Tenth Caste Chapter 3

8/13/2019 Tenth Caste Chapter 3

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Chapter 3: IsolationWe're all islands shouting lies to each other across seas of misunderstanding.

Rudyard Kipling

Jim awakens with a start, his heart racing, his head still ringing from the screams that had caused him toblackout. He looks around to see that he is in another store, Bella is nowhere to be seen. He looks downto find that he is still clutching the book tightly in his hand. It was the book of myths and legends aroundthe world that was gi ing to him as a gift from the children of the orphanage school in Ira!.

"ooking at the book Jim reli ed the screams from earlier, screams he ne er actually heard, but hauntede ery night and would fore er.

It was during his first assignment in Ira! that he had took notice of the orphanage. His mission was toperch atop buildings and watch the checkpoints into the town he was in. But e ery so often, he foundhimself turning his scope towards the children laughing and playing inside the courtyard of the orphanage,seeing them through the crosshairs.

#o anyone, it may ha e seem sinister, but it was all completely innocent. Jim was still getting o er thenews of his girlfriend telling him she was going to abort her pregnancy, his child, and it $ust brought asmile to him to see these children smiling and happy, amid all this pain and war.

#he woman who ran the orphanage was a woman maybe three or four years older than Jim at the time,maybe %& to %'. (he had long, shiny black hair and the most beautiful brown eyes, they always shinedbrightest as she looked upon the children in her care, always smiling down on them. He later learned hername was )arah.

Jim always thought of his mother when he saw her, but also of "auren and wishing she could ha e beenthis gi ing, to open her heart to a child.

*ne day, Jim heard shouts coming from the orphanage. #urning his scope away from his ob$ecti e, hesees a man dragging )arah by her hair out into the street. He was carrying a knife, shouting at her in

+rabic. #he children were closely following behind the man and their teacher, sobbing and seeminglypleading with the man. #hey so wanted to rush to her aid, but they were to small and were afraid of whatthe man would do to them if they got too close.

ith her out in the street, the man starts calling attention to e eryone walking around. -ost seemed asmall bit concerned but others seemed to not really care at all. Hoisting )arah up he holds the blade toher throat, the man shouts out to crowd, proclaiming something, ranting like a madman. Jim couldn tbelie e what he was seeing, how could anyone want to hurt this kind woman, and e en if they wantedtoo, what ga e them the right to lay e en one finger on her. (he was the only thing to a mother thesechildren had and this monster was threatening to take it away.

Jim already had his sights set perfectly on the man s head, as the anger boiled in him at this sickeningdisplay, he didn t e en think twice as he took the shot, killing the man dead. +s the maniac went down,)arah collapsed beside him. Jim watched as the children rushed around her, protecting her from theunseen sniper, afraid perhaps they had missed their target. Jim smiled at their courage and put his gunaway, they had nothing to fear from him.

"ater, he was sent to his commanding officer at the time and he was not pleased at what Jim had done./ot only had Jim turned away from his post, he had also upset the citi0enry. +pparently what Jim hadinterrupted was what was known as an 1Honor 2illing1, )arah had re$ected the man, who was chosen as


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her husband and so the man was entitled by many s opinion to take her life for the insult. Jim couldn tbelie e that, it was the most insane thing he had e er heard, barbaric.

His tells his C* that he couldn t seriously ha e allowed a woman to be killed on the streets. hat was thepoint of fighting this war of that kind of madness could be allowed. #he Commander, tells Jim that his dutyis to maintain watch of the border and that what happens beyond that is none of their direct concern.

Jim then gi es his C* some rather choice words. /eedless to say that did not go o er well and Jim wasreassigned to actual combat. #hey day he was going to be shipped out, he actually met )arah and thechildren. Her english was surprising good as she thanked him for sa ing her life. (he then got the childrento say thank you as well, in unison. #heir english was as good, but Jim foudn it rather cute that they wouldtry. )inally they presented him with the book, which he found odd at first, but understood when they toldhim it was their most pri0ed story book and they wanted him to ha e it.

