As we filed out the back of the theatre, Bree plucked up an old, surreal-looking sword and used it to prop open the door so we could get back inside. We sat down on a swing bench beneath one of the small trees and Vik placed the book on the bench between us. In the afternoon light, the weighty tome at first seemed old, but harmless… until I took a closer look. The tanned leather of its binding was wrinkled with age but completely clean, as if no dirt or dust had ever dared to rest upon it. I wondered uneasily what animal the leather had come from. A raised design of dark stitching swirled around a flat piece of obsidian that was embedded in its center. I caught my faint reflection in its dull glassy sheen and leaned away from it instinctively. Looking into the black disc felt like looking into the deepest ocean—the sensation made me suddenly queasy.

“Wow, where did your folks find this thing?” I asked, trying to shake the nausea from my body.

“It’s actually a family heirloom or something. It just came down to my mother when my great uncle died.”

“Oh, Vik,” Bree said. “I’m so sorry…”

“It’s okay,” he shrugged. “I didn’t really know him. Mother was pretty broken up, though…”

I was too distracted by the book to listen to what they were going on about. My hand reached out to its cover, but I nearly recoiled when my fingertips grazed the leather—it felt… warm. As if it were… alive. I thought I saw something shimmer across the glossy disk, making an excited thrill course through me. I felt… beckoned…

“Well, go on, open it!” Bree’s voice knocked me out of my reverie.

I reached for the cover with both hands this time—but was stopped as Vik put his hands over mine.

“You know, on second thought,” he said, the unease evident on his face. “It’s just a stupid old book. Let’s just—”

“Yeah, so open it,” Bree smirked.

“No, it’s… Maybe I shouldn’t have brought it here. I think I’ll just take it back home,” he said, though I realized he wasn’t even looking at the book. He was eying my expression with confusion and concern.

I blinked and gave him an offended look. “What? I’m not afraid of it!” In that moment, I felt the very opposite of afraid.

“Yeah, Vik,” Bree said. “If it’s just a stupid book—”

“Legends say it’s cursed,” he mumbled, his excitement from this morning about that fact apparently dissipated. “Every story that surrounds this thing says it. I just… I just don’t—”

“Vik, it’s going to be fine,” I slowly said, although to reassure him or myself, I wasn’t sure. “Let’s just look at it, and before you know it, you’ll be paying Bree her five bucks.”