"What is this?"
Dominic took the book. Its old, cracked leather cover had been stained a bone-pale yellow by limestone dust, yet it felt strangely indescribable in his hands.
It was like picking up an empty shell inhabited by a hermit crab. The creature's pincers scraped against the inner wall, sending a silent tremor through the shell and into his skin.
It seemed as though some kind of life had been infused into the tanned parchment, with something living slowly flowing inside it.
The muscles in his palm and fingers twitched. He nearly flung the thing away as if it were a cold, slimy creature, but managed to restrain the instinctive urge and move it onto the table as quickly as possible.
Even so, his clumsy movement made the book give a worrying sound as it touched the tabletop. It seemed as though the pages inside had rubbed together and the binding thread had snapped.
"Careful!" Feld's heart gave a jolt. He quickly climbed down the ladder to check on it. Fortunately, there was no visible damage or misalignment on the outside.
"This thing's probably older than the two of us combined. And it's a one-of-a-kind copy. Give it a few more years and we could put it in an antique shop."
He gently blew the dust off its surface, placed the book on the V-shaped Book Rest, and slowly opened it, applying even pressure.
The stiff spine groaned as if it were about to break at any moment, like an old clam being pried open to reveal something that had formed around an intruder.
"Whoa, I knew it was a notebook." Feld hadn't missed his companion's hesitation, but he'd taken it for concern over damaging a unique old book. "Look, I think I see something about gathering stone for