12:12 AM, Southwest Tower
The southwest tower wasn't particularly interesting on the inside. Two floors of winding stairs, the occasional painting or tapestry hanging on the wall. But once you reached the top-
The mountainside stretched out before Azrin. In one direction, she could make out the mountain's rocky slopes, and beyond them the sea that lay between the manor and the rest of the YWP. It was a long way down, but the giant gate at the base of the stairs seemed to have been closed. Weird... did Lissa close it? Could she even get down there that quickly?
In the other direction lay the top of the mountain. The view was partially obstructed by the taller northeast tower, but Azrin was still afforded a good view of the forest that surrounded Aleshe Manor. Pine trees covered the mountain's summit, with green lights floating between them. A few of those same lights hovered above the top of the tower, though they were smaller and less strong compared to the ones in the deeper parts of the forest. A few statues peeked out from between the trees, and the yellow light of lanterns placed along paths shone through wherever it could.
It was oddly peaceful. The only sounds were those of the wind and the crickets, the only human presence Azrin's own. The moon shone down from above, its dim light paling in comparison to even the soft flickering glow of the lights that hung in the air around the manor. Azrin could almost forget that someone had been kidnapped earlier that night.
Almost.
She was here for a reason, right? She was supposed to be looking for clues about Strix's disappearance. There didn't seem to be anything around, though. Just the weird glowing lights. Azrin wondered for the umpteenth time what they were- Strix had never really explained them to her. She'd simply said they were "not from Young West Proseia, or anywhere around it really" and refused to elaborate.
It probably wasn't even that important, Azrin figured. Maybe they were just lights. Just weird lights like every other weird thing about this place. Just like the messed-up stairs and the giant bones in the forest and the sea serpents that seemed drawn to the gates at high tide like moths to a flame.
(One time, a sea serpent had beached itself on the rocks while Azrin was there. She'd had to help Strix return it to the ocean. It was a fairly interesting day.)
And like the second floor, Azrin remembered as she felt the knife at her hip. It was a little strange that the manor was capable of just making real, solid objects like that. A little strange and a lot cool.
A loud chiming from behind her- the clock on the northeast tower- announced that it was now half past twelve. Azrin had been standing atop the tower for twenty minutes. She was going to miss the others.
She sprang down the stairs, feet barely touching the carpet, and pulled open the door at the bottom. The second floor was a challenge to navigate her second time through, and she had to settle for opening each door individually (though the ones to her left and right refused to open until she shut the door behind her for some reason) until she found the one that opened onto the stairs leading down. Mari was already waiting, but Kaiya and Skit had yet to arrive.
"Did you find anything?" Mari asked. Azrin shook her head. "That's a shame. I did find this, though." She held up a folded slip of paper with a note written in one corner. "We should look over it as a group."
"Hang on, coming through!" Two figures dashed down the stairs, one holding a pair of small bags, the other with her hands clamped over her ears. "Sorry we're late," Skit puffed as the two reached the others. "That clock was loud! Kinda caught us by surprise." Kaiya nodded, hands still firmly in place at the sides of her head.
"We were just sharing what we found. I have this." Mari showed the paper to the newcomers. "I thought I would bring it to the dining room so everyone else can see it. I notice you have something as well?"
"Yeah." Skit shrugged. "It's not important, probably, but I figured I should grab it just in case. It was interesting, at least."
Mari nodded. "Mind telling us what happened up there? It looked... eventful."
"No, not at all! I mean, I don't mind. Not that it wasn't eventful." Skit paused. "Where to start..."
12:15 AM, Northeast Tower
"How tall... even is... this thing?" Kaiya took a heavy breath as she and Skit climbed what had to have been at least their fifth set of stairs. It was hard to tell if they were making progress- the only difference between floors was the artwork on display, each set somehow uglier than the last. It was like a dumping ground for unwanted portraits.
Actually, Skit thought she remembered Strix calling the northeast tower exactly that. Along with another interesting detail...
"It's infinite." Kaiya stopped climbing and turned to look at Skit, mouth agape. "No, seriously. The northeast tower is infinitely tall on the inside, but only five floors on the outside. The only way to reach the top is to forget which floor you're on, and then you start skipping around until you eventually get out."
