In homeroom Gloria gave Timothy the answer to his text, “Obviously I’m going to help you. We must stay alive,” she whispered to him.

“Thanks, I think I can get Barry to assist us as well.”

“How so?”

“We had a conversation about the ramifications of not bringing the girl back.”

“So, the ramifications of your actions.”

“…yeah, but I’m going to fix this.”

“How are you going to find this missing page?”

“I’m going to go back to the place, where I bought it.”

“Which was where?”

“In the stairwell…now that I say it like that, it sounds stupid. But I’m sure I’ll find the lady in the stairwell again…”

In passing to class, Timothy ran into Barry, “Hey, are you serious about helping me?”

“Yeah, as serious, as the result of us not bringing the girl back.” Barry’s eyes shut. “You’re athletic right?”

“Yeah.”

“Good, you are going to need your all your energy today.”

“Ok, we meet at the stair by the library at three, I’m bringing Gloria too.”

“Cool, I’m sure we will need all the help we can get… Have you summoned anything else.”

“No.”

“Ok, the stairs by the library at three, see you there,” Barry said departing.

After school, Timothy went back to the stairwell with Barry where the first encounter happened, with Ms. Woo. Meanwhile Gloria tried to extract information from Lucille. She had stopped her at her locker, “Hey Lucille, I heard you work at Mother’s Day Care.”

“Yeah, how did you know?”

“Timothy told me, when he dropped his little cousin off.”

“Oh, the one that looks like you?”

“Haha, I’ve heard that before. Well, she’s gone missing and I was wondering if you knew anything?”

“No, I haven’t heard anything.”

Duke interrupted the two, he apologized to Gloria for their previous encounter, he continued with Lucille giving her some news, “The Loving Hands Friendship House is going through with the event this weekend, they found a guide.”

“Really, that’s great!”

“Um excuse me, what’s this event?” Gloria inquired. Lucille was going to answer when Duke suggested she should not compromise the secret of the group. The two departed from Gloria, leaving her with suspicion, “They’re up to something…”

In the stairwell the two boys waited for something, they exactly do not know what it is. “When you saw this book peddler, where were you?” Barry inquired.

“In the stairwell.”

“Doing what?”

“Walking.”

“That’s useful.”

“Come on psychic, use your powers.”

“I can’t see in the past.”

A door can be heard opening, they looked up the stairwell and saw the art teacher. She commented on them in the stairwell, “You’re still here, you like school that much?” The boys chuckled. “You got to leave we have a staff meeting.”

“Okay ma’am.” Barry replied.

The boys left the stairwell, in hopes that the teacher would go away. As soon as they opened the door and went through, a kaleidoscope of colors overrode their senses. “This is it!” Timothy alerted Barry.

“This is where the book lady is at?”

“Yeah, something like this, when I first saw her, I went through this color thing.”

“You are sure, you’re not on drugs?”

“No.”

The door can be heard opening.

After the color collage, Ms. Woo appeared Timothy jumped straight into his complaint, “You sold me a book with a missing page!”

“Oh, you’re the boy who shorted me?”

“Give me that page!”

“Pay full price!”

“Fine, refund me the money and I’ll give you what I owe.”

“No, you will pay the full price of the book for the missing page.”

“What? No, you bitch!”

“Fine, no page for you, get out my library!”

“I’m getting that page!”

Shelves started to move about, “I’ll take you out, fool!”

Timothy was trying to gauge the movement of the shelves to the location of Ms. Woo.

Princess and Ashton arrived in the library; a shelf came at them to be incinerated by the latter. “I see this lady is up to her nonsense again,” commented the Princess. Spirits flew all around them from the smoke. “You know you’re going to have to catch them,” she continued. She materialized a jar.

“Yes ma’am.”

“For your sake I hope you burned a bunch of spells and not many summonses.”

Along with his anger, Ashton flared up.

“You might want to do that with as little fire as possible. We don’t need a bigger mess on our hands,” the Princess said.

A spirit floated by them and was sucked into the jar.

