Page 41 of The Society of Unknowable Objects
Frank blinked. “I don’t know, I’ve never tried.”
“Don’t you want to know?” She still couldn’t believe how incurious Frank was about the magical items. He was like a collector of rare books who never wanted to open them.
“It’s not the point,” Frank scolded, pouring cold water on the fires of her interest. “It’s not what we’re here to talk about. Curiosity is a road to ruin.”
“But it has so many uses,” Magda continued, purposefully trying to irritate him now. “It would be dead handy for parking in London. Can’t find a space, just park in the box and take it with you. Or would it be too heavy to lift? Does the box weigh the same as everything inside it?”
Frank shook his head. “It doesn’t work that way. The weight of the box doesn’t change, no matter what you put in it. Like I said, it is the Impossible Box.”
“The entire Society collection is in there,” Magda murmured to herself. She didn’t know exactly how many magical items the Society possessed, but they were all within reach. She wondered if Frank would show them all to her.
Yeah, right... he might be answering a few questions, but let’s not get carried away.
“The items are safe,” Frank said, and it sounded to Magda that his voice quietened as he stared at the box, the way people would lower their voices in cathedrals and art galleries, when surrounded by wonders. “Safer than they would ever be inside the Clockwork Cabinet. Even ifsomeone steals the Impossible Box, they can’t get the items unless they know what’s inside.”
Then, surprising and thrilling Magda, Frank opened the lid of the box. He shifted his gaze to her. “It’s important never to look into the box directly,” he explained. “To look on impossibility, it’s too much for the human mind.”
Frank reached into the box, turning his head away from his arm as it continued to move, as the box swallowed it up to the elbow like some conjuring trick. Magda was seeing something impossible, and her pulse quickened with excitement, her eyes unblinking as she watched.
This is what magic should be! Seeing impossible, incredible things.
Frank withdrew his hand and held up an item.
“The Yes/No Dice,” Magda said, smiling in delight.
Frank nodded, tossing the dice in his palm a few times.
“How many other items are in the box?”
Frank shrugged and dropped the dice back in the box. “Honestly, I don’t know,” he admitted. “I only know what I’ve put in here from the Clockwork Cabinet. But other people, before me, might have put other things inside. The box may contain multitudes that I’m unaware of.”
“So the cabinet did hold the items once? It’s not all a lie?”
“Oh yes,” Frank admitted easily, and Magda liked that he seemed to be bristling less and less with every question. He seemed to be opening up at last. “The Clockwork Cabinet was indeed the place where the items were held.” He looked over at the cabinet. “But I just didn’t trust it. It never felt safe enough. It’s a whopping great big expensive-looking cabinet, isn’t it? It just draws attention to itself.” He tapped the side of the Impossible Box. “This is much more discreet, much more secure.”
Magda could see the sense in Frank’s words. The Impossible Box was the sort of anonymous wooden box that could go unnoticed on a cluttered shelf. Nobody would ever think it contained a collection of magical items.
“What about the book?” Magda asked. “The catalogue.”
Frank’s smile dropped in an instant. “What book?”
“My mum saw you with a book. A book that seemed to describe magical items. You told her it was the catalogue.”
Frank kept staring at her, unblinking.
“That book... does it describe what’s in the box?” Magda asked. “No, wait... that can’t be right because the catalogue has the chess piece in it, and I only just retrieved that.” Frank’s eyes flicked over to the chess piece, back to Magda. “Or was Mum wrong?”
He didn’t answer for a while, but Magda didn’t let him off the hook. She held his gaze regardless of how awkward it felt, saying nothing, letting the silence stretch.
“No,” he said finally, his voice quiet. “She didn’t see wrong. There is a book.”
“A catalogue?”
Frank shook his head, holding her gaze. “No.”
“If it’s not a catalogue of the items that the Society holds, what is it?”
Frank tilted his head as he watched her, as if studying her. “It’s all coming out now, isn’t it?”
