'No he's American.' Said Delilah. She went on to explain how he got in the house but Bastien just started at Ed suspiciously. Ed was on edge. Could it be possible that this man knew who he was? 'And he was wondering if he could take a look at some of our books on alchemy. Bas?'

'Oh yeah, sure he can take a look at some of them,' said Bastien finally 'I have to go somewhere but I will be back.'

'Where are you going?' Delilah asked

'Research for Uncle's project,' he answered with giving her a knowing look and she nodded.

'Of course, do fill me in on your findings when you return.' And with a nod to her and Ed, he left. ' Alright then, let's go to the library.'

The two of them left the lab and headed to a pair of large wooden doors. She pulled open one and then the other to reveal a library so big; he could not see the other side of the wall. Ed's jaw dropped as he looked up to see that the shelves appeared over 12 feet tall.

'It's the biggest room in the house,' said Delilah looking at his reaction. My mother and father had this room made especially for all their books. The lab downstairs was added after. There are only 6 bedrooms and you could fit 5 of them in here.'

'Are all these books on alchemy?'

'More or less,' said Delilah. 'My parents were deeply involved with alchemy. They were revered as the pioneers of alchemic research in Europe.'

'Were?' Ed repeated and she looked down sadly.

'My parents are gone, dead.'

'I'm…I'm sorry for your loss. I lost my mother when I was very young.' Delilah looked up at him.

'My parents died almost 3 years ago.'

'And you live here with your Uncle?' Ed asked and she shot him an odd look.

'My Uncle? Oh no, it's just my brother and I.' She said uneasily. ' Why don't you take a look around.'

Ed walked around and headed to the shelf nearest to him. All of the books on this shelf were for beginners in alchemy. 'Do you have more advance books on alchemy?'

'Yes of course, follow me.'

They walked all the way to the back of the room, which hid the smallest shelf in the library. There were only about 40 volumes. But one of them stood out among the others. It was the largest book on the shelf and on the spine was a lion and a few other symbols. There was too much dust on it for him to see it completely. He reached for it but stepped back when Delilah stood directly in front of it.

'Er, that's just a family album.' She said quickly 'the symbol is our family crest. Is there something in particular that you are looking for?'

'I need old alchemy. I mean older books on alchemy. Rare books.'

'Ah, come with me,' Delilah started towards the middle of the room and then turned a corner to reveal two wall-like shelves of books. There was something about Delilah and her family that she was trying to keep hidden. Ed picked that up when her brother gave her that weird look right before he left. He did not want to press the issue since he was willing to help him. What he did not at the time was that this girl's family secret held the key to him getting back to the other side.

"here are some pretty ancient books on alchemy," said Delilah pointing to large stack of books that looked like they were falling apart. "Some of these date back as far as the Italian alchemist of the Renaissance. Here, I find this one to be most useful." She handed him a small vellum book labeled in Latin.

"I can't read Latin," Ed stated staring bleakly at the book

"Don't worry. You won't have to. As long as you can read the names of the chemicals. The alchemy described in these books is very old. They didn't use Transmutation circles back then,"

The last part of that sentence caught Ed by surprise. He stared at her, his mouth hanging open.

"You..you.." he stammered "You know what a transmutation circle is?"

"Of course I do," she said as if the question were meant as a joke. "Couldn't call myself an alchemist if I didn't."

'This is exactly the lead I was looking for,' Ed thought to himself. 'she may just be able to help me'

"Have you been able to do alchemy with a transmutation circle?" he asked eagerly but she looked somber.

"Not even once has it worked. That kind of alchemy just doesn't seem to work in this world. Er, not that there is another kind of world," she added quickly "It's just, well. Some of the places described in the more advanced alchemy books don't seem to exist. My brother and I researched many of the famous alchemist we read about but no one has heard of either them or the places we read about."

"Like who?" Ed asked his hopes rising. 'If she possess books about alchemist in his world, then someone in her family must have gotten the books from the other side.'

"It's not important and to tell you the truth I don't think my brother would like me talking about this with you," she said looking worried. "I know, why I don't I demonstrate some of the alchemy used in these books? I can assure you it's like nothing you have ever seen."

Delilah guided him back into the laboratory. She pulled out a wooden staff and set it down on a table. Then she pulled 3 potions from the shelf. "Alight Edward, prepare to be amazed. I am going to turn this wooden staff into a metal one." Delilah opened one potion, and then poured on the wooden staff, which disintegrated right before his eyes. She then opened the two other bottles then simultaneously poured them onto the remains of the wooden staff. Within seconds the staff began to reform but this time, it was a shiny metallic staff. "Viola." Ed mouthed noiselessly as he stared at the staff. 'It was alchemy, real alchemy. Three years of research and he finally found alchemy being used in this world.

"How…how did you do that?"

"It's quite simple really. First I destruct the original item, then pour then reforming potion and a potion containing the chemical analyses of the item I am trying to create simultaneously. There is of course a little magic involved because you have to concentrate on exactly what you are creating. Yes it takes longer than using transmutation circles but it's still quite efficient. Er Ed, are you alright?"

Ed was lost in his own thoughts. What she had showed him was alchemy that was used hundreds of years ago but it was better than what he expected. Delilah stared at him, concern written on her face. "Huh? Oh yes I'm fine. You were right, it is unlike anything I've seen before." He said truthfully.

"Why don't you take that book with you and read more about this kind of alchemy," she said gesturing to old book she had giving him in the library. "Oh and take this as well." She handed him a letter bound notebook. "Those are all my notes of this particular kind of alchemy. It also has all of my experiments in them and a list of every potion I posses. Read both then come back and show me what you've learned."

Ed shook his head. "Thank you for all your help. You have no idea how helpful you've been?"

"You're welcome. Like I said. Alchemy is my life. Nothing else to do in this large house is there?"

"I guess not,' said Ed "Well I'm off. I will most definitely be coming back." Delilah smiled brightly.

He left the manor and found a taxi back to his flat. He say on is bed for hours reading. With every page he became more and more excited. He felt like a kid again, learning alchemy for the first time. He had to forget everything he had previously learned about alchemy in order to understand this kind of alchemy.