The Book Lover Ch. 11

Yes, he was her fiancé, not her boyfriend. She looked at the ring again, fondly remembering the moment it had been offered to her. Her memories had disappeared while Tom had the book, and they came back to her once the book came back into her possession.

"I'm going to go change into something more comfortable," she continued, stepping into the bedroom to get rid of these old, dowdy clothes, hopefully once and for all.

She returned wearing the boyshorts and camisole that the stranger had picked out for her at the mall. Tom seemed much happier at her new choice of clothing. She sat on the floor with her legs crossed while Tom sat on the couch and told her all that he had learned about the book from Eli. She had to smile while she watched Tom tell the story. She had clearly distracted him by sitting cross legged wearing only the boyshorts down below. That was her goal and purpose.

-see how much fun you can have?-

Tom's gaze spent a considerable amount of time between her legs, staring at the crotch of the boyshorts. She wondered if he could see that they were getting a little damp.

Once she heard that Eli had purchased the book out of Egypt in 1974, something clicked in her head. She suddenly remembered two things that hadn't fully registered when they had happened. The first was the headline on the pristine newspaper that had been wrapped around the book when she had found it. It had said Nixon Resigns

1974.

The book was purchased in 1974 and had been wrapped in paper in 1974. It made perfect sense. The second memory had been of the state of the newspaper when she had thrown it away. It had looked tattered and old, like newspaper from 1974 should look, rather than new and pristine, like it had looked when she had first taken it out of the bin.

Tom explained that Gramps couldn't have restored the book purchased in 1974, and that meant that the book had to be a copy. Jessie was certain that theory was wrong, although she nodded her head in agreement anyway. She couldn't explain to him that the book had healed itself since 1974. That would have sounded like pure nonsense, although deep down, she knew it to be true.

The book drew energy from her, and used it to repair itself. While the 'Nixon Resigns' newspaper was in contact with it, it benefited from that healing power. Once she removed it, it returned to the state it should have been in, looking 41 years old instead of brand new.

Tom also explained that Eli believed the book purchased was also a copy of the original, which was likely written in a precursor to Avestan, at least 4000 or 5000 years ago. Again, Jesse was certain that neither book was a copy. The book had likely been drawing energy from people since it was written, using it to keep itself new. There must have been a period of a couple of centuries, leading up to 1974, when it couldn't find the energy it needed to heal itself, so it arrived in Eli's shop in 1974 looking a couple of centuries old. But something happened between when the book was sold to Gramps and when Jessie found it that had given it the energy it needed to once again heal itself.

When Tom told her when Gramps bought the book from Eli, it was all she could do to stifle a gasp. It was November of 2001. Jessie had been living with Gramps at that time. When he acquired the book, it was looking centuries old, but it had somehow acquired the energy it needed to heal itself when Gramps brought it into the house where Jessie was living.

Suddenly she understood perfectly! When Tom took the book away from her to take it to Eli, she had completely forgotten about it's existence. If she had had this book before she discovered it on her 25th birthday, she wouldn't have any memory of it once it was taken away from her.

She sat and listened to Tom going on and on about his and Eli's theories about the book, but she basically ignored them, because she knew they were all wrong. The book had powers. For some reason it revealed them to her, and not Tom or Eli. For some reason, the book could drain her energy and use it to heal itself. She was likely the reason the book looked completely new.

She had fully intended to seduce Tom after hearing what Eli had said about the book. Instead, he mentioned wanting to watch a game, and she agreed, saying she was tired and just wanted to go to bed anyway. What she really wanted was another trip into the book.

"I see you have returned, armed with knowledge this time, child," Hamid said, smiling at her.

She arrived directly in the throne room this time, dressed the same way she had been the last time, with Hamid sitting on the throne exactly as he had been before.

"Yes, Master," she agreed, "but my knowledge seems to only create more questions and give me no answers."

"While that may be true," Hamid suggested, "it also arms you with enough information for you to begin to piece together the answer to the riddle you must solve before we can go any further."

"I don't see how, master," she said glumly.

"Then tell me what you've learned, and we will see where that leads you."

"Can I ask a simple question first, master?"

"You can always ask. It doesn't mean that I will have an answer or be able to give it to you."

"I didn't leave the book out for Tom. You wanted me to, but I was too scared to. How did he get it?"

"An interesting question. You may as well ask how it is that you came to possess the book in the first place. I can tell you that neither of these two events happened by chance, but you will need to understand more for me to go further."

"I see, master. Thank you."

She thought back on all of what happened since her visit to the book the previous night.

"The first thing I learned today was that I can leave the book at home and still be effected by its power, but if someone else possesses the book, then I lose not only the power of the book, but my memories of what happened when I was using its power."

"An interesting observation, my child," he declared. "It has some elements of truth to it. You will soon discover some of the errors in your statement. You misunderstand the idea of power, for example, but to understand it better, you will have to understand yourself a little better. I can say, however, that you have a connection to the book. You become a different person when that connection to the book is severed."

"Fair enough, master. I also learned that the book is ancient in origin. Likely at least 4000 years old. I do not believe it is a copy of a copy. I believe it is the original, and that it uses its powers to repair itself, which is why it looks nearly new."

"That is close enough to the truth. The day will come when you will more fully understand that as well, but your knowledge will not change that statement much."

She nodded.

"I also learned that not everyone is able to access the powers of the book. Eli and Tom said nothing about any of the powers that I felt even before I removed it from the bin."

"Another statement that isn't exactly wrong, but still contains a few misunderstandings. Still, it is reasonably close to the truth. See, my child, you have quite a bit more knowledge than you were willing to admit."

"May I ask another question, master?"

"You may always ask, as I said before."

"Why me?"

"What do you mean, child?"

"Why did the book come to me? Why am I the one who can access its powers?"

"That was two questions."

"You did ask for clarification, master."

"Fair enough. There is a concept you will need to look up to get an answer to this question, child. Modern day scholars refer to it as resonance. The interactions between two things will be very different if those two things approach each other's resonance. Something that is not near that same resonance can be completely unaffected by the object."

Jessie knew a lot about resonance. She remembered seeing the video of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge she was made to watch in college. They had to know about resonance in order to avoid that failure mechanism as they created designs. She wasn't sure how that applied here, but Hamid had already indicated he expected her to figure it out on her own.

"I do know about resonance, master. Thank you for giving me the direction."

"I think you will see, child, that you have quite enough information to answer a lot of questions about yourself. Once you have done that, we can begin to understand the book better."

"Thank you master," she replied, bowing her head.