I rubbed the rods in my femur, throbbing in a dull ache. "You went too far," I told the book. "I earned my scars."

I sent my magic into the Sefer Raziel HaMalakh and pulled out a smudgy shadow.

It flowed faster and faster, expanding and changing shape, until a single form remained: the life-sized silhouette of an angel, attached to the gold scroll like a genie to a bottle.

Isaac jumped into it. Without thinking, I did the same.

We came out in the grove ...