This one was fun. "Hamlet Was Right" has a couple of not-so-obscure references. The prompt was:
HAMLET WAS RIGHT
The collection was esoteric—Illuminati, Kabala, Santeria, Wicca, and even some symbology that Jesse didn’t recognize.
“What a load of crap!” Ever the skeptic, Lou scoffed at even a hint of woo-woo.
“‘There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio—’”
“Yeah, yeah.”
It was an old argument between the two, the reverse of Mulder and Scully.
Jesse tried to keep her voice even. “Dr. Spiegel seemed to be playing with time. These symbols—the ones I recognize, at least—all relate to time spells.” Pointing to a series of drawings that looked almost architectural, she held the page up to the dim candles. “Holy—”
“They moved!” Lou shouted.
He gently took hold of the parchment opposite Jesse’s hand. Together, they tilted the document up and down.
“They didn’t move,” Jesse said. “They’re 3D.”
Sure enough, the diagrams, which looked to be flat on the page when viewed normally, stood out in three dimensions under the illumination of the candles.
“Wait a minute…” Lou mumbled.
He let go of the parchment and drifted over to the shelves lining the walls while Jesse continued to study the mad array of symbols. The candles also gave many of them a holographic nature. Then, as she watched, the spell fragments moved across the page, assembling themselves into a coherent incantation.
She whispered the spell as Lou set a metal frame on the table that matched the 3D diagram. Nodding, Jesse placed one of the speckled eggs from a nest of twigs into the box and spoke the final verse out loud.
A squeaky, plaintive screech accompanied a flash that blinded them for a moment. When their dazzled eyes cleared, they stared in awe at the tiny dragon that unfurled its wings and belched a Zippo flame.
“Still a skeptic?” Jesse asked.