Sage flipped through the book. Then she spotted one. “Here.” Sage placed the book on the desktop and pointed the word out to Nicolas. “G. It’s aG.”
“So,Gcould be code forAorI.”
“I see. And that would correlate to all the otherG’s in the book.”
Brother Nicolas nodded in agreement. “Unless we are wrong.”
Sage nodded, examining the page. “Unless we are wrong.”
“It takes time,” he said. “Patience.” He dipped the quill into the ink again and wrote down the first line of the book on a blank parchment he had on the desk. Then, he replaced all theGletters withA. “Do you understand what I am doing?”
Sage watched the quill move slowly over the page and nodded.
Brother Nicolas sat back in his chair.
Sage turned the book so she could see it. Her gaze shifted from his piece of parchment to the book and back. Excitement fizzled through her body, and she could barely keep her toes from tapping.
“Sage,” Brother Nicolas called.
Sage was too busy looking for similar letters on the book’s parchment page. She knew she could do it. Her skin prickled with exuberance. Her mind whirled with possibility at the unfurling of clues. She loved working on puzzles, and this was the biggest and most challenging she had ever faced.
“Sage,” Brother Nicolas called more firmly.
Annoyed, Sage looked up at him.
His gaze was level and intense. “You must not share this information with anyone. Do you understand?”
Every instinct Sage had wanted to return to the puzzle before her, but somewhere deep inside her, Brother Nicolas’s warning stirred apprehension. Her gaze swept his wrinkled face in confusion.
“The information we decode from this book must remain secret. You can’t tell anyone.”
Sage looked down at the book, at the letters, at the parchment pages. Someone had gone through a lot of trouble to keep the message in this book hidden. Still, how could she keep it a secret from her family? From Willow or Raven? Or her father?
“It was coded for a reason,” Brother Nicolas explained seriously. “You may already be in danger. But you must not tell anyone what you discover.”
Sage sighed softly and agreed with a quick nod of understanding so she could return to concentrating on the book.
“That’s a wise warning, Brother Nicolas,” someone called from the doorway.
Sage glanced away from her book to see a monk standing near the entrance of the room. She gauged him with a brief glimpse. A monk. Tall with short blond hair. And then, as if beckoned, she returned her gaze to the book, the letters consuming her complete attention.
A familiar hiss filled the room. Annoying. She didn’t want to take her concentration from the book. But somewhere inside her, alarms flared. She knew that sound. A sword being pulled from its sheath!
Her hand dropped to the pommel of her sword. Too late.
The monk pressed the cold steel tip of his sword to her neck, shaking his head and clucking sympathetically.
She lifted her chin beneath the pressure of the steel. Every reflex she had demanded she protect that book.
Brother Nicolas rose. “Brother Marcus, what is the meaning of this? We are working.”
“I’ll take the book,” Marcus ordered in a soft voice.
Panic flared inside Sage. No! She didn’t budge because of the sword pressed to her neck. She swiveled her eyes without moving her head to Brother Nicolas but could only see his shadow against the wall.
“The book?” Brother Nicolas asked, confused. “It is meaningless.”
“Then you won’t miss it,” Brother Marcus stated.
“You won’t be able to read it,” Sage said through clenched teeth. “It’s coded.”
One side of his lips turned up in a grin. “That’s why you will be coming with me.”
