Thinking the note couldn't possibly be telling the truth, yet curiosity getting the better of him anyway, he writes in pencil:
I can speed up, slow down, or even full-on stop time for the whole world or an individual thing with a snap of my fingers. Unless I otherwise wish it, I or anyone I'm touching won't be affected by it. No one besides me will notice anything is different. This will take effect the moment I shut the book.
Josh puts the pencil down and shuts the book, waiting for something to happen. He didn't feel any different, but he also didn't notice the tingling feeling in his hands. "I don't feel a change," Josh muttered to himself, "but here goes nothing." Thinking about stopping time, he raises his right hand and snaps his fingers. Instantly, everything and everyone froze: The students walking back and forth, his friend Phil who was in the process of accidentally spilling his now-stationary coffee, the librarian frozen in scanning a book's barcode.
Josh sat there in a stunned silence. Incredibly, the note in the book had been telling the truth. The damn thing had actually worked. "Holy shit," he said, his eyes wide with shock. "This...this is...This is impossible. Magic isn't real." However, based on what was happening, or NOT happening in this case, he was forced to conclude that magic was very real indeed. "Well," said Josh, pulling himself together a little and looking back at the book, "Time to see what else this thing is capable of."