Chapter 3

Off in the distance, Elizabeth thought she could just barely hear a bell of some sort ringing. Quickly she was brought out of her daze, and could hear the noise more clearly now. Recognizing it as the bell signaling the library was closing soon, she knew she had better hurry back to the front room. Although she wanted with an overwhelming urge to read the book right then and there, she knew that she must get home. Hastily, she picked up the book, and it was small enough to fit in her shoulder bag. It slid in perfectly between her phone and all the little pieces of junk she kept in there, like gum wrappers and the nubs of pencils. Quickly, she turned around and retraced her steps back into the main room and then out the doors. If she had taken a little more time in taking the book, she would have seen a word in the glass window right behind where the book had been set. It was spelled out crudely with small black pieces of glass, but it was still readable if you looked closely. If Elizabeth had seen it, she probably would have been more cautious about taking the book, for that small little word spelled out, beware. 

The library front doors slammed behind her and she raced down the front steps. She held up her hand and hailed a taxi, quickly jumping in and telling the driver where to go. Her house was only a short distance from the library, and the taxi pulled into the gravel driveway a couple of minutes later. The house was two stories tall and was made of old white brick with ivy growing up them in most places. A small lawn separated the house and the road, and it was full of flower beds with red, pink, and yellow flowers that were fully in bloom. Elizabeth went around the side of the house and used the key hidden under the mat to get in the back door.

“Hello! Anybody home?” 

“Yes! I am in the kitchen,” called her husband, Danny. Elizabeth made her way through the small mud room, into the large open country-style kitchen. Danny was still dressed in his work clothes. His job was teaching math at the local university, and he was at the stove cooking something that filled the room with the delicious smell of spices.

“What are you making?” asked Elizabeth as she seated herself at the small table and set her bag down carefully. “It smells amazing!”

“My famous coconut chicken curry for dinner.” Danny answered and turned around. He was wearing an apron, and there were smudges of curry sauce and puffs of red and brown spices covering it. The stains also seemed to travel up to his face, and even his short blonde hair had a splash of red that she guessed was paprika. Elizabeth answered with a broad smile, making no effort whatsoever to conceal her pure joy of him fixing her favorite dish for dinner.  

For the next few minutes, they caught each other up on the events of each other’s days. Danny had had a great day at work, for all but two of his students had done very well on the pop quiz he had given the previous day. Elizabeth told him about her entire day, leaving out just one little thing. She didn’t know why she didn’t mention it. Something inside her just seemed to be telling her not to. That one little thing was the book she had found, and it was sitting at her feet. After they talked, Elizabeth excused herself and went up to her office as Danny continued to work in the kitchen.

She stepped into her office and closed the door silently behind her. It was on the second floor and had three large windows on the wall opposite her that looked out over the backyard and the garden. Elizabeth didn’t have a specific job, but she liked to do little projects now and then, and so this room was devoted to her. It had light hard wood flooring, and a large dark desk and chair where she worked on her projects. She sat down in the chair now and reached into her bag and pulled out the book. As she looked at it more intently, it just seemed to get more and more beautiful, and the light from the windows was glinting off of the gold leaf work. She set it down on her desk, and opened the book to the first page. Then she began to read.