Ghost and the Writer

Dustbuns

Mandy crossed her arms, now then - should she read up on various creatures or head to Elemental magic section right away? Some time had passed in reading the undead book and there was no telling when she would get to come here next so her decision leaned more towards studying up on magic, but she was still curious enough to at least skim info about dustbuns, as she knew Chilli and three of her kind even lived inside of August - what if any of those come out for some reason - being clueless in a situation like that seemed like a bad idea.

Figuring she might as well find the book by looking for the letter 'I', she was surprised to find it awfully easy due to Ian still being by the shelf. He was reading while sitting down on the floor, legs crossed, book placed on his legs, with Chilli floating around him like a little satellite.

Mandy planned not to bother Ian, just float over to the shelf to get another copy of the book (there ought to be at least one), but Ian noticed her approaching despite her not making any sound.

"It's there," Ian pointed to the bottom part of the shelf behind him.

"Thank you," Mandy replied as she found it. Almost half the bottom shelf was covered in copies of this book. She had expected there to be multiple, but not more than thirty, and the covers around indicated that this book was special in its abundance. Other books in the two shelves around them had three to five copies. It was almost as if a whole classroom of kids would come at times and read it all at the same time... perhaps that's exactly what happened? Except, would a kid be able to even lift this book? It looked heavy as heck.

Not too heavy for her though - telekinesis had the book slide out and Mandy flipped to the back first to find the index right away.

She was in the process of flipping to the right page that first mentioned 'dustbun' when August found them with his laptop in hands and two white colored plastic brick like things on top of it. The bag was missing, August was disheveled, one of his sleeves had a piece chipped out and there was a green leaf sticking out from his hair... what had happened just now? Mandy squinted. His expression too was resigned and hopeless.

Ian too noticed August's presence and looked towards him with a similarly questioning look to Mandy's.

"You two can stay here for around a week," August said. "If you go out, just ask the librarians to give you access again.

It sounded like August would be going away first. Mandy tilted her head. Now that she had read the ghost parts in a book on undead, she was aware that you could only move about a kilometer from the person you were haunting. The library was not that close to home. Her expression showed that doubt.

"The range should be fine this time," he said to Mandy, interpreting her expression correctly.

"This time?" Mandy asked. August knew more about ghosts than she did, if he said it was fine, she had no reason not to believe him, but she couldn't change being curious about it.

"I'll explain another time," August said, looking too tired to bother.

Mandy nodded. She didn't wish to derail the point either. August had been in the middle of trying to tell them something and she was worried, he seemed kind of feeble like he might pass out soon.

"That said, this place might be safer for you than moving outside. The library is a neutral zone, conflicts are rare and, unless you meet someone insane, that tattoo on your wrist should work as a deterrent," August said, dragging the words a tad.

Her eyes stayed on the chipped part of his sleeve... someone insane? She had a strong feeling that the chipped sleeve and August's appearance had something to do with Sarah and Gerald, but she didn't think that August considered his relatives to be insane... had the spooking been too effective? Had August jumped out of a window and fallen into a tree? His appearance could be explained that way... But could you actually fall out from these windows? The place did have windows but without the barrier this was a tiny windowless service floor, wasn't it?