Gemotions

He’d been expecting cobwebs and maybe a family heirloom or two. What he found instead sent a jolt of icy terror through his veins. He’d pulled open a trunk and lifted a worn leather-bound book. The cover was plain, almost austere, but the pages inside... filled with delicate, flowing script.

He flipped through a few, the unfamiliar words swimming before his eyes. He recognized some of the symbols, ancient, arcane. He slammed the lid shut with a resounding thud. His heart hammered in his chest, a frantic drumbeat against his ribs. He felt a deep sense of wrongness.

His throat constricted. He backed away from the trunk, his eyes darting around the dusty space, as if expecting something to spring out at him. The book, he realized, was not the relic of a kindly old aunt, but something far more sinister.