the whole day.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

As they dined, Hans and other servants loitered around, carrying various dishes. So over the food, the group only talked about meaningless stuff. Finally, when they finished eating, Erin excused herself saying she needed to wake up early to receive her master and the other girls accompanied her.

After a bath, Lane found himself with his hair still wet, wearing pajamas, and finally alone in his room. Besides his bed, the only furniture was an old desk, a single chair, and a chest he used to store his stuff. A single candle lit the room as Lane sat before his desk, staring at the book.

The small book still felt heavy, soft, and cold at the same time. He played with it a little by moving it to different angles before the candle. Albeit darker, his reflection was perfect and he could see his face, painted in the cover in sharp lines and dancing at the rhythm of the flames.

The circle in the middle shone clear and white as if lit by a manna stone instead of a candle. It feels almost alive. Lane thought as he swiped his hand over the circle. Taking a deep breath, Lane turned one last time to check the door, and when he saw it locked, he opened the book.

Four short lines greeted him, written in neat cursive right behind the cover.

‘Thou whom 'i knowledge seek truth

best be wary of friendly looks.

For the temple is aye watching

and its' hounds are e’vr hunting.’

“Tch,” Lane pursed his lips. Leaving aside the warning about a random temple, the old script passing for a language was already enough to make him frown. Doesn’t matter, he thought, this is for the reveal, do it for the reveal.

So he took a page and checked it. Unlike the books from the library, this one’s pages were so thin he couldn’t count them. Still, the sheet felt firm and its color was a pristine white, clearer even than the paper the City Lord used for his letters.

Oddly, the last thing he noticed was the smell. Although unwillingly, Lane had spent enough time trapped in the Library with the tutors that he could recognize the scent of old paper stacked together for ages. And if Lane knew something about books, it was that this book didn’t smell like a book at all, or at least, not like an old one should.

He licked his lips, his expectations growing with each quirk of the small book, and passed the page. However, what he found was only a blank sheet.

So he passed the page, again, and again. Blank, blank, and blank. By the fourth page, he was flipping them without care, but no matter how many pages he passed, only blank sheets appeared.

“Fuck,” He said, “Did that old man lied?”

But he still remembered the scent of burning manna, the grasp on his shoulder, and the fire on his eyes. No, He thought shaking his head, there is no reason for him to lie, so there must be something here I am not seeing.

So he took the pages in a pack and pressed them to make them flip faster and see if something changed. However, when he reached the middle of the book, a page swiped his finger leaving a thin red line.

“Ah!” Said Lane dropping the book. As he checked his finger, he realized the cut was deeper than it appeared and his blood had splashed all over the pages. “No, no. no. no…”

He stood ran for his chest and took a hand towel, but when he looked at the book again, it was clean. The pages white without the slightest trace of red.

“What in the spirits?” He wrapped his finger with the towel and started checking the book from the beginning.

The back cover was unchanged. Finally, when he passed the page he found a single line of text greeted him.

‘What doth thou seek?’

“What… What do I want?” He read. And the words flickered, blinking like the sunrays on a shifty river. Then it flashed, blinding Lane for a moment. When his sight came back, there was still a single line of text, only that this time he recognized the words immediately.

‘What do you want?’

“This,” Lane said, Is this an artifact? No way! “Y-you, what are you?” He asked.

This time there was no flash, no flickering, and no blinding light. The words vanished and in their place appeared three dots, blinking in and out of view in sequence. After Lane counted three cycles, new words replaced the dots.

‘A Book.’

“Ha, how very clever of you,” Lane said with a sneer, “Then tell me, book, are you alive?”

‘No’

“Uh? Don’t you have, you know, a spirit or something?”

‘No’

“Come on, Book, give me something to work with, what can you do?”

And the Book started playing its’ dots again. This time Lane counted 9 complete cycles before words showed up.

‘Show?’

“Show,” Lane asked, “What do you mean to show?”

The page turned blank and then, in the middle, a big red circle appeared with a word in white letters in its middle.

‘Accept’

Below the circle, once more the Book wrote.

‘Show?’

“Hmm, ok, you can show me, Book,” Lane said. But nothing happened. “What are you waiting for? Show me, I accept!”

The page went blank save for the annoying three dots, This is ridiculous, Lane thought. But just when he was about to close the book and be done with it until he talked to the old man again, the page shifted.

This time, there was still a big red circle in the middle of the page. However, two red arrows framed it and pointed at it. The word in the circle was also different as this time it said:

‘Push to accept’

Finally, and to Lane’s surprise, right below the circle was a set of pictures, showing a stick man putting one hand on what Lane suspected was an open book.

“Oh,” Lane said and extended his hand towards the red circle, but stopped for a moment, this should be ok? Maybe I should ask my teacher before trying something else…

But before Lane pulled away, the Book sprouted a bunch of tiny teeth and closed on its own, chomping Lane’s hand.