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Joohyun sighs, replacing the old book onto the top shelf. It was a tight squeeze, but she made it fit. She always used to think that having so many books was dumb- especially so many historical ones. There wasn’t much point in having three different books on moon theory if all of that information was in the Compendium. Now though… she’s grateful.
She’s spent all night looking through books and she’s gone through four different candles already. She has one last candle left in her bag and the one on the table is already half-burned down. Joohyun runs a hand through her hair. She has one book left in front of her. She just hopes to god that it has what she needs in it.
With a flick of her wrist the book flies open in front of her, pages moving in time with her lips. A searching spell. Faster than trying to read through the whole thing. Lake Magic 1891: Book 3 Volume C is dense. Joohyun does not have time.
She pauses. There’s a sound… somewhere in the distance… it’s raining. It has been all night. Maybe it’s thunder. She listens…. Patiently. Technically the library is closed to students at this hour. That rule hasn’t been enforced in years though. Not since old Madame Bernard passed. The school never really replaced her so the library had gone without a librarian for years. There ‘s nothing to hear though… just rain. So she begins her search again.
Joohyun needs answers. It’s her fault that it’s happening to begin with. Something is wrong. There’s… there’s nothing really wrong but…. It’s complicated. Something is wrong though. If there wasn’t she wouldn’t be awake at 4 in the morning trying… searching… desperately for anything that it could be.
It started a month ago- just before Samhain. A girl got lost in the lake. Kim Yerim. The lake isn’t very big. It isn’t very deep either. Joohyun took her girls- the little group she’s in charge of mentoring- to the lake to relax. Finals were stressful. They all got in the water and Joohyun didn’t see what happened. She went under the water for a second. Just a split second- but when she came back up Yerim was gone. The other three girls didn’t see where she went either. Nobody saw what happened, all they knew was that Yerim was gone.
Faculty searched the lake for two days. Hell- Professor Seo lives in the goddamn lake and Headmaster Hwang personally searched it for hours. Nothing. Yerim was just… gone. Nobody blamed Joohyun or any of the other three girls that were there that day. They called it a freak accident. Joohyun knows it’s her fault though. She can’t say why she just… it’s just a feeling but it’s a strong feeling nonetheless.
But then Yerim came back. She showed up exactly two weeks after the accident. Kang Seulgi- one of Joohyun’s girls- was the one that found her. Yerim was just… sitting on the dock. Staring out at the lake. Now she won’t answer any questions. She wouldn’t then and she won’t now. Yerim has been just going about business as normal. The professors checked her out but… there was nothing wrong with her. Nobody could get an answer out of her so they sent Joohyun to do it. Joohyun remembers it like it so clearly… Yerim’s smile. She didn’t answer any questions she just smiled so serenly up at Joohyun like nothing was wrong in the world. But there was something wrong. Joohyun knew that something was wrong. She couldn’t place it. She couldn’t even really articulate it she just. She just knew. Yerim wasn’t Yerim. Not anymore at least.
Something loud bangs overhead. Joohyun startles and glances up, staring at the bookcase overhead. There’s a book… on the top shelf. The old one she just put back. The books must not have been leaning up against anything or something so it fell over. She sighs. Glancing back at the book in front of her she decides to close it. There’s nothing in there aside from classifications of kelp and the occasional tentacle beast. A flick of her wrist sends the book away- placing it on top of the book that fell. She’s about ready to give up but… there’s one more book.
This one… it doesn’t have a name from what she can see. Joohyun isn’t really sure where it came from but at the same time… when she cast her gathering spell over the library she wasn’t really all that picky about which books were brought to her. She’s tired. And there isn’t really time.
After the accident things were weird. Things were out of place and Joohyun doesn’t know why. She first noticed it when she was climbing the stairs to the Divination room. She is studying Divination. It’s her focus area. She has been going up those stairs since she was twelve years old. She knows those stairs. She swears to god she knows those stairs and she has never once tripped on them. So why was there one missing? The top step… she tripped and fell because the top step was missing. There’s absolutely no way to prove it but there used to be one more step at the top. She can’t explain it but Yerim…. Of everyone it was Yerim who helped her up. It was Yerim who healed the cut on her knee. No one else was around. Just… just Yerim.
That night Sooyoung came to Joohyun’s room in the middle of the night. It wasn’t the first time. Sooyoung is one of Joohyun’s girls. She’s sweet and kind and funny and absolutely brilliant to be perfectly honest. She was also beautiful. It got her heart broken more than a few times. Joohyun woke up to screaming somewhere in the building- then silence.
It was too late by the time Joohyun got there. Sooyoung was just… There. On the ground. Her mouth completely sewn shut. Faculty tried everything. Joohyun tried everything. Nothing would cut the thread and any attempt just had Sooyoung crying in agony. Joohyun swears Yerim had something to do with it. She swears her life on it. But there’s no proof. There’s just nothing.
Somewhere off in the distance the clock chimes midnight. This book… the book with no name… it can’t be searched. It’s pages flutter dully when Joohyun tries. So she settles in to do it by hand. The pages are soft in between her fingers. This book is different. It’s written by hand but… Joohyun recognizes the handwriting.
It reads like a storybook. Telling the tale of the Lady of the Lake. A beautiful woman with a dark heart who harvests the agony of witches to feed herself and her power. She is ancient. She has always existed and she always will. The Lady falls in love- but she is a jealous lover. Killing all who look her beloved in the eye. The story is… creepy. Joohyun shivers. The handwriting is so familiar.
When she turns the page her blood goes cold. It’s a diagram. It’s methodical. It looks like an instruction manual. It looks like what Joohyun found outside of her bedroom the night before last. Son Seungwan. Joohyun’s brightest girl. Her body was cut like meat. Wrapped up in paper packages and tied off with twine. There was no blood. There was no head. There were eyes though. Son Seungwan’s eyes, placed pretty at the top of the little stack in a clear glass box.
Joohyun hasn’t left the library since. Rumor has it Kang Seulgi is missing now. All of Joohyun’s girls… that’s all of them. They’re all gone. Except Yerim. Joohyun is trying to breathe now. It feels like the weight of a lifetime on her chest, bearing down on her. A wave of static washes through her- standing her hair on end. She knows this handwriting. Of course she knows it. It’s hers.
On the next page written plainly in the middle of the parchment is just… The Window.
Her heart is beating out of her chest. She can hear herself almost gasping for breath but she needs to look out the window. She needs to look. Down by the dock. Wet tears make their way down her cheeks but she has to look. She moves so slowly through the abandoned library to the window. She has to see. She has to make sure. She makes it to the window but… something is holding her back. She’s scared. It feels like her stomach has been pulled up out of her body through her mouth. She’s fucking terrified. But she has to know. So Joohyun looks.
And there she is. Kim Yerim. Standing in the bone dry grass- a perfect cloudless night shining bright onto her. Yerim just… smiles. And it goes dark in the library. Joohyun whips around and by the time she does the rain is coming down again. The rain never stopped. Joohyun knows it didn’t stop. It’s been raining all night. The light- that one lone candle flickers back to life.
Joohyun feels her heart stop in her chest. Kang Seulgi is hanging by the neck from the chandelier. Her eyes are missing. Kim Yerim is standing underneath her body- eyes trained on Joohyun. Yerim smiles. The lights go back out.
Joohyun can’t see but she can feel- she can feel Yerim’s hands on her. They’re cold as the dead. And she can feel the words- whispered so carefully into her ear. It’s not Yerim’s voice though. Yerim is gone now.
“Oh my Joohyun…. My beautiful girl. My star. All mine.”