The Cornerstone Read Free Page A

didn’t like the prospect one bit.
    However, it was zombies, so he persevered.
    He reached the end of the first chapter – the rapidly rotting teacher lurching up the driveway to his house, deathly afraid his wife has been eaten by the undead.
    Max felt the story would benefit from the discovery of her mangled corpse and turned the page, eager to see if Bonnet felt the same way.

- 3 -

    Between the next two pages was a piece of paper, folded in half. Max picked it up.
    The paper was stained brown with age and felt odd between his fingers. The texture was almost silky to the touch.
    He’d once been on a hideously dull school trip to Westminster Abbey to see the Magna Carta. It had been sealed in a glass case and the teacher had impressed upon his pupils how delicate it was.
    The pages of that old book had looked a lot like this.
    With great care, Max unfolded the paper to see if anything was written on it.
    He fully expected to find lots of ancient words, written in complicated serif handwriting. The kind that’s so old they use the letter F instead of S - like thif.
    There was indeed writing on the scrap of paper, but it was in a plain, modern hand:

    Hello.
    I need your help. 
    They’re coming… and I’m terrified, but I know you can stop them.
    Books can be doorways. Find The Cornerstone book. You’ll know it by its sound. It’s there somewhere.
    I’ll wait for as long as I can.
    Please help me. Please help us.
    I’m so scared.
    M.

    A shiver ran down Max’s spine. All thoughts of zombies were forgotten.
    He read and re-read the odd message, trying to figure out its meaning.
    It could be some kind of weird prank… but it’d be a pretty terrible joke, wouldn’t it?
    You’d have to wait for someone to open this one book in particular, which could take months, or even years. Max had a cursory look around, half expecting to see some cobweb covered pensioner pointing at him, a look of crazed glee on his face.
    That was just silly. 
    Still, it didn’t make much sense, did it?
    Books as doorways?
    What the hell was a ‘Cornerstone’ book and how could it make a sound?
    He re-read the last lines of the note:
    Please help me. Please help us. I’m so scared.
    Max felt another shiver run down his back. 
    It occurred to him that if this actually was a practical joke, then the instigator may have added copies of the message to other books, raising the chances of some poor sap finding it and falling for the gag.
    He stood up and pulled out novels closest to where Clive Bonnet’s had been, holding the books by the cover and flapping them around in the air.
    He gave up after five, when no other notes had fluttered out.
    The idea of going through every book in the library was crazy – it’d take him all day – so he decided to treat the message as a one-off, until evidence came to light suggesting otherwise.
    Having settled that, it was now a question of what to do next.
    He could just tuck the paper back into Read Me If You’re Bored, put the book back, leave the library and forget this weird episode ever happened. That would just plunge him back into the depths of abject boredom though, which was to be avoided at all costs.
    The next choice was to take the note to the librarian at the front counter.
    Max could imagine handing it over and the sour look she’d give him. He could further imagine the note being torn up, as she told him it was a silly joke – a prank perpetrated by one of his fellow enthusiastic teenagers, no doubt.
    A part of Max spoke up to point out that the librarian was probably right and this was indeed a silly joke.
    Another part of him couldn’t stop turning the message over in his head however, convinced it was a genuine cry for help.
    He was determined to get to the bottom of it.
    Wherever the bottom of it was.
    …or the top for that matter.

    The best place to start would be with this Cornerstone thing.
    As far as Max was aware, a cornerstone was a foundation block in a building and