“The supernatural?” The store owner had his brows turned up as though he had no knowledge of what Elmer was talking about, but that proved false with the succeeding words which left his mouth. “I believe I do.” He smiled next. “I have a lot of books with stories on the supernatural—”

“No.” Elmer sliced through the man’s smile like a sharp and hot knife through butter. “Not stories. I need something more like…” Elmer’s voice waned, his eyes falling to the smooth surface of the counter as he faded into thought. The exact word to describe what he sought was nowhere to be found in his head.

“Like a journal?” the store owner offered something, and Elmer’s sharp reaction of taking his gaze up to the man, tacked on with a nod of his head, accredited the word he had been offered.

“Yes. Like a journal,” he added to make sure the store owner understood his prior action.

“Hmmm…” The man once again seemed to be doing his thinking. He appeared to be a person who thought a lot. “I do. I do. But you’ll have to give me a moment.” He gestured at the bench near the door. “Kindly have your seat while I search for whatever I might be able to find.”

Elmer nodded and went over to the wooden bench to sit. He followed the man with his eyes as he wandered into the midst of the book shelves and scanned them one after the other.

After some minutes of waiting, Elmer took his gaze from the man and put them on the store’s door. It had not opened once since he’d walked into the store, and for a place selling books that was weird.

The bookstores at Meadbray were probably the most frequented places in the village. The children never let it be, and so the adults as well.

When they were bored, they read. When they were tired, they read. When they were sleepy, they read. All this reading was what had made Pip chance upon Mabel and tease her. And the fight which came after that—where Elmer had almost broken Pip’s nose—was what had earned him Pip as a friend. If only the boy was not so misleading sometimes.

Elmer shook his head as he wondered how this store had come to be so empty in contrast to the frequented ones at Meadbray.

He was about to do his usual dissection on why the man might be running his business poorly, but his previous failures at such attempts quickly whooshed into his head and made sure he did not make such a mistake again.

“Ah, found it!”

Elmer heard a raspy but elated voice, and turned his eyes away from the door, taking it all the way to the man who was hunched over while dusting a book in his hands.

The store owner turned to him with a smile and brandished at him the book whose contents were held safe by a pair of buckles of its cracked leather-bound cover. Elmer stood up then, and he and the store owner met at the counter.

“I could only find this,” the man said as he handed the book over to Elmer, putting it before his focused gaze.

Under Elmer’s touch the book had an almost brittle feeling. It felt like it would crumble if gripped too tightly, yet fall if held too lightly.

In between his palms it was basically a new born baby that should be treated with care, but its cracked leather told Elmer that it was old.

While wondering about the book’s contents, Elmer gingerly put it down on the counter to prevent it from being damaged, and gently unbuckled it.

The store owner leaned forward. “Why are you looking for books on the supernatural, if you do not mind me asking?” he questioned.

Elmer’s fumbling with the buckles ceased as he finished unfastening one. He looked up at the man staring at him with a tilted head and thought to give him an answer, but his brain was unable to make up anything that would count as a lie.

He was checking out books on the supernatural to learn more about what his current world entailed for him as an Ascender, since that was one way he could think of to gain knowledge on such things without involving the Church—or his landlord.

And also, he needed as much information as he could get before he successfully became a bounty hunter. Relying on luck for whatever was to come was more or less a stupid idea. He had barely survived the Lost he had fought.

But of course he could not mention all these to the man. They were his secret, and his alone, unless a situation called for them to be let free.

This was not one of those situations.

As a result, he remained stagnant and kept looking at the man—until…

“Are you enrolling in the Church’s college?” the store owner asked, and Elmer’s eyebrows quivered slightly in response.

That was a very good lie he should have brought up himself, how had he forgotten about the Church’s college?

He almost slapped his palm across his forehead, but instead he replied, “Yes.” And his nose twitched twice, prompting him to clear his throat and adjust his glasses from its rim.

“Ah, I thought as much.” The man sighed then pulled his chair closer toward the counter before sitting back down. “If you will pardon me, my legs are weak.” He chuckled and Elmer nodded before he continued. “I don’t get many customers, but once in a while few boys and girls come to buy books, mostly stories, but none have come for anything related to the supernatural. You are the first, so I was curious as to why.” The man laughed next. “I also thought you were an Ascender at first. Silly me. You look so young. Why would anyone subject themself to such a daunting thing at a young age?”

Wait, what…? What does being young have to do with becoming an Ascender…? Elmer’s face squeezed briefly as he found himself confused.

He chuckled first, so as to not make the question he was about to ask awkward. “What’s so daunting about becoming an Ascender at a young age?”

The store owner took off his glasses and laid it on the counter, exposing his slightly gray eyes uncovered to Elmer. “I heard most Ascenders end up crazy,” the man said. “And that they commit most of the crimes as a result. A young person becoming an Ascender is just wasting away their life, aren’t they? Just for the power of a God?” The man tsk-tsked. “It’s not a fair gamble, if you ask me. Power in exchange for losing your sanity? I’d rather stay weak and sane.”

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Elmer let out a breath. For someone who obviously wasn’t an Ascender, the store owner was babbling a lot on its pros and cons. But he could not fault the man though. He had been so close to losing his sanity himself. Those screams had been guttural, and they had wreaked havoc on his mind. He had probably just been lucky to escape insanity, and that was why he was taking the safer route this time.

“But,” the man started again, “are you planning to become one?” He pointed at the book. “Seeing as you want to enter into the Church’s college.”

Elmer once again fell into confusion, his eyes widening significantly as his thoughts froze.

What did the store owner mean by those words? That a person could become an Ascender by attending the Church’s college? But Patsy had said otherwise.

