Once

Twenty Four

The museum rooms were just about deserted. Sundays were not exactly bustling, outside of the cafe downstairs. Mr Luzlic led them through the dimly-lit rooms to a collection of low display cases, mostly containing antique books and papers. He crossed to one in the corner.

"There is it," he said, tapping gently on the glass.

Elle and David leaned over it. In the centre of the case was a small brown book, its pages crumbling almost to dust at their edges. In thin gilt letters on its cover, worn away almost to nothing with time, were the words Folk Tales for Children.

"Shouldn't you send it off somewhere, if it's so valuable?" David asked.

Elle shot David a quick, hard look. She was getting the feeling he kept picking at Mr Luzlic, as if he didn't quite believe what he was saying to them. That wasn't exactly what she needed. Mr Luzlic, after all, was the only person in the world who might actually know something that could help her.

"I've made some enquiries," Mr Luzlic replied, fumbling with his glasses. "I have sent off pictures to some highly esteemed colleagues of mine who happen to be experts in the field. I don't expect to get a response."

"Oh? Why not? You think it might be a forgery or something?"

"No, no, nothing like that. It's as I was saying to you before - there is a dark sort of magic here in Farway. The ripples of it spread outward through the town in everything that happens here. The outside world... well, it has a habit of forgetting about Farway. Of ignoring it. Things that happen here don't get noticed or remembered - because they're not supposed to be. That much is true for most of the people in the town, too. The little girl that disappeared on Friday night, for example. There's been hardly any news about that, save for a short piece on the local radio. Can you imagine what would be happening if that had happened in any other town in the whole country? The county's police forces would be deployed - half the town would be out forming search parties - there would be candlelight vigils and prayer circles meeting among every religious group of every denomination. But that's not happening - and why not? Because it happened in Farway, that's why. Everyone here finds it just a little too easy to ignore these sorts of things, as if they just... vanish from their heads."

Elle gave a convulsive shudder.

"But that's... horrible," she said.

Mr Luzlic only nodded solemnly in return.

David's eye went slowly over to a sheet of grey parchment lying just beside the book inside the case. It was covered over in long spindly handwriting, all of it barely legible. Parts of it looked like they weren't letters at all, or at least not English letters. Elle remembered Mr Luzlic saying at least part of it was written in runes.

"That's the parchment you've been decoding, I suppose," David said.

"That's right. I found it slipped between the pages when I first started investigating that book."

"And how much of it have you managed to decode?" Elle asked.

Mr Luzlic looked down at some papers that he'd brought with him from the drawer of his desk. He smoothed them out on top of the glass.

"As I said, I haven't been able to unpick all of it," he said. "And parts of what I have uncovered are very vague. But it seems to predict a series of events happening here in Farway, over a period of seven days. One event each day, each one happening to a different person from the town."

"And does it say when these events will happen?" David asked.

"Not in any specific terms. There are no references to exact dates or years. But it does say when it will end -" Mr Luzlic consulted his notes, "- When the blood moon stands high over midsummer night."