Timothy and Gloria were avoiding being cornered by the shelves. “My goodness, it never stops…” Gloria panted.

“If you’re tired try going to a wall or a corner and staying there, you probably won’t have to move much that way,” suggested Timothy.

As soon as that was said Gloria was pinned against a wall by a shelf.

“Gloria!” Timothy exclaimed.

“Get the page, it’s more important, we can’t lose the town!”

“Right!”

Timothy scrambled around for Ms. Woo. He got to the center of the library to scale a shelf on the move. Once at the top, he located Ms. Woo. The sudden shift of the shelf threw his balance off. He caught himself and straddled to the top giving it a full body hug. As the shelf slid across the floor, he steadily regained his footing.

A glass orb cut across the dark air, muffling voices. Off the lip, a spirit slipped out, “I’ll make you deal.”

“I’m listening.”

“You let me go and me and you we…”

“Pardon me, I couldn’t hear you can you say that again?” Ashton inched closer.

“I said, you let me go…”

Ashton contained the spirit, “Me, let you go, crazy.”

A spirit retreated to a book on a shelf. Timothy jumped on the shelf chasing down Ms. Woo. The shock of the landing rocked the book out of the shelf ejecting the spirit out and into the jar. Timothy jumped to another shelf, rocking it. The sound agitated Ashton, he caught the shelf, feeling like it was an attack on him, his temper flared up. His hand glowed a bright orange. Princess ran by, “Don’t burn anymore things.” Her voice snapped him out of his anger, giving him clarity. The Princess was trailing behind the hopping student. Ashton continued containing the spirits.

Gloria squeezed out from behind the shelf, breathing hard. “Oh, my goodness, that was heavy.” A second shelf pinned her back onto the wall. She pushed books off the shelf and rolled in between the rows. As the books plopped on the ground, Ashton was set off, “All of these damn books!” His eyes streamed lines of flames. “No more spirits running around,” Ashton grunted hovering over Gloria. “Close those books!” he demanded.

Under the pressure of his demeanor Gloria started closing the books and putting them back on the shelf. A spirit passed by Ashton into Gloria. “Time to get rid of this girl,” a fireball appeared in his hand. A shelf pinned both to a wall. The flames died out and the spirits trance out the collision. “How the hell did I get back behind a shelf. “Gloria asked herself. The shelf was removed, “You got lucky, now back to our regularly schedule extraction. He ignited his hand and put it to Gloria’s face, the smoke made her cough and the apparition put the jar to her face. She pushed him away to get air. Ashton saw that nothing came out of her. He tried it again and Gloria started fidgeting. “Stay still, I’m trying to exercise you.” Ashton said.

“What!”

Ashton ignited even more, Gloria instantly broke into a sweat, “Get off me!” she kicked him away. She coughed, intensely wheezing. “There’s… there’s… there’s nothing inside me…”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“That’s what an apparition would say.”

He placed the lid onto her face. Gloria started making gasping noises. Once it stopped, he removes the jar. Another spirit roamed by him, “Come here you…” he swung the jar. The spirit returned to Gloria and settled in.

Timothy was on the heels of Ms. Woo, “Look here lady!” He took a breath of air, “I’m tired of your shelf nonsense. I need that page, or a disaster will happen.”

“What disaster is that?”

“The death of us.”

“That’s a lie, a bad summon does not result in penalties for the group just the summoner.”

“Lady, you sold me this cursed book, you are a scammer.”

“And you are a thief,” she retorted.

In the library Barry was wondering around, trying to avoid obstacles in his way of an exit. He jumped back and a shelf passed in front of him. “These shelves really need to stop,” he commented to himself. Looking around he found the shelf that will end up closest to the exit. He scaled it and surfed it to freedom. As he was surfing along, he saw Timothy talking to Ms. Woo. His eye started to twitch, “I have a bad feeling about this.” “Tim, we have to go!” Barry called out.

Timothy kept his focus on Ms. Woo. He lifted a book out the shelf and threw it at Timothy. “Tim, lets go, I found an exit!”

“Not without the page, I don’t leave.”

