VELLUM, IVORY, SKIN, BONE

Canon stood up and reached into his jacket. He pulled out a small book, and handed it to Pietro. It was dirty and worn. A first glance told Pietro the pages were some sort of vellum, perhaps not calf though, as they had a darker and less consistent tone about them. Small ivory latches dotted the opening edge of the book, and what looked like horse hair bound it all together along the spine. The cover had a childish drawing of some creature or monster Pietro couldn't identify from any lore he was aware of. The monster was wearing a mask of a tired and terrified man. The back cover depicted what Pietro could only assume was that same man, except, he was wearing a mask that must have been the face of the monster on the front cover.

   "So, what is this?" Pietro asked Canon.

   "This is the strangest book I have ever read. It's a collection of short, and often, but not always, dark stories. " He replied, "This is the only copy I've ever seen, and it's not yet finished."

Pietro unhooked the ivory latches and flipped through the book. Each page had a drawing above a block of text, like a children's picture book, only these images were not for children.

   "Here," Canon said, "look."

He took the book from Pietro and flipped to the middle.

   "See here?" He showed them the page he had stopped on, "It ends here, with this last story... The title story, you might call it. All sense leaves the author and they simply write this for the rest of book."

Pietro took the book back from him.

   ...I am the monster. Help me.

   I am the monster. Help me.

   I am the monster. Help me.

   I am the monster. Help me...

   "And it just goes on like that, for about 30 pages..." Said Canon, "What do you make of it, Mr Milosz?"

   "It looks to me like our author has some serious issues." Pietro responded, and handed the book back to Canon, who swiftly returned it to his pocket.

   "Exactly what I thought..." Canon held his hand firmly on the pocket containing the book, "I have a proposition for you."

   "Oh?"

Canon moved very close to Pietro. So close that Pietro could feel the man's breath on his cheek and neck.

   "I know where Lyra is, Mr Milosz." He whispered, "If you help me find the author of this story, I'll show her to you... and you can finally finish a painting."