TSFS: The Return Of Xavier

Rows Of Books

Hazel

I woke up the morning to William banging on the heater, nearly bound to wake the whole campsite up, or just me because I realized that it was nearly noon.

"Could you bang any loudly?" I snap hastily.

"Well good morning to you too sunshine." William smiles, continuing to bang on the heater. I stare intensely at him, debating whether to throw him across the room or the heater, maybe then it'll actually work.

"Whatever. Give it up, it's not gonna work." I tell him, slipping off of my air mattress that I forced myself to sleep on last night. It wasn't the best, but I guess it will work.

"That's not very positive now is it princess?" He jokes. I frown at him. "Whatever, wanna go down and get something to eat?" I ask, putting on a sweater. Will turns to me. "Aw, asking me out for food. Sure Haz."

I narrow my eyes at him, before rolling them. "In your dreams, let's go." I don't even wait, walking out the door, him running after me.

-

"Where is everyone?" I ask as we walk down the trail. Looking around, it seemed like no one was around, almost like it was empty. Though I knew it wasn't empty, because I could hear distant talking. I just wasn't sure which building it was coming from.

"Not sure. Though, Delilah and Kira came racing in the cabin mad about something. I asked her what was wrong but she told Ashley and Maya and they bolted out before I could say anything else. They've been gone ever since."

My eyes widen. He was right, that is strange. "What the heck. Should I text them? What if they get hurt by Xavier? He could be anywhere." William just shakes his head, staring at the ground. "Let them be, they'll come back when their ready."

Before we knew it, we walked into Crystal and Luna who was talking by the fire pit. They were whispering, obviously trying to hide something. I narrow my eyes at them.

"Crystal, you know she's gonna lose her shit, she already did."

"I understand that, but I'm not gonna cancel my month full of plans just because Miss Delilah doesn't have them. This is the way that I am, okay?"

Will and I listen closely. "They're talking about Delilah. Whatever happened this morning must've really pissed her off." I whisper to him. He nods his head in agreement. "Should we ask?" I shrug. "Maybe, but we don't want to seem nosy." Will snickers, "I think we already broke that wall, now didn't we?" He stares lightly at me.

I wrinkle my nose. "Fine,"

We walk away from the two, walking past them, acting like we totally didn't just spy on them. Thankfully, they don't seem to notice us as we walk into one of the buildings.

It was a library, a large one.

Rows of books filled each side of the walls. Leaving no empty space. Black carpet was fitted on the floor, with the cabin walls.

Interesting.

Desks were set up in the middle, where Dorothy and Madeline were.

"Hey guys. What's going on outside?" I ask. Surely I could get my answers from the two girls themselves. I stared at them, they looked exhausted, even though it was just noon. Madeline's face seemed to be strained. On her arm, was a black looking vein that popped out from her wrist.

Weird.

I took it as just the lighting as I walked closer to them, Will following behind me.

"Crystal and Luna have been bickering back and forth all morning. I guess Crystal told Delilah all about how shes after Jackson for months now, and she was behind on some of the mental hospital secrets." Dorothy explains monotonically, not bothering to look up from the book she was reading.

Will and I exchange unsettled glances. "I thought we knew all of that? Why is Delilah all mad about that? This is old news--" Madeline slams the book down on the desk. "Because Delilah is just looking out for Bianca who is practically in love with the guy. She and Kira stormed out with Maya and Ashley to go warn them, like their gonna get that far."

Madeline's tone seemed to be pressured. She was stressed. Finally, she looked up at the two of us after some long silence. Her eyes had a different tone of amber in them. They had a different shade of yellow in them, almost like a dark orange. She didn't like herself.

"Uh, Madeline, if I remember correctly aren't you and Bianca like best friends? Shouldn't you be worried for Bianca too?" William stammars out. Madeline tilts her head at Will. The anger in her practically fuming off of her, to the point where you can smell it.

She gets up from her seat, walking towards William. My stomach drops as she gets closer to him. William attempts to step back, but Madeline grabs his wrist. "William, you don't know shit. So keep your mouth shut--"

Luna and Crystal burst back into the room. "Sorry about that we were.." They look at Madeline and William who were practically at war with each other.

"MADELINE!" Crystal snaps.

Madeline whips her head towards Crystal, whose eyes were peeled to her. "Sorry,"

"Get back to your station. We don't have time to play around when there's a KILLER on the loose." Crystal's tongue lingers on the word killer. She then turns to Me and Will, who were quite unsettled.

What the hell was happening?

"Hazel, you finally got up. Good morning or should I say good afternoon." I stare confused at her. Why was she acting like this? She hasn't acted so, rude, since the summer.

"Sorry. Guess I was just really tired." I softly say.

She fakes a smile at me, almost toxic as battery acid, and says, "well I hope you're well rested because we need to find a poison for Xavier. Something strong enough to knock him dead."

"Poison? Is that what will kill him?" I ask, and Crystal nods. "This library is one of a kind. The books in here are limited edition you can say. You could never find such beauties on a street downtown in Plainfield." She explains.

She walks up and down the aisle of books, tracing her finger on each of the books. Each of them a plain, dusty old, solid color that left a pile of dust lingering on her finger. "These books consists of secret weapons, poisons, pills, and spells that are strong enough to kill someone with the blink of an eye."

My eyes widened, if only we had this type of selection on the other side. We would've been able to find the wood hive in an instance, maybe even more.

"Is there black magic in here?" William asks, curiously. Crystal smiles, nodding her head. "Loads of it. Xavier is playing with fire here, quite literally and if he's one step closer to us, this is our last resort. Finding something strong enough to perform a spell like that."

"So, get to it. Call us when you find something." and with that, Crystal and Luna disappear.

I stared back at Dorothy and Madeline, who were back to work. Flipping through the different pages of their book.

Will comes over and whispers into my ear. "Pills,'' she said. We can get information on the Zikotryan and give it to the girls. They've been after that for months now. We just have to find them."

I nod my head. "Pick up any books of the Zikotryan or Wood hive in case."

"We might need it." I add.