“Aw dammit, if you get the page come thus way!”

“We have to make sure the town is safe.”

Barry jumped off the shelf and rolls into the spot that would be the portal. He turned grey and disappeared.

“Look I need that book and I will pay the original price for it.”

“Ho ho ho ho, your spirit is broken, huh boy?”

“I’m just making a mature decision.”

“Good, that’s a choice. I want to see the money.”

Timothy pulled out his money, “Can I see the page?”

Ms. Woo put space in between them and showed him the page. “Stay there.”

“How can I tell if this is the page I need, if I can’t look at it.”

“You’re just going to have to trust me.”

“Trust you!” He flailed his arms, “Bitch is shiesty as hell…” he mumbled under his breath.

“What’s that?”

“Nothing.”

Gloria was running around the bookstore wildly. Timothy watched her approach him, “Gloria can you help me talk to his lady?” Gloria full on rammed into Ms. Woo knocking the page out of her hand. Timothy picked it up as it landed at his feet, “How convenient.” Once he grabbed the page, he ran off saying, “Fuck you bitch I ain’t paying for this.”

“Stupid boy, stupid gir… Oh you’re possessed, which creature is inside you?” She put her glasses on and looked inside Gloria’s eyes to see a specter of negative emotions. “Oh, nothing that can help me.” Behind Gloria’s eyes were twice as much malice than expected.

“You’re the reason I’m here!” Gloria’s voice echoed.

“Is that from the girl or you?”

“Both of us,” Gloria’s head turned ninety degrees with a smile.

“Oh, I see you think I’m the cause of your troubles.”

“You’re the reason, I’m stuck in here.”

“Girl is it not the boy?”

“The boy?” One voice asked.

“Yes, the boy who did not pay me for the book.”

“How does this relate to me being stuck in here?”

“Aren’t you in here to help him get the missing page back,” Ms. Woo spoke to the internal Gloria.

The words only go surface deep, “You know you could just let her out and maybe that would quell the anger…”

“Good try, you belong to me.”

“I’m happy that boy cheated you.”

“Ho, ho, how you jump to anger so quickly. It’s only natural for a beast of your nature.”

“Like being a bitch is in your nature.”

“Witch, the word you’re looking for is witch.”

“No bitch is the correct word.”

“Where’s my book?”

“The char… the creature of flames destroyed it.” Gloria smiled widely. “So, I’ll be roaming around until the time comes for me to be free.”

“I’ll find a place for you to be.” She swiped her hand through the air sending a shelf into Gloria. “Stupid spirit.” She looks around the bookstore. “Where’s that boy at?” She saw burning wood, “The chargoyle!” In her quick thinking, she formed a solution, “Ubble, ubble bubble wand!” A pink rod appeared with a film of liquid covering the circle tip. The witch blew into the circle to jumpstart the item and the air from her mouth expanded the liquid into a blow shape and then in retreated into the circle.

Ms. Woo scanned the area for the firestarter. “Chargoyle, where are you?” She closed her eyes and looked through the eyes of the gargoyle statues, she saw him waving the glass jar, through air. “Ah I see he’s trying to collect the spirits.” She then located another target, “Where is the boy with my page?” the gargoyle located Timothy. A shelf opened and water waked and Timothy slowed down the from the crash of the wave. He was in knee deep water and is touched by a flipper. The flipper tried to draw him into a hole, “What the hell!” he turned to see a giant koi fish attempting to eat him. He distanced himself from the animal by jumping but did not make much distance. In an inhale of water Timothy would have been dragged to his demise if it was not for Ashton. Heat cooked the animal and burned Timothy’s elbow, “Ah, damn!” Vapor plumed off the water and a shadowy figure, stayed masked in the air, “Consider that a warning of things to come if the girl is not returned home.”

“I got it…” Timothy laid down, soaking his arm in the water, and holding the page above water. His face had a struggle between concern and pain on it. Even the smell of cooked fish could not change his appearance.

