The true mage is conceived by the cosmos, and is its fleshly incarnation. He belongs not to the human, for the instant of his conception epitomises the ancient will to reach beyond the stars and to exhume the secrets of the earth. In the womb he is privy to arcane lore, and bears occult truths into the world upon his birth. Such an one am I, and who else shall say it? Did the Christ raise the dead to stand guard at his manger? Did Mahomet split the moon in twain while he yet crawled on all fours, or was the Buddha seen to tramp the sky while still an infant? Once grown they were compelled to strut their powers to confound their followers, but I have no disciples or apprentices, nor any need of such. Nonetheless, I summoned presences whom men would name angels to watch over my crib, and my dissatisfaction with my clumsy infantile limbs sent me to emulate the flight of birds while my body played at teeter-totter to amuse my parents. My first words were in no language they had the wit to recognise, and my first steps enacted a forgotten ritual dance which those doting dullards applauded ape-like. Turned five years old, I grew alert to the whispers graves conceal, and at less than twice the age I was adept at locating those from which I could profitably learn…

Deciphering all this had cost me the best part of ten minutes – disentangling the cramped words from the inky efflorescences that surrounded and frequently obscured them. I could have thought the extravagant curlicues contained a separate message meant for initiates. No wonder Roy had given up trying to read the journal, but had Bella carried on out of perseverance or from some affinity with the material? I closed my eyes to rest them for a few moments, only to hear a surreptitious noise like a wakeful head shifting on a pillow. The pages had sagged shut, confronting me with the front endpaper as though the book had tired of my attention or found it intrusive. I had to hold it open with my fingertips on the margin of the scrawny verso and the recto that felt fat with secrets.