Haunted Book Return

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 7, Post Bumber 165

-Outside the Haunted Guild, midnight-

It was midnight when Lucia arrived outside the Haunted Guild hall on a mission from a client in Magnolia Town, the paranormal expert named Simon Wright who had briefly studied Lumie before turning the spirited candle over to her. Wearing her casual outfit with boots, Lucia also carried Lumie's candleholder in her left hand and Shining Light on her right hip. In a recently purchased blue backpack was a book that she had been tasked with returning to the library in the Haunted Guild.

The book was one that Mr. Wright received from a thrill-seeker who had taken the book as a souvenir of Haunted Guild during a visit to the location a week ago. However, as befitting something that came from a haunted location, the book exuded a feeling of overwhelming dread that had prevented its "borrower" from sleeping at night for the past five nights. Overwhelmed and too afraid to try and return it to the Haunted Guild themselves, they took it to Simon, who studied it for three nights before experiencing the same overwhelming dread that had affected the original "borrower." Simon had passed the book to Lucia because he lacked magic and a magic weapon to fight past any spectral opposition that might be lurking the Haunted Guild.

The blonde stood just outside the door with Lumie in her left hand working up the courage to enter the guild hall. Maybe it was the power of suggestion stemming from what she had been told about the book, but Lucia was feeling a sense of dread that was preventing her from taking the first step towards the Haunted Guild. Lucia stood in silence and heard the wind howling around her, which put her further on edge.

Lumie looked up at her and smiled. He was providing light within a circular area of twenty-five meters and that light would make her job easier. The Haunted Guild was a dark place and having a little light gave a needed psychological boost to the blonde, who had never dealt with the supernatural until her first visit to the Haunted Guild, her discovery of Lumie in Silent Cemetery, and the mission to Abandoned Cabin to rescue Alicia Gardner. It also had the practical advantage of lighting her way so that she did break her neck after tripping over a piece of furniture or something like that. Lumie noticed that she was not responding to him and spoke to her.

"I'm ready to go in whenever you are, Lucia! I'll be right by your side!" Lumie offered words of encouragement to his owner. Lucia turned to the little light source and nodded.

"OK, Lumie. We're going in." Lucia said to him. She approached the doorsteps, walked up them, and opened the door with her right hand, then stepped inside and shut the door behind her.

-Inside the Haunted Guild-

Lumie's light cast a sickly blue pallor over the foyer that made her spooky surroundings even more spooky, but that was not her primary concern. Her primary concern was getting the book back to the guild's library. According to what Simon Wright had been told by the thrill-seeker, the library was down in the basement that was accessed by going down a flight of stairs that was just to the left of the entrance. Once Lucia got down the stairs she was to go down a long hallway that housed what used to be a dungeon and enter the door at the end of the hall and to the right. Through that door she would find the library she needed return the book to.

Lucia looked to the left of where she was standing and a short distance away was a dark passage with a flight of stairs that led down. The blonde shuddered when she looked into the pitch-black passage. It was like staring at a passage to the underworld.

Lucia drew Shining Light and walked towards the stairs while keeping a careful watch for ghosts who might take umbrage to her visit and planned to make her a permanent resident. She reached the stairs without incident and began a slow, careful descent down into the darkness. Lumie was with her to light the way and make the descent a bit less nerve-wracking, but the blonde was still apprehensive about going into the darkness. The fact that her footsteps were the only sound she heard while going down the stairs did not help matters in the slightest.

[Post Word Count: 750]
[Total Word Count: 750/2,500]

-At the bottom of the stairs-

Lucia reached the bottom of the stairs without incident and turned right. She paused in place and looked down the hallway that loomed in front of her. There were several metal doors lying on the floor in front of what looked like prison cells on the right side of the hallway. There was a powerful feeling of suffering in the dungeon, a feeling that made her unable to fathom why someone would come to this dreadful place of their own free will. Lucia shook the feeling off and began to walk down the hallway while keeping an eye out for ghosts coming from either the library or upstairs.

As Lucia walked she heard what sounded like the rattling of chains coming from one of the open cells. She let curiosity get the better of her and approached the fourth cell while the rattling was still going on. Once she turned to look inside Lumie's light revealed that the chains inside the cell were still moving and clinking softly. They had stopped rattling the moment she had turned to look at them.

"Those chains were just making noise like someone was in there and now they're gone! That's really spooky!" Lumie commented.

"Yeah. I'm not going in there to find out who it was." Lucia replied. The overwhelming feeling of dread hit and she took a step back from the cell. She saw flashes of blue and a ghostly figure with their face fixed in a scream walking towards her before vanishing. The blonde felt that if she pressed her investigation of the cell she might become its next occupant. It was best just to move on while she still could.

"Lucia, you look kinda worried. Are you OK?" Lumie asked her. Lucia nodded.

"I think so. I just feel a little... off." Lucia explained. She kept the vision of the ghostly prisoner to herself and started walking towards the library while avoiding looking into any of the other cells. The feeling of dread increased with each step she took towards the library. It was not helped by the chains inside the other open cells beginning to rattle as she passed by.