Ms. Woo watched the whole ordeal through the eyes of the gargoyle. “There goes another part of my library destroyed.” The statue also captured, Ashton extracting a spirit from the carcass from of the fish.

The water rocked against their bodies, “Aw, man don’t tell me this water is a monster too?” Timothy complained.

“I don’t sense any spirits in the water.” They are both touched by a hard object; “Oh I know what this is.”

“What is this!” Timothy panicked being pushed by the mysterious force.

Ashton walked around something, “It’s a shelf, it’s underwater.”

Ms. Woo surfed in on a shelf, “Smart of you to figure out,” with a wave of her wand she encased the chargoyle in a bubble. The bubble soaked up the water in the library, which gave it the effect of tightening up, “Well now you monster, I’m going to send you somewhere, that you can’t come back from.”

As the bubble collapsed on him, it popped. In a regretful moment Timothy knocked over Ms. Woo and ran off with her wand, setting Ashton free. “Why did I do that? I should have let her kill him; the town would have been safe… Tim you were not thinking…” he thought to himself.

Ms. Woo went after him, but not before she kicked her heel into the eye of Ashton. He held his eye and stopped the bleeding through cauterization. “I need to ask the Princess for more extrajudicial authority.”

“While running away, he saw Gloria, and yelled out, “Gloria, I got the page.” The words did not register with her. “Gloria!”

“She still has a spirit in her,” Ms. Woo commented.

“What! What did you do to her!” he waved his hand with the bubble wand in it, trapping her in a bubble; “Wow that was easier than expected.”

“Let me out you little, thief!”

Gloria looked at Timothy and shouted, “Tim! Are we going home?”

“…yeah…” He paused, “Wait a minute, she has a spirit in her, I don’t think I can bring her home.”

“Wait right there I’ll come to you. Good job on stopping that lady.”

“I’ll meet you halfway.”

Ms. Woo summoned a shelf and popped the bubble. The sight of this causes Gloria to run the other way. “Give me my wand back.”

“No!”

In an attempt to break his spirit, Ms. Woo said, “You are exactly what the psychic boy in here said you are.”

“What?”

“Now I got your interest, your friend the psychic was the one to tell me to rip out the page, he said you were going to cheat me. And wow, he sure has accurate results.”

“You’re lying.”

“I’m not, that’s why you have one last page.”

“Thanks for letting me know, but now I have the page and you don’t,” he waved the wand once more and conceals her within layers of bubbles. “Let’s see you pop all of those.”

Duke went back into the stairwell when he was instructed out of the school building, by staff members. “Lucille let’s go back the way we came its closer to my house,” the boy said with intentions of being nosy.

“Sure,” she watched Duke drop down the hole into the bookstore. “Duke!” the hole closed.

Duke arrived in the bookstore, “Where am I?” A shelf came at him, and he froze, He is kicked out the way by Gloria, “Hello Duke…” she had a grim look on her face.

“Uh, hi Gloria…”

“The shelves were moving around; you should get a step on it.” She offered him her hand; he took it and was met with a foot in his face.

“Gloria what are you doing, stop!”

His words meant nothing; she kept stomping him.

“I’m sorry!”

She ignored him, but his cries registered with Ashton, who saw the scene. “Aw damn,” he rushed over to see to burn the spirit out of Gloria. He wrapped his arm around her waist and covered her mouth with his free hand. She coughed up the spirit, Ashton went to contain it in the jar but missed. He exhaled a stream of smoke, he got up, fire destroyed the sprit. “Whatever the Princess can yell at me.”

“You again!” Gloria exclaimed.

“Yeah, me again, I’ll fix it so you don’t have to look at me anymore.” His eyes flared up orange and he kicked Gloria out of the library back into the stairwell. Ashton turned to Duke, “You should probably go to.”

“Yeah, yes I’m on it!” Duke collected himself getting up and is kicked in the rear by Ashton. He stumbled down the steps and landed next to Gloria’s feet. The boy looked up and braced for impact scrunching up. “What are you doing?” Gloria asked. Duke caught on to what is happening, collected himself, “Oh nothing, where were we?”

