Help me solve my book mystery?

I’m asking you for help, I need you to come and assist me with something that will hopefully get us both a LOT of money, or fame, or both. For this to make sense, I really must tell you what happened to me the other day, as it was so strange and, frankly, I don’t even believe it myself.

It all started when I had missed my bus a couple of months ago. You might not know that I don’t normally take the bus, but as it had been raining and it was cold, I didn’t want to ride my bike in to work that day. So, anyway, I got all mixed up with the stops and the times, and I had to decide if I would stand in the rain for the next bus, and instead I ducked in to that little second-hand shop on the corner, you know the one with the old china in the window? It was warm and dry inside, and the old lady behind the counter did not seem to notice another person browsing. I was flicking through a pile of books and found the notebook. It stood out because the black cover was immaculate and looked like it had never been used. It has a soft cover and a black elastic band holding it closed, and when I opened it, I could see that each page was blank – but what was really weird is that there were different types of paper in the book. So, as I flicked through the pages, some felt really soft like a lens cloth, or smooth like a glossy magazine, others were rougher and firmer like parchment, and it just seemed strange to have a variety of paper types in the one book.

So, I felt a bit guilty about spending so long looking at the same book, that I took it up to the lady at the counter to buy it. She was obviously a volunteer and not really interested – probably only there to get out of her house. She asked me where I got the little black book from, and I waved in the direction of the basket where I had found it, and so she charged me $5. I handed her the cash and then dashed out because I could see the bus coming through the steamed-up windows of the shop.

When I was settled on the bus, I took another look at my acquisition. The cover has soft leather with an even texture, rounded corners and looked new. I’m pretty sure that some rain got on the cover when I got on the bus but the notebook was still perfect. I’m not the sort of person to use paper, I carry my laptop and my phone almost anywhere, and I don’t even carry a pen. It was a curious purchase for me to make, but the different pages really sort of called to me. That trip on the bus, I counted five different types of ivory-coloured pages, and I’m sure that there was no writing on the pages when I first opened it on that journey. You probably won’t believe this, but in the grand scheme of things, it is the least amazing thing – but tucked in the back of the book was a five dollar note! I thought “Score! A free book”.

I nearly missed my stop because I was looking at my new little black notebook, cherishing the find of cash, and it was then in my rush to get off that made me knock the book from my hand into a puddle when I stumbled out of the door to the curb. Obviously, I was a bit annoyed that my ‘free’ book was ruined, and I nearly did not retrieve it from the wet patch in the pavement, but of course, I did. And I am so glad that I did. I shook it a bit, and then when I got home I propped it up next to the heater to dry off.

I don’t know how the outside cover still looks perfect, but the amazing thing was that the first set of pages now have faint writing on them. I could just make out that the soft pale-yellowed white pages were hand-written notes. I am not a gambler, but I could work out the words and the numbers were horse names and odds, just on the first three pages. My handwriting is terrible because I don’t do more writing than my own signature these days, but the person who had put these horse names on the paper had magnificent writing. It was faint, but I looked up the horses on the Internet and saw that the first race was happening that day!

I know, I know, you don’t believe me. It’s too strange and impossible to believe for even myself. It seemed like coincidence that the race was in my area, on that day, and in my book. That was when I tried to put my first bet down - a five-dollar bet on the horse that was the first one listed in my book, after all, that’s not much to lose? I didn’t know much about gambling at the time, and so I had not got it all done in time, and so I didn’t win money that race – but the horse did win! I promise you, it really did win, exactly as it said it would in my book! So, of course, I bet on the other races over the next few days, and gradually rolled over my $5 until it was nearly $3000.

The horses were only on the first three pages, and there were twenty or more blank pages. There were no more horse tips for me to use.

For the next two days I tried to soak my book again, but no new writing appeared. I tried tap water, then rain water, and even sparkling water. I experimented with different positions for drying and that is when I stumbled on the solution for the second set of pages. The glossy pages had been repelling the water each time, so I then tried oil – olive oil to be exact. I used a cotton bud and smeared it on the shiny ivory paper, and after a few seconds the type-written words started to appear with major sporting events. I found that I needed just a little bit of oil, as too much would soak through the paper. All five of the glossy pages revealed more typed sports results, but there was a section where I used too much olive oil and it was illegible. That is how I made the wrong bet on a football game – I assumed the champions would win, but I lost out on winning $6000 on that bet. I also missed out on the games that had already been played during the two days that I could not reveal the information in my book. Anyway, I was still ahead by over fifteen thousand by the time that the pages ran out of information.

I was already experimenting with new ways to release the information on the upcoming soft fabric-like pages before the glossy pages ran out. I used my iron to gently heat the soft pages one by one, and that is when they showed the stock prices and dates. I know this sound strange, but I think my book knew that I did not like gambling, and that is why the information on the pages changed. I was ahead of the schedule of my book, so I had time to register my stock trading account and transfer the money from my betting account. There were only two soft pages that had the stocks on them, but they had specific information about buying and selling times and dates, and I have followed all the instructions carefully – unlike the football failure. It has only been a month, and the book has told me to now sell all the shares, and so my first $5 from my book has grown to over twenty thousand now.

Now it was on to the parchment pages. The paper seems old, like really old. I can see that it is made up of a natural material layered and pressed together. The paper is rigid and thick, and feels fragile, but like the cover, it seems totally perfect even through the rest of my book has been soaked, oiled, and heated. I experimented with putting liquids like vinegar, lemon juice, dish soap, ammonia and vodka on the parchment, then tried salt, sugar, borax, and flour. I think I got the best success from cold black tea – it seems to ‘stick’ to the writing as brown brush strokes. The writing is very strange to me, and definitely looks ancient. I can see words and some pictures, but I can’t work it out. I have this feeling that my book is giving me information about something that happened a long time ago, and based on everything it has told me until now, it makes me think that it is hidden treasure in some ancient place!

That is where I want you to help. I hope what I have told is enough to make you interested, please don’t call me crazy or a liar, when you come over I will show you my little black book, and prove it is all true! I need you to try and work out these words and pictures, I know you have done stuff like this at your work? We can use my $20,000 to go on an adventure and find whatever my book is telling me to get to. Please help me out – it could be something really big!