12:42 PM, ???

"Well. You took a long time to wake up." The strange figure crouched by Lynn, green eyes sizing her up. "I was afraid I'd killed you. I'd prefer not to have to do the paperwork for that."

"Paperwork?" Lynn raised an eyebrow. "I didn't think walking statues had to file reports on the people they killed." There was some sort of restraint holding her arms behind her back. It was... warm.

"It's not killing that I need to file a report on." The figure- statue?- scoffed. "I'd need to explain why I saw fit to cause an action on this side without an equivalent reaction on the other. Then I would need to go home and kill someone else to balance everything out. I'd rather not go to the trouble of doing that, so it's beneficial that you're alive. And I am not a statue, for your information."

Lynn shrugged, trying to feel her restraints to get some idea of what was holding her back. It was... soft. "What are you, then, if you're not a statue?" Distract her. Don't let her see that you're trying to escape.

"That's not for you to know." Not-a-Statue (?) tipped her head to one side. "Why am I even bothering to explain things to you? You're a child. I doubt you know about normal paperwork, much less the kind that involves the balance of the multiverse."

"Hmph." Lynn twisted her arms apart only to meet unyielding, squishy handcuff-type-things. "Maybe I know about normal paperwork. You don't know that. Maybe I know about the multiverse, too. You don't know anything about me."

Not-a-Statue gritted her teeth. "You don't know when to quit, do you? Oh, and by the way, I wouldn't mess with the creature if I were you. It'd be liable to bite your hands off if you didn't keep them to yourself."

Creature? The restraint around Lynn's hands shifted- Oh god is it alive? There's a living thing wrapped around my arms and it can eat my hands? How is this even happening- "So... any particular reason there's a living being attached to my arms?"

"It makes you more difficult to track," Not-a-Statue said, as if that explained absolutely everything.

Lynn craned her neck, trying to see exactly what sort of 'creature' was currently serving as the most disturbing pair of handcuffs she'd ever been forced to wear. (To be fair, there wasn't that much competition. Then again, even if there were, these would still probably take the prize.) "Yeah, okay, that explains absolutely nothing."

Not-a-Statue sighed. "The second floor can duplicate any nonliving, nonmagical object, or any non-animal life. If I were to use ropes to restrain you, someone could infer that you were being tied up from the second floor's display. As it is, there is nothing in this room that could possibly be reproduced, leaving anyone who attempts to find you in the dark."

"Okay. Cool." The disturbing-handcuff-creature seemed to be evading Lynn's best attempts to catch a glimpse of it. All she could see was a flash of green out of the corner of her eye. "Hey, do you have like... a name or something? Because I've just been calling you 'Not-a-Statue' in my head, and it's kind of getting weird."

Not-a-Statue sighed. "My name is none of your concern. If calling me 'Not-a-Statue' helps you remember that I am, in fact, not a statue, then go right ahead. I have no reservations about what you choose to call me."

"If you don't care what I call you, am I allowed to call you-"

"Absolutely not. There is a difference between acceptable names and... that. When I said I had no reservations, I assumed you would understand that I meant within words you can say with children present."

"Yeah, yeah." Lynn shrugged as gently as possible, so as not to disturb the disturbing-handcuff-creature. "I wasn't gonna say it anyway. I know what platform we're on. Can't have inappropriate language in this fic."

Not-a-Statue raised a green eyebrow, but said nothing, simply crossing the room and putting her ear up to the wall for a few seconds, then shaking her head and stepping away.

"Expecting someone?" Lynn asked. Not-a-Statue declined to respond. "Hey, where are we, anyway?" Can the others find me? Are they looking for me right now? Do they even know I'm missing? Or is there another changeling out there impersonating me?

"Can't say. You ought to know that already." Not-a-Statue leaned against one wall, examining her fingernails. They were, like every other defining feature of her, green. "All you need to know is, the others won't be finding you any time soon."

Those were the last words Not-a-Statue said before she proceeded to ignore everything Lynn asked for the next several hours. She wasn't wrong, either. As time dragged on and nobody came busting down the door- not as if there were a door to bust down- it seemed as though Lynn truly would be trapped forever.

1:02 PM, Dining Hall

"Mari, please," Addie begged. "You have to come with us! Lynn's been taken to who knows where- one of us could be next!"

