Page 175 of Magical Mission

I froze at the top of the stairs.

Keegan saw it a breath later and instinctively threw his arm in front of me, his other hand already shifting.

His eyes gleamed faintly, as canine energy vibrated through his posture.

Twobble let out a curse under his breath, sharp and ancient.

“That’s the same shadow I saw the other night,” he hissed. “The one Nova told me not to tell you about yet.”

My heart stopped for a beat.

Krina.

Her ex.

The man who’d shown up at Keegan’s inn under the guise of nonsense and magical curiosity.

The sisters we’d tried to help, and the tether we thought we’d broken, came back to haunt us.

We’d beentoo quickto move on, too eager to feel safe again.

Keegan’s voice dropped low. “Do we engage?”

“No,” I said, my eyes tracking the shadow as it slid into the deeper dark beyond the library doors. “We follow. But quiet.”

Twobble gave a theatrical sigh. “Ah, yes. The classic plan: follow the unspeakable horror into the library with no backup and very little strategy.”

“Faulty plans are our specialty,” Keegan muttered.

I glanced down at Twobble. “You’re not scared, are you?”

“Of course I’m scared,” he whispered. “I just hide it behind sarcasm and excellent fashion choices.”

We crept forward, Keegan leading with slow, precise steps, Twobble trailing behind me with his hands poised for magic.

The closer we got to the doors, the morewrongeverything felt.

The charms surrounding the library usually thrummed in a subtle buzz, like the quiet purr of contented books and cooperative book sprites. But now? They stuttered. Glitched. Like someone was twisting them from the inside.

The doors opened with a whisper. No creak. No resistance.

I hadn’t touched them.

They’d openedfor it.

We stepped inside, and the light vanished almost entirely.

Bookshelves loomed in warped angles, the corners of the room wrapped in dusk rather than darkness. Orbs had either dimmed or fled.

And the book sprites?

They were clustered in the rafters,watching.

Dozens of them, their tiny wings tucked tightly against their bodies, their bright eyes tracking us in utter silence.

That was the most chilling part.

Sprites didn’tstopmoving.