Nothing was going on Wednesday, I realized happily. A nice, peaceful day. Haven’t had one of those in a while.
My hands were shaking as I picked up the Altgrave’s copy of the Magicks of the Witch of Endor. You did it, Brandon, I congratulated myself. Nothing could stop me now. Blood smeared on the cover and I blinked, seeing the blood on my aching knuckles for the first time. I walked over to the Altgrave’s bathroom, careful to step over the Altgrave.
The blood ran pink down the sink as I washed my bruised knuckles and tried to control my beating heart, slow my breathing. I could feel sweat running down my face and I glanced at my face in the mirror. It wasn’t sweat, I was dismayed to see, but a streak of blood staining my face.
I didn’t want to hurt the old man. But he just wouldn’t listen. Just like Maryanne. I never would have hurt either of them if they would have just listened. If they would have just did what I told them to without arguing. It was really Mark’s fault, anyways. The old Altgrave just kept babbling about his orders. “I can’t let you have the book, Mr. Fitzsimmons. The man on the phone was quite clear on that.”
But that really didn’t matter, now. I had the book. I opened it up, excited to see the knowledge contained within it. There was nothing but tiny, square letters written in fading, brown ink. The letters weren’t even close to English. A hysterical laugh filled the room. Who could be laughing? Surly not the Altgrave. He would never laugh again.
Then I realized it was me.
Well, Brandon, nothing easy is worth doing. The script looks like Hebrew. I just need to find some scholar I can pay to translate it. But first, I really needed to get out of Germany, and maybe get a drink. Having a drink always made me feel better after I was forced to correct Maryanne. You can drink once your on the plane heading back to America, I promised myself. Just one drink, it couldn’t hurt. But I needed to get far away before anyone found the Altgrave. The authorities back in the States never understood that Maryanne made me hurt her. And I doubt the German authorities would be any more understanding that the Altgrave made me kill him.
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