written by astrophile

watch/listen to the audiobook chapter on YouTube

https://youtu.be/ugiCpKp-uBw

I should've known better than to enter an abandoned library alone with a demon, but whenever I looked into her eyes, I couldn't help but get caught in her spell. The more I spent time with her, the more I knew that there was no other place I'd rather be than right in her arms, holding her close.

"The coast is clear," Calliope called, and I went in after her.

I wasn't sure what I was expecting of an abandoned library, but nothing could have prepared me for the darkness. If it wasn't for the windows high up on the wall allowing a sliver of moonlight to sneak into the empty hallways, I'd be unable to find even Calliope a few feet away.

Fortunately, I could see her and really take in her beauty. Her long flowing pink hair framed her face perfectly. Those blue eyes of her could make me do anything with just a look. And those lips, those oh-so-pouty-pink lips, how I wish I could kiss them.

Focus, Ophelia, focus. Remember what we came here for.

Endless rows of bookcases started a few feet away from us and kept going on and on and on for as far as I could see. If the book we needed was in one of those, we'd be stuck searching for hours. The more I thought about it, the more I was starting to feel like I underestimated this whole thing.

All we knew between the two of us was that there could be some ancient literature about demon summoning and it could possibly be in this library. Calliope didn't tell me much more than that someone had summoned her to the mortal plane and it had gone terribly wrong.

Maybe I should have asked for more details before rushing over here.

I looked at Calliope again, and I could feel the part of my brain that said this was a terrible idea growing quieter and quieter. Forget the fact that we might not find what we're looking for. Forget the fact that this abandoned library was exactly the kind of place my professors said to never enter. Forget the fact I was alone with a demon I barely met a few weeks ago.

All that mattered now was our mission, and maybe afterwards, a little celebration?

I turned around and used my magic to lock the door as we planned. Calliope and I knew that our search would take some time. Anyone who had ever visited a library before knew that finding the right book took a lot of searching and reading and researching and more reading.

Finding a book in an abandoned library would be even harder, especially if you didn't have any librarians around, and especially when you kept getting distracted.

"Did you lock the door behind you?" Calliope whispered in my ear, making me all too aware of her body so close to mine. There was nothing I wanted more than to kiss her on the lips, but I knew it was too soon for that. If I dared to make a move this early, there was a chance I'd scare her off.

"I- uh-" I slowly nodded, unable to form a coherent sentence without stumbling over my thoughts. It wasn't fair that she was this pretty.

"Good," she said. "Let's go. We've got no time to waste." She reached for my hand and I let her hold it, my brain short-circuiting by the contact. She pulled me deeper into the library, but I could hardly focus on where we were going. All I could think about was the fact she was holding my hand.

And then, all too suddenly, she let it go. "We're here." She gestured to a door at the back of the library, a door that had the word "WARNING" written all over it in all capital letters. Even I, who didn't care for signs or being told what to do, knew this was a bad idea. This library must've been abandoned for a reason and whatever lay behind that door was probably not worth being with her.

Or was it?

I looked at Calliope again, her blue eyes twinkling with excitement. She looked so happy to have found this door, happy that I was here with her. The way she smiled was adorable. It was the kind of smile that if you blinked, you'd miss it. Not the stiff sort of smile that you forced your face to make whenever your picture was being taken.

Maybe going behind the creepy door was worth all of this and more. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad.

Calliope seemed to notice my hesitation because she took a step back from the door and looked down at me, reminding me all too well of our height difference. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

We'd only known each other for a few weeks yet she seemed to know me all too well.

"It's... nothing," I lied. "We should continue with our search. Are you sure it's here?"

"I've read about your world before," Calliope said. "Libraries used to have a separate section for arcane books. Newer libraries don't have it anymore because some have deemed it too dangerous to have that kind of knowledge easily accessible. So, we should start our search here."

I nodded. I hadn't thought that far ahead, so I appreciated the fact that Calliope did, but she probably only knew that because of how desperately she wanted to go back home... wherever that was. I hadn't thought of asking her yet.

"Any idea on what the book might look like?"

"Somewhat," Calliope replied. "I can probably guess based on the title but there isn't really a specific cover I'm looking for. Maybe there's a spell you could use to help us look faster?"

"Maybe..." I said, trailing off in thought once again.

