Caroline looked at the open book without seeing the words and wondered why she was drawn to it. Picking it up, she traced the odd markings at the border of the pages with her thumb. She tried to read, but the writing was unreadable. At least, she couldn’t make sense of it. Yet, the book had called out to her as if it were written for her to read. Squinting, she tried again to no avail.

She closed and reopened it, tentatively turning its pages, one after the next. The words started to make sen...