Chapter 37

We spent the next several hours planning and packing our few belongings.

"What about the books?" I asked Archer as he crossed back and forth through the kitchen.

"Those aren't ours. They were here when we got here."

"You mean someone just left them?" I stared at them through Sasha's eyes as I stood before them, incredulous that someone could abandon so many.

"Well, books don't travel well to the afterlife."

"Oh. The person before..."

"Died. He was older, I think, maybe senile, and wandered right into the Crimson Forest."

I brushed my hand over them, feeling the worn spines and the letters etched into them. My favorite as a kid had been thick and green with golden lettering on the cover. I couldn't remember what it was called, or anything else about it really, or even who'd read it to me since that was long before Jade. But I remembered I loved it and felt a rush of excitement when I hugged it to my chest. Maybe it was here.