Lunar Flare Book 2: Midnight Eclipse

Chapter ???

William was starting to become a little irritated by his newfound 'company'. Sure, he could easily outpace the spirits' shambling walking speed, but more would just show up wherever he went. They started taking notice of him quicker, and then would slowly make their way over to him, several of them gathering around him whenever he was in one place for a while. The spectres had started to come in close and try to touch him, causing him to flinch away, though their incorporeal hands seemed to pass right through his solid form.

Once William had realised that they couldn't harm him and were seemingly no danger to him, he had calmed down a bit, his fear of them subsiding somewhat. Even though he was still unsettled quite a bit by their appearance and obsessive interest in him, he tried his best to ignore them, and not alert anyone's suspicion by acting strangely... well, more strangely than usual. However, it was a little difficult to concentrate in class when all the shadows surrounding him were incessantly and incomprehensibly whispering at him in what sounded like dozens of hushed voices.

Eventually William plucked up the courage to return to the restricted section. Going back there made him feel uneasy, as he really didn't want a repeat of the horrifying scene from when he was last there, even though he had become more accustomed to the spirits by now. But he was becoming desperate for a way to rid himself of them. Not only were their whispers distracting in class, but also made it difficult for him to sleep. In the night, whenever he would open his eyes for a moment, he would find many of them gathered around his bed, smiling down at him eerily.

Lack of sleep of course was making him even more tired, and coupled with the apparitions continually distracting presence, made it almost impossible to pay attention in class. In fact, William had passed out at his desk in class a couple of times now, waking up later in his bed due to Cornelius carrying him back to his room. He knew that this was arousing suspicion, especially among his teachers, and he needed to do something about it before Alexavier found out.

When he got back into the restricted section, he immediately sought out the desk he had been using the last time he was there, assuming the book would still lay open on it. But the book was not there, and standing around the desk made William shiver while he glanced around the room, seeing the local spectres slowly moving towards him. He thought perhaps he had put the book back on the shelf before he had left, so he started searching the shelves for it.

William searched for quite some time but could not find the tome anywhere. This left him at quite a disadvantage when it came to trying to undo whatever it was that the book had done to him. Will was left with no choice but to try searching through the other tomes for any answers, which is what he did for the rest of the night, pouring over countless volumes while seated at one of the small desks.

He awoke once again in his own bed that morning, with no memory of how he got there. It seemed highly unlikely that Cornelius would have come to find him to carry him to bed, given that he didn't even know William was going to be visiting the library that night. These gaps in his memory were starting to become slightly concerning for Will, but he had no idea what to do about it.

From there, things only got worse for him. William started waking up in random spots in the academy in the middle of the night. This confirmed to him that he had started sleepwalking, or at least that seemed like the most reasonable explanation. He had never sleepwalked before in his life, but perhaps it was another symptom of his overall exhaustion.

Then one night, William woke up in a very unfamiliar place.

It took William a moment to get his bearings. It was pitch black so he had to summon a small purple light so that he could even begin to try to figure out where he was. He seemed to be in a small passageway, well, smaller than the main corridors of the academy but slightly wider than most of the secret routes he took within the walls. Will was standing in front of a door that filled the passage in front of him, glowing runes covering its surface.