Summoner: The Book of Dimension

37 Voice Of The Book

This time, Peter couldn’t make out the words from the whisper.

He looked around following the voice, but it seemed more to him that it was in his head. It didn’t bother him, nonetheless. He didn’t hear it again after that.

While he was fixing his tie, his phone rang.

He looked at the sink and saw the event manager’s caller ID. He quickly answered it, put it on a loudspeaker, and moved on to fix his hair with some hair gel. He didn’t like the sticky stuff with his hands and hair but he didn’t have any choice. It would be bad if his hair would be all around the place.

“Mr. Peter Cohen?” a lady’s voice could be heard from the other line, her voice was calm and almost soothing to his ears.

“Yes, hi. This is Peter speaking,” he said and pulled a few strays of his hairs backward.

“Good afternoon. Just calling to remind you that you should be here in an hour,” she said.

Peter chuckled. “Yeah, thank you. I’ll be there soon,”

“Okay, sir. The venue is ready. A lot of your fans are early as well,” she reported. She added, “We expect many fans today. It will be pretty crowded than the last time.”

The words touched Peter’s heart, and he couldn’t be more thankful. “Thanks. I’ll be on my way. Will text you when I’m near,”

“Yes, of course. Take care,” she said and ended the call.

Peter stared at the mirror with a smile. He couldn’t explain how much happiness he was feeling now that his writing career was going smoothly.

Ever since he was in high school, being a writer was his big dream. At first, it was just a simple admiration from other veteran and well-known writers like Stephen King and Agatha Christie, loving the way they told stories.

They were one of the reasons why he was influenced to take up a major in writing.

While he was thinking about the event and all the overwhelming fans waiting and in line to get his signature, he heard yet another whisper, this time, it was louder but he still couldn’t make out what the whisper was saying.

He took his phone and stuffed it in his pocket before he walked out of his bathroom to his closet. The whisper didn’t stop.

He opened his closet and brought out a box, the other one, and the last one until he saw the outline cut off the bottom of the wardrobe. When he lifted the cut-out from the wardrobe, the whispering stopped.

He reached to reach for the book, but he stopped when he heard another call. Yep, his phone was quite busier than him.

He placed the cut-out wood of the closet to cover the book, then stacked the boxes back to its original place and closed the closet.

“Hello?” he answered without even looking at the caller ID and scooped his suit jacket with one hand before he ran upstairs.

The whispering continued, although Peter couldn’t hear it this time.

Just as expected, the venue was filled with people in line to get his signature. It was overwhelming for Peter, as his career wasn’t actually what he had expected.

He had faced hardship from his first to the second book, as it barely even get few buyers. His third work, however, boomed when he revealed that all of the contents on his book were from his dream.

Some criticized him for making such a revelation, as other people thought it was impossible to publish a book with contents purely from dreams.

Those criticisms brought him to fame, however, as people started to buy and check what he got as a writer. Although many people disliked his works, many people started to love his stories. It was weird, people must’ve had liked knowing things like those trivial revelations.

They realized that Peter had something to offer as a writer, and they thought he was a good writer for his first three works. Since then, people have anticipated his future works.

And now, there weren’t just a few who wait to get his signature, there was a long line with almost two thousand people waiting for his signature, screaming for his name. Somehow, it made him feel like a celebrity.

Speaking of, he was most famous for women, based on some surveys. It was because he was young and attractive. They praised him for being a great young writer at the same time for being good-looking.

He peaked from the curtain, in awe. “Is this all?”

“Why? Do they seem a little number to you?” the event manager asked with a grin on her face.

He chuckled. “No, I just can’t believe many people came today. Last month, there were just half of them.

“Beats me. Did you cast a spell with your book?” she asked.

Peter hesitated but laughed. “Of course I don’t,”

She looked at him with a teasing grin and patted his back. “Okay. Now stand by, the curtain will open in a minute,” she said and handed him the microphone for the opening.

Finally, the curtain opened to reveal him standing behind.

He smiled as he heard people cheering. He brought the mic on his lips to speak. “Good afternoon, guys!” he energetically said and walked forward. “Sorry to keep you waiting,” he said and stepped down from the platform of the stage and went to space with a table and chair.

“The book signing event starts...” he paused and sat down on his chair and slowly brought the mic to his mouth. “...now!” he exclaimed and the boo signing was officially opened.

The signing event went on, he was on his 476th and he was feeling tired already. Signing almost two thousand books was too much, but it was worth it since he does signing an event every month.

He took the book and started signing. “What’s your name—“ he looked up and froze when he saw the familiar face of the sphinx, looking at him.

“What’s wrong, Mr. Peter?” the person asked in confusion. “Is there something on my face?”

Peter shook his head and it was a different person. “My apologies. I thought you were someone I know,” he said. “What’s your name again?”

“It’s Carl,” the person said.

Peter placed Carl’s name after the tag To: he wrote and gave the book back to the person. “Thank you.”

He shook his head to brush off the thought. That was weird. He thought the person’s face was the sphinx’s. It shook him to the core, remembering the warning the sphinx gave them when they left the villa.

He just hoped he had either died there or he came back to his world.

Time passed completely and he had forgotten the incident. But something bothered him again.

“Oh, you’re so cute!” Peter said to the little boy and took the book from his small hands. “Thank you—“

“Alex,” the kid said.

“Yeah, thank you, Alex. It must’ve been tiring to wait in the line. Are your feet okay?” he asked while signing the first page of the book.

“Why did you kill me?” the voice said, and it was so familiar.

He looked up in shock but it was still the kid, smiling brightly. He smiled a little and ruffled his head before he gave the book back to the kid.

While the next fan was walking, he took the half-consumed bottle of water beside the microphone to take a sip. He was confused and a little nervous about what he was experiencing. The memories of his summoning were hunting him. It was the sphinx earlier and now Ben Duke, the creature from Kramer.

He gulped down a sip and closed the bottle, smiling at the next fan. “Sorry ‘bout that,” he apologized for waiting as he was drinking.

The signing event progressed with Peter trying to not mind what he was seeing. Fortunately, there were just fewer than three-hundred remaining to be signed.

So far, the event had been going on for a long time, about three hours now. People on the back even had the time to buy food, go to the restroom, and sit while waiting.

Peter kept apologizing for the people at the back because they were waiting and standing for so long, there were just a few who complained.

“Thank you,” Peter said and gave the last book to the last fan.

He quickly took the microphone and spoke as some patiently waited for him to finish, in case he had some announcement. “First of all, I apologize for waiting for too long, especially those who were on the back. Thank you so much for coming. I’ll release announcement soon for a new book, please anticipate.”

Everybody, as well as the staff, clapped their hands. He was about to place the mic on the table but he picked it up. “Next book signing, We’ll accept five-hundred people for the signing event. More than that are both hard for all of us,” he said and everybody laughed.

He laughed and stopped when he heard the voice again. He smiled at everyone and waved goodbye, the whisper slowly dissolving in his mind.

He didn’t know, but the voice of whisper of the book was telling him that danger may come.