Skit nodded. "She's right. This is how it is in horror movies- first someone goes missing, then everyone gets picked off one by one when they decide not to go along with the rest of the group. You don't want to be next, do you?"

"This isn't a horror film." Mari sighed. "This is real life, and in real life, the only way people get 'picked off' is by making reckless decisions. For example, going off on no clues to try and find someone while we have an actual clue right here."

"Staying alone while everyone else leaves is a reckless decision!" Addie cried, and the other members of the 'find Lynn' party nodded vigorously.

"Look, I plan on putting together a solid plan here. If you five want to run off and-" Mari stopped. "Where is Azrin?"

Daniel shrugged. "Dunno. She left ages ago, back while we were still sorting through all the clues everyone found."

"And nobody thought to mention it?"

"I just kinda assumed you noticed, too." More nods from the rest of those gathered in the dining hall.

Mari buried her face in her hands. "Azrin ran off. By herself. And you call me the reckless one."

"Um." Marissa glanced to the side. "Would now be a bad time to say that I actually want to go to the library first instead of trying to find Lynn? I feel like the three in there should know about what happened."

Skit shook her head. "That sounds like a good plan. If they decide to come back here, they can help us find Lynn or pair up with Mari or Azrin- once we find her- to keep them safe. Speaking of which, I think I'll come back here after a bit to make sure Mari hasn't gone missing. Does anyone want to do the same for Azrin?"

"I'll look for her," Lissa said, raising her hand. "You mean we'll search for Lynn and then if nothing comes up we'll split up, right?" Skit nodded. "Okay, I can do that."

Mari sighed and slumped onto the table, head still buried within her palms. "This. This is going to end so badly. Why not just wait and see if Lynn manages to get back to us on her own? Why risk everyone's safety just for one person?"

Team 'Save Lynn' exchanged glances before Holland finally answered the question. "I guess... Well, Lynn would say, 'The plot can't be advanced if nobody's willing to take any risks,' so I guess we can go with that?" The other four nodded.

Mari sighed again but said nothing, her head resting on the table with only one eye showing, peeking out at the note. The others took that as their cue to leave, Marissa peeling away to explore the library and the rest taking to the stairs.

It was an interesting experience, shoving five people into the second floor. Only Holland really understood how the rooms worked, and Daniel and Lissa had never even been to the second floor before the previous night. The result was a lot of rushed explanations, several "it'll make sense once we get through this door"s, and at least one accidental elbow to the face when three of the five tried to squeeze through the doorframe across from the stairwell at once.

The room opened out onto a perfect replica of the mountainside, albeit devoid of the floating green lights. The blue sky was painted onto the walls and ceiling, with waves barely visible above the seam between the wall and floor. Blades of grass bent under the group's socked feet, and a pair of pine trees poked up from the floor, only for their tops to come to an abrupt stop at the ceiling. A bare patch of dirt lay roughly in the middle of the room.

"Right." Holland turned to face the others. "This is meant to be 'what we need.' Usually it's kind of cryptic, so I'd guess that it's telling us that whatever we need to find, it's outside somewhere. Make sense?" Everyone nodded. "Good. Anyone want to stick around for a bit, or should we all just head out right away?"

Daniel shook his head. "We shouldn't split up. Mari was right about people going off on their own being a bad idea- we'd probably be safe since there are five of us, but if any of us are going outside, we should all head outside." More nods from the rest of the group.

"Good point." Holland nodded. "Okay, all in favor of going outside right away?" They raised their own hand, as did Daniel, Addie, and Skit. Lissa kept her hand down. "All in favor of staying here and searching the second floor?" Nobody moved.

"Lissa, do you want to stay on the second floor?" Holland asked. Lissa shook her head.

"I don't really care what we do. If you guys all want to go outside, then we can do that."

"All right." Holland crossed the room and pulled open the door leading back to the northeast stairs. "This shouldn't be too hard, right?"

12:24 PM, Library

After Minus One's question, there was a moment of silence before all three girls began speaking over one another. "Why can we-" "Are you really-" "What did Strix mean by-" "Why are you-" "What are you-" "Did Strix ever-" "How do you-"

The ghost cleared his throat. "One at a time, please. I have many talents, but answering seven questions at once is not one of them." He scanned the three faces in front of him. "You. You can begin," he said, pointing at Kaiya.

