Thoughts and Discoveries

With the day dawning on the horizon, Grace decided to stay right there in the kitchen, with no intention of going back to sleep or lying down to rest, despite having had the visions in the early hours of the morning and practically throwing herself on the floor, her head wasn't hurting or anything like that, the worst that could happen was that a migraine would start to become more prominent as the day went on. Both adults had their obligations, Viktor was going to prepare to make some reports on the case he was commanded and make a request for a few days of leave to his superior in the department, while Grace was hoping to get in touch with Pierre to find out if he knew about any books that his grandparents or someone in his family had left there.

Earlier, Viktor had said that she could use the kitchen to her advantage and prepare whatever she wanted to make so she could eat. Which was helping her a lot, since Grace wasn't someone who ate exorbitant amounts in the morning and sometimes ended up not even eating, which was her case now, since last night she had eaten more than her normal amount. Hunger and tiredness did that for her and having the freedom to snack on something could be satisfying.

Instead of making something to eat, Grace prepared a hot coffee with the machine that she had in the kitchen. Fortunately, the equipment that Viktor had in her kitchen was new and was all in perfect condition despite little use in the past years, a little different from her house, since most of the things she had were old, things that she was exchanging according to time and her financial condition. Now that would be the last of her worries as she would need to pay for a new cell phone and repairs to the living room and her books.

Grace had a lot to think about. All the things Viktor had told her stuck in her mind as if it were a vine that spread across a brick wall, branching out in all directions, weaving itself into every corner that wherever you looked, there was something present there to remind you of what the problem was. The whole situation around her family was making her think twice, there were so many things she didn't know about her own family members, she didn't know the history of the house where she lived, a house that had passed through several generations, that people had died there and she was in the dark about these issues.

She tried, but it was difficult to understand or rationalize why her grandfather, to whom she was closest since the death of her parents and grandmother, hid all of this from her. Grace could think of all the reasons, reasons and excuses why this happened. The coffee she drank every few seconds brought her to the reality of her thoughts, they were between Oliver's murder, Lucien's betrayal and everything that culminated in the death of two of the three brothers of a generation.

Grace got up from the chair she was in and went to get more coffee, adding more powder to the machine and a little more water and activating it to start preparing the coffee. Her thoughts still continued to return to the situation that happened in the mansion, she could not and could not understand the pain that Ezden felt when he saw my beloved die in front of him, it was a pain that she could neither imagine nor measure the sensation, but she remembered well the anguish that was present in the memory, the pain in Ezden's eyes and the shrill scream that Oliver let out when he felt the dagger being stuck in his chest.

Returning to the chair she was in, Grace sat down, lifting one leg to support one of her arms while the other was being used to drink her coffee. In the background, she could hear the noise of Viktor's notebook keys, before the sun rose, he had explained a lot of things to her, things like the law of shadows and his judgments. One thing that left her quite impressed, according to Viktor, he had never seen the world of shadows, but his mother, who was a hunter, explained a lot of things to him. According to her, it was a dangerous place and no human wizard could cross to the other side without consequences. The shadows, in their entirety, were the world of souls, the place where the spirits of those who died wander around waiting for a judgment to know if they would go to reincarnation or to the pit of the judged, as they liked to call it.

It was at this trial that Lucien was sentenced to the well. Despite being two distinct worlds, the judges communicated with some wizards who were able to communicate with the shadows through the veil, whether they were hunters or guardians, they remained as mediators, used to maintain peace between the worlds. The judges were very impartial in their conviction of Lucien, mainly due to his association with the enemy, in this case, Lazarus. Grace ended up asking Viktor if he knew why the specter of Lazarus hadn't been judged yet and, unfortunately, he replied that he didn't know.

Her plans for the day were simpler than what she usually did. Grace decided that she would accept her role in all this madness. She realized that this wasn't just about her, it didn't just affect her, as she herself had realized, people died and sacrificed themselves for this. His grandfather, Oliver's ghost, his distant relatives, Elisa too, although she was not completely trustworthy, but she had been placed in several crime scenes to be incriminated in the place of the real culprit, and finally, Viktor, who even though he had nothing to do with the whole story, he was putting his job on the line and his police career to throw himself into an adventure with a girl he had known for less than two full days.

After finishing her coffee, Grace washed her cup and placed it on the drying rack. She was already thinking about what to wear for the day and about going to her house and getting some changes of clothes, the boy and Elisa said that it would be very dangerous for her to be alone at home, that there could be an attack and she would not be able to protect herself, this scared her a little, realizing that she was vulnerable, but Elisa reassured her, telling her that they would start their training in the morning of the next day. They already had all of this organized since they left Mother Mortis' house, they spoke to the elderly woman and asked if they could do the training at the lady's house, which made her smile and say that she would be more than happy to welcome them to her house to train someone as strong as a Valefar.

