Sherlock leans in closer, eyes flickering between the pages to see if anything is changing, the gibberish text reforming itself into something readable, and Jason himself. Nosy and curious are not quite the same thing. Sherlock Holmes is nothing short of insufferable when nosy--it's an impulse born of boredom and irritation. It transfigures him considerably to be absorbed in something genuinely interesting.

He bypasses the obvious question: what's the book about? Jason's going to volunteer that in a moment if he knows (or he's not, and is going to be a nuisance about it instead, but there's nothing to be done about that). "Is this how you've learnt the rest of your magic?" he asks instead, arms resting on his knees. "From books like this? The Lesser Key of Solomon, that sort of thing, or is that all claptrap?"