"Eli, can you come with me for a moment?" Hal asked to which Eli only tilted her head quizzically.
Hal took her to a very familiar place on the second floor. It's the same section where she found the Book of Metis. When he palmed a certain spot on the middle row of a bookshelf, she was flummoxed to see a glowing magical circle appear as he mumbled what sounded like a cryptic enchantment.
Seconds later, the bookshelf split into two, revealing a secret stone-walled passageway. Due to her know-hows as an avid reader of fantasy works, Eli imagined that what's beyond this could be a paradise of gleaming gold and silver or a chamber of treasure chests.
But then, the bookworm saw something better.
The distinctive sweet scent of old parchments filled her senses as soon as they entered a room at the end of the dim pathway. Candelabras stuck out from the stone veneer wall that's filled with glittering gemstones of various colours and sizes.
