When we actually stepped onto the porch of the house at the address, I finally understood why Auro had been so concerned about my coming.

To put it frankly, it looked haunted as hell. Its windows were broken and boarded back up, the planks creaking with my every breath, and the glyphs that ordained the walls of every other building in the ring seemed to sputter and flicker like broken lights. Even in the middle of the day the atmosphere was foreboding, and dark clouds had seemingly flooded the sky in the short time it had taken to get here, the midday warmth replaced with a frightening chill.

It was probably my imagination, but whenever I looked towards the windows I thought I could see a shadow fly over them in the shape of some biblical demon.

“This is the place?” I asked sceptically. “Does anybody even live here?”

It looks abandoned. Gideon thought. And in such an otherwise well-to-do district as well.

“Don’t worry.” Auro’s voice wavered. “It probably won’t show up with the two of us here, right?”

My mind latched onto her third word, all kinds of crazy phenomena flying through my thoughts.

“...It?”

“The Reaper.” Auro responded reverently. “That… that’s what’s here, don’t you think? Otherwise Hans would've been able to exorcise it.”

I guess that explains why they hadn’t hunted the previous tenant down for the book yet. I hoped to God Auro was just trying to spook me out. There was no way the grimoire hadn’t made them up, right?

“Eh, Auro?” I put my arm around her shoulders and stepped off the porch, away from that evil looking door. “What exactly happens here? Like, is it just noises, or…”

“Well, we used to think it was just a ghost.” Auro admitted, looking over our shoulders at the house. “It would grab people, make noises, and speak foul gryphon-speak in your ear.”

“Uh-huh.”

That sounded horrifying enough… but it wasn’t enough to put me off. If those books were in there I think I could deal with a little spot of otherworldly trolling to get them. I’d been through worse - especially recently.

“But after the priests failed to get rid of it last month, it got worse.”

Damn it.

“The families living next door had to move out because of it, it was appearing at the ends of hallways and in mirrors.”

“That doesn’t sound like a reape-”

“And… and then they died in their new homes.” Auro finished solemnly.

I closed my eyes and sighed.

To be honest, I didn’t quite believe that story in its entirety. It was easy enough for urban legends to sprout up around places like this, and if the neighbours had truly moved out I could easily see the story blowing up into something crazy like this. After all, as far as I knew ghosts and reapers hadn’t actually existed on Earth, nor had I heard a credible story from someone who’d met one, even on the magic side of things. One way or another, it was always nerves, imagination, or ignorance that formed these sorts of things.

Still, I could also see an element of truth in these stories if some crazy squatter was living in this house too. I could only be glad I’d brought a knife under my coat.

“Alright.” I finally said. “I’m going in anyway.”

Auro’s own confidence seemed to stabilise once I’d said that, an awe burning behind her eyes.

We walked up to the door again, and I put my hand on the door knob, ready to get this book back.

…

The air was knocked out of me as I hit the dry basement floor with a dull thud. Not a second later Auro hit the ground beside me in the same manner, sounding like a sack of potatoes dropped on the ground, and yet a moment later Gideon gracefully glided down to land on my back.

Six and seven points, respectively. Gideon thought. You need to work on the landing.

As it turned out, the building owner kept everything nice and locked up, including the front door, the back door, and all the windows. We’d almost given up there, only to find, to Auro’s distress, a tiny window that led to the dark and dusty basement below the house.

Both Auro and I scrambled to our feet to look around, and I pulled out the same magic lamp to bathe the room in hues of blue. Piles of boxes, furniture, and tarps lay haphazardly across the floors and piled on the walls. A lot of it looked like plain rubbish to me, like the scraps of frayed cloth and the torn couches, but nothing screamed ‘book’ immediately.

“Well.” I grunted. “We’re in.”

“Why is there so much stuff?” Auro asked, momentarily forgetting where she was. “I wonder if the old owner was a hoarder.”

“Maybe it’s the ghost.” I joked. “And he’s looking to add us to it.”

The frightened look on her face made me immediately regret that one, and I quickly slid into reverse.

“I mean, this place is pretty far from the midden, he probably just didn’t want to lug everything over, you know?”

Silently, she stepped closer to me and looked around.

“Don’t go too far…”

I nodded apologetically. This really wasn’t how I wanted girls to hang onto me, but I supposed it’d have to do for now.

“Then let's take a look around down here before we go upstairs.”

We spent the next few minutes searching through the piles of stuff around the room, but it quickly became apparent that nothing of actual worth was stored down there, and that we‘d be forced to go up. Even with Gideon sliding into the small cracks and crannies, we didn’t find anything that even resembled a book, nor anything magical in nature. Thankfully, that included ghosts and ghouls, which softened my nerves still more.

I led us up the stairs, only to stop on the third step.

“What’s wrong?” Auro asked.

“I don’t know.” I said truthfully. “It’s probably nothing.”

