Marc now understood nothing. Lying on the library floor, he thought back to another adventure in this strange world. He thought of Lavoisi and its mysteries, the otherworldly library, the ruined castle, the lady on the blackboard, the throne of blood, the infinite staircases, the sea of clouds, fate's slave...

Fate's slave...

Why was he fate's slave? Why had he shown her all these things? Who was she?

“In the cathedral dream, was I really spared because I was special?”

He thought back to Chris's words.

“Oh. Excuse me. Maybe you're a chosen one among us, right? You're the only one who's going to survive this tragedy.”

Marc closed his eyes.

“Excuse me?”

It was the librarian who had greeted him.

“I don't think you can sleep here. I didn't know you had so little interest in reading.”

She was smiling despite the situation. Marc stood up and looked around. Everything was in order. The books no longer floated and the corridor remained straight. It was late and the only people left were Marc and the librarian.

“I'm sorry. How long was I asleep?”

“I don't know. I didn't even see you come in today.”

“Really?”

To Marc, that meant he'd been inside the other world for several days.

“When was the last time we saw each other?”

“Three days ago, sir.”

“Three days?”

Marc had been stuck for so long. He couldn't imagine how worried his parents must be. He was going to have to explain himself with a credible reason he didn't have.

“Thank you very much. Good-bye.”

“Bye.”

Marc took off running. The way home was even shorter than before...

Marc arrived in front of his house. The house seemed dark. He hesitated a great deal before entering. He reached for the door handle, but before he could touch it, his mother rushed out and caught him in her arms. Marc was stunned for about ten seconds before he hugged her too. He had never wanted a hug so badly. His tears began to flow.

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“Where were you?”

“At the library.”

“Yeah, right."

His father's car pulled up in front of the house. He'd spent the day asking his classmates if they'd seen Marc. He got out of the car and ran to his son, whom he would also be hugging.

“For God's sake, don't ever do that to me again. At least answer the messages.”

Marc pulled out his phone and noticed it was out of battery.

“Come home and explain what happened.”

He didn't know if he should tell the truth.

“You'll never believe me anyway.”

“We'll see about that, you runaway.”

Marc returned home. The home he'd missed so much. They sat down on the armchairs and he began to tell his stories. Everything from the beginning...

“You're right, I don't believe it.”

“I warned you, though.”

“Tell us the real reason, then.”

“I told you what I did.”

“Marc, we'll end up taking you to see a shrink.”

“Don't bother, I'm not crazy.”

“Allow me to doubt that.”

“Darlings.”

“What? Your son is talking nonsense because he won't tell us where he's been for the last three days and you want to defend him.”

Marc's father was wound up. It was normal. As far as he was concerned, his son simply wouldn't tell him the truth.

“Honey, has your son ever lied to you about anything serious?”

“No, but you want to believe his nonsense.”

Mary didn't know what to say. She couldn't believe Marc either. No one could believe him.

“Look me in the eyes, Marc.”

He looked his mother in the eyes. Mary's eyes were frightened, Marc's eyes revealed nothing more.

“Where have you been?”

“In the other world.”

Marc's mother lowered her eyes. It was impossible to make him admit where he was. But she wanted to believe him. She wanted to believe in her son. His father was struggling.

“Let it go. Get some rest. We're still happy to see you. You can't even imagine how much I had to do to reassure your mother.”

“What are you talking about? You were the one who was stressed out.”

“Nonsense. I know my son is invincible.”

Marc watched his parents argue. An argument of relief. He knew relations between them had grown strained, but he also knew his family wouldn't change for the worse.

“I love you guys. Thank you.”

His parents paused to look at him. They didn't often hear that phrase from their son.

“Oh, you know we didn't do anything special. You came back all by yourself.”

“Yeah. But I'm sure I would have found you.”

“Nonsense.”

“Don't you think? I've already told you about the orientation classes we had in sports.”

“You and your friends got lost.”

“Yeah, but who ended up with them?

“Mathieu."

“And me.”

Marc was genuinely relieved. Nothing had changed. He headed for the stairs to his room to get some sleep.

“Oh Marc.”

Marc turned back to his father.

“You should wait for this little girl. She was really worried sick about you. I think she was more worried than your mother.”

Elie. Marc didn't know how Elie was doing.

“I'll wait until after school to go see her.”

“Don't bother. I sent her a message, she's probably already on her way.”

Marc walked to his door. As soon as he opened it, he saw Elie, out of breath in the small parking lot in front of his house. She was still dressed for school and had traces of blue pen in her hand. She looked up.

“Marc.”

Despite her fatigue, she ran back to Marc and collapsed in his arms. Her face fell as she realized it wasn't an illusion. She began to cry. She cried so hard, clinging to Marc, holding him with all her strength.

Marc realized that Elie was undoubtedly the person who had suffered most from his absence. He hugged her back.

“Don't worry, Elie. I'm here.”

These phrases didn't really reassure her anymore. She wanted to be sure he was really there and would be even stronger in her arms.