We found ourselves walking through the woods around the town a few minutes later. I had a camera out that I usually use for things like this, and I was taking a few photos of the area while doing my best to avoid missing anything. It looks like an ordinary camera, but it was designed with magic in mind and can be used to send photos to Scarlon, regardless of where he is.

"Is this the right section, Akiyomi?" I asked as I examined the area around us.

"I think so." Akiyomi said, though she sounded a little unsure. "I can't remember exactly where I was when I heard those voices, but I remember that it was near some of the older trees." Sure enough, we were in one of the oldest sections of the woods.

I looked around as I kept taking pictures, though I was feeling uneasy. Being a magic user even before I knew what I could do, my senses have always gone crazy while going through the woods. I found out shortly after my training began that many magical creatures and magic practitioners pass through that place regularly, and my senses were picking that up. This time was a little different. I could feel something around me that was unlike anything I'd come across there before. "You're probably not that far off. I'm not far in my training yet, but I can definitely sense something here". I said as I looked in the direction of some of the oldest trees that were there long before the town was, and the town's history can be traced back almost a thousand years. I took a bunch of pictures before getting closer and peeking through the trees, spotting several things that I knew should not be there. The first was a strange drawing on the ground with several candle holders along the edge of it. Even most non-magic users I know can spot a summoning portal when they see one since they're one of the more well known forms of magic here, and I sensed something nearby that made it clear that the portal had been used recently. A violent presence. I hastily took several pictures of the clearing before running back to Akiyomi as fast as I could.

"I take it you found something?" She asked, noticing that I was panting by the time I got to her.

"Oh yeah." I gasped as I pointed toward the trees. "There's a summoning portal just past there. I would get closer, but one of the first things I was taught is that you never charge into these things until you know what you're dealing with. I was especially warned about approaching unattended summoning portals. There's no telling where you'll end up."

"Sounds like the twins are good teachers." She remarked.

"You can definitely say that." I replied.

Akiyomi watched as I gathered some of the pictures in a message and sent them to Scarlon. "So...I take it we should get out of here?" She asked as I looked up.

"Definitely." I replied. "Preferably before whatever is in here grows wise to our presence and finds out what we're up to."

"Don't they know that already?" Akiyomi asked. "I've heard reports of monsters snatching up anyone who passes through their area."

"Possibly." I began. "But according to Scarlon and his sister, only monsters who are complete fools do that. They say that most of them try to avoid drawing attention to themselves in that way since those that do often end up dead, and quickly. Especially when those two are nearby."

"I suppose that makes sense since I imagine it would be pretty hard to conceal your presence somewhere if everyone who passes by either disappears or turns up dead." She laughed.

Exactly. We've actually caught a few people and monsters that way." I said. "Now let's get out of here! The odds are slim that we'd run into trouble, but I'm not one for taking unnecessary chances."

We ran out of the woods and to the nearby high school that both of us attend. Though the building looks somewhat recent at first glance, the style it was built in shows that it was built a few centuries ago when the town was already quite old.

I looked at Scarlon's list as we entered the building. "Now let's see. The next task Scarlon has for us is to find out which books your friends checked out."

"Our best chance at that would be the library." Akiyomi said. "Think you can meet me there during lunch?"

"I should be able to. If I don't at least try, I'll never hear the end of it. Not to mention I don't want to experience another one of his training exercises." I laughed.

She chuckled. "Ah. The famous Demalgo training exercises. Grandpa's told me a lot about those and even threatened to subject me to them a few times."

"Oh wow. I don't want to know what you did for that."

She shook her head. "Well, we can at least make an effort. I'll see you over there later?"

I nodded. "If everything goes well."

"Perfect. See you then."

Akiyomi and I walked in separate directions toward our respective classes. Few events of note happened, they rarely do at that place, and we soon met up in front of the library during lunch. I saw that Akiyomi was already there, sitting on one of the chairs near the entrance and reading a book by the time I arrived.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." I said apologetically. "I'd almost forgotten how far this place is from my classes."

"Don't worry. I just got here myself." She quickly replied, though I doubted it since it looked like she had been there for awhile. "Anyway, Shall we head in?"

I nodded and we went into the library.

