My first impression of the library was that it was normal…
…which made it absolutely abnormal in the middle of this strange little town.
But the normalcy ended with its appearance.
The shelves were stocked full of books and lore on everything from witches and fairies to vampires, werewolves and zombies.
There was also a whole section of books on alchemy. I grabbed the thinnest, simplest written book I could find and sat down to begin reading.
By the time a few hours had gone by, I had a very basic knowledge of what I needed to know to make my first potion. Even more valuable, I developed an understanding of how to interpret the larger book that I had at home.
On the return trip home, I whizzed through the darkened streets of town on my broom. It was odd how ghostly quiet everything was; as if everyone in town was simultaneously holding their breath, waiting for something to happen.
The foreboding feeling made me rush home a little faster. Although the moon was not full, Argus’ warning still rang around in my head. If only I had known what the true danger was, I would have turned around and not headed home at all.
It all started with the fireplace.
The cool night air whipping around me while on my broom and my wild imagination left chills running all around me.
The gentle rhythmic rocking of the chair, my favorite song playing on my antique stereo coupled with the hypnotic quality of the flames reaching out in the fireplace relaxed me.
I was so relaxed that it took a while for my brain to comprehend that the mantle of the fireplace had caught on fire. Before I knew it, the flames were halfway up the chimney. After some clumsy stumbling around, I found my fire extinguisher.
I succeeded in putting out the fire in the fireplace, but all it took was one spark and my wood floor was on fire. The flames rose so quickly that I didn’t have time to get out of the way.
The heat was intense and left me feeling muddled and slow. I couldn’t comprehend why I was so hot, until I saw flames where my skirt was supposed to be.
Just then, I had another vision although it didn’t take a vision to see my future.
With fire all around me and no one to get to me on time…
I knew that I was going to die.
