The Chronicles of Brendan Earle, Apprentice Mage.

The Book

Phoebe

I looked through my books to get ready for the lesson. Most of it was pretty straightforward stuff, and I could have done it in my sleep after all the cramming Sara and I had done for the competition. When I looked at the notes, they just reminded me of things I’d say; none of them were new.

I had a play with the magic board and got holograms to come up when I asked for them. Cho cool. The only thing I hadn’t looked at properly before was a book that only had blank pages in it. Well, sort of. That was what I’d thought the first time, but this time, when I opened it at the front page, I saw someone had written on it. There was only one sentence. It said, ‘Ask what I’m for.’

At first it seemed an odd thing to write down as a to-do note, but then I had an idea. In Book Two Rachel tells Brendan that books can have spells on them and answer questions when they’re asked. Maybe… So I said, “Okay, what are you for?”

A sentence started to write itself across the page.

-I’m for the questions you don’t know the answer to.-

The sentence stayed for a second and then faded away.

Cho cool. “Okay, how do we get out of this story?”

-I don’t know.-

“That’s not very useful!”

-My apologies.-

“Is Sylvester keeping us in here?”

-I have no character named Sylvester. –

The sentence faded, but then another one came up.

-If he is from the outside world I cannot help you with information.-

-I have no access to the outside world.- 

“Okay, do we need to play the game to get out?”

-I can only repeat, I do not know.-

-You are in this game and I must create the Land around you, but entries and exits are not part of my function.-

-When you choose to exit you go back to the outside world, but this is your own doing, not mine.-

-I cannot eject you from the world.-

-No reason why you should not be able to leave if you wish it reveals itself to me.-

“But Bren… Mr. War…Adam told me he said he wanted out this morning and nothing happened. Why is that?”

-Examination of subroutines indicates the voluntary exit function has been disabled by someone with administrative authority.-

-I do not know why this has happened.-

“If it’s not Sylvester who’s doing this, then is it Maldon?”

-He is a character, and I have access to characters.-

-I can control the actions of characters, within the phase-space of their personas.-

-Actions are being initiated by something which I cannot control.-

-However, I currently have no access to the Maldon character.-

“Does that mean yes or no?”

-The question is unanswerable.-

-Maldon could not take action independently as he is one of my characters.-