Kaiya took a deep breath. "Are... are you actually a ghost? Because you look a lot more... visible than the other library ghosts."

Abigail nodded. "I was wondering the same thing. Why can we see you if you're a library ghost?"

Minus One laughed. "Interesting. It seems you've come to the right conclusion for the wrong reasons." He adjusted his glasses, and Kaiya could see that they appeared to be connected to one of his earrings via a thin golden chain. Why on earth-

"It's true, I'm not exactly a ghost, in the sense that a ghost is dead and formerly mortal, and I am neither. However, I am still the same sort of being, and were I not the head of this library, I too would be subject to the same rules as the other six upon leaving this room. Likewise, the other ghosts would all appear visible if they were in my position, or if they were to enter this room. Next question... from you." He pointed to Abigail.

"Why are you so adamant about being 'Minus One' and not 'Negative One?'" Abigail asked. "I mean, if you want to be technical 'Negative One' is more correct, so..."

"When I asked if you had any questions, I was expecting ones about your current predicament." Minus One sighed. "Though, it's true, many of the ghosts prefer to be called 'Negative' when the need arises for that very reason. I myself have... my own reasons. Ones I would like to keep private for the time being. Now, does anyone have any questions that are actually related to the disappearance of this manor's owner?"

Nini raised her hand. "I have one..." Minus One motioned for her to go on. "Strix said something about 'liminal space' and 'liminal time.' Do you know..."

"I do know." Minus One put his hand up to his face, thinking. "Has Strix ever told you that there are some places you must never linger in at sunrise or sunset?"

"Oh!" Nini nodded. "She said not to stay in the library past sundown. The stairs up the mountain, too. But she never told me why."

"That is correct. Three locations in this manor are liminal spaces- they exist only between places, while not truly being destinations themselves. The stairs, of course, exist in the space between the outside world and the manor, while the first empty room on the second floor exists between the manor and the second floor's limitless destinations."

"So... what about the library?" Kaiya asked. "Because it sure doesn't seem like it exists between anything to me."

"The library is unusual. It exists on the border between reality and fiction, or between the worlds of the living and the dead, or between the past and the present. It is less apparent than the other two, but it is perhaps the most powerful and dangerous of them all."

Abigail hmmed. "How are they dangerous? And if they're so dangerous, why would Strix tell us to seek them out?"

"When someone is within one of this manor's liminal spaces at a liminal time- sunrise or sunset, the borders between day and night- the space can pull them into a world all its own." Minus One sighed. "The stairs and second floor can merely trap one in an infinite, empty loop, but the library is... different. I suspect that was what Strix was referring to."

"How is the library different?" Kaiya stepped forward, causing Minus One to lean away from her. "What happens if we're in the library when the sun goes down?"

Minus One took a few steps back and fidgeted with his book. "If a living mortal were to be in the library at a liminal time... they would open the door to the Abyss."

1:28 PM, Dining Hall

The code was, admittedly, not the first thing on Mari's mind. Sure, she was trying to focus on it, but her thoughts kept straying elsewhere. Where had Lynn gone? Was she truly taken? If so, by whom? When would the others be returning- or had they, too, been taken? And where on earth were the three who had gone running off to the library earlier?

But. She thought she was getting close to figuring out the code. Now, if only she could get some sign that she wasn't the only person who'd up and died or been kidnapped or something...

Ah. There was her sign. Specifically, in the form of Skit slamming open the dining hall's doors, stomping in, and plopping down in the seat next to Mari.

"I take it something didn't go as planned?" Mari asked, turning Strix's letters towards Skit so the other girl could see them better.

Skit gave a single, sharp nod. "It did not. None of our party were injured or lost, fortunately, but..." She trailed off. "Maybe we should wait until everyone else finishes their search. Lissa would be able to explain better anyway."

"Hmm. I take it you were unable to locate Azrin, then?" Skit took a double take at Mari's words. "It's not that difficult to guess. You said none of 'your party' specifically had been lost, and then that Lissa is more qualified to explain. She was the one who was going to retrieve Azrin, so it's the most realistic conclusion."

