Chapter 12: Explore

The king’s study was easy to find thanks to the directions, and they were fortunate the king was in the Great Hall one floor below them hosting the Halloween revelries. They didn’t have to break in, as the door was unlocked.

All four walls were built with shelves from floor to ceiling, and books filled every space available. Aidan cast a light spell to illuminate the room and began to explore each shelf looking for the tell-tale language inscribed upon the spine of the correct book.

“It’s not here,” he said.

“Are you certain?” Beca said. “What if it’s in disguise?”

“In disguise?”

“What if the cover is false to disguise the contents?” she said. “Wouldn’t this be the case if someone wanted to hide a valuable book?”

“We don’t have time to examine each volume,” Aidan said.

“Maybe it’s in the desk,” Bryn said.

Aidan knelt behind the king’s grand desk and picked the lock on the secure drawer, something he learned how to do before he knew how to use magic. All he saw were other books in Welsh on relations with other nations. He pulled them all out until the drawer was empty.

He pushed on the bottom of the drawer and saw it move, then he pried it up to reveal the book he sought. The cover read “Secrets of Invisibility” in Old Gaelic.

“This is it,” he said.

“You’re not taking that, are you?” Bryn asked.

“I’ll bring it back when we’re done,” he replied.