The Cornerstone Read Online Free PDF Page B

ventured.
    There was no response, but he could have sworn the purple stuff started to squirm around a bit quicker.
    ‘Is there anybody there?’
    The writhing mass definitely reacted to this.
    Max wasn’t a genius, but was smart enough to know that if you found yourself thrust out of reality into a strange alien environment, it probably wasn’t a good idea to go around shouting your mouth off. You had no idea who, or what, might be listening.
    This led to the uncomfortable feeling that he was being watched.
    As if on cue, the boiling mass around him started to coalesce into heads and bodies.
    …not human ones, either.
    There were definitely eyes in there, though.
    And worse - teeth .
    Abject terror was now the order of the day and Max - by nature an agnostic sort - started to pray like mad.
    These hastily prepared pleas were thankfully answered and he was pushed further on into the purple sea, away from the amorphous creatures. His speed increased again and purple space quickly gave way to total darkness.
    The choir - having discovered that the oven was in fact off - returned and began a deep, rumbling note that would have rattled the fillings in Max’s teeth if he’d had any.
    I’m really not sure how much more of this I can take…
    The blinding silver light engulfed him again and Max was thrust forward at an incredible rate.
    Lacking anything more constructive to do, he decided screaming might be a good idea.
    As he gave his lungs a good workout, the sound and light show came to a sudden end, indicating the journey was over.
    This was just as well, because Max was approaching the point of projectile vomiting and was about to end up very far from the nearest washing machine.

    Vision and hearing returned. Max found himself sat with The Cornerstone open in front of him, just as he had been.
    He wasn’t in Farefield public library anymore though, that was for certain.

- 6 -

    It was a library, but other than the fact it contained books, it had nothing in common with the place he’d just left.
    This library had never felt the sting of council cutbacks and was never used by the elderly to kill time before picking up the pension. It didn’t feature any hand drawn children’s pictures, and most certainly did not have a cyber café or Citizens Advice Bureau.
    What it did have were monstrous, gothic shelves containing a countless number of impressive books - the type other books wanted to be when they grew up.
    They looked extremely old. Bound in a selection of exotic looking materials, the spines were covered in languages Max didn’t have a chance of understanding.
    Some books also bore symbols. Max could recognise a few of these, but rather wished he didn't as none of them looked pleasant - reminding him of some of the more lurid nightmares he’d had recently.
    The nightmare he was in right now was a lot worse though, as it appeared to be happening while he was wide awake.
    ‘Hello!? Is there anybody here?!’ he shouted.
    Much like in the purple void, there was no response.
    Max looked at the colossal oak bookshelves rearing up on both sides and saw that some twenty feet above his head they became lost in a thick, swirling mist.
    Behind and ahead, the shelves marched away in a straight line, creating a long corridor with no apparent end.
    Feeling the onset of claustrophobia and agoraphobia, Max looked down, trying to settle himself.
    He noticed a space in the bookshelf to his left. It was the same size as The Cornerstone.
    Books can be doorways.
    That’s what the message had said and he’d found one that evidently was. It’d sucked him out of his mundane, drizzly little world and brought him to this strange, gigantic library.
    Panic blossomed in his chest.
    Max ripped open The Cornerstone, hoping it would catapult him back the same way it had brought him here.
    Nothing happened.
    In fact, the book’s pages were now completely clean and unmarked. The writing had disappeared.
    Great, what do I do now?
    For want