13. in which danny searches for a name

Danny began to flip through each volume off the shelf, one-by-one. None felt right. There were occult texts, baby name books, nonfiction resources on name meanings and origins — even a couple of pieces of fiction.

When she reached her third shelf, Danny found a large book — maybe a foot and a half in width — filled with names. There were thousands of them, written in tiny text. Each page had more than a dozen columns of them. “You’re in here, aren’t you?” she murmured, propping the book so that she could flip through it. “But how the hell do I find you?”

Names held great power. If she could find the name of the forest…

Danny flipped from one end of the book to the other. There were nothing but names, cover to cover. Scowling, she sat, and began to search again, this time slower. Cover, title page, and — ah-hah. On the second page, there was a monograph. It was a woodcut print. In it, a crone pored over a huge tome. The title beneath the monograph said, “The Keeper of Names.”

Danny smiled. “Ah-ha,” she said.

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Christie “Iamba” Bailey

~ by iamba on October 4, 2008.