"Shoot," I stopped a minute into my walk, remembering the last time I was in the stacks as I turned back to Greg.
"Hey, Greg?" I awkwardly shuffled back, feeling all of the atmosphere my statement previously had, draining away in my perception.
"Yes?" Greg looked back from whatever he was doing as I saw a circle of magic fade.
"Do you know where Malphas is?" I saw Greg looking at me confused.
"Well, he would be in the forbidden stacks, but no one's allowed in that area, why?" my lips thinned as I realized I was too general with my question.
"Sorry, I mean how do I meet Malphas or contact him," Greg's confused look faded as he seemed to realize what I wanted.
"Ah, there's a path for authorized personnel near the entrance to the forbidden stacks, but I should probably call him since you're just a volunteer," Greg excused himself, walking over to the desk before he dialed some unknown number in what look like the crystal balls that I saw farther in the library.
"Hello sir... sorry I think you're muted..." I heard Greg say before nodding.
"Yes, I can hear you now... what do I want?" Greg seemed oddly annoyed after that statement as he rubbed the bridge of his nose before sighing.
"The volunteer Azure wanted to see you?... Azure Whispers sir... no there isn't another Azure in the volunteers," I saw Greg's jaw clench ever so slightly.
"Yes sir, I'll send him down now," Greg nodded tensely before slumping as he turned to me.
"Follow please," He started walking before gesturing towards me, and looking at his back I felt a bit of curiosity and concern, taking note of one important thing.
'He seriously has an anger problem,' I thought before walking after him.
**********
"Ah Azure, finally got around to seeing me did you?" The Old Demon looked at me with a disappointed look as a large drop of sweat fell from my nose.
"What do you mean got around to?" I looked at him incredulously.
"I was stuck walking down those stairs for an hour because the lift wouldn't open!" I growled as his brow raised.
"The lift isn't broken, it just takes a long time?" My frustration soared with the statement as I fell onto my back and stared futilely at the ceiling.
"WHAT?!" I saw a purple barrier form around me as I stomped my feet, bouncing the sound back at me, shutting me up before I could even start a rant as I covered my ears.
"Are you done?" I turned to see the bird staring at me with the same look as before only this time, rubbing the sides of his head with irritation.
'Guess this is what I get for trying to help someone,' I nodded reluctantly, feeling slightly less annoyed as I saw his frown before he decided to drop the barrier.
"So are you ready to start your lesson kid?" I looked up at him for a few seconds more, feeling a bit petty only to nod when I realized Malphas was unbothered by my lack of answer.
"Yeah, next time though be more clear on how to get here," He nodded distractedly, turning to what looked like some kind of symbol similar to my air symbols.
"What's this?" I glanced at Malphas confused as he sighed, facepalming.
"It's a magic circle meant for heightening control of magic," He explained before pointing at me.
"And today you'll be using it to learn how to control Oracle magic," I nodded before remembering what he said last time.
"I thought was learning soul magic though?" Malphas sighed before turning to face me.
"Soul magic is a part of the Oracle magic type as a subcategory of its overall uses," I nodded along as he explained before Malphas focused back on me with his glowing eyes.
"You at least understood part of that, right?" I paused for a second as I heard what he said, thinking about it for a moment before nodding, he sighed with relief.
"Good, now step into the circle so I can activate it and guide you, ok?" He gestured to the circle again.
"Got it," I stepped into the circle just as directed.
"Now sit down and close your eyes," I followed his instructions again as I sat down and let darkness consume my sight.
"What now?" I asked as I felt a tingle before the familiar sense of purple- I mean Oracle magic flowed into my skin.
"What the-?!" I panicked, my eyelids trying to shoot up and my body trying to move away from the magic by reflex only to feel my body and eyes not respond.
"What is this?!" I tried to move consciously this time only for that to fail too.
"Calm down kid," I heard Malphas say with boredom as I continued to try to move.
"I said calm down, it's just the circle numbing your body... in a way that'll help you focus your mind on the magic energy around and inside you," I stopped at that.
"Wait, seriously?" I asked confused before I noticed my mouth was still moving.
"Then how issss maah muuttthhh..." I heard a relieved sigh escape from Malphas as I started to feel my mouth close shut on its own.
"Seems like the process finally finished, or should've?" I felt a huge concentration of Oracle magic approach me.
'Wait, felt?' I checked again... yep I could feel the... 'wow, that's A LOT of magic,' feeling it, I knew my jaw would've clenched if I could move as I reexamined the mountainous amount of magic to my side that I knew could have overwhelmed my mind to the point that...