“I don’t know.”

Timothy crossed paths with Princess as he walked away with the page. Ms. Woo sent a shelf at him, the Princess deflected it. From the chunks of wood came the Princess for Ms. Woo. “It’s time to have your license revoked.” Her eyes turned red. Ms. Woo tried to resist the royalty but to no effect. Ms. Woo ran away from Princess, giving into a chase. The Princess grumbled over having to chase the bookseller again. She called out for Ashton, “Stop the spirit collection, I need assistance.” Ashton tracked down Ms. Woo and trapped her in a ring of fire. Princess split the flames, “Ms. Woo your license has been revoked.” She pulled out a stamp and pressed it on the soul of the woman. Ms. Woo flashed purple and a portion of her that allowed her to communicate with supernatural forces has been barred. “We are confiscating your library as evidence of your magical misdoings.”

“I did nothing wrong.”

“You sold magical items to the unknowing and unauthorized. On top of that you defaced a summoning book. The repercussion could have been more severe if it was not a return page!”

“He deserved it.”

“He deserved not to get the book; the rules have to stay in place.”

“Summoning is prohibited outside of a sphere of…”

Ms. Woo cut the authority off, “Then why didn’t you stop him while he was summoning the girl?”

“Okay, we’re done here,” the Princess formed a hole underneath Ms. Woo. She got about halfway down when she is grabbed by Ashton. “What are you doing?” the Princess asked.

“Making sure she gets home,” His eye turned red with malice.

This prompted the Princess to ask, “What happened to your face?”

“She put her heel through it.”

“Oh, but you can’t burn the lady.”

“Fine, I won’t,” he put his foot through her teeth; “Chant some spells now,” dropping the bleeding woman down into a life of powerlessness.

“Ashton let’s go, we will gut this place tomorrow,” the Princess told him. The two burst into flames, putting out all the fire with them.

Whatever spirits managed to evade capture, rejoiced in their departure.

Once Timothy retrieved the page and went to the same spot as Barry, the collage of colors happened once again. A trial of white followed him. The residual havoc from the library lingered in the stairwell. Barry saw a vision of Timothy punching him in the face. In the psychic’s escape he is blinded by the smoke, in a complete darkness this visual sense has been cut off. But in a sudden sensory spike, a feeling of something hard hit him in the face and a warm stream followed down his face. “Timothy?”

“Barry, you told the lady to rip out the page!”

“I didn’t think it would turn into all of this. I knew you were going to rip her off, so I suggested a fair exchange.”

“The town might be wiped out because of that ‘fair exchange’!”

“The town might be wiped out because you didn’t want to do your own art project!”

The smoke got caught in the detector and the alarm went off. The sprinkler system cooled the two boys off. During the evacuation Gloria could be seen talking to Lucille.

“So, Lucille, who is this guide?”

“The guide?”

“Yeah, for the event this weekend, Duke mentioned it.”

“Oh, come to the Loving Hands Friendship House meeting today and you’ll get more detail.”

“… I would if I could, but one of my relatives has gone missing and we’re looking for her.”

“That’s unfortunate…” then Lucille thought for a minute reflecting on the previous morning. “Wait a minute is Timothy your cousin?”

Gloria is taken aback for a moment, “What brings this question up?”

“Oh nothing…”

Gloria then connected the reason why she is asking Lucille questions to Lucille question. “Oh, we are related through a cousin, I don’t know if I would call him a cousin though.”

“I see.”

“Lucille, if you see my cousin, can you please tell me, she looks like me just as a little kid.”

“I’ll let you know.”

“Here take my number,” Gloria gave Lucille her number, “And if you ever want to hang out just do something in town let me know.”

Duke walked up behind Lucille, “Duke, is that you?”

“Yeah…”

“Where did you go?”

“A crazy place, I hope I don’t go back,” his eyes bulged out of his head, and he walked home in a stupor.

“Duke, wait up!” Lucille chased after him.

“Gloria are you ready to go home, we have to plan a way to now find out where Giselle is,” Timothy told her with Barry behind him.