The Lost Book of Wonders by Chad Brecher

Author:Chad Brecher [Brecher, Chad]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Deeds Publishing
Published: 2017-04-05T18:30:00+00:00

40

The tip of the bar sunk deeply into the mortar. Alex had chipped away for nearly an hour and was finally battling the last of the stubborn cement. He maneuvered the bar in a circular motion, loosening the mortar and causing the tile to nearly float within the space he had carved out between it and the adjacent tiles. With a crack, the mortar was driven upwards and sent rattling across the floor.

“Supreme job!” Clay congratulated him with a paternalistic pat on the back. “Now let’s see what’s under that bugger.”

He could feel the group close tightly in on him. Alex looked at each member of the eclectic team assembled with some uncertainty. What if there was nothing beneath the stone? He slipped the bar beyond the edge of the tile and pried it upwards. With a grating noise, the tile popped free of the surrounding stones. Ellie reached down and gripped the golden brick to her chest, surprised by the heaviness. They stared down at the rectangular void beneath the tile. The flashlight shook slightly in Alex’s hands as he directed the light into the hole with tremulous anticipation. As he explored the blackened hole, he could make out the faint edge of a box.

“There’s something down there!”

Alex extended his right arm deep into the void and searched blindly for the box. His fingers crept along the dank earth until he could feel the chill of metal against his fingertips. He stretched his arm to the limit as his shoulder ran up against the surrounding tile and prevented further exploration. Just as he was about to remove his hand from the hole and see if someone else in his party would have any better luck, his fingers were able to seize hold of a clasp. With a heave, he pulled his arm out of the space, clutching the box and set it upon the ground.

Ellie sunk to her knees, still tightly hugging the golden block to her chest.

The box was simple and unadorned. It was constructed out of dark, gray iron and had a clasp in the front of it. There was no lock, and Alex merely flipped the clasp upwards and silently lifted the lid back. Clay, eager to see the contents, leaned in excessively, blocking the light and causing Ellie to groan. She swatted him to the side with the backside of her hand.

With the flashlights trained intensely upon the interior of the box, they could see that the box contained a brown piece of leather that was folded snuggly upon itself. The leather covering was tied with a string made of horsehair. Alex reached into the box and carefully undid the knot of the string, allowing it to fall to the side. The four huddled closely together as Alex’s fingers seized each end of the leather covering and delicately peeled them back. Beneath the leather was an eight-petaled metallic object seemingly identical to the one recovered from Dr. Gozzi behind the painting of the Black Doge.

“Wonderful.

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