Skit nodded again. "Yeah, you're right. And I'm gonna guess you still haven't figured out the code yet. Too busy worrying about us?"

"I wasn't worrying," Mari huffed. "I simply was concerned that you were all going to disappear, and then I would be the only one left to locate Strix, an endeavor at which I would almost certainly fail."

"Sounds like worrying to me." Skit picked up the second note and looked it over. "What say we try to crack it together? ...Or, to make things more interesting-" Mari could guess the other girl was grinning, even under the mask- "we could try making this a contest."

"Whoever figures the code out first wins?" Mari asked, and Skit nodded in confirmation. "Very well. I accept your challenge."

With that, both girls settled in, occasionally making a note, mumbling something to themselves, or pulling one of the notes closer to get a better look. It was almost five minutes when Mari leaned back and said, "I've got it."

"Oh? I think I've got it, too. What do you think it is?"

"The numbers refer to words in the notes. The first indicates which note the word is from, the second the sentence, and the third the word. 'I'm in the other-world do not think I'm in trouble-"

"But you'd better hurry," Skit finished. "I got the same thing. I'm not sure what exactly it means, but it doesn't seem good."

Mari nodded. "You mentioned seeing a crack through the telescope, correct? I wonder if that had something to do with this 'other-world.' Maybe that was what she planned to show us, and she wished to keep it a secret."

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Maybe. Then the food-" Skit stood up suddenly. "Making lots of food. Having lots of food stocked up in the kitchen. She was preparing for a long trip! In another world! We need to tell everyone!"

"Wait." Mari grabbed Skit's sleeve. "We shouldn't go off on our own. It would be only two of us, defenseless against whatever took Lynn and Azrin. It'd be much safer to wait for the others."

"I wouldn't be defenseless," Skit muttered, but still sat back down. "Fine, we'll wait. But if it gets to be an hour later and they still aren't back, we're going out."

"That's an acceptable compromise. If they aren't back in one hour, we go out to find them. Otherwise, we wait."

And wait they did, for the full hour, never leaving the dining room, always watching for a sign that someone was returning from the mountainside.

That sign never came.

1:18 PM, Mountainside

The search for Lynn was going exactly how you'd expect, given all the searchers had to go off of was "outside." The mountain Aleshe Manor was built on wasn't very small, and even if the search could reasonably be limited to the forest, there was still a lot of ground to cover.

Add that to the danger in going off on one's own, and you got agonizingly slow progress.

Lissa had left the group almost immediately after they'd exited the building, saying something about wanting to find Azrin as quickly as possible. That left the other four to slowly work their way through the forest, scanning the trees for anything that could possibly be 'what they needed.'

Every stretch of the woods was nearly identical to the last. Green lights flickered as they bobbed and weaved in between the trees. Cobblestone paths popped up in seemingly random locations, each one leading to a statue or fountain or two before ending as abruptly as they began. None of it seemed to be what they were looking for.

After about ten minutes of fruitless searching and several statues identical in every way to the one the four were currently standing under (Skit had joked about the possibility of them all being the same statue that they just kept coming back to, which honestly didn't seem that far-fetched) Daniel found himself saying, "Guys, maybe we should just... give up."

Addie turned to face him. "You can't be serious. You want us to just leave Lynn out there? Alone? Trapped who-knows-where?"

Daniel shook his head. "No, not like that. We just... don't have enough clues to go on. I thought maybe we'd be able to get some sort of lead once we were outside, but there's just too much ground to cover and not enough of us searching. If we went back inside and tried to get another clue from the second floor, or waited for Marissa to come back with the three from the library, we might be able to find whatever we're looking for more quickly. Speaking of which, we don't even know what we're looking for. We're basically just wandering around for no purpose."

"I guess we kind of are." Holland shrugged. "Still, though, I'm not sure what other information we could get from the second floor. It showed us what we needed, and this turned out to be it. I think we should stick around for at least a little longer before heading back inside. Skit, what about you?"

"Whatever we do, we should wait for Lissa to get back," Skit replied. "I don't really care whether we go back in or stay out here, but she needs to know whichever one we choose. We can't just leave someone out here alone with no idea where the rest of us are. We'd be putting both her and Azrin in danger."

