Read Online The Cornerstone by Nick Spalding - Free Book Online Page A

you I was asking for help from, Max. It was anyone suitable I could find from your world.’
    That was a bit disappointing. ‘Oh, ok.’
    ‘Don’t worry! I’m very glad somebody like you came. You look clever and brave… and that’s what we need right now. I guess I got lucky. And anyway, The Cornerstone seems to like you.’
    ‘Like me? It nearly killed me!’
    ‘Well there you go then. If it hadn’t liked you, it would have killed you.’
    ‘Great… that’s very comforting to know. Why did you send that note in the first place?’ Max asked. ‘And how the hell did you get it into Farefield library?
    ‘Is that what it’s called? The library you came from?’
    ‘Yep.’
    Merelie’s eyes went misty. ‘Is it beautiful? Your library? I bet it is.’
    Max pictured Farefield library in his head: The woeful window displays. The lack of decent books. The grey concrete walls. ‘I wouldn’t quite say beautiful, no.’
    ‘Anywhere there are books is beautiful, Max… because they are.’
    ‘You obviously haven’t read anything by Clive Bonnet,’ Max muttered under his breath.
    ‘What?’
    ‘Doesn’t matter… how did you get the message through?’
    ‘You just have to know how to craft the words, that’s all… and know how to access the doorway.’ She said this like it made any sense whatsoever.
    ‘That doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.’
    Merelie looked at him with disbelief. ‘I know your world doesn’t work like ours, but I had no idea it was this bad.’
    He gave her a blank look.
    She sighed and continued. ‘Words have weight, Max… they have power. All written words capture the thoughts and dreams of the people who write them. When enough of them are collected in a book, their weight grows.’
    Merelie paused, giving Max time to digest this.
    ‘The more you have in one place,’ she explained, ‘the heavier they get. The stronger they get. Understand?’
    Max nodded. He didn’t want her to think he was an idiot.
    ‘Books gain energy from one another, the same way we gain energy from each other, like this.’ She took his hand in hers. It felt a little cold. ‘If I keep my hand in yours for long enough, it’ll get warm like yours, yes?         
    ‘Um… yeah.’
    ‘Words work the same way.’
    ‘That’s silly. You’re talking like they’re living things.’
    ‘They are! If you understand them, anyway.’
    Merelie picked up a piece of paper from the table and gave it to Max. ‘Hold this up for me, and keep it flat.’
    He did so, wondering where this was going.
    ‘When you get enough books in one place - thousands and thousands, I mean - they can get so heavy that with a little help they can… well, rip through space itself.’ She prodded the paper with one finger, tearing a hole in it. ‘Those rips always go somewhere else. Once you know that, it’s just a question of finding out where. One rip leads to your world and I sent the note through it.’
    ‘So you knew it would end up in Clive Bonnet’s book?’ This was a weird choice to Max. He thought she would have picked something more appropriate. Alice in Wonderland, perhaps.
    ‘I’ve never heard of that book. I couldn’t be that accurate. The whole thing was random… a bit hit and miss. I just knew the note would end up in the same library The Cornerstone was in.’
    ‘But it might never have got read,’ Max pointed out. ‘It could have been a waste of time. It could have taken ages for anyone to see it, if nothing else.’
    ‘True, but I had no choice. Contact with your world is so restricted. I had to hope The Cornerstone would help me. It helped me write the note, after all.’
    ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘Flick to the back page,’ Merelie said, a guilty look on her face.
    Max saw why as he opened The Cornerstone and saw that the last page had been ripped out. A ragged sliver of paper was still visible, poking out from the binding.
    ‘Defacing a Cornerstone like that is a horrible thing to do,’