BatIM Five Trials

Chapter Twenty

Jade walked around the statues, something telling her to be wary of them. Perhaps that something was the whispers starting to manifest inside her head? Those were quickly starting to give her the creeps.

The doorway after this room revealed two rings of many books as well as an area Jade could see between a few gaps between books in the center of the circles. From what she could see, there was a recording on the inside. Who by she couldn't quite tell. She walked around the circles and quickly found a way in, and she walked over to the recording once again in hopes to find out something useful. Pressing the play button surprised her once again with what Susie said.

"They told me I was perfect for the role, absolutely perfect. Now Joey's been going around, saying things behind closed doors. I can always tell. Now he wants to talk with me tomorrow, says he's got a new opportunity for me? I'll hear him out, but if that smooth talker thinks he can double cross an angel and get away with it. . ." Susie paused with a chuckle. "He's got something coming. Alice? Oh, she doesn't like liars." With this, the recording clicked off.

Jade shuddered from the unusual lowness of Susie's voice, even more so from the content of her words. Unfortunately, there wasn't any information useful to her cause, so she exited the center circle and want to the side opposing the one she had come from. Along her way, she did notice a couple of books sticking out of the shelves, which she found to be odd. The way forward turned out to be a large door which had a sign reading Private over the top. There were also five unlit light bulbs on the sign above the bold word.

Jade attempted to push it open, but all that did was waste energy. There's got to be a way to open the door. . . She walked around the ring of bookshelves again, but since she once again saw the books sticking out, she didn't want one to suddenly fall out and scare her out of her wits. Upon pushing it in, the heard the sound of a lightbulb coming to life with a click. She looked over and sure enough, now there were only four unlit bulbs.

The books! The books are the answer! She didn't even spare a minute to ponder how it worked as she bolted around the circle and found another book. Soon she also found a third, but upon pushing it in a new sensation overwhelmed her senses. The room suddenly got an orange tinge, the sound of doors rapidly being flung open and shut was nearly deafening and the light source in the center of the room swayed almost violently. The high wind causing this made Jade's hair whip around like it was made of wind itself, stuck to the girl's head instead of being able to blow freely.

What the heck is this?! Jade was panicked amidst the chaos. What's happening?! Just as suddenly as this sensation started, it suddenly ended. The only evidence that it ever happened was Jade's terrified look. Even Jade's hair, which was prone to tangles, especially in high wind, was just the way it was before it happened. She stood there in the silence, minus her slightly shaky breath of the unexplained events as once again, she felt the ink crawling slowly, agonizingly slowly down her arms. Once she felt this, she attempted to push what she was feeling back and kept looking for the books.

No other books stuck out on the outer ring of shelves, so she checked the center circle to find any on the inner ring. Both of the ones that still remained were there, and hesitantly she pushed the fourth one in, bracing for another sensation like the one she had just felt. None came, so she pushed in the final book with much more confidence. Once this happened, she could hear the creaking of an old door opening, and she headed over at a hurried pace. The room ahead looked much darker from the place she was in, seeing as she couldn't see very far ahead. . . only to realize it wasn't darkness. It was a giant chasm. Due to her fast pace, she barely stopped in time to not fall in.