7 p.m.

Shane was in his office, still wondering about what had transpired. Then, yet another e-mail appeared in his inbox. Knowing that deleting it would not do any good, Shane decided to open it.

HELLO, SHANE. YOU MAY BE WONDERING, "HOW IS HE STILL ALIVE?"

THAT FILM YOU ARE MAKING GAVE ME LIFE AGAIN.

ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS ARE IN DANGER.

The director sat paralyzed in his chair.

HOWEVER, THERE IS A WAY YOU CAN SAVE THEM. CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW.

He did what the e-mail told him to do. A 1980s-looking game popped up on the computer screen. The character Shane controlled looked exactly like him. Additionally, the environment he found himself in was a crimson sand-covered desert. A thunderstorm with purple lightning took place in the background. Shane had no choice but to walk to the right.

On the upper left-hand corner of the screen, there was a health meter with three hearts, and Shane's name was above it. To the right, a scoring system appeared. As he moved his character (or, more precisely, himself) across the desert, he had to be careful of quicksand and odd-looking flora and fauna he had never seen before. The quicksand caused Shane a lot of trouble, and he died several times. Luckily, he returned to where he had stood previously. Killing the desert creatures was a cinch; all he had to do was stomp on them.

Shane had scored around 5,000 points by the time he reached an oasis. Since the game would not let him continue any further to the right, he had no choice but to dive.

At first, the water looked clear, but as he swam upward, he saw it get murkier. Soon enough, Shane surfaced in a pool in some empty room.

"Wait a minute. This place looks familiar," Shane said.

Right as he spoke those words, the pool water bubbled. A digitized voice then boomed, "YOU'RE RIGHT."

An elderly man with a long, silvery beard, brown robe and black sandals rose out of the water while connected to a black book. It was Libricus himself.

THIS IS THE SPOT WHERE I LAST SHOWED UP, OFFERING THE BOOK TO THREE PEOPLE. THEY DID NOT TAKE IT, AND THEY NEEDED TO PAY A PRICE. BUT YOU WILL TAKE THIS BOOK- RIGHT?

Shane did remember an interview showing three kids saying something similar to what Libricus described. Not wanting to anger the demon, he chose to take the book. The director would figure out what to do with it later.

EXCELLENT. NOW THE FUN CAN REALLY BEGIN.