Chapter 4

The day came for Auriel's next appearance. It wasn't hard to figure out where and when he'd appear. It was always on a Sunday night, and the books he was after were a series of volumes published by a certain researcher. This was the last volume he hadn't stolen yet.

Gene gave up and ended up accompanying me to the library. Our plan was to hide in one of the stockrooms or janitor's closet and wait until midnight. Surprisingly, we easily found a good hiding spot that wasn't too cramped.

We both pulled out our gaming consoles. Of course, we were going to pass the time playing videogames.

"Gene, can you help me farm for this rare item? I need a healer," I said.

"Sure."

I normally played damage dealing characters in videogames while Gene played support. He was way better at keeping people alive and spamming buffs than I was. He was like the gamer version of Chopin playing Fantasie Impromptu.

In the middle of the dungeon run, I noticed Gene wasn't healing me and my character was dying.

"Are you lagging?" I asked.

"Oh. Sorry. I was taking a screenshot."

He healed my character back to full health.

"Yes! We cleared it." I paused, staring at the reward screen. "Noo! It didn't drop the item."

"Oh. I got it," said Gene, keeping his usual calm expression.

"Can you trade it to me please?"

"Non-tradable."

"Noo!" I imitated the subject of the famous painting ‘The Scream'.

"It's ok, Beatrice. We can do the dungeon again."

Time passed as we continued to farm for rare items to complete our in-game armor sets. As we were in the middle of a boss fight, I heard the sound of something moving outside.

"What was that sound?" I peeked through the door's small opening.

"Stay here. I'll check it out."

Gene closed his game console and returned it inside his bag before going outside. I waited for him. He didn't return for a long time.

"Gene?" I went out. I couldn't wait any longer. I was starting to get worried that something bad might have happened to him.

The hallway was dark, but that didn't stop me. If I could play 3D horror games at midnight, then walking through a dark hallway was nothing.

I continued walking forward until I reached a lit room where I saw the phantom thief carrying a book.

The moment he noticed me, he smirked. "I didn't think we'd meet again so soon."

"Auriel!" I glared.

"I'm done with my business here already, so I can't play with you, Miss. Maybe next time. See you around!" He climbed the rope which led to an open window above.

I'm not going to let him get away again!

I hurriedly looked for another window which would lead me to the roof. I climbed out and tried to catch up with him.

"Get back here!" I shouted.

In my pursuit, my foot slipped, sending me sliding off the roof.

I braced myself for a painful impact.