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He had warned her about the book. Now it was too late.
Earlier on that week Anastasia van Dele, otherwise known as Annie, had moved into Mr. John Linden's house for a month or two, just while she could find a house of her own. Mr. Linden was an old friend of the family, but she didn't really know him. She remembered the last words he had said to her- "You may go anywhere in this house, but whatever you do, in the library there is one book you must not touch. It has symbols all over it. You'll be sorry if you do." So they left it that.
One night when Annie couldn't sleep, she got up to get a glass of water. She walked down the hall past the old library. On the way back she stopped. She remembered Mr. Linden's words. She went in and looked among the shelves for a book to read. Suddenly she came across what she thought must be The Book. It had strange Egyptian symbols on it which was good because she had learned to read them back at college. She figured out what it said:
ALL WHO DARE TO OPEN THIS BOOK MUST PAY
One part of her said open it because she was extremely curious, but the other part said don't. She carefully took the book up to her room making sure not to make too much noise. She switched her lamp on and got into bed. Then she opened the book.