Suncursed

2: Light Reading

"Yeah kind of. But substances are more like one particle, while the mixture is of several particles put together." Max replied effortlessly. "Particles that compose a pure substance can be individual atoms or a group of atoms joined together."

"Right I guess that makes sense." Koana stared blankly at her paper.

Max was about to put the book back when something shined right in her eye almost blinding her. "Ah what the-" She twitched away before carefully looking back. Koana seemed undisturbed by her voice, she was chewing on her pen now in deep thought.

"Okay right but here's the thing, what if it's a trick question?" She babbled, "What if it's asking what do particles do in matter?"

"That makes no sense." Max deadpanned, slowly looking back into the hole where the weird light came from.

"Ugh, gimme some credit. My brain hurts." Koana plopped her head on the book.

Max peeked through the back of the shelf and moved several other books away, noticing the shiny glimmer was growing and coming out of the cracks behind the wood. Looking more curious than anything, Max touched around the wood to see if there was maybe a button or handle to open it.

After a few tries, something clicked and the wood panel popped open, releasing a puff of dust right into Max's face. Coughing and waving it away, Max looked back to see no more glimmer showing, only a book.

"When did this contraption get here?" Max mumbled to herself, to which Koana heard.

"Wait it's a contraption? What the heck kind of lab was that?" 

"No you dummy, look!" Max pointed in front of her and watched as Koana lifted her head from her book. She gasped and shot to her feet, coming over.

"Yo where did this come from?!" She peeked inside and quickly grabbed the book, pulling it out and placing it on the table. "Jeez, this is heavy!"

Landing it on the table with a huge thunk, Max and her leaned over it and examined it with curiosity. "Slow down, what if it's super delicate?" Max warned.

Koana's eyes widened, "Wow, this looks ancient! Lemme get some cleaner and wipe this dirt and grime off." 

Bolting away to the kitchen, Max tried swiping away the dust with the handy duster right under the table. The book was big, but not too large to where it was awkward to hold. It seemed like the color was maybe a reddish-brown. It had something bumpy all over the front and sides, like it was decorated in a fancy design. When Max tried to open it however, it wouldn't budge.

Prying it from the front and back, using all her strength even, the book wouldn't open. Huffing and putting it back down, Max furrowed her brows. "What in the world...."

Koana came rushing back and started wiping away the dirt off the front. Using a special cleaner for much older and sensitive books, her and Max worked together to fix it up a little. Once they were almost done, they started seeing the beautiful color it originally was when it was made.

"Woah..." Max almost gasped, looking at the deep hue of red and gold all over the book in intricate designs. The gold was swirled in vines up and down the sides, branching out to just barely touch the insignia in the middle. Max ran her fingers over the middle as she followed the gold vines, feeling as it was raised up from the book and not flat like a picture. 

Koana was doing the same, and even tried opening the book herself. "It won't budge." She grunted, giving up like Max did. "You think it aged so much it stuck together or something? I've heard of books doing that right?"

Max shook her head, "Yeah but this book barely looks as if it aged a day."

"But it was all dirty and gross." Koana pointed out, confused.