"Now it's happening again!" Lumie warned Lucia. Lucia nodded weakly.

"Yeah. It must be poltergeist activity." Lucia said over the rattling chains. The vision of the past she had just seen was more than a little disturbing. She was not sure whether the ghostly prisoner was real or just a product of the book she was carrying, but she wanted to return the book and get out of here as soon as possible. Lucia kept moving towards the end of the hallway and passed by the other cells as the sound of rattling chains reached a crescendo. Lumie had put his little "hands" on the side of his head where a human's ears would be, but Lucia could not do so without setting down Lumie and holstering Shining Light... she would just have to endure the ear-piercing noise until she got to the end of the hall.

When Lucia finally reached the end of the hall the chains fell silent and she faced the metal door that led to the library. She holstered Shining Light and approached the door, reaching out for the metal ring that served as a doorknob and pulling it open. She stepped inside and shut the door behind her.

-Inside the library-

Lucia took six steps into the library and stopped to take a look around her. The library lived up to its name with wall-to-wall bookshelves loaded with books, a metal door on the opposite side of the room, and a table in the center of the room with... a skull candleholder? Lucia blinked when she saw that. She might be seeing things again.

"What's that skull doing on that table? Is it a real human skull?" Lumie asked Lucia. The blonde ignored the question because she was too busy seeing things like ghostly men in robes filing out of the library through the door on the opposite side of the room and hearing female screaming coming from somewhere close by. The blonde was not sure if it was just the power of suggestion or if the book in her backpack was really imbued with supernatural power, but she was seeing and hearing a lot of very strange things. Lucia walked over to the table, set Lumie down, and hurriedly took off her backpack.

She set it down on the table and pulled out the book, which was a medium-sized book with a tan cover. On the front was a subtle pattern that looked a lot like a human skull screaming at the viewer. Just looking at the cover was giving her some seriously creepy vibes. She wanted nothing more than to put the book back on the shelf and get as far away from this place as possible, then not come back for a good long while.

[Post Word Count: 830]
[Total Word Count: 1,580/2,500]

Holding the book in her hands, Lucia looked for a shelf to put it on. Any shelf would do. Glancing all around her, she felt the cover of the book get warm a lot quicker than it should, but it was not an "accidentally turned the water temperature in the shower too high" kind of heat. It felt more like "wearing a sweater in summer" kind of heat. The blonde did not know how to fully describe the feeling, but she did not like it... books were not supposed to get warm so quickly.

Lucia resumed looking for a shelf to set the book on so that she could get out of here already. She spotted one about two meters in front of her and ran over to it as fast as she could. She found an empty space that was the size of the missing book and firmly jammed it in with both hands. Once she did that the sounds and sights stopped on the spot. Lucia breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm glad that's over." Lucia said to Lumie. The sights of ghostly men in robes and the sound of female screaming had stopped, but the blonde's ears were still ringing from the cacophony. Maybe the worst of it was over now that she had returned the book. Maybe it would just be a matter of getting from the library back to the staircase, then trudging up the stairs to the first floor and walking out of the guild hall.

"Yay! We returned the book!" Lumie shouted enthusiastically. She knew that the candle was trying to cheer her up, but right now she was not in the right frame of mind to be cheerful. She had seen and heard some weird things that had no logical explanation and they were creeping her out. Then she took a moment to think things through and remembered that her revival had no logical explanation either. She had been dead for four years, then came back to life like she had just been sleeping for a really long time.

Lucia wordlessly walked over to the table where she had set her backpack. She picked up the empty backpack, closed it up, and put it back on, then picked up Lumie with her left hand. the moment she picked up Lumie some of the books began to literally fly off the shelves and fling themselves at the startled blonde. Lucia was hit in the right temple by one before she could muster a response. She dropped to one knee and closed her right eye, then struggled to her feet and ignored the books flinging themselves at her as she hustled to get out of the room. She quickly grabbed the ring, pulled the door open, and got out of the room before a flying book hit her in a vital place and left her open for what might be a killing blow.

-Outside the library-

Once Lucia had made it outside the library she wobbled in place because the pain of being hit in the right temple had caught up with her now that the danger had passed. She was surprised that she did not drop to one knee from the pain.

"Damn, that hurt." Lucia commented to Lumie, who was looking up at her from his candleholder.

"Are you all right?" Lumie asked Lucia. The blonde nodded.

"I'll be fine just as soon as we get out of here. I've had enough of this place for one night." Lucia replied. Her right temple was throbbing and her arms were hurting from being pelted with books by poltergeists. She was hurting and more than a little frightened by what had just happened, but otherwise she was all right. She just wanted to get out of here and get back to Magnolia Town, a place where poltergeists did not hurl books at people and there were no creepy libraries filled with ghostly robed men and the sound of screaming women.

"C'mon Lumie, let's get outta here." Lucia said to her candle companion. Lumie nodded.