Kaiya leaned her forehead against the nearest wall. "That is such a terrible way to build a tower. Who designed this place?"
Skit shrugged. "Dunno. Actually, I dunno if Strix even knows. This place is seriously old, so... if it's anywhere, it's probably in the library."
"Mm." Kaiya looked up. "So, all we have to do is stop counting floors? I thought I did that a while ago." She turned back to Skit. "Have you been counting?"
"No, it's just... tricky is all. It's hard to intentionally not count them. I think we're on something like the sixth or seventh floor, but apparently having an iffy guess is still too much for the tower to let us up." Skit shook her head as if trying to dislodge the number from her mind. "Anyway. If we keep climbing, I'm sure we can get to the top floor sooner or later."
Several minutes and even more flights of stairs later, the only thing that had changed about their situation was the number of ugly pieces of artwork that adorned the tower. Evidently not even a cursed manor had enough unwanted art to fill an infinite space.
Then, with no fanfare, everything changed.
Where the walls had previously bore several pieces of artwork, even if they were beginning to thin, now the only decorations in the tower were a single abstract painting- That one's not that bad, actually- and a bust of someone Skit guessed must have been a previous owner of the manor. Their ear was broken off.
In addition, a few of the lights from outside had begun to creep into the corners of the tower. They mainly hung around the edges, never coming close to the two climbers. Nevertheless, they weren't exactly inconspicuous, and they certainly hadn't been present on the last floor.
"We moved," Kaiya said, staring at the small, floating lights. Skit nodded. "Does this mean we'll get to the top in a few floors now?"
"Not really. You'll start counting again, and then it'll take even longer to reach the top. But this is a start." Skit began climbing again. "Come on, we don't have a whole lot of time left."
The rest of the climb went slightly smoother than the first few grueling floors. The amount of artwork on each floor varied wildly, with some floors being nearly empty and others being chock-full of paintings, statues, and tapestries. Every now and then there would be a sudden increase in the number and size of the floating lights, though they never strayed far from the tower's walls.
Then, suddenly, the endless loops of stairs and artwork of variable quality came to a stop. Four giant clock faces adorned the walls, and green lights much larger than any on previous floors filled the entire room. Skit dodged a particularly big one as she stepped off the top of the stairs.
Kaiya let out a sigh of relief. "We're finally here. What time is it by now?"
Skit checked her watch, then winced. "Twelve-twenty-four. We'll need to turn around in like five minutes if we want to catch the others in time."
"Great. What can we even do with that kind of time?" Kaiya scanned the room. "You see anything? Besides the, you know, giant green lights?"
"Hmm." There really wasn't a whole lot in the tower's top floor. There weren't even any electric lights, though the mysterious green ones more than sufficed to illuminate the place. Skit knew that Strix didn't keep anything in that floor under normal circumstances, but...
These were not normal circumstances. And there was, in fact, something in the corner of the room. A telescope, to be specific, pointed straight at a solid wooden wall. It wasn't even angled upwards- anyone who looked through it should be afforded a fairly good look at the dust collecting between the floorboards.
Kaiya, apparently, had seen the telescope at the same time as Skit, and she was already crossing the room to get a better look. "What did she think she could see with-" she started as she put her eye up to the telescope's eyepiece, but cut herself short immediately afterward. "Skit? You should take a look at this."
Skit hurried over to the telescope, and Kaiya took a few steps back to allow the other girl to get a better look. What could she even see with this? Is it some kind of- woah.
The telescope, as one may have guessed, did not afford a particularly good view of the night sky. However, what one would not be likely to guess is that it did afford a view of something completely different.
The whole of Aleshe manor was laid out before her, as if the walls simply did not exist. She could see a sizeable group of guests sitting together in the dining room. She could see the bookshelves in the library shifting and rearranging themselves according to a pattern no human could understand. She could see, in a strange way, part of the second floor stretching itself to accommodate an entire marble dining hall.
And... she could see something else. Something that shouldn't be there.
There was a giant, glowing golden crack across the entire width of the dining hall, passing straight under Strix's now-unoccupied seat.
Skit pulled away from the telescope. "What. Was that." The only response Kaiya had to give her was a shrug.