+ccepting the book, he then !uickly said his thank yous and was shipped off, watching them fade awayinto the rising dust. It would be the last time he would see them. He would $oin Jack s company andshortly lose his leg. (i months after coming home, he read in the paper that an e plosion had destroyedthe orphanage killing e eryone inside. It was a retaliation to the death of the man, who was known toha e ties to terrorists in the area. It was his fault they were dead and e er since their screams ha ehaunted him e ery night in his dreams, along with the images of the monster within the pages.

But he ne er resented the book, e en now in this store, he clutched it tightly to him self and sobbed,muttering, 1I m sorry... I m so sorry...1 )or a moment, he was grateful that Bella or Jason were nowhere tobe found. He didn t want them to see him like this, not this wreck.

Jim took a few minutes to a calm himself, wiping the tears from his eyes. He then pulls himself up andgoes to the front door, it was locked. It was at the door that Jim then noticed the bookmark inside thebook. 4ulling it out, Jim reads a message written on the back.

You must keep the Innocent safe from the Sleeper!

Jim had no idea what that meant, but it stuck a string of concern in him. He had to find a way out of here,check back on Jason and 5iiko, and Bella too. He had to find where she had gone off to and that she was

okay.

"ooking around him Jim sees se eral displays, featuring statues of the Buddha, stuffed animals, incense,fantasy themed fairy and dragon figurines, odd looking smoking pipes, hermit crabs, and rolled upposters.

Jim first heads to the display featuring the fairy and dragon statues. #he display was a set of matchingwooden bo es.

Inside one bo were the fairies, sitting upon tree branches, smiling coyly or playfully, adorned with lea esas dresses and other articles of clothing. #hey other bo featured the dragons, all looking fierce, all withtheir $aws open and some breathing fire while others had claws out ready to strike. #he dragons were ofall different colors, the most ferocious being the ones colored black or red.

6oing through the different figurines, Jim stops when he picks up a statue of a white dragon and hears arattling inside. Hoping perhaps it is the key to the front door, Jim smashes the statue and is a bitdisappointed to find not the key, but instead a plastic syringe. + plastic end protects the needle. #he whiteli!uid inside confirms to Jim that it is morphine.

as someone smuggling drugs through this store7 (tepping back, the appearance of the smiling andfanciful figurines seem to ha e lost their fancy and now seem ominous. Checking the others, he finds thatthis white dragon was the only one to hold anything at all. 8eciding that ha ing this medicine, which hasbeen needed before would be important, Jim takes the syringe and places it in hiis pocket.


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Jim then walks to the other end of the store, where a number of large statues line the wall from end toend. #he statues are statues from se eral asian countries. #he ma$ority of the statues are likenesses ofthe Buddha, with his round belly and wide friendly smile. *ther statues featured "ucky Cat statues,statues of white cats with coins around their neck and wa ing with one hand. +lso featured are gray stoneguardian dog statues, some holding clubs and others a ball under it s paw, wearing armor on it s heads,shoulders, and legs.

*n a shelf abo e the statues, se eral trinket bo es laid out. #he bo es ha e a distincti e oriental designand aried in si0es from large to ery small. #he bo es were mostly red or green with gold lining and goldadornments and symbols.

Jim wished that 5iiko was here, he would lo e to know the significance of these symbols and statues. Hewas pretty sure that she would know them, e en though she was $apanese, he imagined she knewchinese as well as other languages. He also figured that Jordan might know these things as well, but hefigured Jordan wouldn t bother to e plain such things to him, preferring to keeping Jim ignorant and thesemaking himself feel superior.

But neither was here and if he e er hoped to see either again, he had best start looking for a key.

Jim tips the statues o er, looking to see if perhaps a spare key or something else is hidden underneath orinside the ones that feature hollow bottoms. #hose that do not feature hollow bottoms, Jim picks up andshakes, hoping perhaps to hear the similar clink he heard from the dragon figurine, but hoping for a keythis time. )inally, Jim opens the trinket bo es and searches the contents that were inside.

