Iona tossed the last book from the desk onto the ground, then kicked it in frustration. She hung her head and leaned against it, her mind straining for any ideas.

And then she heard a click. Tumblers in the desk whirred, and seconds later a square compartment popped free from its underside. She couldn’t see anything at first- the angle was too poor for much light to reach into the space- but as she knelt down to get a better look, a faint green glimmer caught her eye. It was a jewel- inlaid on the spine of a leatherbound book. Looking closely she could see some sort of energetic aura swirling around inside.

	“I didn’t know that you practiced artifice…” Iona whispered to Macrae’s memory, removing the tome and brushing the dust from its cover. It was heavy, far more so than its appearance would indicate- about an inch thick and the size of a schoolbook. Runes were inscribed onto the cover; a mix of old gaelic and various Convocation insignia.

“From left to right, let’s see if I can remember…” she bit her cheek and studied them a few times over, “to seal; immaterial; existence-” her fingers traced each rune, moving down to the second line. The first rune here had been worn away, and what remained was a mix of gaelic and Convocation runes- making it difficult for her to parse with any confidence “ … ; the presence of; void-”

The final line was worn down more than the previous two, almost intentionally, and parts of the more familiar gaelic runes had been spliced with completely alien symbols. She screwed her face up in concentration- “to see … ; to achieve; … rebirth?”

Iona sighed. At best she was guessing at the third line, and her understanding of the second wasn’t much better.

“To seal immaterial existence- to… something, the presence of the void- and to see… something, to achieve… some sort of rebirth.” she scratched at her ear.  “Well… let’s have a look inside.” she laid it on the desk and sat down, pulling the cover up.

	“...Huh?” she stopped. It wouldn’t open. “That’s… odd,” she cast a sideways glance into the room, as if expecting Macrae to be there chuckling. The pages were stuck together, and no matter how she pulled at the tome it wouldn’t budge at all. “As if it wasn’t enough of a challenge to find this place!” Iona huffed, taking on a defeated posture slumped on top of the desk.