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“Let me see that book,” Grimmy said and held out his paw.
Vur handed over the Trickster’s Book, and Grimmy nodded. The cursed dragon flipped through the pages, nodding and grunting all the while. “I see,” he said and closed the book. “Very interesting.”
“Is that all you have to say?” Gren asked and stretched her paw out to grab the book, but Grimmy tucked his leg underneath his belly, hiding the Trickster’s Book from view.
“What’s the magic word?” Grimmy asked.
Gren’s eyes widened, and she slapped her tail against the ground. “Please,” she said through clenched teeth. She inched her paw closer to Grimmy, nearly poking his snout. “Let me see the book.”
Grimmy chuckled and placed the Trickster’s Book into his mom’s waiting paw. She opened it and immediately frowned.
“What?” Kondra asked and sneaked around to read the book from over Gren’s shoulder. “Are the spells in there really that strong?”
Gren flipped through the book and frowned. She raised her head and stared at Grimmy. “You couldn’t read it, could you?”
“Nope,” Grimmy said and grinned. “I have no clue what language that’s written in.”
“Let me see,” Kondra said and grabbed at the book.
Gren snorted and slapped away Kondra’s paw. “An uneducated buffoon like yourself wouldn’t understand anything,” she said. “You’ll probably damage the book out of frustration, and I won’t let that happen.”
“Do you understand what’s written?” Grimmy asked, raising an eyebrow at Gren.
Gren sniffed and reared her head back. “Given enough time, I’m sure I’ll figure it out.”
“So, you don’t know,” Grimmy said.
“I do know,” Gren said and wrinkled her snout. “It’s written in a very archaic language that I don’t know off the top of my head, but I do have records of this language stored away. It’s a mere matter of translating it with a dictionary.”
Vur looked at Grimmy. “Didn’t you say the book was a gift for Tafel?”
“Right,” Grimmy said and nodded. He grinned at his mom. “Why don’t you give the book to Vur? Without him, who knows how long it would’ve been before the book was unsealed?”
Gren frowned.
“If you don’t give it to him, don’t be surprised if he fights you for it,” Grimmy said.
“Here,” Gren said, handing the book to Vur. “Take good care of it; don’t let it fall into the wrong hands.”
Vur grunted before casually tossing the book to Tafel, causing Gren’s eye to twitch. Tafel opened the book and flipped through the pages. Unfortunately, she had no idea what any of the symbols meant. She scratched her head and glanced at Gren. “Can you, um, teach me how to read this later?”
Gren’s eye twitched. From the corner of her eye, she could see Vur staring at her. “Of course, I can teach you,” the cursed dragon said. “But that’ll have to wait until after our trip is over.” She turned her head away before Tafel or Vur could say anything else. “Alright, Ramon. Let’s continue.”
There was no response.
“Ramon?” Gren asked and looked around. Her eyes nearly bulged out of her head. “Has anyone seen Ramon!?”
Leila blinked. “He was right there just a minute ago.”
“Seems like he disappeared when we were all distracted by the book,” Grimmy said and stroked his chin. “Should we head straight to Kozabokget’s sealed space?”
Gren pursed her lips. “Kozabokget is tricky,” she said. “She could be luring us into her space but actually be sending Ramon somewhere else. If she uses him to unseal other evils….
“Isn’t this evil of yours sealed?” Kondra asked, baring her teeth. “How can she control Ramon if she’s sealed?”
“She’s sealed, but clearly, the seal has weakened,” Gren said and frowned. “Grimmy and Leila, you two will go to Kozabokget’s space and look for Ramon there. Kondra, you take Gloria and Tafel out of the tower. Tell Kal and your mate that they need to come down here to look for Ramon. Vur, you’ll come with me to search the tower for any traces of Ramon or hints of broken seals.”
Tafel frowned. “I can help look for Ramon.”
Gren snorted. “You’ll be more helpful keeping an eye on the phoenixes upstairs. Don’t let them touch things they aren’t supposed to touch; I know how phoenixes are.” She looked around. “Well, what are you all waiting for? Get to it!”
“This way,” Grimmy said and grabbed Leila’s paw. He pulled her down the corridor around a bend.
Kondra pursed her lips before grabbing onto Gloria’s wing, making sure not to let go. What if her other grandchild was taken away by the evil-sealing tower as well? She wouldn’t let that happen under her watch, at least, not again.
Tafel sighed before climbing onto Gloria’s back. Since she couldn’t use her portals properly here, it was true her combat ability was lower than usual. And Gren did raise a good point; Emile loved messing around with things he wasn’t supposed to.
Once everyone had dispersed, Vur scratched his head. “Zilphy, Deedee? Do you know where Ramon is?”
The green runes on Vur’s arm flashed. “The air in here is really stale,” Zilphy said. “It’s like there’s no wind at all. I can barely sense anything past that bend in the corridor.”
“The floor is unusually stable as well,” Diamant said, his voice coming out of the brown runes on Vur’s forearm. “Normally, I can locate things through the vibrations they leave in the earth, but there’s none of that here. It’s like the earth here is dead.”
Gren wrinkled her snout. “This is the evil-sealing tower,” she said. “World-ending creatures are locked away here. Of course, methods like transmitting messages through vibrations or circulating poison through the air are prohibited.”
Vur scratched his chin. “Isn’t the tower just one big spiral? Isn’t there only one way Ramon could go?”
Gren shook her head. “The path branches out on the lower levels. The original plan was to have one path spiraling down, but my ancestors dug into a large pool of lava and had to branch outwards to accommodate more evils.