Nicodemus ducked through the doorway into a small, dark space. “I cannot,” he said.

A rectangle of dull amber light glowed in the darkness. As Nicodemus approached, the light grew to reveal that he was standing not in a room, but in a bower of leathery vines. The thick stems and leaves had wound themselves into a tentlike roof around the crumbling building.

The floor was uneven and rough. On closer inspection, Nicodemus realized that it was made of thousands of roots. All of them ran to the room’s center and then grew into something resembling a tree stump-“resembling” because after rising two feet into the air, it grew into a massive codex. Its brown leather cover was textured like ash bark. A braid of branches grew from each face to form a clasp. The diffuse amber light was coming from the many pages.

The sound of shuffling feet filled the bower as Shannon, John, and Deirdre entered behind him.

Tulki handed Nicodemus a note: “Move slowly.”

The Bestiary’s glow brightened as Nicodemus approached. Silently, the fore-edge clasp unwove and the book opened with a creak. Shafts of amber light spilled upward from the yellowing pages. Incandescent specks flew up from the spine like embers from a fire.

“Be careful, Nico,” John said. Shannon said something too, but Nicodemus could not hear what over the rush of blood in his ears. He pressed his palm against one of the Bestiary’s warm, luminous pages.

There was a pause. Nicodemus held his breath and waited for the sensation of flying upward into a night sky that he had known in the Index.

But it did not come. Another pause. “I don’t-” he started to say before the ground below him dissolved.

A cry escaped his throat as he plummeted down into blackness.

CHAPTER Forty

Nicodemus fell into the Bestiary, his mouth filling with what felt like warm, thin oil. He gagged and then accidentally inhaled the slippery blackness. He was drowning. Panic flooding through his mind, he began to thrash.

But his mind could not disengage from the book.

The liquid around him thickened, slowing his fall. With a heave, he pushed the fluid from his lungs and fought the urge to inhale. But instinct soon forced him to draw the thin oil back into his chest.

Slowly his thrashing stopped. He wasn’t drowning; he was breathing darkness. His limbs felt weightless. His long hair floated around him.

Nearby, some swimming thing made small waves of force. “Another child of error? A second chance?” said a rough, feminine voice.

Nicodemus’s heart beat faster. “Who are you?” He was surprised that he could speak while breathing the liquid dark.

The thing replied with a low, purr-like laugh. It sounded as if it was now circling him.

Nicodemus turned about, trying to see what he was addressing. “I’ve come to learn about Language Prime. And to learn about the one who came before me.”

Again the feline laugh. “I know what you seek, Nicodemus Weal. As long as you are within this tome, I know all you know.”

He reached out in the direction of the voice. “Who are you?”

A slippery something wound around his head and slid away so quickly that he did not have time to flinch.

“I am the beast. I am the Bestiary. I am the test-maker, the word-taker, the one who gives the trial before the rule, the power before the purpose. I am a sliver of Chimera, who was the goddess of all Chimerical peoples.”

“You’re a spell?”

Low laughter replied. “You might call me a spell. You might also call me a fractional soul. When I was myself complete, I made this book one of my avatars and placed myself incomplete into it. You may call me Chimera.”

Nicodemus paused to gather his fortitude. “Can you teach me what I want to know?”

Again something silky wrapped around Nicodemus-this time his left arm-and slipped away. “I can,” Chimera rumbled. “But only if you accept the price. For if you learn Language Prime, you can never unlearn it.”

“And why would that be bad? Will I go blind?”

A current pushed against Nicodemus’s back and sent him floating forward. After a moment, Chimera spoke. “Quite the opposite from going blind, you will see more. You will see the truth about the Creator’s language.”

“Is that what happened to James Berr? You taught him Language Prime, and he learned what cacography really is?”

Chimera’s next word came from directly above. “Yes.”

Some of Nicodemus’s hair floated into his eyes. He pulled it away. “And what of Magister Shannon’s curse? Will learning Language Prime allow me to cure him?”

“It would show you how Shannon ’s curse might be removed. Whether you have the skill to remove it, I cannot say.”

Nicodemus could feel Chimera swimming about him more quickly. “My enemies would keep knowledge from you,” she rumbled. “If you do learn Language Prime, you will gain the ability to confound Fellwroth and his demon masters. But as in all things, there must be an exchange. I would give you knowledge; you would give me your happiness.”

Nicodemus laughed. “That’s the trade: my happiness for your knowledge?”

Chimera hissed, “Yes.”

“You wouldn’t be getting much of a bargain. I haven’t much happiness to give.”

“Is that supposed be profound or cynical?”

Nicodemus shook his head. “If I ignore an opportunity to remove Shannon ’s curse, I will never know happiness again.”

“You will trade your happiness for the chance, not the certainty, of healing your teacher?”

“I would.”

Chimera made no response.

Nicodemus pursed his lips. Was this a mistake? “How will you or Language Prime remove my happiness?”

“By making you completely into the man you are becoming.”

His head bobbed back. “Who could be harmed by becoming more thoroughly himself?”

“Who wouldn’t be?”

Nicodemus snorted blackness through his nose. “Is that supposed to be profound or cynical?”

Chimera did not answer.

Nicodemus changed the subject. “How will you teach me Language Prime? Will it be like when the Index thrust its purple language down my throat?”

Chimera chuckled. “No, Fellwroth spoke truthfully about your family. The Solar Empire bred an understanding of the Creator’s language into Imperials. Your ancestry has provided you with an uncanny and unconscious knowledge of how to read and write Language Prime. James Berr also possessed Imperial ancestors.”

Nicodemus’s throat tightened. “I am related to him?”

Chimera made a sound like a yawn. “Berr would be your distant cousin. He paid the price and it broke him. Perhaps you are stronger. Will you learn the first language?”

Nicodemus took a long breath of liquid black. “I will.”

THE DARKNESS LIT up with four aquamarine characters.

“These are the four runes of Language Prime,” Chimera said behind him.

Nicodemus glanced over his shoulder to try to glimpse Chimera but saw only blackness. So he turned back to the complex cyan characters. All were three-dimensional. Two had hexagonal structures; the other two, pentagonal structures. As the runes rotated slowly, Nicodemus realized that he had instantly memorized their every detail. He could already see how they would fit together into long, spiraling sentences.

“I’ve never learned anything so quickly,” he remarked in amazement.

Chimera spoke. “You are not learning; you are awakening an ancestral knowledge. And now that I have shown you the runes, your education is nearly complete.”

Nicodemus laughed, but when the hidden creature did not reply, he realized that she was serious. “But I have no Language Prime vocabulary, no grammar.” He laughed again. “I don’t even know what kind of spells are written in Language Prime.”

Chimera’s reply came in a whisper. “Look at your hands.”

Nicodemus did as he was told and then jumped. An aquamarine glow now suffused his fingers and palms.