Hometorius : Coming Home

chapter 30 : 747 of the Most Monstrous Deaths of All Time

Zarina POV

Together with Fleur and Kate, and Sam's soul, we searched the old library upstairs. We were still looking for any meaningful resources on the Non-Magical Five. With every passing moment I was losing hope of finding even the smallest trace.

Then Joseph appeared in the doorway.

"And what are you doing here, guys?" he asked in a rather nosy tone but there was a smile on his face.

"We... we only... I mean..." Fleur began to explain, but Joseph interrupted her.

"I know, I know, Fleur," he said, still smiling. "Sam, you won't find it there."

Sam hurriedly put down the book he was holding back on the shelf. "746 of the Most Monstrous Deaths of All Time - updated in real time". It contained, like the title said, the most terrible deaths that have ever taken place. It wasn't an ordinary book, because each time a hideous death happened again, it was recorded in it right away, and added up to the number in the title. I have already looked through this book several times.

"How do you know exactly what we are looking for, sir?" I asked suspiciously, grabbing my sides and shifting the weight of my body to my left leg.

"Ah, where are my manners!" he exclaimed and bowed deeply. "Joseph is my name. For friends, Jo is enough."

Kate covered her mouth with her hand and barely stopped herself from laughing. Indeed, the wizard looked quite ridiculous, bowing and speaking with such a high-and-mighty face.

"You are looking for something about the Non-Magical Five, if my assumption is correct," he said in a normal tone and approached us.

We nodded together, but none of us said anything. Joseph stepped even closer, looked briefly at everyone and smiled again.

"I'd suggest finding something about Katrine herself first. It should be somewhere here," he pointed to the table buried under the biggest pile of books. "Look for more guidance there."

Then he smiled even wider and left. As soon as that happened, we quickly approached the indicated desk and began to rummage through the books. Although one sentence played on repeat in my head: "Dude's sick in the head".

Sam again reached for the death book and opened on the last page. The next death was being registered as he watched the page. I looked over his shoulder and focused on the shapely letters appearing slowly on the page. We read, absorbing every word. Although he didn't know that I read with him. When we reached the description of the death (which happened almost at the same time), we held our breath and tried (or at least I did) to imagine every described detail as best as possible.

"A cut wound on the back of the head, running horizontally from ear to ear, exposed the skull. The eyes had been brutally gouged out, but left hanging from their sockets on the last nerves, probably the most painful. Abdominal cavity cut open, wound from sternum to navel. Some organs were missing. The blood vessels of the legs were severed. After the autopsy, it was found that the victim was dying in agony. The heart was still working at the time of organ removal."

Sam shuddered. "Poor thing". He read the name that just appeared. "Laura Stink... Poor Laura". And he was putting the book back on the shelf when it dawned on him. Laura Stink was a waitress at the beach bar. Somehow, I didn't feel sorry for her. He dropped "747 of the Most Monstrous Deaths of All Time - updated in real time", which hit the floor with a loud bang. It seemed that the sound was too loud, but nobody paid attention to it. So no one heard another strange sound that I did.

"Sam? You good?" Kate said without looking away from her books. Every now and then she had to brush away unruly curls from her face.

"Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine," he stuttered and went back to the table where we were rummaging in the books.

At first, he didn't want to help us, but when he saw how many titles there really were, he glanced in the direction furthest away from him, at the books we had yet to go through. At the same time some interesting title caught my attention among those books, but Sam walked around the table without a word and grabbed the exact same book. He read the title slowly and smiled.

"I think this is what you're looking for," he threw the book into the center of the table.

"'Katrine Allworld - facts and mysteries'," I read aloud and took the volume in my hand, then looked at Sam. "That may be it."

"Not 'may' but 'IS'," Fleur corrected me and snatched the book from me.

She opened it and flipped through the first few chapters.

"'The Beginning', 'Origins', 'Powers', 'Who is Victuvius', 'The first Symptom of Power', 'Magicless childhood', 'Love Anticlimaxes'," Kate read the chapter titles over Fleur's shoulder. "Where is something about the Non-Magical Five, though? Or at least about the daughters."

"Give it to me, Fleur. I will look," I reached out to her and waited for her to give the book to me. "And you look for something else."

"I am not here to be bossed around!" she said indignantly and aggressively crammed the book into my palm.

"The real Fleur is back," Sam whispered to Kate. She nodded. And so did I.

"Do you think that we can find something?" Kate whispered back and turned to me without waiting for an answer. "You have something?"

"Actually? I think I do," I said and walked over. "Look, there was this note. In the chapter 'Daughters'."

Kate held the paper and looked at it. There were two strings of numbers on it with a small admixture of letters. We began to wonder what they could mean but we didn't have a slightest idea. So, we decided to ask Joseph for help. Together with Sam, we went to the door. I grabbed the massive door handle and pulled it to myself. The door didn't budge. And I was certain that pulling the door was what I should do. Nonetheless, I made a second attempt and pushed the door with all my strength instead. With a similar outcome. I stood there for a moment, looking at the handle, as if I wanted to scare it. Maybe I did. Then I turned slowly, and my frightened eyes looked at the faces stuck with me in the library.

"It's locked," I said quietly, in a voice of no color but full of fear.