The Aftermath: MPHFPC (editing)

T W E N T Y - T H R E E

L U N A

It was late evening, after dinner, and somehow I found myself in the library. I guess it was because it was late the creepy librarian wasn't there to scold me for coming into somewhere I was banned from- thanks to Enoch. I ran my fingers along the spines of the books, frantically searching for one book in particular: The Map of Days.

There was a growing pit of fear in settling in my stomach and I wasn't entirely sure why. There was some kind of mental alarm going off in my head that couldn't silence. There was an overwhelming amount of dread growing inside me, warning me of a danger I wasn't quite able to pinpoint. But for some reason I wasn't entirely sure of, it led me straight to the library to find the Map of Days.

When I did find it, or them I should say since there were three, the two small, more normal sized copies were covered in layers of dust whereas there was a much larger- table sized copy that looked extremely water damaged, but had little to no dust on it. I carefully picked up one of the smaller copies and blew away some of the dust.

"The Maps lost their importance a few months ago when everyone realized that Perplexus was still among the living. It seems that I am the only one who truly respects his work." Said a voice from behind me, causing me to jump. I turned to see it was Millard. I sighed in relief. "Oh, it's just you."

He chuckled halfheartedly, "Who'd you think it was?"

"No one... just glad it's you I guess," I said nervously, trying in vain to stop myself from sneezing from all of the dust I had just blown into the air.

"What are you doing?" He asked, picking up one of the books.

I took a breath, which was a mistake because I launched myself into a sneezing fit.

"Gesundheit," Millard said, smiling at me.

"What's that?" I said, coughing, my eyes watering.

"'Bless you' in German."

"Well, thank you, I guess," I replied, wiping my eyes and walking over to one of the tables and setting down the heavy map. "I need you to tell me everything there is to know about the Map of Days."

Millard paused, biting his lip, looking thoughtful. "Why exactly?"

"Every so often, I get these feelings," I said hurriedly flipping through the pages. "I used to think I was just clairvoyant or Psychic, but now I believe that it's my subconscious warning me against something.. or someone," I added slowly.

Millard met my eyes, confusion was written across his face. "Like who?"

"I'm not sure," I replied, my eyes running over the Map's beautiful, colorful pages, trying to make sense of all the illustrations, legends, and footnotes that filled its margins. There wasn't a single inch of empty space left to write or draw on. Just a vastness of endless oceans and loops.

"What do you mean you're not sure? Luna, this could potentially be very dangerous, it's serious." Said Millard, glancing down at the book nervously.

I sighed, looking up from the book, "I know that this sounds crazy, but I think it's all some kind of riddle. Something's telling me that a part of this book was tampered with or altered-"

"That isn't possible." Said Millard, cutting me off and shaking head. "I was here doing some light reading a few days ago. There was nothing of suspicion in any of the three copies. I would have noticed it."

Then finally it clicked in my head, "Millard, someone put all that dust there to cover their tracks. Whoever they are, they were trying to hide something."