We entered together, looking around at all the students and staff who filled the massive library. The Almahna Academy Grand Library, the largest in the entire country. If I was going to find anything about the 'Ancient Ones' anywhere, it was going to be here. Nowhere in the country had as many books as this one place. There was only one problem.

     "Don't you go burning my books, you stupid little turds!" screamed a shrill voice at the top of his lungs. I shook my head, smirking. 

     Pax. He was a very ornery Pixin fairy who seemed to think that all the books in the library were his, and was incredibly overprotective of them to a fault. Get on his bad side, and you will wish there were an anti-fairy enchantment in this place. It didn't help that Seth basically allowed it. So we students had to just deal and put up with Pax's abuse.

     "They seriously still have him working here?" asked David.

     "Yeah. . ." I exhaled. I was already exhausted just listening to him chastise another student. Again. "I think that's the third one."

     "This week?"

     "No, today," I said, looking at him with a smirk.

     He rolled his eyes. "Have you ever thought of talking to your godfather about him? Maybe he'll listen to you?"

     "You don't think I've tried? I've even tried talking to him, trying to get him to relax. As you can see, he's stubborn. More than even you."

     He looked at me like I just insulted him. "I'm stubborn? Excuse me, Kairine? What about you?"

     I shook my head as I just walked on by him, toward the aisle on ancient mythologies. I thought if there was anything on this, it would most likely be there, though I really couldn't be sure. If I'm being honest, ancient mythologies was the aisle I spent the most time in over anything else in the library, and that's saying a lot. It's just something that always interested me, even beyond everything with the Sechi Legion or even my dad. . . Though my dad was probably part of it, come to think of it.

     I scanned through all the books along this aisle, directing David to check the other side. I saw books on Quatrican mythology, Vikarahn ancestry and mythology. Even Gothican legends. But as far as I could tell, I couldn't find anything about anything called the 'Ancient Ones'. I took book after book off the shelf, flipping through them, finding nothing, and moving on to the next. I sighed in frustration as I turned to David to see if he had made any progress. But to my shock, his head was looking down at a book that looked ancient with a thick leather binding. "What is it?" I asked, as I saw a frown appear on his face.

     He looked up to me as he showed me the book in his hands. "It's the book. . . The one Vierre was looking at. The one he stole," he said in a shushed voice. "I thought your godfather had this book moved to the restricted section!"

     I couldn't believe what I was hearing as I looked at the book myself. My eyes went wide as they scanned over the strange scribblings and markings of a language I had never seen before, but knew well. David was right. This was the book. The one that I felt had contributed to Vierre going insane and trying to murder us both. I sighed as I shook my head, just remembering the name and the face that went with it.

     Vierre was a boy who used to go to this school last year. Everyone in the school thought of him as a prodigy and were constantly praising him. But there was just something about him that never sat right with me. Something dark. I tried warning others about him, but no one ever listened to me. There was also one other problem with Vierre. He was obsessed with me. He was stalking me. Everywhere I went, he would be following me and keeping an eye on me, and he hated David with a passion and wanted him dead. Probably because he saw him as a threat. Because he thought I was his. He was psychotic, and I would never have dated him in a million years. To tell you the truth, I wasn't sure I would even date David. That's just not something I was really thinking about.

     David shook his head as he sighed angrily. "This book should not be here," he said. He wasn't going to get any argument from me. I wasn't even sure what the book was, or why it was even in this library. The way it had suddenly just appeared one day also seemed suspicious to me. Like it was just there one day. I had tried investigating where it might have come from, but I found nothing. It was almost as though it didn't even exist in the school's records. "I've half a mind to go speak with Pax about this, but I know what he's going to say. You don't think he has something to do with it?"

     I shook my head. Pax was a lot of things, but I was sure even he knew of the dangers surrounding this book. I didn't believe for a minute that he would have put it there on purpose. I felt sure of that. There was no telling where it came from, but of that, at least, I was positive. Though I knew David didn't trust Pax, nor did he like him very much, and that, honestly, was fair. He certainly didn't make it easy to like him, though I could see some endearing qualities and if I was being honest, he was starting to grow on me. For one thing, it was very clear how much Pax loved books, and I loved books too. I could see a little of where Pax was coming from, some students could be a little rough with the books, and that was a fair thing to point out. It was just the way he went about it that drove everyone insane.

     Still, David was right. What was this book doing here? Figuring out the answer to that question would take more investigating, and we were still looking into a whole other question at the same time. Were the two connected, perhaps? Could there have been someone trying to tell us something by placing this book here, in a place where it should not have been? This book was extremely dangerous, and it led Vierre down a very dark path. No one knew where he was now, he vanished into the four winds around the same time David did. If was being honest, I thought the two events were connected, but he explained to me where he had gone, and I accepted his explanation. Still, it was hard to deny the suspicious timing. But correlation is not causation. Just because they disappeared around the same time didn't mean they had anything to do with one another.

     I thought through everything we knew about the book. It was written in a strange script, the likes of which neither of us had ever seen before, and in my time with my dad, I had seen a lot of strange ancient scripts. This was nothing like any of those. It also seemed to espouse secrets of dark magic, based on the things Vierre learned from the book. How he could read the script, I was never sure, and I never figured that out. No one I knew could translate it.

     "Can you think of anyone who could translate it?" I asked him, knowing immediately what I was asking and how he would respond. Still, I felt sure that this book's sudden reappearance here was connected.

     He looked at me incredulously. "Are you insane, Kairine? Do you even realise what you're saying?!" he screamed at me before looking around and recognising where he was. Whispering, he continued, "You know what reading this did to Vierre. I feel like I could have maybe got through to him had he never read this thing!"

     I don't think he knew Vierre very well, otherwise, he would have known that would have been impossible. Vierre was narcissistic and egotistical long before he read this book, it did not turn him into that. The thirst for power was always there from the beginning. I could see it. I could sense it. It's just that no one else could. I never knew why I was the only one to see it.

     I took a deep breath before responding, trying to signal to him that he needed to calm down as well and think about this rationally. "Yes, I know what it did to him. But I also know that you would have never got through to him, regardless. He was always narcissistic, the book didn't do that to him. Second, if we find someone with at least a modicum of self control, I feel like this would be our best shot to figure this out. It may even answer the other question we came here for."

     He thought about my words for a long time before taking a deep breath. "Fine. I admit there is logic in your idea. But we will need to be extremely careful of who we show this to," he said finally, slipping the book under his arm. "I will hold on to this myself. You can ask around and canvas, see if you can find anyone who can translate it. Sound good to you?"

     I nodded. I could understand perfectly why he would want to keep the book with him. He was trying to protect me, though I didn't really need his protection. Still, I saw it as teamwork. Just like the old days before he disappeared on me. I pursed my lips at that thought. I wasn't sure if we could really just go back to how things were as though nothing happened. I couldn't be sure if I was really ready for that. But for now, I would go along with it.

     As he turned to go, I stopped him. I didn't know why I didn't sense it before, but now, just as he was turning to leave, I could sense a dark presence emanating from the book. As he glanced back at me, I was taken aback as I saw a dark shadow hovering just behind him. "Be extremely careful, David. Let me know if you experience anything out of the ordinary," I told him plainly. "I'm sensing something very dark."

     He nodded. "Of course, Kairine. When am I not?" he said, smirking. Did I have to count the times? It would take more fingers than I had, that was for sure. He was not particularly known for being careful.

     As he walked away, I looked on after him, watching as the dark shadow followed him. I knew I would have to keep a close eye on him. I had no idea what the days ahead had in store for us. But I did know. . . There was something ancient about that dark presence. Something. . . otherworldly.