Daniel nodded. That made sense, and not only in terms of 'safety in numbers.' If Lissa and Azrin were to return, they deserved to have some say in the group's decision, too. "So we wait until they come back, then make our final decision?" he suggested. The rest of the group nodded in agreement. "All right... what if we split up to make it easier for us to spot them when they return? We'd stay within earshot and everything, so if anything happens we'd still be able to find each other." Nobody had any objections to that plan.

The four resumed their search with what couldn't exactly be referred to as 'vigor,' but they still put what little energy they still had into scouring the mountainside for anything out of the ordinary. Barely a few minutes passed, however, before hurried footsteps and panting alerted them to Lissa's return, and they reconvened near the base of a particularly large fountain.

"You're back!" Holland raised a hand to wave to the girl, but quickly dropped it when they noticed the expression on her face. "What happened?"

"Azrin..." Lissa panted, eyes wide and brimming with tears and a hand covering her mouth as if she were afraid she was going to be sick. "She... gone. She's gone. I don't... know how, but..."

"There's a bloodstain on the ground."

1:20 PM, Mountainside

Azrin knew she should be with the others. They were going to do their planning things and figure out what was going on. But really, how was she expected to sit still for all that time? There was so much outside to explore!

Really, she was doing everyone a favor. If there was anything out there that Lissa had missed (there probably was, she'd done enough exploring to know that nobody could search the whole mountainside in one night), then she might find it. And if she found it, then everyone else would have another clue to factor into their planning thing.

Sure, it might be a little dangerous to go off on her own without telling anyone else. But the pros far outweighed the cons. Besides, it wasn't as if she could get kidnapped by the changeling without them giving away their identity, right?

Also, she had a knife. Knives made everything 1000% safer. That was Azrin's number one principle and she was going to stick to it.

...maybe she could go back in if she didn't find anything soon. She'd been outside for around an hour, hadn't she? Maybe the others deserved to know what she'd been doing. And how incredibly not in any danger she was.

Yeah. Maybe fifteen more minutes. There was still a lot of mountainside she hadn't searched yet. Probably still some mountainside she'd never seen yet. Why would she pass up the chance to do just a little more exploring? She would only take a little more ti-

Azrin tripped. She rolled a few feet downhill, then came to a stop when the ground leveled out. What was that? I didn't see- buried treasure? The skeleton of an extinct creature? Strix did say there were some that were still hidden! Azrin clambered to her feet and dashed back up the slope, scanning the ground for anything besides grass and tree roots.

Her eyes found it almost immediately. A golden cup, dirt gathering in the carvings that formed a language Azrin couldn't recognize. It was sitting in a shallow hole in the ground- probably, it was the edge of the hole that had tripped her, not the cup itself. Azrin picked it up and held it to the light.

There was something oddly familiar about the carvings. Almost like she'd seen those exact letters before. Was it something on the papers everyone else had pored over like they were the most interesting things in the world? A book Strix had been reading some few months ago? (It wouldn't be the first time she'd seen her reading a book in a language she'd never heard of before.)

Or maybe it was something from her own life. Something she'd seen back at the school? A scroll of knowledge from a land a literal world away, that not even the most advanced students were allowed to look at?

"So many possibilities. None of them pleasant." Azrin whirled around at the unfamiliar voice to see a... person.

Well. Not exactly a person. This was a person in the same way a store mannequin is a person. It was an accurate representation of a person, right up to the point where one added certain person-y details like 'skin color' and 'a face.'

Though it might be more accurate to say that the almost-person did have a face. It was just... incredibly wrong.

A lipless mouth stretched wide as countless tiny, white eyes, looking more like marbles than any human organ, pulled themselves into a caricature of human happiness.

"Wouldn't you like to know the true story of that goblet?" the almost-human asked, reaching back an arm as if preparing to strike Azrin with its bony, long-fingered hand. Its nails looked as though they could easily tear her apart, knife or no knife.

Azrin did the only reasonable thing in that situation, and threw the cup in the creature's face.

Not a minute later, Lissa stared at the blood on the grass, hand going to her mouth.

1:23 PM, Mountainside

The whole group stared in shock, expressions locked into mirrors of Lissa's own. A horrible silence settled over the mountainside, no one daring to break it.