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Well now you’ve confirmed that it isn’t.

“And who are you to say that?” I muttered.

Behind me I felt Auro stir, having heard my statements but not Gideon’s. I could almost feel her stress stat increase by a few points, though I didn’t know what exactly I could say to that. Somehow, I didn’t feel like ‘Oh don’t worry, I’m just talking to the voice in my head!’ would go over too well either.

I kept going to the top of the stairs without any more problems and grabbed the handle without any creepy demons grabbing my ankles. But again, as my hand lingered on the handle, I felt the same strange feeling of unease washing over me.

[Christ], was I going to let a little superstition halt my every step? I didn’t have time for that!

Taking a short breath, I pushed open the door and waltzed into what looked like the main room of the house. It was decrepit of course, but no more than I had expected. Only a couple beams of light made their way through the planks over the windows, so in the grim darkness of the first floor there was only dust. Dust and drapes.

“See? Nothing’s here.” I said, somewhat to reassure myself, throwing the light of my lantern over the many closed doors and retreating shadows. A large stairway to our right signalled the entrance to the top floor.

“You know Saphry?” Auro said suddenly. “You’re pretty-”

“Thanks.” I said as I opened up a box filled with blankets.

“-weird.” She finished. “You’re much more reliable than you look. Unlike any girl I’ve met too.”

“Was that supposed to be a compliment?” I raised an eyebrow as I searched through the box for anything resembling paper. “It didn’t exactly sound like one.”

Though I supposed it was pretty hip to ‘not be like the other girls’ these days.

“No, like…” She hovered behind me for a second. “I’d never be able to walk into a place like this normally, not even with someone like…” Auro looked down, a pained expression coming over her face. “...like a guard, I mean. I actually thought you’d be scared away once you saw the outside.”

“Nonsense.” I closed up the box again and appraised her carefully. “You jumped into that basement right after me.”

“Only because you leaped in so carelessly.” She shook her head. “I… I could only think of how silly it’d be if I couldn’t follow someone so frail looking…”

“Hey now.”

“Not that you look pathetic or anything!” Auro said quickly. “Just that… well… I mean you’re shorter than me and…”

For God’s sake, I was the same height as her! Roughly! Why did everyone act like I was pint-sized? I had to be approaching five and almost a half feet which, while admittedly ‘not tall’, wasn’t really ‘short’ for the Veroline…

Wait, was now really the time to be worrying about this?

“It’s fine.” I reached up to pat her shoulder. “Even though, really, we’re the same height. Let’s just hurry up and find those books.”

“But I’m definitely an itchia or two taller…”

I ignored her, instead performing a heel turn and entering the nearest room.

…

A quarter hour later, we reluctantly climbed the stairs to the second floor, the main one offering no sign of the books we needed.

The stairs themselves were still solid, made of strong whitewood, but the smell of wet rot became obvious as we neared the landing, though I could see no visual sign of such decay. At the top, the stairway led directly into a long, dark hallway filled with doors and little else. The air was stuffy, and the smell intense, though again none of us could see from whence it came. The farthest door, one settled into the right side, was slightly ajar and spilling shadow.

It might’ve been my imagination, but my lantern’s light stone seemed to dim under some foul spirit.

“This looks like the set for some horror [movie].” I said honestly upon seeing the scene.

“A… A what?” Auro asked from behind.

“Eh, a horror novel.” I corrected myself. “Basically: it’s way too dark up here. Weren’t there windows on the outside?”

“M…Maybe I should guard the door downstairs?” Auro said. “So that-”

I didn’t let her finish or slink away, my arm shooting out behind me to wrap around her shoulder.

“I think we should stick together here.” I glanced upwards at the dragon peeking over my bangs. “Unless Silst wants to…”

Absolutely not. Gideon snapped.

“Alrighty then, let's get this over with.” I nodded towards the open door at the end. “Spooky door last, or not at all if we can help it.”

A little spooked by the oppressive atmosphere, I began whistling out a simple tune as I opened the nearest door, my knife suddenly heavy in my coat pocket.

The first four rooms turned out to be either offices or bedrooms, unfortunately bereft of either proper books or cheer. A prickling at the back of my mind intensified as we searched, the feeling of unease growing as we got closer and closer to the final room. It felt almost like a deep rumbling, or maybe a weak tinnitus on the edge of my consciousness.

Finally, we approached the final door, cursing our luck. If the books weren’t there, then I was ready to call them lost for good, the urge to get out stronger than ever after the last few rooms. We’d have to hope there was a bookstore in town we could find it in.

Without any talking, I let go of Auro and moved the lantern to my left hand, freeing my right for the knife. Logically, I couldn’t see why I thought something was specifically in this final room, and why it wouldn’t have come out already if there was something, but thoughts of shadow demons again began to plague my mind.

