This is Part 2 & 3

Grace snorted. “Not like this? When would that stop me?” “I didn’t like classes at school but now I’ve even managed to code my own robot helper!” Her mum sighed. “But I know you don’t like family heritage,” which was easily shown as true, for Grace flinched. “Let me tell you what a basilisk is.”

“Serpentium!” Grace blurted out a few minutes later.. “Libro Serpentium!” “Yes,” said Mary. “The Book of Snakes. A mysterious curse and heirloom belonging to the Silesius family. These days we are called Hestia. One day, the book was ripped by one of our own and everything collapsed. Only one single ancestor of yours survived. He changed his name.”

“You have to leave now. There could be a residual curse here.” said a worried Mary. “Impossible!” snapped Grace. “Leave now indeed! Residual curse or not, I’m digging this place up!” Her mum sighed. “Typical.”

“What. Is. That?” asked Grace. “Can you please stop fiddling with the sliders, it might-” began Mary. “You give me that answer?” replied Grace. At the same moment, her fingers found purchase on the mysterious stone box. A swirl erupted from one face and at once Grace knew this was not a regular tornado, however odd that would be coming out of an archaeological find.

“Aha!” cried Grace. “Time stream!” This was, of course, a conscious part of her brain dealing with ancestors’ memories. The reason was her brain had been meddled with, along with her DNA. This was all irrelevant, though, as the time stream began to suck Grace in…

Grace saw only brief flashes of memories. “And DON’T come back!” hollered a voice. “IT’S OURS!” boomed another. But one voice lingered there. “If it's our ancestor’s curse, it can be mine.” Then Grace was whisked into reality.

“It looked like your mind drifted.., somewhere.” admitted Mary. “Sometimes only the soul travels in time.” Grace could easily imagine steam coming out of her own ears right now. She knew why the library was actually destroyed. It wasn’t a Silesius. It was an enemy.

She shifted and turned that night. She slipped downstairs in the accommodation to get a glass of water. Where was the kettle? Finally, she spotted it… and the cube. Of course! She had to make a change. She was going back in time. She would change it.

The familiar swirl appeared at once when her fingers found the same groove. She felt that sucking feeling again, and soon enough, she was in the lobby of a massive ancient library. The whole place smelt musty and… cursed somehow.

Then she saw a singular masked face. He or she was studying the “Book of Snakes" very closely. This had to be the one who stole the book. A man suddenly roared “IT’S OURS!” when he spotted the figure and the noise level was raised reasonably. The hubbub made Grace’s stomach twist. Should she have done this?

The hooded man walked outside. “Time to be brave.” Grace whispered to herself. She followed him into the dank alleyway. “It’s mine!” he hissed. This was not what he said before. Disaster. There was one way to resolve this. Make a plan. Only one idea popped into Grace’s head. But it was a good one.

She had to make a copy of the Libro Serpentium. It was the only way. But how? Meanwhile, rumors were spreading of a new revolutionary invention at large: the printing press. This would, believe it or not, be Grace’s solution.

Grace was thinking. Hard. There were no printers here in the past to print the book out. Unless… There! Le Morte d’Arthur! It was a book published about three decades after the printing press was invented. She might be able to access one.

“We do, actually.” replied one of the Silesias men. Grace cheered silently. She could print out a copy of the Book of Snakes. She could outwit the hooded man. She could change their history and her past.