Flickering Creatures | ONC 2024 Longlist | ✔︎

(7) Writ On Paper

Bella landed on the desk beside Daphne and stared at the book the young Witch had retrieved. It was unfamiliar—so foreign, Bryony might as well have brought it home the day before she left. It was not written in any language Bella knew. Small symbols looped and slanted, sometimes bundled together, but mostly scampering across the page in lines and lines of written text. For all its unintelligibility, though, the handwriting looked eerily like Bryony's.

"Keep going," said Bella. "I want to see more."

Daphne turned one page, then another. It was all the same. By now, Titus had also joined them, reading over Daphne's arm in silence. Bella risked a glance at him, but his expression did not give away how he felt about this.

"It looks like a code," said Daphne.

"Do you recognize it?" said Bella.

"Should I?"

Bella shrugged. "Do they teach you codes in school? For... I don't know. Anti-dialectical communication? Like the Intercity Standard."

"That's not really a code, though. It's just a simplification, so it's easier to share recipes. I've never seen anything like this before."

Bella gave Titus a pointed look. "Have you?"

"Not at all." He tipped his chin ever so slightly. "But that's a reaction map, is it not?"

He'd indicated a small diagram in one corner of the page. Its lines swirled in symmetrical patterns like a stylized version of the flowcharts Witches used to detail the maturation of complex potions. Bella leaned closer, but she could make no sense of the diagram's annotations, either.

Daphne flipped a few more pages on Titus's request. The notebook only grew more complex the farther they went. There were lists formatted identically to the ones Bryony made for herself when gathering ingredients. There were sketches of plants Bella recognized, and a couple she did not. There were more swirling diagrams—almost certainly reaction maps, but so far removed from the ones Bryony normally drew, they jarred against the familiarity of the handwriting all around them.

One page appeared to be a map, also heavily stylized. Daphne pored over this for a while, then waited for Bella and Titus to both shake their heads before moving on. Another page was so packed with tiny calculations, it made Bella's head swim just looking at it. The numbers too were coded, as were the mathematical operations. Such a complex code must make Bryony's head ache to write in, yet her pen swept smoothly over the page, giving no hint of any difficulty. Even the start of the book, when Bella requested a return to it, gave every indication that it was already written by a practiced hand.

"Maybe it's an heirloom?" said Bella weakly. Daphne's brow furrowed. Titus might as well not have heard.

"The map might tell us where she went," said Daphne, flipping back to the page from before. "If this is actually a map, I mean."

"If you want to make an attempt at cracking this code," said Titus, "then by all means, you're welcome to it. I would like to keep running inventory."

Bella's wings tensed as she found herself caught between tasks. Supervising Daphne with the book would prevent any foul play on the young Witch's part. But a comprehensive assessment of what Bryony had taken with her would offer more immediate clues as to where she'd gone and how long she intended to be absent for. Bella clicked her beak, then rejoined Titus on reluctant wings. She found him standing with his nose lowered to Bryony's shoe-mat, tail flicking and hackles slightly lifted.

"What is it?" said Bella in alarm.

"She took her boots."

"The leathers?"