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"There's some kind of rift in the middle of the house!" Skit put her eye up to the telescope again, as if the crack might be mended by looking harder. "What is going on?"
Kaiya shook her head. "I don't know. But... do you think Strix might have wanted to look at it? Is that why this telescope is here?"
Skit shrugged and stepped back. "Maybe? I don't know. Hey, is it even really a telescope if it doesn't magnify anything?"
Kaiya laughed briefly. "Dunno. What would you call it, then?"
"Dunno." Skit turned to leave, but stopped as she felt something crunch beneath her foot. She looked down to see a white salt line surrounding the corner in which the telescope sat. A foot away, aside one wall, lay...
Skit reached into her pocket and pulled out an object identical to the one lying against the wall. She knew Strix had one of these stowed away... but for her to actually use it...
"Whatcha got there?" Kaiya leaned over Skit's shoulder. "Hey, wait, is that a-"
"An exorcist's bag of salt," Skit finished. "For repelling spirits. Yeah. I carry one around for... things." No sense in spilling her entire backstory now. Not when there were far more pressing matters at hand. "Strix had one too, see." She pointed to the bag sitting on the floor. "Whatever she was doing, she must have decided she needed an extra line of defense." Or maybe... the telescope is what needed defending.
Skit picked up Strix's bag and held it up to one of the floating lights. As if she needed any additional confirmation, the words EXORCISM-GRADE SALT were plain to see in the moment before the light drew too close to the bag and was sent flying away in a hurry. Huh. Didn't know this stuff repelled the lights, too. I'll have to remember that.
"All right, we should-" Skit cut herself off when she saw the hands on the clocks. Oh no. They're going to- Skit jammed her hands over her ears, abandoning the salt, and began to shout, "Kaiy-"
BONG. Skit's warning came too late as the clocks began their half-hourly chime. Kaiya dropped to the floor, clamping her hands over her ears, her face twisted into a pained expression. Even Skit, who had been prepared, winced at the sheer volume of the clocks.
For all the times she'd been here, Skit had never been able to figure out where the sound came from. Strix probably knew- though then again, the girl had admitted to not knowing several other things about the house- but Skit had wanted to find out the answer herself. Whatever the source of the sound, it was close, and it was loud.
When the chiming stopped, Skit tentatively peeled her hands over her ears. Kaiya kept hers in place, though, and offered only the whispered words "too loud" as an explanation.
Skit scooped up both bags of salt and gestured to Kaiya to follow her down the stairs. Whatever magic caused the tower to be infinite fortunately failed to work on the way down, and they reached the bottom after a minute, coming to a stop on the second floor where Mari and Azrin were already waiting.
That was... interesting. I never thought Strix would... and why? What could she have possibly been doing? Strix, what did you plan to show us?
12:21 AM, Library
This should be everything anyone looked at in the last week! I hope you find what you were looking for! read the note in Holland's hands.
"Thank you," they said to the pair of large, round glasses hovering in midair. The glasses nodded and floated off. "All right, want to look over this then?" they addressed to the other living person in the vicinity.
"I guess it's the best thing we can do," Addie replied. "I just feel like it's too easy. We wander around, bump into the one ghost in charge of keeping track of the books everyone's read, and she's completely willing to help us? Shouldn't there be some sort of conflict by now?"
Holland shrugged. "I mean, that is just how number six is. She's one of the helpful ghosts, her and number two. We're just lucky we didn't run into the seventh ghost."
"Why? Wait- is the seventh ghost the monocled one?" Holland nodded. "Yeesh, don't say that, then- you're just going to invite trouble."
"Nah, I doubt Mr. Monocle is going to pop up out of the blue just because someone mentioned his name. Anyway-" Holland motioned to a table and two chairs sitting next to one of the bookshelf-walls- "Should we get started?"
Fortunately, the list of books was short- only ten titles long. Unfortunately, not a single one of those ten seemed to be relevant.
"Ugh." Addie lay her head on the table. "A fantasy trilogy checked out by Nini. A science fiction book read by Lynn. Even Skit had two books on the clock tower. And the other four are completely useless."