[Christ], I would never hear the end of it if an orthung was somehow hiding in that room.

Wordlessly, I set my foot upon the door and prepared to kick it open.

I was kind of a dick to Wren at that house party, wasn’t I?

I faltered as a random thought hit out of left field, and my foot left the door. Confused, I stared at the door.

Ryder?

What? Where did that come from? I hadn’t talked to Peter in weeks at this point, and he didn’t really have anything to do with the current situation. And honestly, I hadn’t been rude to him, unless he had taken that chemistry joke the wrong way…

I’m gonna fail out of college at this rate… Another failure to prove dad right.

“Is something wrong?” Auro squeaked from behind me.

“It… it’s nothing.” I stammered.

What was wrong with me? This wasn’t the-

I’ve hurt so many people… Were all of them really wrong?

Of course they were. Villains and goons. I wouldn’t have intervened if I hadn’t been sure… right? I didn’t go after petty crimes after all, and the people I did attack more than deserved… well I think they deserved-

What if they didn’t? There were a couple buildings I collapsed in those raids. What were the chances that they weren’t entirely evacuated? I could’ve killed some innocent workers and not even known…

I had checked before, hadn’t I?

Ryder? What are the two of you doing?

What if we can’t even go back? That potion could’ve been an incredibly implausible stroke of coincidence. What if drinking another hops us to a different, worse reality? What if it just kills us? Even if we got back to Earth, we might just possess another random person there…

I stepped backwards from the door, the lantern falling from my hand and clattering against the floor.

I’m kind of ruining Saphry’s life, aren’t I? If her soul hasn’t already been purged, that is. Oh God, what if she’s already dead? What if we return to Earth just to have this body fall down lifeless? Would I even care?

I didn’t care when Feanin died. Why would I care if Saphry did? I would never know about it, after all.

A horrible connection appeared before me, one I couldn’t believe I had missed back when I had woken up after the church.

Did I cause Feanin’s death?

I fell to the floor, staring at my hands as my vision blurred and twisted, dark memories of that day replaying through my head.

He got charged when something distracted him.

That’s what Gideon had said. Didn’t I do that? When I shouted out to Andril? He’d looked back at me, with all the others. Was that when he died then, killed by a cry not even intended for him? Did I even need to do that? Andril was a mage! A great sorcerer of Verol, I would think! He probably didn’t even need my help in those tunnels! If I hadn’t, Andril would’ve just turned and blasted the beast with a simple spell, just as he did to save me afterwards! In fact, hadn’t I just made it harder for Andril to attack it? He was probably afraid of hitting me the whole time… he would’ve killed it even faster if I had never thought of butting in, had never intervened, had never jumped on top of it. How stupid was I? How could I possibly think that someone like him would ever need MY help? The ‘expertise’ of a goddamn fake! I wasn’t a hero, I wasn’t a saviour, I was a fraud! An idiot! An imbecile!

A murderer.

I killed Feanin.

And for nothing. I was no better than the villains I had fought back on Earth… No- worse. They hadn’t been under any delusions of grandeur, of righteousness. Did I deserve to live when they had died? Truly? Chicago would be a better place if I didn’t come back anyway. Hadn’t the feds made that clear enough?

No, not just Chicago. Everywhere would be better if I just stopped. Anything else would be inviting more destruction, more death.

An eye for an eye.

I raised the thin blade to my neck, only to jerk back with a scream as an incredible pain pulsed through my shoulder. The dark mists dissipated for but a moment as I wrestled with the dragon chomping down on me.

Snap out of it, Ryder!

I blinked again, finding that I was no longer in the second story, but was lying at the base of the stairs, in the natural light filtering through the cracks of the boarded windows. Auro lay beside me in the same position.

“Ah.” I flinched when I moved my arm, finding that my body hurt all over, probably from falling down the stairs. A line on my neck felt wet, and when I touched it my hand came back with a few miniscule beads of blood. “Ah.”

You need to get out, and back to the library. Gideon grabbed my coat’s sleeve with his teeth and tugged towards the door. Hurry! Get up!

“Ve… nor…” Auro whispered as she stared into the ceiling. I didn’t move.

Above, a plank creaked.

Get UP! Gideon jumped onto my chest, roaring with the second word. Its power was disproportionate for his size, and icy cold to boot, shaking me awake just enough for me to scramble to my feet. I hauled Auro’s arm over my shoulder, and she too began to stir.

Another plank creaked, and then another.

“Come on, Auro.” I croaked as I struggled to get her to her feet. “You jumped through that window too, didn’t ya?”

Together, we stumbled towards the door, gradually gaining speed as the footsteps crept towards the staircase. As the creaking got closer to the steps, I didn’t dare look back, and the two of us burst out the front door into the porch.

As we crossed the threshold into the midday sun, it was like a spell was broken, and both of us broke into a run towards the library.

Away from the house.