“I see…” He cleared his throat. “I didn’t realize you could pick up…or rather, touch ghosts.”
Ollie blinked. “I didn’t either.”
“He—” Red’s face scrunched up, as if he was in pain. “—shouldn’t be…able to.” A deep frown settled on the cat’s face, after clearly having to force the words out.
The reaction really just confirmed that there was a lot more to the binding that had been placed on Red than even the familiar might have known…
“Huh…well…I can,” Ollie pointed out, before gently placing the kitten down and looking back towards the secret door, as he rubbed his hands on his pants.
“Are you planning to explore tonight?”
The witch looked at him and hesitated before sighing heavily and sagging slightly where he stood. “It one hundred percent has magical nonsense behind it, and I just don’t think I have the energy or mental capacity to deal with it tonight. I’m tired.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow,” Ollie agreed. “Sleep first.”
Jahla took a deep breath, staring blankly at the double doors of the Cross Heritage Private Library for a moment, trying to get her mind sorted. Or rather, trying not to think about the dream she had last night. Which really was just the first weird dream repeated, with more detail—no new dialogue, but she now could fully describe what the two men looked like. Though, she hadn’t realized she hadn’t gotten any of those details the first time around, and she wasn’t exactly sure why she needed to know them now, but she did.
The man whose voice sounded like pages being flipped was tall and on the thinner side, even if slightly muscular, with long white hair pulled into a high ponytail. He had a sharp, pointed nose, seemingly pure-black eyes, full lips, and very angular features. While the one whose voice sounded like flickeringflames had short, spiky hair as red as Ollie’s, deep naturally tanned skin, and dark blood-red eyes. The second man was possibly a few inches shorter than the first, but he was far more muscular, with a squarish jaw, hawk-like nose, and high cheekbones.
Again, she wasn’t sure why she needed to know all that, but then this was just her own mind messing with her, and it meant nothing.
Shaking her head, she unlocked the front door, leaving it unlocked as she let it close behind her. Bag of donuts in hand, she hurried up the wide set of steps to the first floor, forcing a smile when she spotted Ollie near the circulation desk, working on something. Noble was next to him, and Red was lounging on the ground nearby.
“I brought goodies,” she drawled, holding up the paper bag in her hand when Ollie looked up at her approach.
Ollie tossed his pencil aside and hurried over. She let him pull her into a hug as he dramatically cried, “My best friend, the only one who loves and understands me in this world!”
Noble sighed. “Should I feel insulted?”
“I do,” Red huffed.
Jahla rolled her eyes. Turned out, Ollie wasn’t the only one who was dramatic around here. As she pulled back, letting her friend take the bag of donuts, she asked, “So, what are the plans for today, Boss? Hope it doesn’t involve getting chased by any more wax figures.”
“Yeah, getting chased by wax is decidedly not on the agenda today. But then, it wasn’t yesterday either. As for what is… Aside from catching up on things we missed during that week off, meeting with the crew coming in to begin repairs on the floor in the damaged room, and having to deal with damaged property that wasn’t ours?” he mused as he pulled out an apple cider donut and took a bite.
“Aside from all that?”
“Well, last night, I just happened to find a secret door in the library in my home, so I guess, exploring that? Oh, by the way, there are apparently others that just haven’t appeared yet.”
“Secret doors… Starting the month off right, I see,” she drawled sarcastically.
“You know the worst part? I won’t even have time for it until at least noon because there is too much to do!”
“Poor baby.” She snickered.
Ollie oddly frowned instead of getting irritated at her teasing. After eyeing her for perhaps a moment too long, he finally asked, “Are you okay?”
Jahla hadn’t realized she’d failed to hide that she was possibly freaking out about something, but apparently, she had.
“I’m fine,” Jahla quickly lied, barely stopping her wince as the words came out almost as a question.
She sent Noble a sardonic smile when the hunter started to stare and frown at her as well, then repeated more firmly this time, “I’m fine. Just didn’t sleep well last night.”
Well, Jahla had slept, but it wasn’t peaceful, that was for sure. And she wasn’t totally lying. The dreams were nonsense, so obviously, she had to be fine.
And Noble possibly proving that at least her second dream likely hadn’t been a dream, not to mention the chasing one, meant fucking nothing.