Holland had to agree. Three of the books Strix had taken from the library were cookbooks, each on a different subject- vegetarian cooking, desserts, and something written by an 'Aidan Aleshe.' The fourth seemed promising... in that the title was in a language Holland had never seen before, with an angular script the letters of which they couldn't even guess how to pronounce. This, naturally, posed a bit of a roadblock for future research.
"Hey, at least we have a start," Holland said. "We can bring this list back, and maybe someone else here will recognize what language this is. Or we might get lucky and run into a ghost who knows it on our way out." Addie nodded slowly. "Come on, let's get back to the dining room before people start to wonder where we are."
"Mm." Addie stood up and pushed her chair back into place. "So how do we get out of here? Hand on the left wall or something?"
Holland shook their head. "Nah, if you did that you'd just end up going in circles. All you have to do is walk with the intention of leaving as soon as possible, and the library will do the rest." They motioned for Addie to follow them as they turned down a narrow corridor of books.
True to Holland's word, the bookshelves shifted to form a path leading directly to the library's doors. Lynn and Marissa were apparently still within the library, their electronics remaining on the table where they had left them. Holland and Addie scooped up their own belongings, though, and returned to the dining hall, where all but six of the guests had regrouped.
"Find anything?" Daniel called out as the duo took their seats. Holland simply held up the list of book titles. "Great. We'll share everything once the others are here, okay?"
"Yeah, good plan," Holland responded, almost on autopilot. Lynn... you know the library better than pretty much every living person, so what's taking so long? Is it that you found something useful? I really hope it is...
12:14 AM, Mountainside
Aleshe Manor might have been the most interesting place Lissa had ever been, but the top of the mountain on which it had been built came in a very close second.
Green lights similar to the ones that hung around the top of the stairs hovered throughout the pine trees, though these were far larger than their counterparts closer to the manor. Marissa's words echoed in Lissa's mind- Do be mindful of them, especially if you go deeper into the forest. Well, Lissa was certainly deep in the forest now.
The woods were crisscrossed with cobblestone paths, each one lined with golden lanterns. The paths generally always led to dead ends, and they didn't all connect to one another, which was a little frustrating. Still, there was always bound to be something interesting down a path, so Lissa kept forging deeper into the forest, looking for more paths to follow-
Her foot sank into a patch of unusually soft dirt, causing her to trip and land facefirst in the grass. By the glow of the floating lights, Lissa could see that the dirt was completely bare, as if someone had recently dug something up- or buried something.
Pulling her foot free, Lissa turned to face the patch of dirt and began to dig with her hands. It wasn't the most pleasant work, but the dirt was soft and came away easily. In only a few minutes, she had excavated something hard and round, and as she turned it in her hands, even more loose soil came away to reveal the shape of a cup.
Lissa brushed the dirt away from the cup's surface to reveal that it was made of gold, with carved writing in a script composed of thick lines and sharp points. She rubbed off more of the dirt, trying to see the rest of the carvings, when a wave of sudden unease flowed over her and she dropped the cup.
There was something wrong with it, she could feel it. She wanted nothing to do with whatever that thing was. If another guest wanted to bring it back to the manor, that was fine by her. She wouldn't pick it up again if she were paid to do so.
She didn't bother reburying the cup. The less time she had to spend in its presence, the better. She rushed back to the manor, kicking off her shoes when invited, only shrugging when Nini asked why her hands were covered in dirt. She wasn't going to bring up that thing. Not in a million years.
...Come to think of it, where was the bathroom in this house? If she didn't wash her hands soon, she was going to go crazy.
12:30 AM, Library
The soft chime of the clock tower bells sounded from somewhere above Lynn and Marissa. Where, exactly, Lynn wasn't sure- the two could be just about anywhere in the library by now. Who knew how far away Steve had dropped them?
"So. Um." Marissa glanced over her shoulder. "What was the deal with this monocle ghost again?"
Lynn smiled. "Oh? Mister Monocle-Dude? You wanna know his story?" Marissa nodded. "Okay. You know how the ghosts each have a number? That's their rank. Ghost number one is the oldest of them all- the first person ever to live in Aleshe Manor, and the first person ever to die in it. They say he's not even human, that he belongs to a species that died out before humans even existed."
