Open Book Extracts Novels & Stories

"It is Draven. He is fine." A pause. "Of course he is," Darius said quietly. The librarian spent the next ten minutes carefully examining the fallen shelf, the scattered books, and the damaged railing. Kael helped stack the books into neat piles. Several of them had fallen open to random pages, and as he collected them, one caught his eye. He picked it up. The title on the open page read: On The Nature of Probability Manipulation in Pre-Civilization Eryndor. Kael read the first paragraph.

After reading the letter again and again for a minutes, she keeps it aside and opens the bag. The first thing that she takes out is a lilac satin fabric. When she holds it up, it looks torn and burnt from all sides. It’s soaked in red. Her nose twitches as she smells the blood. She keeps it on the table in front of her and takes out the next thing. A book. A huge thick book with more than 800 pages. It has a dark brown hardcover with golden edges. She opens the book only to look at letters and symbols that doesn’t make any sense to her. Pursing her lips, she keeps it aside too.

Then back at me with the expression of a man recalculating the nature of the visit. "Come in," he says. His apartment is extraordinary. Not decorated exactly. Accumulated. Books everywhere, actual everywhere, stacked on shelves and beside chairs and on the kitchen counter alongside what appears to be sheet music and a half eaten piece of toast. Two cello cases in the corner, one open, and a music stand with something complex and handwritten on it that I want to look at more closely but do not because it feels private. Plants in every window doing improbably well for a London flat.

“Thank you.” “You should know Alpha, some of the text is not ledgable I acquired it from an old college professor and it was pretty beat up then.” I nod my head as Dr. Sully leaves me alone in his office to discharge Haley. Dr. Sully wasn’t exaggerating the condition of the book.The book is extremely old and looks as though it’ll fall apart any second. Pages are hanging on by a thread to the binding and I can see words are beginning to fade. I open to the first page and begin reading what I can.

She pulled it out, sneezed once as dust motes tickled her nostrils, and lowered the book on the coffee table. The title was written in cursive gold letters, 'The Art Of The Body'. Clearly out of curiosity, she opened to the middle of the book, and her eyes nearly popped out in pure mortification. The book contained explicit diagrams of men and women in different, erotic, sexual poses.

The books opened at a glance and revealed their contents because they were released carelessly. Meanwhile, Alsava quietly watched Adrian's movements, looking a little frustrated with his wet bag. Alsava looked at some of the exercise books that were put out by Adrian which were slightly open. Some of the books revealed sheets that were inked in red by the teacher. "I want to see your exercise book, please. Can you?" Alsava was curious to know what was actually written in the books, because she did not want to be mistaken just because she saw red ink there. Who knows red ink is a perfect score.

Kyria leans over the desk and picks up the small letter opener, using that to unlock and open the small drawer but making sure not to damage it in the process. Kyria sighs and relaxes just a little when she hears the soft click and can pull the drawer open. She riffles through the papers, folders and slim books until she uncovers Mane Beatrice's little black book. Kyria quickly skims through the pages until she finds the right information.

Each page looked like it had been soaked in shadows, the ink melding with the very fabric of the paper. “This,” Petra said with a flourish, “is the *Tome of Deeds*.” Her fingers slid delicately over the edges of the book as she opened it, revealing intricate sketches and cryptic writings that seemed alive with their own purpose. “Within these pages lies every secret about the world’s hidden side,” she continued, her voice dropping to a whisper as if the Darklord himself might hear.

When she tried to retrieve it, she found a hole. Pushing the drawer aside, she peered into the hole with her phone's flashlight and extracted an old book with yellowing pages, covered in dust. Flipping the book open, Geneva's interest was sparked when she saw ugly letters of an equally anguishing handwriting that spelt the name, Ross Camille. Many of the pages were filled with drawings and dawdlings of nonsense. Everything was ugly but made no sense to humans. Finally, she saw another page filled with actual letters.

"I just experienced your entire childhood collection of questionable food preferences. I think I'm scarred for life." "Focus on the ledgers, your aristocratic highness," Zeyric shot back, though his own cheeks flushed slightly as he reached into the open box and pulled out the topmost leather-bound book. He flipped the cover open, the pages yellowed and cramped with neat, ruthless handwriting. "Look at this. Dates, payment amounts, names of street enclaves in the Sunken Market... and right here, the exact tally of student life-force siphoned from the core during the last mid-term exams."