He grunted deep within at his inability to pour out those questions to this man seated before him without exposing what he wanted to keep a secret. Why did everything about the supernatural have to be so complicated in the first place?

Elmer smiled, but he quickly made it disappear as soon as he noticed its constant faltering. “No, I’m not planning to become an Ascender—at least not now. I’m just fascinated by the supernatural and thought that learning from the Church’s college would both give me both a good education and knowledge on what they entailed.” Through all his talk, his nose did not relent to twitch twice with almost every word. He was so glad the store owner was not Patsy, she would have caught his lies.

“Ah. I see. I see.” The store owner nodded. “I’m not in the right place to tell you never to put your life at risk, but I hope you make the best decision for yourself.”

That sounded like a warning… Elmer squeezed his mouth indistinctly. Though, I have already made the best decision for myself, oh good sir… It was also the only decision I had…

Elmer undid the second buckle and delicately opened the book, revealing slightly faded ink on white-yellowish fragile paper frayed at the edges. Then his attention caught on what had been written by the ink. They were symbols. Symbols he had seen before—symbols he had seen nearly all the time.

His heart drummed a beat, and at that moment he forgot all about the delicate way he was to handle the book as he swirled it about to face the store owner.

“Mister,” Elmer’s voice carried a strong tone which caused the store owner to shudder. “Do you know what these symbols are?”

The man took a moment to relax before he put on his glasses and took a peek at the symbols in the book. And this time, compared to when he gave answers to Elmer’s other questions, he was barely silent. “This!” The man sounded elated and he had widened eyes. “This is Enochian!”

Elmer shifted closer to the counter so much that he was almost merging with it. “Tell me more,” he said.

“It’s an ancient language. The language of old.” The man smiled and took off his glasses. “Some of those stories I told you about had a few passages written in these words. How come I never knew I had something this important close to me?” He shook his head, and Elmer immediately pulled the book into a closer vicinity to himself.

Don’t go having second thoughts now, mister… I’m having this book whether you like it or not. Something I might need may be in here… My cause is greater than your love for fiction…

But still, he could not read the language. There had to be something else here that could help with that.

Elmer looked around the store again. “Do you have an official book for translating this language or something?” He turned back to the man to see him shake his head.

He was about to sigh when the man added, “But I do have a translation I did myself. Made it some while back. It’s not complete, but it’s good job, if I’m to say.”

Elmer hoped the man would not use this as an avenue to steal the book from him. If it ended up that way, then neither of them would be satisfied. He would take the book and leave the man with his translation, that way no one would win.

Though, he had to first confirm if the man was that petty.

“Do you mind if I have that translation as well?” Elmer asked with a softly clenched chin.

“No. I don’t mind,” the man answered, relaxing Elmer. Then he bent over and searched beneath the counter for a little over a minute before returning with a rolled up paper tied with a cloth. “This is it.” The man stretched it at Elmer, but just when Elmer was about to reach for it, he yanked it backward causing Elmer’s face to scrunch.

Sly man… Something is coming, isn’t it…?

“I’ll give it to you on one condition,” the store owner said.

“What… What is it?” Elmer’s palm pressed down on the weathered book on the counter, his gaze narrowed and perusing the tender wrinkles that made the store owner’s face.

If the man’s ‘condition’ was fairly one sided then he would just have to go with another method to get the translation. There was no way he would agree to something he was not going to gain from.

The store owner cleared his throat and undid the cloth around the paper. “We both take turns with the book.” He laid the paper flat on the table, showcasing to Elmer the neatly arranged symbols written in ink and what they meant directly beneath each.

Elmer swallowed a lump of saliva and took his eyes to the store owner. “How long are each turns, and who starts?”

The store owner smiled. “Ah, you start, of course. You just have to return it in three weeks.”

That was quite reasonable, but…

“Make it four.” Elmer showed four fingers to the man. Since the illusionary potion would wear out in a month, and that time span was what he needed to get ahold of The Warlock’s Torch as well, then lumping the translating and learning of the words of this book into that time frame should sort of balance things out.

It was nothing special, it would just kind of make things easier for him to keep track of.

The store owner kept silent for a few seconds before saying, “I see. I see. That is no problem. Four it is. I trust you will keep to your words, so you won’t mind if we sign a written agreement then?”

Careful, are we…?

Elmer sighed. “Sure. I don’t mind.”

The store owner nodded, then brought forth a plain paper and scribbled briefly on it before signing his name and turning it to Elmer. With an exhale, Elmer took the pen in hand and glanced through the words on the paper first.

Agreement between two parties for a journal from Dickens Used Books.

Those involved in this agreement have acceded to taking turns in using a journal on the Enochian language within a time frame of four weeks. If any of both parties fails to adhere to the agreement to return the journal once the specific time frame above has been exceeded, then they are subjected to being punished without resistance by the other party who was to receive the journal at the end of the specified time frame.

Signed:

Reynold Dickinson.

Signed:

Elmer twirled the pen in between his fingers for a moment, before glancing up at the man who was peering into the depths of the journal even though it was turned away from him. His love for his legends and tales and fictional fantasies were oozing out without hesitation from his expression.

Punished, huh…? Elmer pondered briefly. What sort of punishment exactly? Money, or something else…?

Elmer smacked his lips and signed without complaints. Doing any would only prompt Reynold Dickinson to feel like he had other motives—well, at least if he was in his position that was what he would have thought.

On the bright side, he was not going to pay any fee for purchase now since they were both taking turns for its use.

“Done.” Elmer pushed the paper back to the store owner, bringing a smile from him at the sight of his signature.

“Good. Good.” Reynold Dickinson outstretched his hand and Elmer shaked it. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

Elmer nodded. “The pleasure is all mine.”