Father William and Sister Anna finally noticed Ava, who had been standing in a corner, listening to their conversation.
Father William walked to her and knelt down on one knee. "How are you doing, little girl? What is your name?" he asked in a soft, calm voice.
"My name is Ava," she replied quietly.
"Ava, what a beautiful name," Father William said. "Ava, can you tell me where Bryce and the boys went?"
"I can't tell you where they went. But I can show you," Ava replied slowly.
"Okay, Ava. I will take you with me in my car, and we will go find Bryce and his friends. Is that okay with you?"
Ava nodded.
Father William stood up and held Ava by the hand. They walked out of the orphanage and stopped in front of the car he came in.
"I can come with you, Father," Sister Anna suggested.
"It's fine. Ava and I will go and get Bryce and his friends. The orphanage needs you here," Father William replied.
There was something about the way Father William spoke, calm and slow. It made anyone he talked to feel comfortable and safe.
"Okay. We will be waiting here when you return with the boys," Sister Anna said.
The door to the library was huge and metal so the four of them had to slide the door open together. Now they were inside but they left the door open so when leaving, they would not have to struggle to open it.
Like everywhere else in the mansion, the library was huge, with many shelves filled with books.
"So we are in the library, our final stop in this mansion. So far, there's nothing much to talk about here, except for the fact that it's completely empty but still looks like someone lives here," Bryce said to his camera.
The four of them spread out, checking shelves and books.
Austin picked up a book. "What language is this?" he asked.
"Yeah, all the books here are written in languages we don't understand. It's a whole different language," Tyler said as he flipped through another book.
"Well, this whole exploration is getting really pointless," Carl said.
Bryce listened, but he was focused on something else. The pull he felt earlier had returned and stronger this time.
"Let's just keep looking. Something tells me we'll find something good," Bryce said as he held up his camera and kept walking.
None of the books were readable, so the boys lost interest and simply followed Bryce.
They reached the center of the library, where there was a table and chair. On the table was a lit candle and beside it, an opened book.
"What is that?" Carl asked.
"How is that candle lit?" Tyler said, confused.
"Okay, I give up. I think we should turn back now and leave this mansion," Austin said.
But Bryce barely heard them. The lit candle and chair didn't bother him. The pull was coming from the book on the table, and all he wanted now was to reach it.
"Let's check that book out, and after that we can leave. We're already here," Bryce said.
He walked toward the table without waiting for the others.
"C'mon, Bryce, wait for us!" Austin said, following him.
The rest of the boys had no choice but to follow, hoping this would be the last thing they had to do before leaving.
They reached the table, and to their surprise, the open book was written in a language they could understand, which was strange.
"So this is where we are now… this strange book. The only book we can understand in this library," Bryce said to the camera.
"What does it say?" Tyler asked, moving closer.
The pull stopped, but Bryce suddenly felt uneasy, like someone was watching him and his friends.
He started looking around with his camera still recording, while his friends stared at the book, trying to read it.
"In the beginning, the two worlds were one. In the beginning, there was only one world. But they were separated, and each was bound to itself," Austin, Tyler, and Carl read simultaneously.
Bryce didn't hear them because he was still scanning the library.
Then he saw it.
Something stood in a far corner, half-hidden behind a door, its face and part of its body visible.
Bryce froze.
The figure was shaped like a human, but completely dark. It stared at Bryce with a wild, unnerving smile.
"Guys… do you see that?" Bryce asked, pointing at the figure.
His friends didn't answer. They kept reading the book, their voices monotone. Their eyes turned completely white, they were no longer in control of their bodies.
Bryce turned back to the corner but the figure was gone.
He looked around quickly, but there was no sign of it. Suddenly, the ground began to shake.
"Guys! What's wrong? We need to leave now, we need to leave!" Bryce shouted, but they didn't respond. They kept reading, like robots.
"Now there shall be no separation. The worlds shall be one again as it was in the beginning," his friends chanted. "The world shall be one again as it was in the beginning."
Bryce was terrified. He couldn't just leave his friends, but he couldn't stop what was happening either.
The ground shook harder. Books began to fall from shelves.
Bryce tried to pull his friends away from the table, but they wouldn't move. It was as if they were made of stone. He tried to close the book, but it wouldn't budge. Then the words on the page began to shift, changing into a different language that Bryce couldn't understand.
But his friends kept reading it.
Suddenly, they stopped chanting. Their eyes returned to normal, and they snapped back to themselves.
"What just happened?" Austin said, confused.
"What did we just do? I couldn't stop my mouth. I couldn't move," Carl was terrified.
"I don't understand what's going on here, but we need to leave this mansion now!" Bryce yelled.
The ground was still shaking, getting worse. Cracks crawled across the floor and walls. Bryce quickly put his camera into his backpack and ran toward the library door.
"C'mon, guys! We need to go now, this building is collapsing!" he cried.
The others finally ran after him, but shelves began to fall, blocking their path.
They jumped over the fallen shelves and kept running. But then the room tilted upward, it was as if they were running up a slope.
"What is happening?!" Carl yelled.
Bryce reached the door, and as soon as he stepped out of the library, he began to float. Everything in the living room was floating, everything suspended in the air as if gravity had vanished.
Tyler and Carl floated out behind him. But as Austin was half way through the door, the door closed on him with force, cutting him in half.
Bryce, Carl, and Tyler froze in horror. Austin had just died right in front of them. But they couldn't stop, the mansion was collapsing.
It was hard to move while floating, but they managed to find the hallway they used earlier. Bryce reached it first and fell to the floor, the gravity returned to normal. Soon Carl landed beside him.
They waited for Tyler, who was struggling to reach the hallway.
"C'mon, Tyler! Get over here!!" Bryce yelled, tears in his eyes.
Carl was out of breath. He didn't know what to say. Everything was too much.