The Riddles of Epsilon Read Free Page B

the cottage, copied down the symbols on the door stone. Had a closer look at the stone itself. It’s really unusual—shiny black glass. I suppose the mysterious V is right—it’s volcanic. Strange choice for a doorstep—glass!
    They think I’m doing my homework now, and anyway They’ve gone to look for fossils on the beach. So.
    1. Here are the symbols from the cottage doorstep:

    2. Here are the English words that are written under them:
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    WHERE --SILON DWELLS
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    3. And here are the symbols from my bedroom wall:

    So there they all are. They look strange in this diary, out of place, like something you might come across in an old archive office. Not something you find in the average teenage bedroom. I’m reluctant to begin working them out.
    Yet I can’t just keep on sitting here, staring at them. Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m scared, really. I keep wondering what might happen if I do decipher them?
    But I can’t not decipher it—can I? Who in the whole world would be able to crumple all this up and throw itaway? What choice do I have, really? No choice at all.
    I’m pretty good at puzzles and things. But there isn’t a lot to go on. Probably not enough to crack the whole alphabet. I’ve worked out that some of the little dots and squiggles under and over other symbols must be letters in themselves. (Vowels, in fact—E and I.) That alone took me forever—maybe I’m not as clever as I thought. Still, only one way to find out. Here goes . . . .
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    This is not easy. Like I said—those dots and squiggles threw me for a while. For a start, there are five letters in the word “where.” But only three symbols in the word carved right above it, from the cottage doorstep.
    It’s the same with the last word—“dwells.” Six letters in “dwells,” only five symbols.
    So . . . the funny little dots (or squiggles) below or above another symbol must be separate letters in themselves. Yes. So back to the word “where.” The dots below must be the vowel E —because there are two of them, just like in the word “where.”
    And so that small curly blob under a letter in the second word must be another vowel—I. (Something something “silon.”)
    Now it makes more sense.
    As to the “--silon,” what else could it be but “epsilon”?This is the only other word I know connected to the cottage. Epsilon, carved on the base of the bucket. That gives me the P also. The A’s are easy, too—a single-letter word! It can’t be I, as the I’s are already accounted for.
    So what I can decipher of the message so far is this:
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    WI_H A _IRRORED DREA_
    A _OLLOWED SO_ND
    _H_S LE_ I_ _E_IN
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    Going through the alphabet to try out the missing letters; there are some things they cannot possibly be and some things they must be.
    DREA_ must be “dream.” It can’t be any other word. Therefore M is.
    I_ must be “it,” since I already have the N so it’s not “in,” and I have S so it’s not “is.” T must be.
    TH_S must be “thus,” since I already have the I, so it’s not “this.” Therefore U is.
    _OLLOWED must be “followed,” since I already have the H, so it’s not “hollowed.” Therefore F is.
    And _E_IN must be “begin,” ’cause I can’t think of another word that fits! Therefore B isand G is.
    So even though I haven’t got the whole of the alphabet, I have got the whole of this message (or whatever it is). Not that it makes much sense, though.
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    WITH A MIRRORED DREAM
    A FOLLOWED SOUND
    THUS LET IT BEGIN
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    What’s that supposed to mean?!
    Oh, darn it! Mom’s on the second floor, yelling up the attic stairs. They’ve found a whole belemnite, whatever that is. Them and their fossils. Gotta go.

Chapter Seven
    MY DIARY—5