In the end, it was Skit who snapped them all out of their trances. "So... if you four don't mind, I think I'm going to go and give Mari an update."

None of them minded.

1:14 PM, Library

"Hello? Ghosts?" Marissa called out into the empty library. "Um, mister round-glasses-ghost, sir? Sorry I didn't catch your name when you were saving my life... er, number? Do you prefer your number? Anyway, thank you for not letting Lynn and I die. Um, are you there? Could you maybe please help me out here? I'm trying to find the three who came in here earlier..."

The library didn't answer and no ghosts appeared from behind a random bookshelf to scare and/or help her. How rude.

She continued down a hall at random, trying to remember if Lynn had said anything that might apply to this situation, but all she could recall was a list of which ghosts to avoid as well as a reassurance along the lines of "it's unlikely that we'll run into any ghosts anyway."

Well, that was the exact opposite of what Marissa wanted now. How the tables had turned.

"Hello?" Marissa repeated. "Is anyone there?" Really, how hard could it be to find a ghost? There were six of them besides that creepy monocled creature, after all. The library couldn't be that big.

Actually, given what she knew about Aleshe Manor, it probably could be that big. For all she knew, it was another of those bigger-on-the-inside things. Or it just extended into the second floor and she'd never realized when she looked at the manor from the outside.

Well. It looked like there would be a lot of ground to cover, that's all. The other three probably had their own things to do in the time it would take her to find them, anyway. She didn't have to be in a hurry.

She meandered through the shelves, occasionally pulling out a book or two that caught her eye, reading over the covers, and sliding it back into the shelf. It was a library, after all. Why not do a little browsing?

She was in the middle of reading the summary of a particularly intriguing fantasy novel when a sound from the other side of the bookshelf sent a shock through her. "Is there someone there?" There was no response, but Marissa had come to expect that from the ghosts.

She dropped her book and rushed to the end of the bookshelf, keeping her hand on the left shelf to avoid losing her way. Upon reaching the end, she turned around and was met with... another bookshelf, blocking her way to whoever had made the noise.

"Stay there, I'm coming around!" Marissa shouted, rushing to the end of the shelf and turning the tight corner. This time, fortunately, there were no further obstacles barring her way. A single glint of light reflected off a glasses frame near the top of the bookshelf, but from the angle she was standing at, there was no way to tell their shape.

"Hello!" Marissa said with perhaps too much volume for the situation, and as soon as the word left her lips three things happened at once.

First, three books on three different shelves slotted themselves back into place at once. One looked as though it might have been a spy novel.

Second, the sound of bells came from another section of the library before being cut short just as quickly as it had began.

And third, the single glinting lens Marissa had caught sight of turned around to reveal there was no other beside it.

Oh. There was no time for other thoughts before something invisible struck out and embedded itself into the bookshelf next to her by means of part of her arm.

Marissa, of course, screamed and ducked under the invisible arm-slicing appendage, barely a second before another one slammed into the bookshelf right where her head had been.

This was much, much worse than the first time. Then, she had had Lynn with her. Then, there had been another ghost nearby to save her. Then, she hadn't been nearly as clo-

Something struck her leg, causing her to scream out in pain. The monocle hovered over her, as if analyzing where to strike next. She couldn't pull away without tearing her leg off- it was as if a spike had been driven into her leg to hold her in place. Sorry, guys, she thought to the trio still oblivious in the heart of the library, as if they would be able to hear her final message. I guess I couldn't get to you in-

Another ringing sound came from mere feet away, accompanied by the gleam of a pair of oval-shaped glasses. The monocled ghost hissed, and though Marissa couldn't see it, she felt as though the two ghosts were preparing to fight one another.

Then a golden bell appeared in midair, apparently brought out by the newcomer. Marissa heard it ring once, then twice, and by the third ring she was fast asleep.

1:31 PM, Library

"Wow, that was a close one, huh? Lucky I was there to get you out of it." The voice... was it a girl's? A young girl's? And was that... a bell?

"Anyway, I'm sorry number seven attacked you. He... was supposed to be locked up. But then he gave Three the slip and, well, you know what happened. But it's all better now! I put you both to sleep, locked Seven up again, and patched you up, too. That is my job here, after all!" Yeah, definitely a girl. A girl who was way too exited this early in the... no. No, it was the afternoon. Unless she'd slept for over half a day, which was a problem in itself.

