Lexi listened politely as the three bantered, trying to work out the angles connected to Sid’s cursed skull, the Sound and their issue with a cartel. When all eyes shifted to her, she explained, cutting her eyes toward Sid with accusations unspoken.<br/><br/>“Just before I went to work for Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe, Sid had the skull as a display in that dirty plate glass window for everyone tourist, every resident of Seattle to gawk at. We used to take field trips in school to come down to the pier and learn about being the gateway to the Alaskan gold rush. Of course, every school kid in Seattle has looked in the empty eye sockets of the Captain. How were we supposed to know that we were being cursed. I bet anything that most of Seattle has the curse on their lives. So right after I went to work for Sid, he had more time to scurry around in the backroom where he uncovered the Grimoire along with some other really old books. Now this is just a guess, because I was here the day he removed the skull from the window.<br/><br/>He raced out, grabbed the skull like it was hot, wrapped it in a paper bag that he had jerked off the counter and closed his eyes as he rushed to the back with it.”<br/><br/>Lexi rolled her eyes at Sid who had the good grace to look abashed.<br/><br/>“Yeah, I been so busy with running the store alone that I never had time to inventory all the junk back in the back. See I bought this place from an old gypsy who had owned it for over fifty years. She said she had bought it from a witch who said she  had owned it for fifty years. She said she  had bought it from a pirate’s widow. The same pirate whose skull is now in question. I never believe half of what is told to me,” he explained, spreading his hands on the table. “Hey, sue me. I’m a skeptic. But that day, I found this book in the bottom of that old chest back there and there was a legend about the ship’s captain. The curse is laid out there pretty graphically. There is even a picture drawn of the day of destruction with giant serpents, they were labeled leviathans in the book and it talked off when he brings the land and sea and sky together. Well, I slammed that book shut, shoved it under the shelf in the back corner and removed the esteemed captain back to the box, complete with lock and key, until Ms. Not Any of My Business opened it for you.”<br/><br/>Lexi shrugged and winked at Neo.<br/><br/>“So I have been reading the book on the sly. I found it when I dumped a boxful of inkpens on the floor. Several of the pens had rolled under that shelf back there and the rest is history. I have been reading some gibberish about a pirate who had sold his soul to the devil.  harSounded like a classic pirate tale to me. I mean, for real. I have watched all the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Johnny Depp, you know.”<br/><br/>She shrugged again.<br/><br/>“So the book is really hard to understand. There are a a lot of what looks like recipes in it, maybe magic spells. I may have found the spell? to undo this curse and to get to the bottom of this Sound.”<br/><br/>She laughed shakily,<br/><br/>“Either of them.”<br/><br/>Sid nodded and turned to Neo,<br/><br/>“This is where you come in. Neither Lexi or I have the magic aura that you have. We need you to have a look at that book.”