"I'll light the way for you!" Lumie pledged. With that Lucia began putting one foot in front of the other and started the walk back to the stairs. The moment she began walking the chains in the empty cells began to rattle and she saw the ghostly prisoners emerge from their cells. Lucia did not bother reaching for Shining Light and broke into a run... it was time to go!

[Post Word Count: 750]
[Total Word Count: 2,330/2,500]

-On the first floor, the Haunted Guild-

When the spirits of the prisoners began to emerge from the empty cells Lucia had ran for the stairs and had jogged up them without bothering to slow down. Lumie had spun around on his candleholder and looked over Lucia's shoulder to let her know if she was being chased. Now that she was at the top of the stairs the blonde dared to take a moment to breathe. She faced the front door while breathing and relaxed a little. She was almost out of this awful place.

"Lucia, those ghost people are coming up the stairs!" Lumie suddenly warned her of ghostly pursuers. The blonde spun around and saw exactly what her candle companion meant. She saw an uncountable mass of prisoners in ragged clothing with ghostly shackles still on their wrists floating up the stairs and their empty eye sockets were fixed squarely on her. Lucia felt bad for a moment because even in death those unfortunate souls were not free from this place, but then she realized that if they caught her she would be bound to this place to keep them company.

"There's a whole lot of them, Lucia! What are you gonna do?" Lumie asked Lucia. Lucia looked at the oncoming ghosts, then the door, then back at them. There was no way she was going to win against so many ghostly prisoners even with Shining Light and her magic.

Lucia did not bother to answer. She bolted for the door and reached it in about three seconds. She reached for the doorknob with her right hand and turned it hard. She flung the door open with her right hand and hurried out, then slammed the door shut behind her.

-Outside the Haunted Guild-

Lucia turned around and hurriedly jogged down the steps. She cleared the final step and continued to jog when she heard wailing coming from behind. The blonde looked back and the wailing intensified as if to warn her to leave while the going was good. Lucia resumed running for her life and did not look back. She was not going to be caught by those ghosts, not when she had finally escaped that terrible place.

-Magnolia Town, Simon Wright's house, ten hours later-

"You managed to deliver the book back to Haunted Guild! And you made it back!" Simon said to her with relief. The weary Lucia nodded while Lumie silently watched the proceedings from his candleholder. The trio were standing in his living room, where according to him Simon had been waiting for news of Lucia's return for the past several hours. He had feared that he had sent Lucia to her death, but to his relief she had survived the trip to return the book.

"I did. It was calm enough when I entered the Haunted Guild, but when I got into the basement things got really creepy. I heard rattling chains in the empty prison cells and saw a ghostly prisoner. DON'T get me started on the library." Lucia told the ghost hunter.

"Let me guess... there was poltergeist activity in the library, right?" Simon ventured a guess. Lucia nodded and showed him the right side of her head, where a slight bruise had developed. The paranormal expert winced.

"Yes. I got hit in the side of the head with a book thrown by a poltergeist." Lucia explained where the bruise had come from and confirmed his guess. Simon crossed his arms and looked worried.

"I'm glad you made it back. It's not often that poltergeists get angry enough to actually attack people. Judging from that bruise on your right temple they were aiming to kill." He said to her.

"All I did was put the book back on the shelf." Lucia told him what had precipitated the attack. He frowned.

"They must have mistaken you for the original thief and sought to punish you. That's the best guess I can come up with." Simon opined. Now it was Lucia's turn to frown.

"I wasn't the one who stole it, so why would the spirits take out their frustration on me?" Lucia asked him with a tone of indignation. She did not really expect an answer to that question.

"I can't give you a good answer other than they were looking to punish someone for the theft and you happened to be the "someone" they picked, most likely because you had the book in your possession and they saw it in your hands. They were trying to teach you not to steal from them." Simon replied in a tone that had more conjecture to it than fact. Lucia frowned deeper but then quietly took a breath and released it. She had returned the book and was back in a safe, ghost-free town.

"They won't have to worry about me stealing anything from their library. The whole place creeped me out. I don't plan on going back there any time soon." Lucia informed him. Simon nodded.

"It's a good idea that you don't go back any time soon." Simon agreed with her decision to stay clear of the place. He then handed her a bag of Jewels.

"This is payment for returning the book." Simon explained why she was getting the Jewels. Lucia nodded in gratitude as she accepted the payment.

"Thanks, Simon." Lucia thanked the man. He nodded.

"No, thank you for taking it back. That book was some seriously bad mojo. Like "summon spirits to this plane" kind of bad mojo, but I'm not sure because I didn't study it for very long. I had some really bad dreams thanks to that book." Simon replied to her. Lucia remained quiet and turned for the door. If that book really was a book for summoning spirits, she was glad to be rid of it.

"Thanks again, Miss Winchester!" Simon thanked her for her work. Lucia turned around and calmly waved goodbye, then turned back for the door, opened it, and left his house in order to go home. She had had quite the night at the Haunted Guild and now wanted to sleep for awhile before she looked for her next job. The next job she took was going to be as far away from the Haunted Guild as humanly possible.

[Post Word Count: 1,050]
[Total Word Count: 3,380/2,500]