(tanding again, with some disappointment, Bella sighed hea ily. /othing had come for her when she dclosed her eyes, $ust like she d known it wouldn t. (he began to creep through the dark building hoping tofind another way out or at least an answer to the $umble of !uestions her mind was begging to ask.

(he found a large, comfortable looking room. 5ecogni0ing it as a lounge she began to look about theroom, pulling out her cle er so as to hopefully a oid further in$ury if something lay in wait for her. #heplace looked like it might ha e once been a rather nice area to rest. Comfortable looking lounge chairsand couches spread about.

Bella searches through the lounge and becomes distracted by a crunching noise she walks to in estigate,the sounds stop, she looks around a bit longer and finds nothing, she returns to her chair to continuelounging when she finds a creature obliterating the cushions with its strong and frantic $aws, Bella stepsbackward and unsheathes her hatchet, it notices this action and 1looks1 in Bella s direction, its $aws click9clacking in a bi00are rhythm.

#hinking back to the last encounter like this she d had, Bella tries to think !uickly of a way to put distancebetween herself and the ...thing in front of her. #his time she was determined not to be se erely woundedin the battle. But then it came to her, escape may be a good option too...but how7

(he thought for another second, and begin to !uickly back out of the room, attempting to slam the doorshut with the creature on the other side. #he -onster chases Bella, leaping o er random pieces offurniture. Bella makes it to the door with the monster couple feet behind her, she slams the door andlooks around frantically to find something, anything to hold the door closed. )inding nothing, she tried tothink of something new, keeping her weight on the door. 4erhaps if she left it cracked open the thingmight try to wedge through the gap...that might work.

(he cracks the door, then the monster tears a chunk out of the door, with its claws and obliterates it withits $aws. #hen it continues to de our the door. Bella slams the door, knocking the monster back, then itcontinues to maul the door.


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Bella then runs as fast as she can away from the beast.

Her heart beating furiously, Bella runs from the hallway of the lounge she !uickly ducks into a roommarked 1"ibrary1. /ot as big as most +merican libraries she s seen before, but big none the less. It isfilled with books and shel es to hold those books. If the creature from before were to follow her in here,she might be able to trick it. (he might be able to push one of these large shel es o er on it, and e en if itdoesn t die from the impact, it d be at least trapped, for a bit.

#hen again (he d ran way so !uickly, she wasn t e en sure it was still chasing her. (he had to get out ofhere...but how7 #he door, which might be the only door in the whole establishment was locked. #heremight be a backdoor, or a window to escape through...something. (he $ust didn t want to be here withthat...thing still ali e, and all alone, with hardly anything to defend herself against. (he thought of callingfor help, but thought better of it.

#he creature from before didn t seem to ha e eyes, $ust mouth parts, it may ha e possibly heard her,which could be what initiated it s attack. If she yelled now, it could hear her and come again...hell it couldbe searching for her right now.

1(on of a fucking bitch...1Bella muttered softly to herself, standing behind a bookshelf, listening for the thing to return.

Jordan...; 5iiko whispered. (he noticed the hospital gown... *h god, was she in the hospital again7 #heyhad to lead her e erywhere, and some people attacked her and oh my god what was that and... 5iiko,are you ok7;/o.;

hy am I in the hospital again7; 5iiko moaned

#his is no hospital; Jordan contradicted It is a gallery. e should see what there is to see, because Idoubt that we are here by accident. here would you like to look first7;

4ortraits... e might be able to find something there...;

8o you like this one, Jordan9san7; 5iiko asked It is my fa orite because... hat are you doing7;

Jordan was busy remo ing the portraits on the other wall, checking behind the frames and knocking onwalls

[...] she paused

Jordan was ready to search another room but 5iiko insisted that they replace all the pictures first. Hegrudgingly conceded but when 5iiko saw the half9assed effort he was making, she had to rebuke him

Jordan9san, you are hanging the pictures crooked; she scolded and that one is upside down?? s;

