Without thought or hesitation, Ollie placed his hands on top of the zombie’s head and demanded, “MELT!”
Jahla and him both flinched as the lightbulb above them burst, her dropping the thing’s ankles in shock. For a second, nothing more happened, but then the bite pressure loosened, and the noise the zombie had been making the whole time cut off, as the wax head beneath his hands softened, before finally…melting…along with the rest of the zombie. It quickly turned into a murky grayish red-brown mucky puddle of sludge, with tattered, dull clothes and wayward clumps of hair floating in it.
“Well, that will…do it, I suppose,” Jahla tsked as she tried to shake some of the wax off her boots, before giving up and tiredly plopping down onto a spot on the floor not covered by gunk.
Ollie stared in disgust at his now wax-coated jester pants, not even wanting to think about how hard it's going to be to get out, before letting out a tired groan and flopping back fully, his bell jingling as he did. “Ughhh, so tired… Someone pick me up…can’t move. I need to changeee!”
He looked to the right when someone cleared their throat, whimpering, “Noble, help me,” on spotting the man and Red.
Noble smiled hesitantly as he approached. “You two…want to explain exactly what happened?”
“A—” Ollie cut himself off, his right eye starting to twitch as a realization came to him. “My damn grimoire set me up, AGAIN!”
“I feel…that explains a lot, yet…nothing,” the man said with a grunt, as he basically had to peel Ollie off the floor to pick him up, since the wax had already started to solidify.
“I don’t actually want to know what happened…” Red let out a heavy sigh. “But I suppose I need to. What did it do this time?”
Jahla sat thereon the floor quietly, as Ollie explained what his grimoire had done, while she tried not to have an internal meltdown—no pun intended. Because she was definitely freaking out on the inside—ha…
Ohh, how fucked was she?! Like, pretty fucked, right? Jahla wasn’t sure she could brush this one off, but she also wasn’t positive she could admit it either.
Setting aside the whole being chased by a wax zombie thing, the fact was, she had DREAMED about being chased by someone in the library, and what do you know…it came true.
Okay, but it wasn’t like being chased wasn’t a common nightmare, right? Like, it could just be a coincidence! Yes…
She took a deep, calming breath. It was all just a coincidence, that’s all. Dream or not, it meant nothing. And that was what she was sticking to, until she had absolutely no alternative.
Ugh—at this point, she might as well just ask Ollie for some fucking self-gaslighting tips.
Ollie slowly and tiredly trudged forward, down the dark hallway, using his phone light to guide him. He wanted nothing more than to lie down on the ground and sleep. Holidays in the library were always hectic and tiring, but he felt more exhausted than normal.
He was very thankful that Noble and Red had offered to finish the closing procedures on the third floor. Though he wasn’t exactly sure how helpful Red would be, but either way, Ollie didn’t have to check the rest of the lamps, so it was a win. He wasn’t sure if he just hadn’t fully recovered from what happened energy-wise, or if it was the nightly magic practice.
Of course…it could possibly be that he was extra tired because he’d been chased by a wax zombie that had come to life. A wax zombie that they definitely were going to have to pay fornow that it was goop—goop that had been cleaned up and tossed. He was going to havesomuch fun explaining the expense to Elias.
Ollie was starting to think he might as well practice lying, as he was obviously going to have to do so much more of it going forward.
On spotting a flash of somewhat familiar, semi-translucent whiteness near the ground disappear through the door leading up to his home, Ollie’s face pinched as he stopped mid-step.
Hesitating for a moment, he stared at the bottom of the door and sighed. There really was only one thing it could be, and he honestly may be too tired to deal with it right now. But it wasn’t like he had a choice, as well…it was his home…and bed…
He just wanted to go to sleep! Was that really too much to ask?!
Sighing again, Ollie walked forward and unlocked the door. Stepping into the small space at the bottom of the stairs, his eyes widening the longer he stared, watching what appeared to be a ghost kitten ‘hop’ up the steps. Its light-gray striped fluffy fur made him think the cat had probably been orange in life.
As the kitten disappeared inside, on reaching the top landing, Ollie shook himself out of his stupor and jogged up, rushing to unlock the door.
Opening it, Ollie found the ghost kitten waiting for him in his kitchen. As soon as the little thing spotted him, it took off again, so he followed. Ollie trailed the ghost down the hall, toward the double doors of his private library, which were, for some reason, closed. The kitten, once again, disappeared through them.
Without hesitating, he pushed the doors open, his eyes widening as he stared into the dark room. Well, it was dark except for an odd glow that, based on its shape and size, would suggest it was from light peeking through the cracks of a door. But that should have been impossible, because there were noother doors in the room, aside from the one he’d just come through.
Swallowing nervously, Ollie reached over and flicked on the lights. His eyes were slow to adjust as light lit up the mostly wooden room with navy-blue accents, exposing the high bookshelves that rose with the spiral staircase that led to his bedroom. But when they did, he just stared wide-eyed as the previous glow remained, clearly outlining a hidden door in the bookshelves partly concealed behind the spiral wooden staircase.
Despite his trepidation, he started to approach, only to come to a sudden stop near the stairs, a startled scream slipping past his lips when something achingly cold brushed against his pant leg.
“Ollie readingit out loud set it in motion, didn’t it?” Noble mused as he walked down the hall, past the circular center of the third floor.
Red sighed. “Likely. The spoken word, even if unintended, can put more power behind actions than those that are just thought.”
