VIII Joan picked up the silver orb, the source of the eery light that had emanated from the chest she now knelt before, in the lawyer's office. He had left only a few minutes ago, a mysterious and inquisitive look on his face as she held a key that had been hanging above her breasts on a thin grey chain - a memento from her father, as the chest from her now deceased grandfather was. She stroked the orb with the pad of her thumb carefully, and could find no grain or cracks to come across. It was a perfectly spherical object, so she could not understand where the light came from. It was clearly a secret held between her father and her grandfather, though she could not understand the relation, as they did not even share blood. Their only connection had been her mother, currently waiting for her in another room, flabbergasted as to why only Joan should be held privy to secrets within the old antique chest. Joan turned the orb sideways, inspecting it with some reluctance. Whatever it was, it had an odd calming effect on her. She didn't even feel alarmed at the strange sight resting in her cupped hands. She only felt confusion, emphasised by the fact that there was no note attached. 'Well obviously with such an odd and rare item they wouldn't want its secrets to be written on a note.' she mused, looking inside the chest for further confirmation that there was no note, which there wasn't. She began to feel around the inside of the chest, but found nothing. The inside had been what appeared to be worn away, so there were no corners, and rose to a gradual slope. She placed the orb gingerly on her jacket on the table, giving it one last glance, before she stuck both hands into the chest to feel it properly. Pushing her fingers forcefully into the back of the chest, she felt the inside of it shift. She gasped with sudden realisation, and carefully spread her fingers out to touch all four walls, and using the pressure to her advantage, she lifted the inside of the box out. Now it looked like a regular chest, with an extra piece it seemed. She looked inside eagerly, but still found nothing. She began to spin the box around, a idea beginning I form in her head. What if the chest was like her father's Chinese puzzle box? You merely had to slide out the correct pieces to find hidden compartments, or like the one her father had crafted, could be rearranged into something completely different. It was differcult to see what could be taken apart an reassembled, especially as she had no guidance, and she was definitely sure that who carved the magnificent chest must have created it solely for the Orb, and would have no qualms of making it difficult. Joan glanced over at the door, and decided that now was not the time to start deconstructing it. She would have to take it home where she could focus on it fully. Joan grinned, stroking the chest excitedly. She hadn't had a good puzzle in years. She was glad to see the her grandfather could still challenge her even after his death.