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"Enough!" Garrik thundered, stepping between Natalie and the Gateway. His enormous shoulders looked even broader than usual, and his handsome face was dark with anger. "Madam, I have tolerated your foolishness long enough! You will close that cursed book and remove the binding enchantment from Lady Celeste immediately!"

For a moment, I thought Natalie might actually listen to him. After all, Garrik was nearly eight feet tall and looked absolutely furious, which was enough to make most people think twice about arguing with him. But then she glanced at his slightly transparent form and seemed to remember that he couldn't physically stop her.

"Oh, relax!" she snapped. "I'm not going to hurt anybody! I just need to follow the instructions in the book, and then I'll finally get the powers I was supposed to inherit from Nana Cordelia!"

"Your grandmother would be appalled by what you're doing!" Bartleby exclaimed.

"Well, she's not here, is she?" Natalie retorted.

The cat looked as though he was about to say something particularly nasty, but before he could, the book in Natalie's hands suddenly began to move.

At first, I thought she was simply opening it. But then I realized that the pages were turning by themselves—flipping so quickly that they made a strange rustling sound, almost like a flock of birds taking flight. The dark red writing on the pages began moving, too, sliding across the old parchment and rearranging itself into new words.

"Oh!" Natalie exclaimed, looking delighted. "Look at that! It's giving me new instructions!"

Garrik made a low, furious growling sound.

"Close that book, you foolish woman!"

But Natalie ignored him. She was staring down at the pages with an expression of almost childish excitement, as though she'd just discovered the most wonderful present in the world.

"Oh my God!" she breathed. "It knows we're here! Look, Celeste! It's telling me exactly what to do!"

I didn't particularly want to look, but since Natalie was holding the book out towards me and had ordered me to, I couldn't help watching the strange red letters crawling across the parchment. They moved like little insects, shifting and rearranging themselves until they formed three lines of writing.

I couldn't read the words at first because they appeared to be in some ancient language, but then they changed again, becoming ordinary English.

“The Veil Witch must unbind the Three Seals.

Let her living hand extinguish the silver light.

When the last protection fades, the Gate shall answer,” I read in a low voice.

Oh, no.

I looked up at Garrik, who had apparently been reading over Natalie's shoulder. His expression was terrible.

"By the Ancients!" he exclaimed. "It's telling you how to dismantle the protective enchantments!"

Natalie looked up.

"Well, yes, obviously. It says I have to get through the Gateway to claim my powers."

"No!" Garrik roared. "You cannot open the Gateway! Do you have any idea what lies beyond those doors?"

"Dead people, I guess," Natalie said with a shrug. "Isn't that the whole point?"

"Not merely dead people!" he thundered. "There are things beyond the Veil which have never been human, spirits of darkness and malice which would gladly destroy everything in their path if they were allowed into the living world!"

Natalie gave him a skeptical look.

"Don’t be dramatic—I'm sure you're exaggerating."

"Oh, for God’s sake!" I exclaimed. "Natalie, would you please listen to him? He's the Guardian of the Gateway! If anybody knows what's on the other side, it's Garrik!"

But Natalie was already looking down at the book again.

"Okay, let's see. It says the first seal is on the left side of the doors."