Now she had a new mission, to look for an outfit for herself among all those flowery clothes that didn't do anything for her style, but who would she be to complain when she was getting a free pass on clothes. Going to the room where she was, Grace began to study the clothes that were there, they were all very beautiful and of great quality, they exuded femininity beyond the point, which contrasted absurdly with her own Gothic style.

Looking hard, she managed to find a black denim jumpsuit and a white blouse, which she managed to match perfectly with her sneakers which were the only thing she was wearing, besides being barefoot. After having her clothes ready, Grace went to the bathroom to fix her hair, a hand wet with water and a good comb made her waves straighten out as much as possible without a cream to add definition.

Now, all that was left was for Viktor to be ready. He insisted on going with her to the library, emphasizing the importance of protection. Grace knew deep down it was just because he was curious.

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Grace and Viktor got out of the car. Being early in the morning, they had their share of spectators who were craning their necks as if they were catching up on the latest gossip of the year. Valefar could only roll her eyes, even though everyone in the city was very respectful and had the decency to only gossip about you behind your back, but she understood, it wasn't every day that a person like Viktor appeared in the city and even more so accompanied by the “weirdo”.

Entering the library, both adults were spotted by Pierre, who didn't take even a second to come and talk to them.

“Grace! Girl where have you been? I have called you several times, our order is due to arrive this week, they were a little late in delivery.” Pierre started with Grace, speaking in his usual grandfatherly tone, but soon captured the person of Viktor standing behind her, and started talking to him. “Ah, I'm sorry, I hadn't seen you. Who would you be?”

“Viktor.” The investigator offered his hand to Pierre. The man, looking with a look of curiosity, accepted his hand and placed the other on top, cradling the boy's hand like a sandwich.

“Nice to meet you, Viktor. You seem like a good person. My name is Pierre, I’m the owner of this library.” Releasing Viktor's hands, he continued, "Are you and Grace friends?"

“Yes we are!” Grace responded quickly. She had known Pierre since she could remember and since she started working there, she knew that if she talked to him a lot, she could set aside an entire afternoon just to talk to him and have her life invaded by the questions Pierre asked.

“Oh, great. Speaking of which, Grace, honey, I'm so sorry about your grandfather. I found out from the neighbors, you know how loose-tongued they are. But, tell me, do you already know what happened to him?” Pierre asked.

Grace froze in place. She hadn't yet been confronted with that question, and honestly, she didn't know how to respond. Instinctively, she looked at Viktor, who looked a little surprised despite his frown.

“Eh…” Grace looked around, avoiding eye contact with Pierre. She was a terrible liar. “They are still investigating! You knew, right? The house was invaded, everything was terribly bad there, I couldn't even go to the funeral, it was something that really affected me. But they are investigating to find out who did it.” Grace shook her head and in her words there was a tone of hope, hoping to convey credibility to Pierre.

“Ah, I understand. But it’s good that the authorities are already taking care of the case.” Pierre smiled without showing his teeth. “But what brings you here today? I was hoping you wouldn’t be around for a good few weeks.”

“Ah, I'm looking for a book, one that my grandfather really liked and I would like to know if you have it here in the library, perhaps in the older books section. I was remembering that he told me stories from that book and I felt melancholy today and Viktor accompanied me.”

Pierre made a noise in his throat in agreement. “I don't know, but you can take a look, feel free, today we are very vague, especially in that part.”

Grace thanked Pierre. She and Viktor started walking towards the back of the library, but stopped before they could get very far when the man called them. “Oh and, Grace, anything you need and I can help with, don’t hesitate to get in touch, okay?”

She smiled and continued walking. Viktor was now a little further ahead than her, as he had taken a few more steps forward since Pierre called her. From where she was, she had a view of the man, she started to walk a little behind him, but didn't take her eyes off his persona, she could observe the tattoos on his forearms that were now uncovered. Today he was wearing a dark blue short-sleeved shirt and black jeans. His hands were in his pockets and his posture was relaxed.

He looked fine.

Very well indeed. If she was sincere.

“You are a terrible liar.” Viktor spoke to her without looking at Grace. He knew where the old book area was where the woman thought the diary was and didn't need her to guide him.

"What?" She took her eyes off him. Quickening your step so you could stand next to him, taking advantage of their proximity so you could speak more quietly.

“I said you’re a terrible liar. You were a little inattentive when you went to tell him and you seemed very excited for someone who lost a grandparent.” He spoke to her, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. “Well, not that everyone reacts the same way to death, but it got a little strange.”

Grace understood what he was getting at, it really had gotten a little awkward and she was nervous, but maybe she had been convincing enough. “Ah, I have an excuse, I’ve seen so many people die that I’ve become a little insensitive.”