"Anyway, Number One didn't want to run the whole spiritual side of the place by himself, so he sought out ghosts to help him out with the workload. The first ghost he met seemed nice enough, and was willing to act as a guard for the library, so Number One agreed to let him become the second library ghost."
"But what Number One didn't know was that the ghost he'd just enlisted? He was actually a serial killer who'd died in the woods shortly before Aleshe Manor was built, and he wasn't even human- well, humanoid anyway. His idea of 'security' was to kill everyone who so much as tried to set foot in the library."
"Number One tried to find a new second-in-command to help him monitor the other ghost, but nobody wanted to accept- it was just too dangerous. Until he found a ghost who wasn't scared of Monocle-Guy, and signed them on without question. That ghost was actually Steve, and that's why they're still ranked fourth out of the library ghosts. Number One was just that gratef- hey, you okay?" Throughout the story, Marissa had been slowly pressing herself into the nearest bookshelf, which had curved outward to accommodate her, and was now practically engulfed in books.
"Eep." Marissa peeled herself away from the bookshelf. "I think I get the idea. Can we just find the nearest ghost and go?"
Lynn nodded. "Sure." But no sooner had the words left her lips than a laugh came from behind her. She and Marissa both wheeled around to find a single, glinting lens hovering barely a foot away.
There was no time to think or speak. All Lynn could do was turn, grab Marissa's arm, and run like her life depended on it- which it did. But the monocled specter was still behind her, not losing an inch of ground.
"You know," Lynn panted, "I get that we're being chased by a killer and all, but you have to appreciate the irony here!"
"What, that going in you were all 'oh, we'll never run into the monocle guy, there's nothing to worry about?" Lynn nodded. "No! I do not have to appreciate this irony!"
"I guess not, but I appreciate it! I'd rather die laughing than screaming!"
"Speaking of laughing, how come we can hear his?" Marissa panted. "The other ghost couldn't talk! Why can he?"
"Dunno," Lynn puffed out. "You can ask him if you want! I'm sure not going to!"
"Yeah, I think I'll pass!" Marissa shot back as something slammed into the bookshelf mere inches behind her. "You're the expert here- is there any way to stop him?"
"Only two!" Lynn answered. "He's not allowed to harm the books, so it's possible to stop him if you use them as armor. But we don't have time for that!"
"What's the other way?"
"Run like heck and hope one of the other ghosts shows up!"
The girls continued running down the book-lined passages, not bothering to stop and deliberate at forks. Any hesitation, any stumble, any... anything but running, and their microscopic lead would be gone. There was nothing they could do about it. It was run or die.
Something swiped through the air next to Lynn's head, brushing the ends of her hair. Dang it! He's starting to gain on us! This thought gave way to sheer panic as her foot caught on the edge of a particularly large book- she caught the word Atlas as she fell- and she found herself staring straight up at the shining monocle.
Well. I guess I've had a good life. At least Marissa didn't stop- dunno how I'd live- after-live? with myself if she got herself killed trying to save me. Heroic sacrifice is a nice way to go out. The readers should love it. She closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable...
...and opened them again at the sound of a large object being slammed into a bookcase.
The monocle was still there, thrashing about as its owner was apparently pinned against the shelf. Lynn looked around for her savior, her gaze landing on a pair of small, round glasses. She knew those glasses.
The fifth library ghost had come to save her.
This must be the one Steve was trying to point us towards, Lynn realized. Guess there's no asking him for help now. She scrambled to her feet and shouted "Sorry!" at her savior before dashing off and pulling Marissa along.
"That. That was close." Marissa glanced over her shoulder. "We aren't going to get any help from the ghosts, are we?"
"Guess not. All we can do is hope someone else found something. Come on, exit is this way. Or... going to be this way." Lynn dashed down a random passage.
A few twists and turns later, the pair burst out into the bright electric lights of the hall. Holland and Addie had evidently already made it out and reclaimed their cellphones, and Lynn and Marissa followed suit.
When they returned to the dining hall, it became clear they were the last to arrive. All heads turned to them as they sat down in their seats, panting heavily.
"So," Mari said once the two had mostly begun to breathe normally, "I'm guessing some of you have things you would like to share with the group?"