'Let's just say not good things would happen,' I remembered the vague visions and the blood as I thought back to the last time I felt Oracle magic.
"Hey, can you hear me, kid?" Malphas asked before muttering to himself about how stupid it was to ask.
"Well, if you can make sure to not panic once you lose your hearing, I'll be back in an hour to check on you," I felt the mountainous magic move away as I felt the panic that was building leave me.
'Phew, ok good, now I guess I have to wait until my hearing goes?' I thought about that for a second before I realized how stupid that sounded.
'How would I even know when my hearing went?' Confusion and annoyance gradually rose as I thought about it.
'Seriously, it's not like I'm-' Suddenly a surge of true silence hit me like I was dunked into a still sea, shaking me out of my thoughts as I felt nothing but the previous energy that I knew was in the circle.
'Never mind then,' I felt surprised as I shut up and sat there without feeling a thing beyond the magic.
'...oh yeah, I'm supposed to practice magic right?' I realized as I focused back on the magic around me and what I assumed was the magic inside of me before I realized something.
'How do I control Oracle magic?' I realized I had no idea what to do to control the purple energy around me.
'Is it like with my air symbols?' I envisioned the feeling of pulling the purple energy around me closer to where I felt I relatively was as I pulled and pulled and...
'Nothing,' my mental eyebrows creased as I tried again and nothing happened.
'Third time's the charm right?' I tried again and, 'damn it! What am I doing wrong!' I tried again and again and again and again until an hour had passed.
**********
Sound popped into existence as I felt my mind jump, losing grip on the magic again before the purple energy dissipated and my sensitivity dropped to three-quarters of what it was before.
"Hey kid, how's it going?" I groaned mentally, knowing that I couldn't answer that since I couldn't move my mouth.
'How do you think it's going?' I thought sarcastically as I vented my frustration through my thoughts.
'I have no idea how to use this magic despite doing what I always do!' There was a pause as I mentally sighed.
'But of course, you can't-' "Well that's pretty easy to solve, just stop being a moron," I felt myself do a mental double-take.
'You can hear me?!' I screamed, ignoring the insult as I heard a grunt of pain.
"Yeah, so stop yelling," I questioned why he didn't explain that earlier before the hour I spent struggling.
"Because I didn't want you trying to contact me while I rela-busied myself with paperwork," I tried to give him the mental equivalent of a death glare before he sighed.
"Look, to make up for your obvious lack of instinct with magic I'll give you a hint," I felt a mental vein pop at that, but I listened quietly.
"You need to try not to push or pull it, but rather shape it just like how you'd shape a piece of clay, ok?" I tried doing what he said, but felt a weird resistance as I did, not just from the decreased sensitivity and the control it gave, but also from something else...
'What is this?' I tried harder, spinning it faster as it seemed to try and dissipate before I felt a dangerous fluctuation in what I'd identified as my internal magic, feeling something trying to mess with the magic.
'Is that?' I felt the mental image of a dark substance trying to stain my control only for me to work even harder, knowing what it was as I tried to drive it off.
'Oh no you don't!' I focused harder this time, envisioning the clear form of a ring, misty and transient just like the energy that caused the visions I could barely even remember now, fluctuating just like my emotions as I fought harder and harder to drive away the influence until an odd stillness took over in the repetition of my struggle to repeatedly push away the parasitic substance.
'calm...' I felt all fluctuations stop as it stabilized, pushing the inky black substance's influence out of my mind before I felt the ring expanding to a radius about the same length as my numb body.
'...' I stayed silent, almost as if in a trance for what felt like seconds before I felt something odd.
'What is-' My body shook back and forth intensely as I felt my eyes, now in my control again, open to see Raine shaking me.
"Az?" His eyes were filled with concern like usual as I looked at him with confusion before I felt the circle I shaped destabilize, expanding out like a popcorn kernel making my eyes widen.
'Shit!' I tried jumping out of the way, but as Raine was still holding my shoulder I fumbled to the ground with him before letting go of me in surprise.
"Watch out!" I warned as I covered my head, curling up on the ground in anticipation of the magic destabilization that I just knew deep down would explode.
One second passed, then two, then three, and I looked up to see the circle had already disappeared without me feeling it.
"Wait what?" I looked around flabbergasted as I didn't know what to think, focusing on the area around me I found that the magic I sensed so vividly before was reduced to a whisper which wasn't great, but at least it wasn't just seeing magic without sensing it.