I knew she wanted my help, more specifically my magic, to find a way home but I had hoped that somewhere along the line, she'd forget about her mission and decide to just stay with me. It took us a long time to find this place and in that time, I'd grown fond of being around her.

And as foolish as it was of me to admit it, I hoped that she might feel the same way.

"Ophelia?" Calliope called out. "Are you ready to go inside?"

I looked over to find her staring at me and felt a blush growing across my cheeks. I didn't mean to space out again, but it was so hard to stay focused when all of my thoughts were filled with her.

"Yeah, I'm ready. Let's go inside," I replied.

Calliope reached forward to grab the door handle but then stopped in her tracks. "I have a feeling that you want answers?" She turned to face me. "I realize I never told you how I got here."

I looked down at my feet. I did want to know what happened, in case that information would help me get her home, but at the same time, it wasn't really my place to pry into her past either.

"Better to get it over with, right?" She stifled a laugh. "But first things first... how much do you know about demon summonings? I need to know how much I need to explain."

"Only that it's reckless," I answered. "I haven't gotten that far in my coursework yet."

"Well, to put it simply, when a demon is summoned to the mortal plane, they become bound to whoever summoned them here. And as far as I know, the only way to return to the netherworld is if the person breaks the contract they made and releases me but... well... you see... um..."

Silence filled the space around us. Calliope looked lost for words, which was a first for her.

"You don't have to tell me if it makes you uncomfortable," I said.

She took a deep breath and quickly said, "So, uh, the person who summoned me is dead and... yeah... so... that is basically why I'm trapped here and why I'm trying to find a loophole."

"Oh... I'm so sorry that happened." I lifted my head and met her gaze. "It sounds horrifying."

"It's okay." She sighed. "It was my first time being summoned and I don't know how it all happened so fast. One second, I was staring at this human and the next, they were— they were—"

"You don't have to finish that sentence," I said.

"They were sliced in half," she mumbled.

"It's not your fault." I reached forward and patted her shoulder, trying my best to comfort her.

"Well, actually..." She paused. "Nevermind. You don't need to know the gory details. I just wish things were different. I was looking forward to seeing the world for the first time but..."

"You're trapped to a small radius around their... dead body?"

"For someone who says they don't know a lot about demon summonings, you've got a good intuition." She smiled. "You're right though. I got lucky to have met you and found this place."

"Maybe it's all the time we've been spending together," I teased. "Some of your knowledge could be rubbing off on me. Who knows?"

"Or maybe you're just crazy smart," she added.

The more she complimented me, the more I felt like I was melting. If I didn't tell her how I felt soon, I feared I'd be reduced to a puddle on the ground. But it was nice, talking to her like this. I felt like I'd known her for way longer than I actually did when we talked like this.

Calliope coughed. "Well, we should go inside." She gestured to the door. The "WARNING" label staring at me, but no longer as intimidating. "The book won't find us after all."

I stifled a laugh. "If only it were that easy..."

She raised an eyebrow at me. "Well, you're the witch here. Can it be done?"

I pondered it for a second. There was an item locator spell in my notes somewhere but I didn't have my notes with me and I was pretty sure I needed to have a clear visual of the item I was looking for. I didn't think it would work the same for a book that I had never seen before.

"Sorry. I don't think I'd be able to do it without having seen the book first."

"I understand. Thank you for being here. Let's find that book and get out of here."

She pulled the door open, and for a split second, I wanted to tell her not to. I held my breath for a second, half-expecting some sort of ancient evil to come out and attack us both. When it became apparent there was nothing there, I let out a deep breath of relief. I came so unprepared that if there was something, I wouldn't know what to do.

Calliope was the first one to enter and I followed, covering my eyes to allow it to adjust to the pitch darkness. A flick of my wrist later, I lit a small fireball to light up the room. The warm glow illuminated our surroundings, making it easier to look around.

The books in this small section of the library looked so much darker, so much more threatening. To think that this kind of knowledge of the dark arts had been hidden away here all this time. It made me scared of just what we might find lurking inside.

Fortunately for us, there were definitely fewer books in here than the main library. A small table with two chairs sat in the middle of the room while the walls of the room were lined with shelves from top to bottom. Books upon books stared back at us, daring us to pick one up and read it.

