Swallowing your pride, you turn away from your door and walk towards the common room at the end of the hall. You pass several open doors, with other girls leaning out into the hall, or studying, or doing any of a million other things. You pass them by, and move into the empty common room.
Someone tried to make this room "rustic" but all they succeeded in doing was making it annoyingly clichéd. There are several high wing-backed chairs scattered around, a table here and there, and a large fireplace, which surprisingly enough, just happens to be lit today. That's odd, you think to yourself. It's not that cold....
Fortunately, the warmth and solitude of this room put you at ease, and you quickly settle into one of the large overstuffed chairs, and put your feet onto an ottoman located nearby. Relaxed at last, you pull your book bag onto your lap and open it.
The book lies on top of your various texts. Its cover is a amazing contrast to the astral designs on the physics tomes that it lies upon. You pull the book into your lap, inhaling the slightly dusty odor, mixed with a scent you cannot quite place, but that reminds you of comfort.
Delaying not a moment longer, you open the cover. You scan the first few words, before your heart sinks. It is written in Latin with woodcut illustrations and detailed calligraphy. You groan, realizing that it would take you weeks to puzzle out the words on your own. You are on the verge of giving up, when you remember the notes pushed into various other pages.
You flip through the book, noticing various racy illustrations, some extraordinarily graphic, before you find the first notepaper. It reads easily, and you gather it is a translation of the current page. It is a very rough translation, but you are fairly certain that the words are detailing an incantation. An illustration on the source page shows a figure of incredible beauty stepping through a doorway.
You wonder if you said the words what would happen. But perhaps you should read a bit more first ... |