Page 16 of House of Ydril

“It’s alright,” she says, looking at me with suspicion in her eyes. “As long as you put it down.”

Very carefully, I place the diary on my desk and take a single step towards the woman. The differences are subtle, but there’s definitely something weird about the way light reflects off her body.

“Take a picture, why don’t you?” she says dryly.

“I’m really sorry,” I repeat absentmindedly, my mind racing. “It’s just,” I start, not really knowing where I’m going with it. “I guess I’ve never seen anyone...” I struggle to find words that wouldn’t offend her. “Like you before.”

She ignores my words. “How did you get here? Did you use the Pull?” she squints at me, barely moving a muscle as she carefully takes in her surroundings.

“How didIget here?” I let out a little laugh. “How did you? Are you a genie or something?”

That makes a little laugh escape her lips as well. “Genie. Seriously?”

“Sorry,” I apologize, again. I take a cautious step towards her. She doesn’t seem dangerous and she’s actually quite young. Twenty five tops. “I don’t really know much about all this crap.”

“And I guess you have a foul mouth as well.”

“Hey,” I protest. “It’s you who showed up in my room uninvited. I don’t think you have the right to tell me how to speak.”

“This ismyroom,” she snaps back, but she says it under her breath and without looking at me, as if she’s mulling it over.

I frown. “I don’t get it. This room was assigned to me and it was empty when I got here.”

“What year is it?” she asks as she takes a step towards me, still squinting at me like I am the intruder here.

“Twenty twenty three.”

I see the surprise in her eyes. Without a word, she straightens and tries to tap one of her runes. Nothing happens. “So I must be dead then,” she says as she turns back to me.

She says it in such a flat voice that I can’t help but feel a weird sort of admiration for her. “Dead?” I hear my voice echo her words.

“There’s no other explanation,” she says as she takes another step closer to me. “What did you do?”

The tone of her voice is accusing. And that pisses me off. “What the fuck are you implying?”

“Calm down,” she commands me.Commands. “I didn’t say you killed me. As far as I know, I may have died of natural causes. But I’m almost positive that it was you who brought me here.”

“For fuck’s sake,” I can’t help but yell at her as I grab the runes hanging around my neck. “See these? I couldn’t use them if my life depended on it. How the hell do you think I’d be able to make them summon some self-important ghost?”

For a second, she just looks at me. Then, to my surprise, the look in her eyes softens. I swear to god she almost smiles before she says, “Alright, no need to excite yourself.”

She turns around and takes a seat on the edge of my bed. “However, I am some sort of ghost and it’s obvious that you’re the reason I’m here.” I just keep standing there, confused as fuck.

After a moment of silence, I see her eyes lit up and she turns to me to ask, “Is there something you need? Something that might have brought me here to you?”

I frown.ThisI did not expect. “Um,” I start, but then burst out laughing. “I don’t know why any of it would have anything to do withyou.”

Without taking my eyes off her, I sit on the chair in front of my desk. She doesn’t say anything. She just looks at me with that commanding expression on her face.

“I guess there’s a lot of things I need right now. I need to learn how to use these,” I start as I motion at my runes, “mostly because I need to survive the Trials.”

“So you’ve been chosen. Alright,” she drawls. “And?”

“And when I first got here, there were these books waiting for me, but I’ve no idea who left them to me because the magic can’t be traced.”

Even before I finish, I see a spark of interest in her eyes. “Really? And you found no note, nothing?”

“Nothing.”

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