“That was heavy.” Viktor turned his head to look at her. Grace shrugged, she wasn't the type of person who cried or complained about different situations, she had already cried, been dehydrated, had been sad and was going through grief. Death has always been something normal for her, it was a second phase and that was okay.

"I know that. But come on, I'll have to look for it a bit and I have no idea where it is. If you want, you can see some things here, there are some detective novels if you like or whatever.” Grace offered a second option to Viktor, he could not find the book as it would only reveal his true integrity to a Valefar.

Viktor nodded and headed off towards the other runners, heading back in the direction they came from.

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Grace had been searching for over an hour looking for the diary. The search was very difficult and she was already getting a little tired, she was trying her best to remember the memory that Oliver had given her.

From her memory, she could remember high shelves and some artificial lamps that were attached to the shelves to provide good lighting at the back of the library. Although it was a good hint as to where it could be, the problem was that all the shelves had these lamps.

This was already the tenth shelf she had been looking at and she still hadn't found anything. At first she was excited to find the diary but now her excitement was slowly fading. She wished she could talk to Oliver and ask if he knew where he was, but she didn't know how to contact him.

Something crossed his mind, an idea. Grace went to the fantasy books section, but the shelves at the back of the hallway were close to the wall. It looked like the vision she had seen, darker than the other sections, the lamplight more vibrant and the books older-looking.

Grace was even more happy with the possibility that she was close, but there were still around 150 to 300 books on those shelves of the bookshelf. The shelves were wide. Now the work would be more difficult as she would have to go from book to book to see if it was what she was looking for.

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After taking almost 100 books out of their place and putting them back in, Grace finally found the Diary. It was something simple, discreet, a moss green cover with gold details. The cover had signs of use, Ezren's name was practically erased, leaving only the relief where it had been engraved. Grace broke into a smile when she realized that she had finally found the damn book she had been racking her brain to find.

Leaving the book aisle, she looked for a table nearby so she could sit and assess the situation of the book. Grace felt that she should wear gloves to handle the book, she felt like she was opening a relic, the feeling of holding onto something nostalgic permeated her veins, she could feel the joy in her veins. Grace cracked a smile at the prospect.

Opening the book, she came across some notes with Ezren's name written at the end of the page, turning the second page, some drawings were on the page, probably drawn with charcoal due to the roughness of the lines. After turning a few more pages, Grace's eyebrows furrowed, she was super confused, going back a few more pages, moving a few more forward, she finally realized that they were all jumbled up.

“What the fuck…” Grace analyzed the pages, they didn’t seem to have been torn out and placed randomly, but they also didn’t seem to have been written that way, because there were some writings that continued on other pages, drawings that were missing half, charms that didn’t have an ending.

Finding a few pages that were complete, Grace asked her ancestors to forgive her before she could finally do what crossed her mind. Valefar pulled one of the pages, but her surprise increased when the page didn't even move, she applied more force and the pages remained in their integrity.

Remembering her own profession, Grace went back to the cover and began poking the cover to see if it would come loose from the thicker paper that supported the cover. Seeing that it was, she soon realized that she would be able to deconstruct the entire book and put it together correctly and with the help of Viktor and Elisa she could put the book back together without errors.

Before Grace could notice anything, the lamp lights on the shelves began to flicker and it became a little colder. Her senses of self-preservation were heightened when she felt the cold hit her skin and her hair stood on end, the woman raised her head and looked around and then at a lamp that began to blink again. She didn't understand what was happening and didn't want to wait to find out.

Grace got up from the chair where she was sitting, grabbed the diary and ran from where she was. She ran a little slowly but not so much as to walk again at one pace, she was looking to see if she could find Viktor there. Further in front of the library, she could see her friend sitting on a bean bag in the fantasy books section. Grace wasted no time in rushing there, surprising Viktor with her sudden arrival.

The boy took his eyes off the book and fixed them on her, still without lowering the book from where it was close to his face.

“What are you doing here? It looks like you saw a ghost.” Viktor spoke calmly.

“Yeah, maybe I saw it?” Grace explained awkwardly, sitting on the stool that was there in the area. She placed the book between her legs and rested her elbows on her knees and her hands supported her head.

“Did something happen back there?”

“The lights started flickering and it got a little colder than the air conditioning. I wouldn’t stay there to find out if there was anything.” Grace explained.

Viktor couldn't help himself and let out a snort of amusement before a low chuckle sounded and he hid his face with the book. Grace, feeling amusement, leaned forward and patted the boy's forearm.

“Hey, you can’t laugh about that! I was scared, okay?”

Grace could have scolded the boy for laughing at her situation, but she wouldn't deny that now that she had run, even she found it all funny.