The library vanished.
Elara Thorne stumbled into darkness as the shelves, marble floors, and flickering lamps dissolved into spirals of black ink. When she opened her eyes, she stood on a narrow pathway above an endless black ocean. Books floated beneath a sky filled with unfamiliar stars.
"What is this place?" she whispered.
"Welcome to the Interstice," Professor Julian Vane replied behind her.
Elara spun around. "You could have warned me before reality disappeared!"
"I would have, if I had known you would open the passage."
"I opened it? You were the one standing there looking mysterious!"
Despite the situation, Vane almost smiled. "You have your father's temper."
Elara went silent.
"You knew my father?"
Vane's expression changed. "Your father was searching for this place. He discovered something that should never have been found."
"What?"
"The Codex Umbra."
Before Elara could demand an explanation, a black book floated toward them. Its pages opened by themselves, revealing a sentence written in silver ink.
**SHE HAS RETURNED.**
The book slammed shut.
Elara stepped backward. "What does that mean?"
"It means something here recognizes you," Vane answered.
"That's supposed to comfort me?"
"No. It's supposed to frighten you enough to listen."
A bell rang across the ocean.
Vane immediately grabbed her wrist.
"Whatever happens, don't answer if you hear someone calling your name."
A familiar voice drifted through the darkness.
"Elara?"
Her heart stopped.
She knew that voice. She had spent seven years trying to forget the pain of losing it.
"Dad?" she whispered.
Across the ocean stood a man wearing her father's old black coat.
"Elara, sweetheart," he called. "I've been waiting for you."
Tears filled her eyes. "You're alive?"
"Come closer. I have so much to tell you."
Elara moved toward him, but Vane pulled her back.
"Don't trust him!"
"That's my father!"
"No. It's something that knows how much you miss him."
The figure lowered its hood. Its face remained hidden, but its voice suddenly turned cold.
"Is that what he told you, Elara? Ask Professor Vane what happened the night your father disappeared."
She stared at the professor.
"What is it talking about?"
"We need to leave. Now."
The ocean rippled beneath them. Hundreds of pale faces appeared under its surface, watching Elara with empty eyes.
Vane pointed toward a floating doorway.
"Put your hand against the keyhole."
"Why?"
"Because your bloodline is the only thing that can open it."
Elara pressed her palm against the brass. Three symbols appeared beneath her skin: a circle, a crescent, and a star.
The door swung open.
They hurried through, returning to the North Wing of Hawthorne University. Everything looked exactly as it had before, except the clock remained frozen at three o'clock.
Elara turned toward Vane.
"What happened to my father?"
He hesitated.
"I'm trying to protect you."
"From what?"
"From the truth."
Before she could respond, a child's laughter echoed between the shelves.
A little girl in a white dress stood beside the reading desk. Her dark hair framed a face Elara recognized immediately.
It was her own face.
The face she had possessed at eight years old.
Elara couldn't move.
"Who are you?"
The girl smiled. "You know who I am."
"That isn't possible."
"Neither is a library between worlds, but you seem to have managed that."
The child held out a folded piece of paper.
Vane stepped forward. "Don't take it."
The girl looked at him. "Still lying, Julian? After all these years?"
Elara snatched the paper from the desk and unfolded it.
The handwriting belonged to her father.
**WHEN THE THIRD BELL RINGS, TRUST NO ONE.**
Below it was the date he had disappeared.
Underneath, fresh black ink formed another sentence.
**ESPECIALLY NOT THE MAN BESIDE YOU.**
Elara looked at Vane.
"Tell me this is a lie."
He lowered his eyes.
"I can't."
The first bell rang.
Every book in the library slammed shut.
The second bell rang.
All the lights went dark.
Then came the third.
Every mirror shattered at once.
From the shadows emerged another Professor Julian Vane, identical in every detail.
The first Vane stepped in front of Elara.
"Stay behind me."
The newcomer smiled. "Don't listen to him. He's the reason your father died."
Elara backed away, her hands trembling.
"Which one of you is real?"
Neither answered.
Then the letter began bleeding black ink. The words crawled across the page, forming one final warning.
**ONE OF THEM IS ALREADY DEAD.**
Elara looked up.
One professor was smiling.
The other had begun to cry.
And beneath Hawthorne University, something ancient awakened.
**End of Chapter Two.**