The first few hours of my new job were uneventful, at best. I started by reorganizing the bookshelves I had noticed when I first showed up, since that was my biggest problem with the place. I had no specific orders from Serina, since she had run off in such a hurry, but there was still plenty to do around the place. 

By the time I ran out of minuscule tasks to complete, I was incredibly bored- that is, until the voices started. 

"What do you meeeeeean I can't say hi?"

"Serina specifically warned us to avoid any contact with her new employee so as not to cause confusion." 

"But LUKIEEEE I just want to introduce myself! Is that so bad?" 

"In this situation, YES! YES IT IS!" 

"Whatever, I don't have to listen to yoouuuu."

"YES YOU D- PAIGE I SWEAR IF YOU JUMP INTO THAT BOOK! Aaaaand she's gone. Crap, Seri's gonna killll me." 

I'm going crazy. 

I'm going crazy. 

I'm going crazy. 

That was the only logical explanation to the full-blown arguement I had heard somewhere in the store, despite the lack of visitors or any other entrances into the building. I tried to push it off as my nerves getting to me, but there was no explaining away those voices, and it was freaking. me. out. 

To try and calm myself down, I decided to take a break for a much-needed breather. I was in a bookstore after all, so I might as well take a peek at what the place was stocking, you know? I scanned the shelves and grabbed a fairly generic fantasy novel about some faction of wizards trying to defeat an evil king, plopped down in the seat I had picked before, and got to reading. 

About five seconds after I had opened the cover, I had to rub my eyes to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. It seemed as if the words were melting straight off the page, forming a black smear of ink near the bottom of the paper. What kind of book was this?! I dropped the novel on the ground and nearly tipped over the chair in a panic before a light voice pulled me back to reality. 

"Hiya mister!" The voice called. I looked around, trying to find the source of the noise before I heard a sigh and a quick "DOWN HERE!" I couldn't help but slowly turn my head back to the book now askew on the ground. 

There, sitting in front of me, was a young, moving person on the pages of the book. 

Yeah, I'll admit it. I screamed like a little girl. 

The person burst into high-pitched fits of laughter, rolling from one side of the book to the other and almost trailing letters as she moved. At this point my fear began to slowly melt into curiosity at what- or who- this person was. So, like any other person would, I tentatively picked up the book by one corner. 

"WHOA WHOA EASY THERE! Don't drop me!" The figure shouted, who now had more distinct features than her previous bland humanoid shape. It appeared to be a young girl, with straight hair and large eyes beaming with wonder and excitement. She watched me carefully, her gaze following my every movement. 

"W-What the hell?!" I stuttered out, but the girl continued to laugh. 

"My name's Paige, and I happen to live here so I thought I might as well be courteous and say hi!" She replied, followed by another giggle. 

"Who the hell says hello like that?!" I screamed, my hands shaking as my grip on the book's cover tightened. 

"Well, a ghost apparently. Sorry, I'm not very good at this whole talking to people stuff..." She blushed a light grey tone, then went back to her cheery mood. 

"OH! Before I forget, this book? SUPER BORING! The first half is fairly interesting but once it starts building up to the climax you really begin to see the lack of development in its lead protagonists as well as the one-dimensional nature of the villain in both his personality and schemes. There are so many better books to look at!" The girl jumped around in a circle, continuing her babbling about the story while I nervously nodded my head and looked for the nearest trash bin. Before I could even get out of my seat, Paige looked at me again. 

"Let ME pick something out for you!" Suddenly the cover of the book glowed a light blue before the light bounced out of the book and over to one of the nearby shelves. When I looked down back at the pages, the story had returned to its original form, with no sign of Paige to be seen. While I examined this discovery, the blue light bounced from one book to the next, flinging them off the shelves before they began to float a few feet away from me. I looked up at this and nearly had a heart attack. By the time Paige returned to the book in my hands, I was ready to find a new job. 

"So, take your pick! You can choose any one you want!" She gestured around at the various stories floating about." 

I struggled for a bit, then decided that the only thing I needed to choose was the door. I jumped out of my seat and bolted for the front entrance, only to run into something on my way. I tumbled down to the floor, shaking my head from the impact before looking up and finding myself in the glare of Serina Von Richter.