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Halizanth nodded, her braid coming loose in a cloud of chestnut curls. “Yes! That is, I recently came into possession of a rather unusual grimoire, and I was hoping you might be able to help me . . .”
“Oh, my. An unusual grimoire, you say? Well, we simply must get you sorted, then. Come, let’s make our way to the café. I’m sure we can find a cozy nook to examine it in.”
They settled at a wrought iron table in the conservatory, the sunlight filtering through the glass overhead, casting dappled patterns on the ancient stonework. The wraithwolf pup nuzzled Halizanth’s hand, and she let out a soft sigh as she stroked its misty fur. “This place is absolutely enchanting. I could get lost in here for hours. Not that I don’t already spend far too long in my own shop, but there’s something so . . . restorative about this space. It’s no wonder the people of Luminara are already flocking to it.”
Illyria beamed at her. “That was the goal. A place where magic and wonder can be celebrated, free of the constraints of the Lyceum or the more commercialized shops in the city. Now, show me this grimoire of yours. You said it had some rather unusual properties?”
Halizanth withdrew the grimoire from her satchel, handling it with care as she set it on the wrought iron table. “It’s a rather unassuming volume, I know, but there’s something . . . special about it, all the same. I only noticed the peculiarities after it came into my possession, you see.”
Illyria’s eyes widened as she took in the grimoire’s tattered cover and faded sigils. “Oh, my. This is quite the find, Halizanth. May I?” At Halizanth’s nod, she opened the book, and scanned the pages. “You mentioned some sort of . . . enchantment?”
Halizanth fidgeted with the edge of her braid, her words tumbling out in a rush. “Well, no, not exactly. But there’s something about the book that drew the attention of the unknown. I can’t quite explain it. It just feels like there’s some hidden value to it, waiting to be unlocked. Despite the way it’s marked with pencil on every fifth letter, as you can see . . .”
Ilyria’s brow furrowed as she examined the pencil markings. “Fascinating. May I . . . ?”
Halizanth nodded, and Illyria began to read the text out loud, her voice lilting with an ancient, long-forgotten cadence. She’s a professor, after all, Halizanth thought. She’s probably seen a thousand grimoires just like this one. But even so, there was a thrill that raced down Halizanth’s spine at the thought of the mysteries held within.
Illyria read the passage aloud, and when she finished, she closed the book with a soft thud. “Beautifully written, but fairly standard. A summoning incantation, it seems. Nothing too out of the ordinary. Let’s see what else we have here . . .”
They pored over the grimoire together, the afternoon stretching into evening as they examined its contents. Illyria’s insights were invaluable, her knowledge of ancient elven rituals and the arcane far surpassing Hali’s. But despite their best efforts, the book’s secrets remained stubbornly out of reach.
“Perhaps it’s been warded against magical detection,” Illyria mused, her fingertips tracing a sigil on the page. “A common safeguard in tomes of this nature, to prevent prying eyes from uncovering forbidden knowledge.”
Hali’s heart sank, but she refused to give up. “Is there nothing we can do? No spell that might reveal what’s been hidden?”
Illyria’s eyes sparkled. “There are a few tricks I know. Here, let me show you.”
She guided Hali through a series of detection spells, the air humming with magic as Hali followed her incantations. They tried everything, from revealing illusions to detecting lingering enchantments, but each time, the pages of the grimoire remained unchanged.
Hali’s shoulders slumped. “I was certain that would work. I mean, it had to be something, didn’t it?”
Illyria’s smile never wavered. “You’re quite the determined little thing, aren’t you? I can see why Tiberon speaks so highly of you. But sometimes, the simplest answer is the correct one. This grimoire, as fascinating as it is, may not hold the secrets you seek.”
“I suppose you’re right. Perhaps I was hoping for something that wasn’t there.” She sighed, disappointment settling in. “It was a foolish thought.”
Illyria’s gaze softened, and she reached across the table to pat Hali’s hand. “Not foolish, my dear. Merely hopeful. And there’s nothing wrong with that. The pursuit of knowledge often requires a certain level of . . . romanticism, if you will.”
Hali’s eyes widened. “Romanticism?”
Illyria’s own eyes sparkled with an idea. “Indeed. The greatest discoveries are often made when one is willing to look beyond the surface, to see the world not as it is, but as it could be. Now, tell me, have you ever heard of a book cipher?”
Hali shook her head, and Illyria’s smile widened. “It’s a rather clever little trick, one that’s been used for centuries by spies, scholars, and the like. The concept is quite simple, really. Rather than containing the coded message itself, the book is used as a key to decrypt it.”
Hali leaned in, her curiosity piqued. “But how does it work?”
Illyria’s smile was positively mischievous now. “Say you and I wished to exchange secret messages. I would select a book that we both had in our possession, and we would agree upon a key—perhaps a certain word on a certain page. To encode our message, we would then write down the page number, line number, and word number that corresponded to the key, and then jot down the corresponding letter in the message. The result is an indecipherable jumble of numbers that only the holder of the key book could use to decrypt the message.”
Hali’s mind whirled with the possibilities. “So you’re saying that the grimoire might be the key to unlocking the coded message, rather than the message itself?”
“Precisely. It doesn’t hold the secret message, it merely provides the means to unlock it.”
The gears in Hali’s mind were already turning, her thoughts alight with the endless possibilities. “It’s brilliant! The grimoire could reveal some grand, earth-shattering secret! Oh, but wait.” Hali’s hopes crashed down almost instantly. “It’s completely useless, though, without the actual message to decode, isn’t it?”
“Ah, but that’s the real question, isn’t it? Whether the grimoire and the coded message even exist at all.” Illyria’s eyes twinkled with mischief. “I suppose there’s only one way to find out.”
Hali’s heart pounded in her chest. “And how’s that?”
“By acquiring the coded message, of course. And the grimoire that goes with it.”
