Sole existing copy

“In general all magic books exist in a sole copy. It’s only the moronoids who have fully identical books. True, in some of our publications magic doubles can exist, like a mirror reflection, which is also possible to use, ” Bab-Yagun explained.

“But this is not a reflection? ”

“No, it also never had one. Look, there must be a stamp... Aha, here it is! ”

On the title page of the book Tanya saw a flickering stamp: Tibidox Library. Return on the second new moon to avoid imposition of curse.

“And what, they’ll actually curse, if you don’t return it? ” Tanya asked with doubt.

She hardly uttered this when the stamp blinked and assumed the form of a gallows. The inscription under the loop said: Believe!

“I don’t advise you to check. Strict customs in the library. You can’t even imagine what the genie does with those who pull out pages. Better you never find out, ” Bab-Yagun hesitated.

Carefully opening the book to that page where earlier was the recipe for preparation of loaves, Tanya read:

Tip 24. For fattening domestic harpies take twelve rotten eggs. Beat them up thoroughly with the tail of a frightened young skunk. Add into the soup freshly chopped rat meat and season to taste with dry gadflies and bumblebees... Serve chilled in marshy sauce.

“Oho-ho! It’s no longer about loaves! ” Tanya thought. Curious about what happened to Tip 567, Tanya learned the following:

If in the other world a dead man, Digest-Pester or Blue Uncle, attached itself to you, follow the following rules: on no account use magic against them, answer not a single question they put to you, take nothing from their hands. In case they give you advice, avoid following them. Violating any of these rules can cost you your life.

“Well! ” Bab-Yagun said. “You read the book and bring yourself up to date. Without this you will not get to us. True, we also transported other students without knowledge of any spells, but you are a special case! With you this trick for some reason doesn’t work.”

“Why? ” Tanya was astonished. Bab-Yagun shrugged his shoulders:

“Don’t know. Everyone tried. Sardanapal, Medusa, and even Professor Stinktopp: something keeps you out. Either guard magic or because you’re Grotter’s daughter. You have to pass through the gates yourself, and that means to cram the spells by yourself. So they sent me with this book.”

Bab-Yagun slapped the cover with his hand.

“You’ll not learn all the spells, it’s a fact. An awful lot of them, ” he continued. “So, don’t study so hard that your head swells up: learn by heart only the ones to do with flight, spells for passage, and how to use the ring. The rest all the same you won’t understand — here teachers are needed. And here always remember one other thing... not unlike rule number one of magic. Never and on no account reveal the secret of magic to the moronoids! Don’t take it into your head to relate to them a single spell.”

“So that they would not master magic? ” Tanya asked.

Bab-Yagun wanted to shake his bandaged head, but had obviously forgotten about the cast on the neck.

“Ne-a, all the same they’ll not master magic. One must be born as a magician. Here indeed the main thing is not the words but who utters these words, that at the same time he presents them and, most necessary, whether he believes in what he’s saying. And so although the whole day you shout: ‘ Hocus Pocus! ’ — not one object will jump into your hand if you were not born with abilities. The moronoids will only damage spells, will callous them by incoherent repetition, and everything. But the main thing, the magician who reveals the secret to the uninitiated will forever become an outcast. They’ll take away his magic ring, remove his practice, he immediately becomes nobody.”

Bab-Yagun stopped talking, still recollecting something.

“It seems I still have something to transfer to you... Aha, your magic ring! Good that I was talking about this! ”

He untangled the bandages, completely satisfactorily this time, managed at the same time not to let out a single bonegraft, and extracted a small wooden box with the letters “LeoGr.” Inside in the pressed down hollow Tanya saw a man’s signet ring with the impression in the form of a small bird.

“Don’t lose it... A magic ring is for life. Not possible to use other people’s rings, just as it’s not possible to order a new one. Possibly it will come off, but magic rings cannot be tightened. It’s... hmm... the ring of Leopold, your father.”

Tanya with great care took the ring in her hand, deciding not to put it on for the time being. The ring was cool and heavy. It seemed considerably lighter in looks.

“And where’s my papa? Why did he not fly to me? Uncle Herman always told me that he’s in prison. And a disgusting sticky little fellow with horns said that my parents perished. But indeed he lied, right? ” She asked with agitation. This question had long been twirling on her tongue.

Bab-Yagun started to cough and, turning away, began to check whether the talismans on the flying bed were untangled.

“Eh-eh, my granny mama... You see, your parents... They’re no more... She-Who-Is-No-More killed them. Therefore you turned up at Uncle Herman’s. Otherwise they, by themselves, would not abandon you, ” he growled.

It seemed to Tanya that someone struck the back of her head with something heavy and elastic. If Bab-Yagun did not support her, she would fall.

“No. Not true...” she said quietly.

“Didn’t want to tell you, but you would find out all the same... And on the whole it’s time for me to go. Must be in Tibidox before dawn. Don’t want my bed to be an eyesore to the moronoids. And then, you know, they sleep badly after this... Well that’s it, bye, I’ll come for you in exactly a week! ”

“You’re flying away already? ” Tanya flinched.

Most of all she wanted now to grab hold of Bab-Yagun and not let him go.

“And here’s another thing: you study your spells, but don’t take it into your head to fly by yourself! ” Bab-Yagun continued anxiously. “You hear? Don’t do it at any price! Somebody will be pleased if you smash yourself up, so we’ll not give him this pleasure.”

Clearly rushing to take leave, Bab-Yagun hurriedly sat on the bed and quietly pronounced:

“ Pilotus kamikazis! ”

From under the cast where the ring was, a delicate green flash flew out.

The bed began to creak, clumsily squeezed through the window of the balcony, and slid along the house, gradually gaining altitude. Bab-Yagun waved to Tanya.

“Success! I hope the spells will work for you! They don’t work for many, but there’s nothing to be done here. It either is or isn’t! ” He shouted.

When the bed flew past the next-to-last floor, Bab-Yagun mischievously knocked on the glass. A high female screech was heard in a second from the window. Likely the prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theatre Katerina Kolodkina disapproved of flying mummies peeking into her windows.

“Bab-Yagun is right. Hardly possible to lie down to sleep after this. Though all the same it’s already morning soon, ” thought Tanya, tightly clutching in her hand the ring of her father, Leopold Grotter. Her parents may not be among the living, but she loves them and always will... Father and mama.