“Great, a power outage,” I said nervously and turned on my phone’s flashlight. 

“Shh,” Lucius whispered, grabbing my arm in a tight grip. “Don’t make any noise.”

“It’s just an outage,” I muttered and tried to brush past him into the aisle, but he tightened his grip on my arm and pulled me against his chest. His breath tickled the back of my head.

“It’s a demon,” he hissed. “Turn off your light.”

I couldn’t help but let out a short laugh. There was no way a demon was here. Demon sightings were rare, like a lightning strike. I saw one a few weeks ago. The chances of running into another demon was basically zero.

“Oh, come on. You’re just on edge because an attack happened recently. Just because the lights went out—“

His free hand suddenly covered my mouth. The hand gripping my arm snatched my phone away. 

He was being ridiculous. If a demon were here, we’d hear it. They were notoriously clumsy creatures and the library was full of things to knock over. Not to mention, they weren’t the only ones in the library. If there was a demon sighting, people would be screaming.

I grabbed his hand and tried to pry it from my mouth, but his grip was surprisingly strong.

I bit down hard on his hand, pinching the skin. He grunted and his hand loosened, allowing me to slip from his grasp and stumble into the wall a few steps away. 

“Do that again and I’ll kick you where it really hurts,” I said angrily.

“Nyx, please—“

The lights suddenly flashed on. Lucius' eyes locked onto mine.

I sighed. “See, what did I tell you? Just a—“

Lucius slammed into me, his heavy body dragging me to the floor and launching us a few feet into the aisle. The breath left my body like I’d been punched in the gut, and my fractured ribs screamed in agony from his weight. 

Looking over Lucius’s shoulder, a thick black tentacle lay on the ground where I’d just stood. It stretched up and up to the ceiling, where I met a pair of huge black inset eyes the size of dinner plates, peeking over the tall bookshelf. 

No. No. This couldn’t be happening.

A pit in my stomach formed like lead. Nausea krept up my throat like a threat.

It was impossible. 

Please. Not again. Please…

I watched in horror as the tentacle started to lift.

“Run,” Lucius pushed me away from him, kneeling between me and the demon. 

I scrambled to my feet as I saw the tentacle lash out at Lucius and wrap around his arm, yanking him roughly against the bookshelf. 

“Lucius!” I found myself grabbing his free arm, which in hindsight, wasn’t smart.

I couldn’t out-tug a demon. 

The demon started to lift him up off the ground, dragging him toward its bulging eyes. 

The lights started to flicker again. On, off. On, off. 

Lucius kicked out, pushing me off him. I watched helplessly as he gritted his teeth and reached for the tentacle with his free hand.

He grabbed hold and squeezed.

Burst. The tentacle popped like a balloon in his hand, spewing black liquid down his head. The hold on him loosened and he fell, landing on his feet.

Without another word, he grabbed my hand and pulled me running around the corner and into the aisle towards the exit. He looked determined instead of fearful. 

I felt a premature surge of relief, feeling his strong grip on my hand.

I wasn’t alone this time. We could escape.

But where was everyone? Did they already escape? The library had mostly been empty, sure. But the librarian should have been somewhere nearby. Why couldn’t we hear anyone else?

Just as we passed the last bookshelf, the lights went out again.

Total darkness.

Lucius cursed. “Do you know how to reach the exit?”

“Not in the dark, but…” there was a storage closet close by. 

I tugged him toward the closet, feeling around in the dark with my hands. I felt the cold handle and opened the door as quietly as possible, dragging Lucius inside behind me. 

We shut the door. It was cramped and full of cleaning supplies, with only twenty feet of space to navigate. Buckets and brooms littered the floor and walls, hazards just waiting for us to knock over. We had to be careful not to make any noise.

If survived long enough, surely a Magical Girl would show up like last time. 

They always came.

“Are you hurt?” he whispered in the dark, still holding my hand.

I only realized then how close we were. There wasn’t much space in the closet, so we were forced to stand only an inch apart. I could feel his body heat and breath as it brushed against my face. I resisted the urge to step backwards. If I did, I’d surely knock something over.

“You’re the one that got hurt,” I mumbled, taking my hand from his. My eyes adjusted enough in the darkness to spot a rag near my left leg. I carefully picked it up and hesitantly brought it toward his face.

“You have demon goop on you. It might be poisonous,” I explained awkwardly. 

I didn’t know why, but I expected him to flinch away from my touch. Instead, he leaned closer to me, resting his face against the rag. 

“Thank you,” he said softly. 

My cheeks heated. I was suddenly thankful for the darkness as I gently ran the cloth over his face and hair. He bent down lower so I could reach; his forehead only inches from mine. 

“You’re stronger than you let on,” I said, thinking back to how he crushed the demon’s leg. I thought only Magical Girls could hurt them…

“Ah, yes. It must have been a weak one,” he mumbled, shifting as I started to wipe down his neck. 

“Sorry,” I forced myself to say it, swallowing my pride. “I should have listened to you. Maybe we wouldn’t be in this stupid mess.”

“It’s not your fault.”

I felt his hand touch mine in the darkness, engulfing it. Were his hands always this big? He gently took the rag from my hand, tossing it to the ground.

“I think I’m okay now. Wouldn’t want you to touch it, either.”

Even now, he was kind to me. Guilt washed over me as I thought back to all the sarcastic comments I’d made toward him. 

I guess his nice guy act really wasn’t a facade. Who else would risk their life to protect someone from a demon? 

His body suddenly stiffened.

“Watch out!” he yelled, the loudness of it jolting me alert. His hand whipped out over my shoulder, brushing the top, and slammed into the wall behind me. The vibrations were enough to send several brooms falling to the ground like dominos. 

Too much noise. Way too much.

“What is it?” I hissed, turning my head. In the limited space, I couldn’t see anything behind me.

“A spider was on you.”

It took me a second to fully comprehend his stupidity.

“A spider?!” I grabbed his shirt angrily, wanting to hit him. “The demon could have heard you!”

He looked surprised. “But spiders are deadly to humans—“

“Not all spiders!!” I said, much too loudly.

Crash.