"Dangerous boy you have there Whispers," I turned around as I heard the voice speak to see Malphas now holding what I knew was my ring of magic only it was smaller.
"How did you..." I paused as I tried to find the words I needed.
"How did you do that?" He gave me an odd look.
"Do what? Control magic?" He started to bend and shape my ring as it moved around like a flying serpent.
"You see, it's called experience, and an 8-year-old like you doesn't have something like that," I rolled my eyes at the statement.
"I'm 7, not 8," I stated again for the second time since I met him in the break room of the library.
"I doubt it," He rejected before I saw him stop and turn to Raine, who I had almost forgotten about in the chaos of my panic.
"Wait, why are you here Raine?" I felt my eyebrow rise as I looked at him.
"I came to pick you up," I felt even more confused and it seemed to show.
"You know it's almost sunset right?" I felt my eyes widen at that.
"How long was I here?!" I looked back to Malphas in surprise before I noticed a look of amusement from him as he started to speak in an uncharacteristically pleasant way like a kind old man, or in his case old bird.
"A few hours, but that's what happens when you gain such an efficient state of focus with magic shaping," I looked at Malphas with confusion again and turned to Raine who looked to be in some sort of shock.
"He held shaped magic for that long... at his age?" I felt even more confused.
"Is that good?" I asked feeling confused about what was going on before Raine turned to me with a huge smile.
"That's amazing!" Raine said with excitement as he ruffled my hair.
"Do you know how many can draw a circle that large and maintain it at your age?" I felt a sense of pride bubble up as I started to understand what he said, and with my chest puffed out I smiled before a bucket of figurative cold water hit me.
"He's not that special, just a bit talented like a few other Demonlings I know of," I groaned as I heard that.
"-and he was using part of a technique I developed for easy and efficient use of magic that could be compared to a little parlor trick right now which was helped along by the circle giving him a large boost in his senses and control.
'Wow, he really knows how to make a kid feel special,' I thought sarcastically before I felt what I swear was a flick to the back of my head only to turn around and see nothing.
"Ahem, that should conclude our lesson for today, so I hope you'll keep practicing when you get home and just as an incentive for next time, I'll teach you how to sense your soul and others using an elementary spell if you demonstrate enough control to create a solid ring without the help of the circle next time I see you." He smiled down at me "kindly" before leading us to the lift.
"See you tomorrow!" Malphas waved as I just kept staring at him frustratedly until the doors closed and I drifted back to the fledgling sense I had for magic energy.
'Well, at least it was helpful...' I reflected, soon remembering what had happened before my magic lessons and the potential job loss that Gary depended on me to stop... but I'm a kid, and- I slapped my face, getting same concerned look from Raine that he gave earlier without any words to follow it, seeming strange, but I ignored it.
'Stop trying to avoid this, you made a promise to yourself and you're going to keep it,' I lectured myself as I waited for the lift doors to open before resolving myself again.
'I just have to get the thing that's causing problems and help Gary,' I reiterated in my mind as my goal was slowly inching closer with the help of the new addition to my magical senses and new understanding of magic control, feeling I could almost uncover whatever the Janitor was doing.
**********
'Dang it,' I felt frustrated as I walked in for my second day on my volunteer job.
"Cycle the magic and..." I tried sensing what little slivers of magic I could from the weird area by my heart as I spun the magic around for a few seconds before losing a grip on it again.
"Dang it!" I gripped my hair as I groaned in frustration.
'My control sucks just as much as my sensing!' I thought, knowing my ability to sense magic and control it were at similar levels just like Malphas had said yesterday.
'Now I'm never going to get that spell!' I grit my teeth in frustration before making my way to the desk.
'Of course, I wouldn't be able to use it, but it would help a lot if I could have the spell,' I shook my head as I finally arrived and focused on a familiar guy who was sitting behind the counter, filing the info away for another day.
'What was his name again? Oh right, Gary,' I smiled as I turned up to look at him
"Hi Gary," I greeted as Gary looked down from whatever book he was reading with a slightly surprised look like he wasn't expecting someone to talk to him.
"Wait, is that you Newbie?" I nodded at that and his eyes widened in what seemed to be pleasant surprise.
"I didn't think that when Greg told me to watch over the volunteer it'd be you!" Gary explained before he slumped a little.
"-But that also means I'm still the new guy, dang it," I looked at him fascinated by his behavior as he started talking to himself about the pains of being the newbie.
