Key Of Knowledge Read Online Free PDF

licked the spoon, dug for more. “But, damn, they’re really good.”
    Refreshed, she changed into sweats, brewed a pot of coffee, then settled into her favorite chair with the new book on Celtic lore.
    She couldn’t count the number of books on the subjectshe’d read in the last month. But then again, to Dana, reading was every bit as pleasurable as Ben and Jerry’s and as essential to life as the next breath of air.
    She surrounded herself with books at work and at home. Her living space was a testament to her first and abiding love, with shelves jammed with books, tables crowded with them. She saw them not only as knowledge, entertainment, comfort, even sanity, but as a kind of artful decoration.
    To the casual eye, the books that streamed and flowed over shelves in nooks, on tabletops, might look like a haphazard, even disordered, jumble. But the librarian in Dana insisted on a system.
    She could, on her whim or on request, put her hand on any title in any room in the apartment.
    She couldn’t live without books, without the stories, the information, the worlds that lived inside them. Even now, with the task ahead of her and the clock already ticking, she fell into the words on the pages in her hands, and into the lives, the loves, the wars, the petty grievances of the gods.
    Absorbed, she jumped at the knock on her door. Blinking, she came back to reality, noted that the sun had set while she’d been visiting with Dagda, Epona, and Lug.
    Book in hand, she went to answer, then lifted her eyebrows at Malory. “What’s up?”
    â€œI thought I’d swing by and see what you were up to before I headed home. I’ve spent the day talking to some local artists and craftspeople. I think I’ve got a good start on pieces for my gallery.”
    â€œCool. Got any food on you? I’m starved.”
    â€œA tin of Altoids and half a roll of Life Savers.”
    â€œThat’s not going to work,” Dana decided. “I’m going to forage. You hungry?”
    â€œNo, go ahead. Any brilliant ideas? Anything you want Zoe and me to do?” Malory asked as she followed Dana into the kitchen.
    â€œI don’t know how brilliant. Spaghetti! Hot damn.” Dana came out of the refrigerator with a bowl of leftover pasta. “You want?”
    â€œNope.”
    â€œGot some Cabernet to go with it.”
    â€œThat I’ll have. One glass.” At home in Dana’s kitchen, Malory got out wineglasses. “What’s the idea, brilliant or not?”
    â€œBooks. You know, the whole knowledge thing. And the past, present, future. If we’re talking about mine, it’s all about the books.” She dug out a fork and began to eat the pasta straight out of the bowl. “The trick is which book, or what kind of book.”
    â€œDon’t you want to heat that up?”
    â€œWhat?” Baffled, Dana looked down at the spaghetti in the bowl. “Why?”
    â€œNo reason.” Malory handed Dana a glass of wine, then took her own and wandered out to sit at the table. “A book or books makes sense, at least in part. And it gives you a path to take. But . . .”
    She scanned Dana’s apartment. “What you yourself personally own would take weeks to get through. Then there’s what everyone else in the Valley owns, the library, the bookstore at the mall, and so on.”
    â€œAnd the fact that even if I’m right, it doesn’t mean the key’s literally in a book. Could be figuratively. Or it could mean something in a book points the way to the key.” Dana shrugged and shoveled in more cold spaghetti. “I said it fell short of brilliant.”
    â€œIt’s a good starting point. Past, present, future.” Malory pursed her lips. “Covers a lot of ground.”
    â€œHistorical, contemporary, futuristic. And that’s just novels.”
    â€œWhat if it’s more personal?” Malory leaned