Marissa opened one eye to see a short girl with oval-shaped glasses and black hair pulled back into an elaborate braid with... bells. A few big ones at the end of her braid, and smaller ones at the ends of another pair of braids that covered her ears. Who... was this a ghost? But then why...

"Oh good, you're awake!" The girl grinned. "I'm the second-in-command around here- library ghost number two, at your service. But you can call me Minus Two, or Negative Two, or just Io. That's my name, by the way."

"Mm." Marissa sat up. Her leg felt... not good. Then again, she had just been stabbed. "Where am I and why can I see you?"

"You're in my quarters!" Io gestured around the room, which appeared to have several identical white beds lined up by one wall, one of which Marissa was currently sitting in. "But it's also the closest thing to a hospital we have on the island. And you can see me because my quarters is part of Aidan's place, at the center of the library. All seven of us have a room or two to call our own here, and it's the one place we're visible. Oh, that reminds me-" she broke off and turned to face one of the room's two doors- "hey, Minus One's guests! She's awake!"

"Minus... One's..." Isn't that who we were supposed to find? And guests? Who- wait, don't tell me it's-

The door opened and four figures stepped out. One was unfamiliar, with reddish hair covering one eye and pulled into a bun- for a moment Marissa was reminded of Strix, though his hair was the wrong color and texture. The other three, however, Marissa recognized instantly.

"Kaiya! Nini! Abigail!" Marissa pulled the covers off the bed and stepped onto the floor, ignoring the pain shooting through her injured leg- though it didn't seem nearly as bad as she was expecting. Maybe the ghosts had some sort of magical healing powers. It wouldn't be the strangest thing she'd seen all day.

Abigail waved. "Hello. Changed your mind about staying in the dining hall?"

"Not exactly." Oh, great. Going into the library to tell everyone about Lynn's disappearance was one thing. Actually telling them was another. "It's, well... Just after you left, Lynn and Addie went up to the second floor to see if Strix left any more clues." The three girls nodded, and the stranger sighed and gripped the white book in his hand tighter.

"They did find something, actually- a couple coded notes. Mari should be working on them right now, unless she's already finished." She might have. How long was I out, anyway? "But... that's not the point. The point is, well..."

"Lynn went missing. And none of us know how to find her."

The stranger nodded. "I was hoping you'd tell them soon. It's been difficult, dodging around the subject. Now, since you've shared your information, I think these three should be allowed to share theirs as well before you decide how to proceed."

12:29 PM, Library

"The door to the Abyss?" Nini asked, and Minus One nodded. "What's that?"

"The Abyss is... well..." Minus One scratched his neck. "Have you ever thought it was weird that Aleshe Manor doesn't seem to have a basement?"

The three girls thought for a moment, exchanged glances, and then all shook their heads in unison.

"It's not that weird. My house doesn't have a basement, either," Kaiya said. "I mean, it's not a super big house, but it's not that small."

"I just figured Strix just chose not to show it off." Abigail shrugged. "Not like it's my business to know everything about this place. Heck, from what I've heard, not even Strix knows everything about this place."

Nini nodded. "I always assumed that if there was a basement, it was just another odd feature of the manor. Like the second floor- you know Lynn was coming to the library for years before I even met Strix, and she never knew anything about the second floor for that whole time? Strix just never told her about it."

Minus One sighed. "And here I had an entire dramatic reveal planned. Fine, then. So the basement-"

"No, wait." Abigail held a hand up to stop the ghost. "If you really wanted to dramatically describe whatever spooky thing is hiding out in the basement, go right ahead. I don't mind."

"Right." Minus One cleared his throat. "Do you have any guesses as to why Strix avoided mentioning anything about the basement?" His audience shook their heads. "That is because Strix herself barely knows what's in it. We call it the Abyss."

"At sunrise and sunset, visitors to the library can see bloodstains down some of the passageways. If one were to follow the bloodstains, they would eventually come across a wooden trapdoor with a rusted handle, blood welling up from around its edges. Behind the door is only darkness, which no light can penetrate. Those who enter are never seen again, and those who leave... those who leave are monstrous apparitions, with only one thought in their minds- kill."