16et real, 5iiko9chan1 he teased her 1#hat guy is way better looking. /ow I am tired of watching a bunchof founding fathers staring at me like I owe them something... "et s go1


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Inside the glasswork and pottery room, 5iiko was shocked to see Jordan grabbing the e hibits andshaking them by his ear

Jordan9san; she gasped #hat sign clearly forbids you to handle the art in such a way


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to bits. He picked up a few shards from the shattered glass and holding the other frame as a shieldstarted approaching the monster. It seemed to be working, the monster s hands flailed at Jack but sliddown the glass and didn t touch him. He sliced at the hands as they slid down the glass trying toe entually chop them off to get access to the creature up close. ith each thrust, the broken glass thatJack is holding begins to dig into his, he continues, ignoring the pain.

+s he sliced at them a single drop of acid fell on his foot, the pain o ercame him and he fell down to theground shattering his shield to bits. #he creature seemed to react to the sound and started approachingJack. )ortunately Jack was able to slice at the arms enough for the creature to loose the ability to lift themup, it was dragging them along the ground, dissol ing it behind it. Jack got up and took out his brokenbottle, noticing that the creature was apparently blind Jack carefully sliced at one of its failing arms untilhe managed to completely cut it off. He grabbed a shard of the ground and carefully picked up the handthat was dripping acid. ith a swift swing Jack threw the hand back at its owners fused heads. It startedeating away at its heads until e entually the creature fell lifeless to the ground.

Jack e ited the photo gallery with the dead body behind him as the fumes were getting into his system.He gasped for semi fresh air as soon as he left the room, the dirty, oil soaked air ne er felt as refreshingas it did right then. He $ust ga e himself fully to the e ctasy of something that had not resembled rot or asharp smell that was eating away at his nose.

(lumming down to the ground Jack notices two figures a little ahead of him. Blurry as his ision was Jackcouldn t makle out more than the two being anything from monster to man. 6athering his remainingstrength accompanied with his newly ingested to in he got up and walked towards the two whileintimidatingly trying to be scary ...

5iiko: Jordan9san, what is that7Jordan: here75iiko: 5ight there, coming towards us7

Jordan glances into a corridor that Jack was slumping along the walls off. +s the to ins o ercome him,Jack reali0es he cannot speak clearly anymore.

1Blood,1 Jack says with his bloody hands raised towards the two, 1... ghmmm1

5iiko s!ueals grasping Jordan as tightly as she could, watching Jack pass out in front of them.

Jason s sense e entually came back to him. He panted and knelt o er trying to catch his breath. #herewas no sign of -r #eddy or Jim. (not ran down his face and pattered into the wet. He sniffled.

His breathing also now under control, Jason looked up and at his surroundings. He was alone. His breathtried to hitch back up into panic but he managed to keep it in better check. He was lost and alone now,who knew where he would end up if he had another white9out7Jason didn t stop the tears washing down his cheeks. He didn t care if he was being a cry9baby.

here s e eryone7 He whimpered. Images of rancid 0ombie dogs and faceless humanoid monsters ranthrough his head like a bad %? s black and white mo ie.Jason tried to tune them out as he gathered his bearings. #wisting around he saw a shop front.

+ dead neon sign proclaimed the place as Booche s (ports Bar. #he windows were smashed and in oneof them a chair balanced precariously on the window rim.It looked ominous. Jason turned around intending to lea e but the desolute street was e en less friendlyin it s emptiness. Jason faced back toward the bar again. Jim could be in it.

Jason stilled himself then breathed out before entering the establishment.


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to feel safe but most of all he wanted -r #eddy.

ith a new found bounce, Jason $umped from his place on the floor and do e for a pile. + little -onkeyflew one way, a pink elephant another. Jason discarded each and e ery one that was /*# -r #eddy.Just to be certain he e en scrambled under their tables to make sure he hadn t missed any. = entuallyJason got through the entire contents of the room and found himself standing in a small mountain of softtoys.

