"You really want to screw with me when I still have a lighter in my pocket?" Naomi asked, raising an eyebrow. "I can singe more corners, if you like."

And I can stop cooperating. I don't actually have to do everything you say, you know. You really want to go back to being dropped from several feet in the air?

"And I can keep singeing corners," Naomi pointed out. "This isn't getting us anywhere. I just want to see the page. I'm not even asking you to do anything that requires effort of any kind."

Try page 496, the book advised petulantly.

Naomi turned to the page, one finger keeping her place on the talking pages, and she scanned the text.

"None of this seems to make sense," she murmured as she tried to piece it together. She flipped back to the talking pages briefly to see if the book had anything to add.

You asked for the page, the Book said. I'm not surprised you can't understand it. It's extremely complex, even for a spell.

"For what it's meant to do, I'm not surprised it's complex," Naomi said. She was quiet for a moment. "If I wanted to understand it, where do I start?"

Simpler spells, was the prompt response. Start with simpler spells so you have a basic understanding of how they work, and then come back and look at this one.

"Which ones, then?" Naomi asked. She wanted to learn them. Even if she couldn't use them herself, she wanted to know how they worked.

Try the first ten pages or so. You may have to find a different book to start off with. I am not sure.

"And where am I going to find another book?" Naomi asked rhetorically. "No, I need to just figure this all out."

The Book ruffled its pages a little. As flattering as that is, I am hardly the only book of spells in existence. However, if you can figure things out, I will be pleasantly surprised.

"I'll manage," Naomi replied distractedly as she turned to the first pages.

The Book flipped itself to the easiest spell it could think of in the book for her inspection, settling there.

Naomi settled in right there, studying the spell. She only occasionally glanced up to keep an eye on the guys, otherwise she was sketching in the dirt with a stick trying to figure things out.

The guys were fairly well behaved, mostly just poking around and exploring the area for the moment.

Naomi was interrupted from her puzzling a while later when her phone alerted her to a text from Osanna. Glancing at it, she grinned.

"Come on, guys," she called, getting up and brushing herself off. "Dinner's ready, time to head to Osa's place!"

That got every male's attention without fail.

"Dinner?" Duo asked hopefully, grinning. He led the way over to Osanna's house and grinned when he found she'd set out food for them all.

What took you? Osanna was grinning though.

"It's like herding a bunch of cats," Naomi replied jokingly as she grinned at her friend. "A bunch of guys, what do you expect?"

Osanna grinned. Of course. Well, dinner's all set out, so dig in. She moved out of the way.

While the others hesitated a moment, Duo dove on the food with enthusiasm, packing his plate and finding a place to sit and eat.

Naomi filled a plate as well, and settled herself on the couch.

Quatre was the first of the other four to get some food. The girls seemed trustworthy enough, and he didn't sense any malice from them, and Duo seemed to trust them. That was enough for him.

The other three got food after that, a little more slowly, and Osanna grinned as she settled down to dinner with her own food. Clearly they liked it, since there was almost complete silence.

"This is wonderful," Quatre said politely, being the first to break the silence. "Thank you very much for cooking."

My pleasure. I'm glad you enjoy it. Osanna smiled at him. The others all murmured their polite agreements as well, and she grinned briefly.

When Naomi was done eating, she set her plate aside and pulled out the book again. She wanted to keep working to see if she could figure out the easy spells and move on to the hard ones.