A hush settled over the room as Minus One finished speaking. It was as if his words hung in the air over their heads even though their sound no longer lingered. The air was so quiet, it was almost as if one could hear the very heartbeats of their companions.

After a minute of silence, Kaiya finally spoke. "Wow. I can see why you wanted to build up a dramatic atmosphere." Her words broke the spell over the group, with the other two humans laughing.

"Anyway," Abigail began once she had finished laughing, "what's that book you're reading?"

Minus One held up the blank white book. "This? I'm not reading it. I know what it contains far too well already to need to reread it. It's the records of every event that transpires within the gates of Aleshe Manor."

"You mean the ones you can't tell anyone about?" Abigail asked, and Minus One nodded. "Why can't you?"

"It is one of the rules of this manor," Minus One replied. "If any living being were to learn something from the record book, the library would collapse, and with it... it would take the whole world."

Nini blinked. "The whole... world? You mean the world would end if you shared something from that book?"

Minus One shook his head. "Close, but not quite. The library would collapse. It would no longer be able to protect the world from what it has contained since I was mortal. The Abyss would be allowed to expand, unchecked, and consume every thing in this universe."

Again, a silence fell over the gathered humans, but rather than allow it to fester for as long as the first time, Minus One cut it off by saying, "On another note. Does anyone have any questions with less bleak answers?"

"Do you wish you could?" Abigail blurted out before anyone else could respond. "Tell people what's in the records, I mean."

"That is..." Minus One sighed. "I haven't. Not in a long time. After a while, you begin to learn that the records don't really tell you anything. Certainly, I know which of you has been replaced with an impostor. I know where Strix currently is. I know every single little thing that has led up to this moment. But..."

"I don't know why she did any of it. I know every word she said to me or to the other ghosts, every book she checked out of the library, every preparation she made for this day. I know about the circle of salt in the northeast tower. But I don't know what her motivations were, or why she would be so secretive about them. The records tell you what happens inside the manor grounds, but they don't tell you what really matters."

"Oh." For the third time that day, a silence fell over the library room. What a gloomy conversation this was turning out to be.

"So... what do you think of all this?" Kaiya asked in an attempt to avoid any more awkward silences. "The... the changeling, and Strix's disappearance, and everything."

"To be quite honest, I'm not really sure what to think." Minus One shook his head. "Strix was... a good friend of mine. She saved this manor from collapsing once, you know. Without an Aleshe to own it, the manor can't last. If not for her, the world would have ended a long time ago. So, of course, I wish she hadn't disappeared, for more than one reason. But at the same time... I can't help but feel as though she had this coming to her. You all have already found some suspicious pieces of information, and though I can't tell you what else is out there, she does tend to go a little overboard at times. Even if this wasn't what she had planned, it was still the natural progression of things."

He sighed. "At any rate, I do wish for things to go back to normal soon. So, some free advice. The foe you're up against... its abilities are not limited to stealing the appearance of a human. In addition to incredible physical and mental ability, it is also capable of casting its true form to another location for a limited period of time. While in this state, its human body can act on its own, but not speak or form memories, and its real body can do as it pleases."

"So... it could be anywhere, killing someone, and the only clues we'd have to go on are 'being a little more quiet than usual?'" Nini asked, and Minus One nodded. "Sounds unfair."

"To you it certainly might. But to those who designed the changelings... I fear I may have said a little too much. If I continue, I'd be far too likely to share something I'm not supposed to. So," Minus One said with a weak smile, "shall we change the subject to something a little less bleak?"

No one had any objections.

1:34 PM, Mountainside

The two figures appeared from between the trees. One held a piece of paper in her hand, the other had pushed her mask to the side of her head and appeared to be in the middle of a very exciting conversation.

An onlooker might assume the two were old friends who hadn't seen one another in a while and were catching up on their lives, or perhaps that they were chatting about the latest installment in a book series they both enjoyed. An onlooker would certainly not assume they were walking through a forest filled with dangerous objects of questionable origin to affirm that the ones sent there previously had not, in fact, died.

And yet, that was exactly what the pair was doing in that particular forest at that particular time of day.

And, as the two walked on, a being watched them from the shadows, decoupled from its human shape for the second time that day and sporting a set of rather impressive new wounds.