In the city of Ashbourne, Darcy Blaze warned her best friend, paranormal investigator Silas Ember, about a dangerous case,
Ignoring Darcy, Silas delved deeper. The same night, Silas was found dead.
As dark secrets surface, Darcy confronts the malev...
I stack the final book onto the shelf and admire how perfectly arranged they are for one last time before descending the ladder. But halfway down, a chill prickles my skin, urging me to glance back without turning my head much. An elderly man, his gaze shamelessly fixed upon me from the shadowed corner. I'm clad in modest attire-dark blue pants, a simple white shirt, and a grey sweater against the chill-but his stare unnerves me. Stupid men. I silently wish for his misfortune, hoping he stumbles and his nose bleeds. With a sigh, my feet touches the ground, walking to the counter, feeling the old creep's eyes boring into me with every step. At the counter, Mitchell, notorious for preaching silence while seldom observing it herself, interrupts my thoughts. Her piercing blue eyes dart from her laptop to me.
"Done with your work?" she queries.
"Yeah, can I leave now?" I retort, impatience lacing my words.
She glances at her watch with a sigh, and plants both her hands firmly on her hips
"You know there's still 25 minutes left, right?"
"Thought I had tasks to finish, not time to kill," I reply sarcastically.
She rolls her eyes. "You always finish early. Come on, stay a bit."
I shake my head, retrieving my brown backpack from its hook behind the counter. I notice that the counter shields me from the old creep's gaze now.
"Silas and I have plans," I inform her with a smirk. She groans in response as I chuckle lightly, before leaving I take a book out of the drawer and enter something in it, I could feel eyes on me passing by. After entering some words in the long note, I head towards the exit. Stepping outside, I descend the library's grand staircase. The building is imposing, its atmosphere both welcoming and unsettling, like an old friend with a hidden agenda. As I reach the fifth step, my eyes find the old creep again, now seated at the bottom, blood dripping from his nose where his fingers gingerly touch the injury, few crows surround before him.
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S
ilas and I've been friends-best friends-since I was 14 and she was 15. Now I'm 24 and she's 25. My mom stopped sending me to study after I graduated high school, but Silas pursued her B.S. degree and quickly achieved her dream of becoming a paranormal investigator. She's always been obsessed with the supernatural. Sometimes I wonder if she's friends with me because she figured out I-
"Seriously, Silas?" Ava interrupts my thoughts. Ava is Silas's younger cousin, about 18 or 19. She's still studying, and while I don't know much about her background, we've become good friends.
I'm at Silas's place now. She still lives with her parents, who are off at a family party. Silas and Ava convinced them to let them stay home. The house is big-not a mansion, but close. Upstairs, there's a master bedroom and three spacious, comfortably furnished additional bedrooms. To the right of the living room where we are now is the main kitchen.
