The Half-Ghosts: Aether's Half

Ch. 3: The All

"So does that mean that the books sweep you away, or does that mean they are easily destroyed?" Reid poked the spine of the crumbly book again. Dust puffed out of it and a piece of the cover fell off. "Looks like the latter. Aether wins." He grinned at me and pushed up his glasses.

What is this strange thumping in my chest? My kriot rattling around because Reid's smiling at me? I've got to get this under control!

"No, no, I've got it. Really. They said 'too much potential for devastation.'" Hemmett gazed down his nose at both of us. I opened my mouth to contradict him, and stopped--because he was right. How was he right? How was this possible? Hemmett's never right about anything.

Hemmett tapped his finger against his forehead.

"Visions," he said, waggling his eyebrows up and down.

Meanwhile Reid pulled the crumbly book off the shelf.

"If that's true, it means these books could cause destruction," said Reid.

"It is true," I groaned. "Hemmett's actually right. I just remembered. The origin of the Vallejos clan. They told us the story on a campout once. It all started with a book. A dangerous book."

"The title wasn't A Spiritualist's Guide to Ancient Prophecies, was it?"

Reid brushed dust from the title of the old book, revealing gold lettering and a burgundy cover, peeled around the edges.

"No . . . not that one. The title was The Nonbook, right?"

"It's not even a book, really. More of a scroll," said Hemmett. I glared at him as he held up his hand, eyes closed, as if envisioning the book.

"You can't really see it, can you?"

He nodded.

"Shhhh, I'm concentrating."

"How about this one? A Disturbingly Complete History of Spiritualist Artifacts."

Reid had hauled an even larger, even crumblier book down from the highest shelf. He heaved it open.

"Ooo, Hemmett. The script!"

Hemmett hovered over the volume, admiring the notes in spectral script around the main text. With a touch, he set the notes to spinning on the page. Reid whistled.

"Nice transmogrifying. What is that one?"

He pointed to a four-cornered symbol and Hemmett and I nearly choked. He would have to ask about that one.

"You haven't seen that before? Really? That's . . . it's the All. The All in connection with the other powers. They call it 'All and the Four Powers.'"

"That doesn't make sense. It should be 'All and the Three Powers,'" said Reid, turning the page carefully. Bits of paper flaked off even so.

"It's because the All is supposed to be made up of everything," I said. "The four powers together are the All. But the All is also separate."

"Makes no sense," repeated Reid. "The All is here, and the other three powers here, so it's 'All and the Three Powers.'"

His stubborn logic made me want to kiss him, right there. I found myself staring at his mouth, turned down in a little frown. He tilted his head at me.