Dark Faïz ( Book 1 ) [ COMPLETED]

Chapters 13-3

William flipped through it, taking care not to damage the pages. He stopped on one of them, its title written in Latin.

— "Here we are, the chapter on Athanasius's rest," William whispered.

Lexy cleared her throat and added,

— "Somebody explain it to me? Apart from a title on this page, there's nothing to read. Unless I'm wrong?"

My hand rested on it and lines of writing magically appeared.

— "Impossible," David whispered in awe.

Asarys and Lexy were equally shocked by what they saw happening before their eyes. They understood that all this was not a waking dream. On the page strange symbols were drawn. There were words here and there in a language I didn't recognize. I turned to Faïz and William.

— "Can you decipher all this?"

— "I should have suspected it," William whispered, discouraged.

— "Shit!" Faïz growled, hitting his fist on the desk.

— "Wait, don't tell me that no one here can read or decipher this," David said, panicked.

Faïz moved back and began pacing around the room, growling,

— "Damn it, it's going to take us months, maybe even years, to decipher this chapter!"

— "We cannot use Cryptanalysis, or a linguist?" asked Asarys.

— "The book must stay here. Bringing in someone from outside would be too dangerous," William replied.

— "Time is against us," Faïz added. "This text, the human race cannot decode it. Too few people aware of the myth of the traveler and all the rest."

— "Artificial intelligence," David interrupted.

— "What do you mean?" I asked.

— "We could create an algorithm. Look!"

He pointed at the page.

— "That would be the easiest way to translate all this. A code for a letter. I just need to find out what the right encryption would be. Then we would have the answers we are looking for. I can try to create a series of algorithms to first identify the language that has been used and then decrypt the texts."

— "I think that would be the best solution," William said. "What do you think, Faïz?"

He thought for a moment.

— "How long would all this take?" he asked.

David flipped through the book to evaluate the work that awaited him.

— "Eight pages or so, I'd say three or four months."

Faïz sighed deeply, disappointed by this answer.

— "It's our only chance. We have no choice," William tried to convince him. "Thank you, David."

— "You're right, we have no choice," Faïz admitted. "It must be a titanic job. Try not to waste time."

— "Zoe, I'm going to take pictures of the pages and start working on them as soon as I get back to campus. Put your hand on it as you did before," David asked me.

I complied, the writings and drawings reappearing on contact with my palm. David ripped the phone out of Lexy's hands and photographed the whole thing, careful not to miss anything.

— "Make sure the result is readable," I said once he was finished.

— "We will make an assessment before the end of the month to see what new information you have to provide us," Faïz said.

He then headed for the door. Before leaving, he turned around to us.

— "We've been here for a while. There can't be many people left down there. We'd better go home, too."

William closed the Callis and left it on the desk. We went out together and undertook to retrieve our belongings, which were in one of the rooms next door. William accompanied us, while Faïz preferred to go down directly without waiting for us.

— "Zoe, my brother and I are going to be away for three days in Detroit to visit our sister, Kayla," William said. "If you need to come here to consult the manuscript or even another document, the Mattews have their own keys to the mansion."

— "All right," I said. "I'll remember."

We headed for the stairs. David, Lexy, and Asarys followed us.

— "Perhaps we will have the opportunity to meet when I return?" William asked, full of hope.

How could I explain to him without being clumsy that he should not expect to have a closer relationship with me than the one we'd already had?

— "Why not try to organize something nice? In friendship, if you don't mind," I answered with some restraint.

— "Don't worry, I'll make an effort to keep a good distance between us, if that's what scares you. But don't worry, I have all the time in the world," he said with a stunning smile.

I was blushing despite myself.

— "Thank you."