'This is the guy I'm helping?' I thought as I realized why he would be close to losing his job now.
'Especially with how serious Greg is about his job,' I stopped as I thought back to what Gary said moments ago.
"What happened to Greg?" I looked at Gary curiously as he stopped his rant and turned back to me.
"Oh, he's out sick with the common mold," My face changed from curious to confused at that.
"Common mold, What's that?" Gary looked at me oddly as I stood there still confused, my amnesia messing with me yet again.
"You don't know what the common mold is newbie?" I suddenly felt awkward not knowing this as Gary kept staring until he laughed, patting my back.
"Man, you're lucky if you haven't caught it at your age, are you some kind of mold repellent?" I felt myself relax at that before I laughed along.
"So besides this, what are we doing today?" Hearing my question Gary stopped laughing as his face took on a more thoughtful look.
"I believe we need to sort the returned books into the proper shelves around the library," Gary explained as he started walking towards a pile of books that were sitting on the side of the desk.
"Huh, that's a fairly small amount," Gary looked surprised at that as I looked to see multiple stacks of books that were in fact NOT a small amount with them being stacked up to 15-20 at least.
'I'd hate to see what a large amount of books looks like if this is small,' I tried to imagine it but was interrupted by a stack of picture books being placed in front of me.
"Here's your stack," I looked at it questioningly before looking back up at him.
"Why is it all children's books, and how do I know where to put these?" I questioned as Gary realized again that I was just a volunteer.
"Oh, well uh, that's because you're going to the kid's corner to put out these and for your other question, here use this to do it," Gary pulled out a crystal ball before placing it in my hands.
"Make sure to be careful with it, it's a new library indexing tool that I've been using to help with a lot of tasks in the library including locating haunted books," My brow rose as I looked at Gary.
"Why does it to locate haunted books?" Gary covered his mouth at that before gaining a look that screamed 'Quick I need an excuse'.
"Uh, I was just joking, it doesn't have that," he shook his head with an awkward smile as he focused back on the glass orb.
"You probably need some help with using it right?" Gary quickly picked up the crystal ball tool and with what looked like magical energy dyeing the orb like a piece of clothing, it glowed a faint purple light.
"Did you see that?" Gary looked at me with an unexpected purple tinting his eyes like glasses as I nodded.
"Well that was me pushing magic into the ball so just do what I did and ask for help and it should guide you," Gary sent out another wave of magic only this time to pick up his large stack of books.
"Let's meet back here when you're done, ok?" I nodded once again as I watched Gary walk off with his books floating behind him.
'Well that was interesting,' I looked at the orb as I held it.
"So just inject magic?" I started cycling magic before sending it out into the orb through my arm.
"Whoa!" I flinched as suddenly my vision turned a bluish-purple tint.
"Wasn't Gary's just purple though?" I thought about it for a second before shrugging, not being able to come up with an answer.
"It doesn't, let's just get this done," I start walking out to where I remembered the kid's corner was.
**********
"And done," I sighed in contentment as I placed the last book in the section marked by the magic lenses over my eyes.
"This was pretty nice compared to yesterday," I thought back to the long, drawn-out explanations of Greg and then to Gary's hands-off approach.
"I mean compared to Greg's explanations, Gary… well it wasn't as detailed but definitely better since there was an actual task and the crystal ball-" I stopped myself as I remembered what Gary had said.
'Locating haunted books… could it also detect that hazy thing from before?' I felt myself perk up at the idea.
'Maybe I can solve the problem now!' I thought more enthusiastically as I looked around before my eyes stopped at the entrance of the kid's corner that led out to the large library, where the Janitor was lurking, trying to complete his plan to get a good witch fired.
"With this, I'll be able to trace that hazy thing back to him," I smiled, feeling a sense of smugness overtake me as I puffed out my chest.
"Imagine it now, that old man thanking me and teaching me that soul-sensing spell despite my lack of control," I nodded as I felt a hint of anticipation join the smugness before I felt a tap on my shoulder, breaking me out of my delusion.
"Excuse me, can you move?" I turned to an older-looking demon with their kid as I realized I was blocking a bookshelf.
"Oh um, sorry," I felt my smile turn awkward as my emotional high turned to a low when I realized how stupid I probably looked.
'Come on Azure, focus on the mission!' I cleared as I steeled my focus, turning my eyes back on the orb with a determined yet curious look.
