The pages of the book flipped on their own.
The wind in the room spun in circles — papers swirling like leaves caught in a storm.
Lena stared at the glowing ink. Symbols shimmered, rearranging themselves, forming a single phrase:
> "Speak the name of the one who stayed."
She looked at Dre.
"I have to say her name," she whispered. "Ama Lilith."
The second she spoke it, the floor cracked beneath their feet.
A black vine burst from the crack, lashing toward them like a whip. Dre yanked Lena back just in time.
The book's glow intensified, then—
Darkness.
---
The Underground
Lena opened her eyes.
She was no longer in the library.
Everything was dark — but not empty. Roots slithered under the ground like snakes. Trees rose like bones from the soil, twisted, groaning.
"Dre?" she called out.
No answer.
She turned in a slow circle—then froze.
A figure stood in the distance. Someone she knew.
"...Kai?"
He stepped forward, clothes torn, face pale, eyes wide.
Lena ran toward him. "You're alive!"
But something was off.
He didn't blink. Didn't speak.
He just whispered:
> "It's warm down here. It talks to me."
Lena's breath caught in her throat. "What did they do to you?"
Kai tilted his head. "I saw the root. I saw it breathe."
Behind him, the trees opened — like a curtain — and her grandmother stepped out.
But it wasn't really her anymore.
Her bark-like skin cracked as she moved. Her hollow eyes glistened. She reached for Lena, then paused.
"You came back."
Lena stood between Kai and her.
"What did you do to him?" she asked.
"I didn't," Ama Lilith whispered. "The Hollow did. He's not lost yet — but he's close. You opened the book. That gave you a choice."
Lena shook her head. "A choice for what?"
Ama Lilith stepped closer, her voice echoing strangely.
> "To break the curse… or become part of it."
Suddenly, Dre appeared from the shadows, panting, holding a sharp branch like a weapon. "Lena! Get away from them!"
Kai's eyes shifted. For a split second — just a second — they turned completely black.
And then back.
"Lena…" he whispered. "Don't let them finish the ritual."
"Wait—what ritual?" Dre asked.
Ama Lilith pointed to the ground.
"The root grows under the old gym. They want to feed it. You, him, all of us."
Lena stepped forward, voice steady.
"Then we burn it."
---
Back in the Library
Lena gasped awake. Dre grabbed her shoulders. "Lena?! What the hell just happened?"
She looked around, eyes wild.
"Kai's alive," she said. "But something's inside him."
Dre frowned. "Did he say where he was?"
Lena stood up, gripping the book tightly.
"Yeah. Beneath the school. Under the gym."