Many rows of shelves that seemed to go on forever and in all directions could be seen as soon as we entered the library. Books of all sizes and conditions were spread across the shelves and tables with computer desks spread throughout the place. A large desk was near the entrance and a middle-aged woman with glasses was standing behind it, looking at us. That woman was and is the school's head librarian, Mrs. Jaless. She is one of the most observant women I've ever come across. There is hardly a thing that goes on in the area that she does not know about. Since we needed her help, we approached the desk.

"Well I'll be." Mrs. Jaless began as she looked at us. "Mr. Renaud and Miss Arizuno. That's a combination I never expected to see, particularly since you're a year apart and you don't share any classes or activities."

"I guess it is a little odd, but we're here on business." I said.

"Ah. Something related to your field?" She asked.

I nodded. "Indeed it is."

"Yes. Do you remember some of my friends who stopped showing up a few weeks ago?" Akiyomi asked.

Mrs. Jaless nodded. "I believe I do. Aidan Grant, Tegan Hill, and Kinoka Tazume. You're referring to those three, correct?"

"Correct, ma'am." Akiyomi began. "They came here a few days before things started getting weird. Can you tell us what books they checked out last? We think they might be connected to this."

Mrs. Jaless glared at her. "You should know that I can't do that, Miss Arizuno. While we do keep records of that stuff, we can't show them to the public for reader privacy."

"I know, but this is a matter of grave importance."

"I'm sure it is." Mrs Jaless sighed before looking at me. "Are you here on your friend's orders?"

"We are. It's needed for one of his investigations" I said, having no problem saying that since she has always known about magic and the supernatural. I didn't know why at the time, but I would find out a short time later. However, that's a story best left for another time.

"I see." She said before remaining silent for a moment. "I can't directly give you that information since it could cost me my job along with a host of unneeded headaches, but you might want to try one of those computers.

I watched as she pointed to a desk near some bookshelves that looked older than half the people in the school, and there's a few full elves there. "Really? Why those?" I asked.

"The main computers were down a few weeks ago and we had to use some of the student computers for some of the main library functions. I can't be a hundred percent certain, but I believe the tech guys have yet to get around to removing some bits of access from them yet given how busy they've been lately." Mrs Jaless explained.

"So we might be able to access the database from there?" Akiyomi asked.

"Who knows? But it is possible. You didn't hear that from me." Mrs. Jaless said before going the back room of the library.

"That was interesting, but think we'll get anywhere with this?" Akiyomi asked.

"There's only one way to find out." We then headed over to a computer by the old shelves. "Are you any good at this stuff, Miss Arizuno?" I asked, being a little unsure of my own skills with technology and how it would react to magic since barely trained magic and electronics are a bad combination.

"A bit. Let's see what I can do." Akiyomi said as she sat down at the computer desk and started going through things before coming across a few hidden programs. "Ah. I think we have something, Colin." She grinned. "Mrs Jaless was right when she said that the I.T. people haven't gotten around to removing access yet." She smirked as she clicked on a few icons and watched as what appeared to be a database showed up on the screen.

"Looks like we hit the jackpot!" I smirked. "While I can think of a few uses for this, we will only be getting what we need and nothing more."

Akiyomi nodded. "Right. Now let's see what they checked out." She looked up her friends' profiles and started writing down the last books they checked out before handing the list to me. I looked at the list and saw that there were seven books in total.

"Hmmm. Seven books of interest and it looks like only three of them are in the library right now. I'll see what I can find out about the other four." Akiyomi said as she pulled up a web browser and started searching for information on those books.

"I'll see if I can find some of these in the meantime." I said, disappearing into the shelves and coming back with three books a few minutes later. "Here we are. All three of them. While they are indeed on the occult, there's nothing really unique about them." I said, remembering that I had read a couple of them some time ago and thought they were nothing special. Loaded with tons of inaccuracies, too. "Anything on the others?"

She shook her head. "I found scans of two of them in the database, but they're both relatively recent books with nothing all that interesting about them and were apparently written by people the magic community wants nothing to do with. However, I found that one of them was still checked out to my friends and I tried researching it. I found absolutely nothing about that one at all other than occasional weird posts online saying it's dangerous and to stay away from the thing."

"That...is definitely something worth reporting to Scarlon." I said as I took out the list of books. "Which one is it?"

She circled a title near the bottom of the list. "This one."

I nodded as I looked at it. It was written in some strange language that I know nothing about. "Then let's bring this up to him."