Meanwhile, Calliope looked like a kid in candy store. Her eyes flitted from side to side, taking it all in. I worried that if I didn't stop her, she'd spend all night trying to read every book in here.

"I've never seen so many books about the occult arts all gathered in one place," she said, covering her hand over her mouth. "To think these were all left here, never to be found again..."

"Yeah, it's... really something," I said, trying to show interest. The more time I spent in this tiny side room, the more worried I became of us accidentally unleashing some greater evil. But then all I had to do was look over at Calliope and all of my worries magically disappeared.

If she wasn't worried, then why should I be? We'd figure this out together. We had to.

What felt like hours passed of Calliope humming along, picking up book after book and glancing at it before placing it back. I followed her at a distance to bring the light near her.

"What about this book?" she asked, holding out a book towards me. The title on the book looked like it was written in another language and I gave her a confused look.

"Oh, right, I forgot you can't read dae. It just says 'all about demon summonings'," she explained. "I guess this could be the elusive book we were looking for all along?"

"Doesn't hurt to give it a try. Did you, uh, want to read it then?"

"I guess I can read it to you and you can tell me if anything stands out to you."

"Sure." I sat down on the ground and looked up at Calliope, who found a way to make leaning against a creepy old bookcase cool. She just had that natural "cool" energy about her. I reached to touch my cheek, wondering if she could see how furiously I was blushing right now.

But when I checked, Calliope's focus was wrapped up in the book she gingerly held, as if it was the last copy in the world and she was afraid that the slightest touch would destroy it.

"To summon a demon, you must..." She laughed. "Wow, this is written using some very old-style slang. I wonder how old this book is."

"Centuries?"

Calliope pretended to take offense at that. "Do I look that old to you, Ophelia?"

"No! You look great," I teased back. "Not a day over one thousand, in fact."

She cleared her throat. "Right. We should get back to reading. I mean, I should get back to reading."

I nodded. "Please continue."

As Calliope read on and on about the technicalities of demon summoning, I tried my best to listen but found myself getting distracted anyways. I kept thinking about how nice it would be to have a future together, once in which we didn't have to explore abandoned libraries. One where we could just enjoy each other's company without worrying about finding a lost ancient book.

Could a life like that be possible?

Somehow, I tuned back into listening to Calliope read just as she covered the concept of "transferring contracts" and the wheels of a new idea began to spin in my head.

Once Calliope finished reading, she threw the book on the ground, glaring at it. "Ugh, nothing in this has been useful so far. It just says what I already knew about needing the original human to send the demon back to where it came from."

Now was my chance.

I picked up the book and held it out to her. "What about the part of becoming bound to another human instead? That part sounded promising."

She grabbed it, flipping it to a page in the middle. "Where would I find someone willing to do that?"

"What if you were to become bound to me instead?" I suggested.

Calliope looked at me up and down. "Are you sure? But then that means that you'll be stuck with me for as long as you live, until the day you can find a way to release the bond we've made."

"What if I... want that?" I looked away, a blush quickly spreading across my face.

For once, that day, Calliope didn't say anything. What if she didn't want that? What if I was imposing on her? What if I had made things awkward and nothing I did would ever fix it?

"I... would actually like that a lot," she finally said. When I looked back at her, I noticed she was also blushing.

"You don't have to hide your feelings from me, Lia." She reached forward, brushing a strand of hair out of my face. "I know how you really feel about me. It's been all over your face all day."

"Well..." I started, not sure how to ask the question burning in my mind.

"Don't worry, I feel the same way," she answered, as if she was reading my thoughts.

"Really?" I couldn't help but let my emotions get the better of me as my voice started rising an octave or two. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't dreaming of this moment all this time..."

"Well, why don't I answer you with this?"

She pulled me in closer, just like I had been dreaming about for ages, and I closed the distance between us. Our lips touched for just a brief second but I held her before she could pull away. The kiss quickly deepened and I found myself wanting more. I could see that she felt the same way.

A few moments later, we broke apart to catch our breath.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" she asked me.

"I'm more than okay with this," I answered. "Now, kiss me like there's no tomorrow."

"Gladly."

<<<<<FINIS>>>>>

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Wren is a speculative fiction writer who loves writing stories centered around themes of identity and what it means to be human. When they're not having existential crises or generally causing chaos, you can find them rambling about their current hyperfocus.