"Now, how do I activate the ghost-hunting thing?" I tapped at the crystal ball a few times and when that didn't work I started swiping on the glass, only that didn't work either so I started to shake it as I walked out of the Kid's corner before its glow turned into a shine, making me feel both confused that shaking it might have worked and relief that this wasn't a dead end.
"Finally, now open the haunted book finder thing… please?" I requested, hoping the ball took vocal commands before I noticed text that I hoped was the ghost-hunting function starting up.
"Come on, come on!" I tapped my foot anxiously as I watched the ball finish displaying the text before I read it out.
'Unauthorized spirit nearby, stay vigilant and follow the needed steps…' I looked at it confused, not knowing the needed steps but still looking around for what I hoped was the hazy figure.
"Where is it?" I looked left and right, then behind before stopping and remembering what happened yesterday I looked up with a frown before my eyes widened, spotting a hazy figure in the process of tipping over a metal bucket.
"Shoot!" I jumped out of the way as the bucket hit the floor creating a loud clang before a puddle's-worth of some red liquid that I saw in the corner of my eye soaked my back.
"Newbie!" I heard someone exclaim as I looked up to see Gary above me near where the hazy figure tipped the bucket.
"It's him…" I narrowed my eyes as I realized what happened, my frown growing deeper.
'Trying to add someone else to help frame Gary, huh?' I gritted my teeth as I stood, eyes burning with anger before I stormed towards the Janitor's closet.
'Well, not today!' I sped up to a run as I turned into the same area I remembered being in the day before.
"There!" I shouted, seeing a wisp of the haze pass through the door as I stomped over to the door, opening it to see the Janitor… reading?
I looked closer at the book in his hand to see it was a romance with a guy on the cover that looked similar to the man reading it and an odd-looking creature kissing.
My anger turned into confusion and discomfort as I looked up at the now-startled janitor.
"Wait, don't look!" He put the book behind his back as he looked in both confusion and fear at what I could only assume was the surprising bloodied appearance of a kid barging into his room with an angry face while he was reading what was probably a very private book.
"…" I snapped out of my stupor as I remembered what I saw before, scanning the room with my eyes to see no sign of any hazy figure only stopping when I heard someone clear their throat.
"Hey, kid, who told you that you could come in here?" I turned to the Janitor who was trying to sound threatening, but one look at the arm hiding the book and the menace the janitor gave yesterday was gone.
"Did you see a ghost ghost come in here?" I said, returning his question with my own as he looked at me confused before his eyes widened.
"Ghost?" He looked at me skeptically before seeing the glowing ball that I managed to keep a hold of despite my dive earlier.
"Wait, what?!" He jumped up and looked around anxiously.
"They didn't look at- I mean didn't do something with Oracle magic did they?" I rolled my eyes as I watched him looking around his closet like there was a scrying object hidden somewhere.
"No, I don't see any magic in your room," I glanced around seeing not a trace of purple in the room, besides the book that he was holding out which was in no way magical.
"Oh thank goodness," He slumped before noticing that his book was in the open and placing it behind his back again, leaving me with the impression he wasn't behind the hazy ghost.
"if that's all can you leave, it's my break," He said probably realizing his intimidating act didn't work anymore as he shooed me away, closing the door behind me after handing me what looked to be a rag to clean up what I now knew was apple blood.
"…" I stood in silence for a second as I looked at the door in front of me, holding the rag the Janitor gave me before turning around and walking to the restroom, looking down at the rag in confusion.
'What do I do now?' I reflected on what happened just moments ago, letting the idea that I had found my lead fall and shatter just like my previous assured, smug demeanor as I pushed the male witches' bathroom open.
'The janitor isn't the one doing this, so who is?' I turned a corner in the bathroom, walking over to the sink before reaching up and turning on the faucet but just as I looked up into the mirror I saw a disgruntled man with brown hair and three eyes in a librarian's robe walk out from a stall for bipedal demons with a shifty look in his crazed, red eyes quickly rushing past with what looked to be a creepy book distorted by a haze.
"Wait, is that-?" My eyes widened as I broke out of my thoughts and turned around just as the door to the bathroom closed behind the demon.
'It's him!' I rushed out as my head swiveled left and right to see the person heading towards the library entrance.
"Shoot, he's getting away!" I started running again, trying to close the gap between us only for my vision to be cut off as I bumped into what I knew was a person.
My first thoughts were questioning who blocked me, my second was did this demon work with the guy who escaped, and finally, as I looked up, seeing a concerned Gary I said my third and final thought that captured my realization fully as I gazed at his suddenly dense looking face.
'God damn it.'