Burco raced across the lawn, soared over the beech hedge and landed in a heap on the other side. He drew himself up, peered around him and then, without stopping to check his grazed knees, he darted into the hole in the base of the oak tree. The rain drizzled down and Burco huddled deeper inside.

He didn’t mind that it was raining nor that he was soaked to the skin. He clutched a large book which he had borrowed from the school library. His maths teacher, Mr. Stone, had forgotten the book existed and had left it to gather dust on a tall shelf in his office. On returning the book to the library, Mr. Stone, had noticed that Burco was sitting alone at a desk in the corner.

“Not playing soccer today then, Burco” he asked.

“No Sir, I forgot to bring my boots”, replied Burco.

Mr. Stone shrugged his shoulders and walked through the library aisles until he came to the right section. He placed the book on the shelf and then disappeared back to his office.

Burco jumped out of his chair, pulled the dusty book off the shelf and carried it back to his desk. It was a long time since any new books had been bought for the school library. Burco had read every single book that was on the shelves, and some of them twice! So it was with much excitement that he gazed at the strange cover of the rather large book.

He couldn’t make out the inscription etched into the front cover so he wiped off the dust with the sleeve of his jumper. He still couldn’t quite make out the title so he licked his finger and rubbed the cover of the book.

Suddenly, the letters began to glow a strange emerald color. The color ebbed and waned. Excitedly, Burco rubbed even harder until he could make out the entire inscription