"Oh." Dresden paused, frowning briefly. "Sorry. I didn't realize she'd react like that." And he hadn't. But damn it all, now he was curious about this book. And he wanted to figure out what it did.

"Don't copy out of that book again," Kincaid said. With that, he hung up, presumably to try to calm the Archive down again.

Naomi glanced at Osanna for a moment while Harry was on the phone. The conversation sounded interesting, if a little short and one-sided, an it seemed to be about the magic book.

Harry hung up, frowning. "Well, change of plans. Copying out of the book was freaking someone out, so I'll just have to talk to Bob and we'll figure it out." He went back down the ladder into the subbasement. "Oi. Bob. Wake up. We've got work to do."

"Copying out of the book was freaking someone out," Naomi repeated. Anywhere else, she would have said that it sounded crazy. But here? In the land of talking skulls and supernaturally enduring cars? No, that just seemed par for the course. "Hi, Bob," she added, leaning over the trap door again.

"I'll explain later." Harry moved the book so he could show it to Bob. "We need a translation and we need to figure out what it would do."

"Oh. Well, this might take a few minutes." Bob turned his skull so he could see the page, looking through it. "Harry. Where did you get this?"

"I stole it from my stepmother," Naomi supplied. "I was hoping this would be the best place to bring it where someone might be able to tell us what exactly it does. The whole book feels kind of like bad juju."

"That would be because it is," Bob explained. "These are the kinds of spells that slowly twist and warp your soul until it is a dark, unrecognizable blob. Not very fun."

"Bob."

"Right. Well, it looks like this particular spell sort of bends the barriers between dimensions, enough to plop other people through."

"You mean like between here and Winter?"

"No, more like between here and wherever they're from. Very powerful spell, but very hard to control, I'm sure."

"Blend barriers like dropping us for a split second in two other places before crashing us into Harry's living room floor?" Naomi asked. Because that sounded very familiar to her, and she glanced over at Osanna to make sure.

"Yes, it could do that," Bob agreed after a minute. "Hypothetically. Like I said, it is rather difficult to control, so it's more likely whoever would be bounced around to several places in no determinable interval."

"So more like if I tried to get us back home, it could potentially just bounce us around--" Naomi said, trying to make sense of it. Before she could finish her sentence, though, the writing on the pages shimmered and the room disappeared from around her. She was dropped for a moment in the middle of what was clearly an all-male apartment, but she didn't get the chance to register more than two pairs of startled gray eyes before she was bounced straight through Osanna's home garden again and right on through to the temple. That time, she managed to see Yukina before the world disappeared on her again and she was dragged past the Rockbell Automail sign again before tumbling to a stop in the middle of Harry's living room.

"Make it stop," she squeaked once she managed to find her voice again.

Osanna looked up from cuddling Mister, her eyes huge. What the crap?

"Hmm. Yes, I wondered about that..." Bob looked at her speculatively. "It would seem the spell is geared specifically to you."

"Meaning?" Harry butted in.

"Meaning that if she phrases things like that, it'll happen. Or if you wanted to send her somewhere else, you could. Whoever holds the book has control of where you go. Well, some control."

"Where the hell did my stepmother get something like this?" Naomi asked. "Damn it, Niobe... I'm going to kill you, I swear to god..." Getting up, she twisted a few of her joints, loosening up some of the sudden tension from being flung all over the place.

"Here. You'd better hold onto this. And watch your wording. The book will take any invitation it hears." Bob would have shrugged, if he'd been able.

Harry handed the book back up to Naomi.

Naomi accepted the book back, holding it in the crook of one arm.

"Well, hopefully next time I'm here--" She didn't get the chance to finish that sentence, either, because the nausea-inducing cycle began again, flinging her through the other four worlds before depositing her gracelessly on the living room floor. "--damn it all!" The threw the book down on the floor, and it fell open to a pair of blank pages. "Damn you, book! Wait for me to finish my goddamn sentence!"

Ah, but it's so much more fun to just throw you around like a rag doll. The words appeared on the page in sharp letters, hand-written.

Osanna immediately scrambled away from the book to hide behind Mouse. Because talking books was her limit.

Harry peered over the edge of the trap door to look at the book, and then he blinked. "Huh."

That was enough to actually startle Naomi out of her rage. Talking books? That was straight out of a JK Rowling book.

"What the hell did Niobe get us into?" she finally asked. She didn't go to pick up the book again, though. At the moment, she didn't really want to touch it.

Who, her? Oh, she wasn't imaginative at all. Yes, your spell is unusual, but nowhere near the limits of what I can do.

Why do I get the feeling this book could be a freakin crossroads demon getting people to sell their souls quite happily? Osanna looked thoroughly freaked out.

I'd believe it, Naomi signed back to Osanna. And oh my god, it sounds just like Bob, doesn't it? Even as she spelled out words with her fingers, she kept her eyes on the book. She didn't trust it for a second. It was just too bizarre, even if it did just insult Niobe for her.

"Where did Niobe even get her hands on such a thing?" she asked instead.

I really couldn't say. No eyes, really. I have a vague sense of where I am, but not enough for a physical description. You'll just have to get that information out of her.

It's freaky. Can't we just get rid of it~?

No, it's our only way home, Naomi replied as she split her attention between her friend and the book.

"So how do you know it was Niobe if you have no sensory perception?" she asked. It was a valid question, really, and she wanted to know the answer, since the answer now applied to her as well. Whatever the book knew about Niobe, it probably now knew about Naomi, as well.

I'm an ancient supernatural being. I don't need sensory organs, you twit, the book snarked. I can sense you. It's far too complicated for your linearly-constructed minds to comprehend, but be assured I can tell the difference between you all.

Which, in Naomi's mind, simply translated to 'I can tell you apart by your energy patterns.' And that made perfect sense to her mind. She opened her mouth to say something about paper, fire, and scissors, but thought better of it at the last second. She was arguing with a book, for god's sake, if that wasn't strange enough on its own, she didn't need to lose a battle of wits to one as well.

The book seemed to settle a little, clearly just waiting for one of them to say something again. Harry settled himself on the couch to ponder things, and Osanna looked at Naomi again.

I still don't like it.

It's bad juju, Naomi agreed. There's all kinds of potential for trouble when you mess with bad juju like this. Damn Niobe... She shook her head and gingerly picked up the book, closing it for the moment. It was just too weird at the moment to keep talking to it.

"So now what?" she asked cautiously to the room at large.

"Well, as long as you don't set it off again, you should be safe." Harry shrugged. "I don't think it will attract any undue attention, but you should keep it with you. The spell is linked to you, and anyone close enough could get dragged with."