#here was a tear and a crunching noise as is something was tearing apart the animals, Jason turnedaround and saw a beast tearing at the stuffed animals, then same ones which Jason threw across therum with its terrible fast mo ing $aws.

It grabs an elephant and reduces it to fluff, the limbs of the toy fall on an other toys mo ing it slightly, thenmonster de ours that one as well. this continues as the monster steadly destroying Jason s mountain oftoys, e entually it will come across Jason.

Jason ducked down behind a small pile. (hi ering with fear he is left utterly stilled by fright. He can hearthe monster tearing through the toys like tissue paper. (ome part in the back of his head is thankful that-r #eddy wasn t in the room. His inner darker side angry at -r #eddy for bringing him here.

Jason wets hilmself once more. #he warm li!uid rolling down his pant leg bringing him out of his stupour.He has no weapons but Jason wasn t sure what he could do with a weapon anywayD , all he s got is hislimited wits. He hears the monster getting closer, so makes a decision.

Jason tried to crawl behind the piles that protected him from the sight of the creature. It appeared to be allmouth with teeth. /o eyes to be seen. (ome sane part in his head told him that without eyes it was blind.hile he was crawling, his hand hit a hard ob$ect. He looked down to see one of those cymbol clappingmonkeys. He grabbed it. If need be he could throw it at the monster. He continued to crawl towards thedoor. Hoping to sneak past the beast.

#he creature picks up on Jason s impact with the noisy toy, it $umps o er the mountain of toys and Jasonruns, the monster then begins to chase Jason. Jason screams, and throws the monkey at the beast. Itmisses, then the monsters chases after the toy, Jason continues to run. #he toy crashes against a wall

and the monster obliterates the toy. Jason makes it to the door and slams it closed behind him. #hemonster runs and attacks the door, crashing through it.

Jason is fro0en with fear, the beast stands and wanders mere feet from Jason, trying to find him.

Jim hears se eral scraping noises, and then the stench hits him, he turns to see a figure walking aroundhim not paying much attention to Jim at all, $ust carrying out its@their 1business.1

#he no ious odor that it is emitting starts to o erwhelm Jim s senses, his ision becomes blurry, balencebecome unsteady, and breathing labored. #hese condition seem to worsen with time. #he arms of the

creature flail out blindly and at random, whate er they touch start to slowly dissol e.

Jim wondered if perhaps he could sneak by the thing, it hadn t noticed him and didn t seem to be lookingfor anything in particular. #he two skeletal figures seemed fused together at the chest and head and Jimcould see no eyes isible on the creature. #hinking again, Jim thinks it s best to not take the chance.hat if he approached by the monster as he escaped and the thing blindly reached out and touched him,he didn t want to e en think of that.

+nd e en if he did escape, then what7 He couldn t lock the monster away in room with the statues, if itwent to the door, it s acid touch would destroy the door instantly. = en if the door did hold, the fumes it


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emitted would e entually fill the store and Jim could barely stand it as it was. He would ha e to find a wayto kill it.

Jim did not think his lead pipe would handle the acidic touch of the monster, he d need something moredurable. Jim turns and picks up one of the hea ier statues he had found. hile the air was stillbreathable, he takes in a breath and holds it, lifting the hea y stone statue o er his head. He has a bit oftrouble keeping his balance and his head ached from the effects of the gas, but he stays focus. He hadone ad antage, the monster did not know his presence and thus made itself an easy target.

ith the creature still obli ious to Jim s presence, he throws the statue at the monster, catching it in thetorso. Jim had meant to aim for the head, but he still scored a hit. #he creature staggers about, clearlyaffected.

Jim picks up another statue, a "ucky Cat statue, and chunks it for all he s worth, this time connecting withit s head. #his time the creature stumbles and falls o er. #he thing seems to ha e difficulty picking itselfup from the floor, the two hal es ob iously not able to coordinate with each other ery well.

hile it fails on the floor, Jim picks up one last statue, a solid stone 6uardian 8og statue. )rom a safedistance, he lifts it as high as he can muster and then with no strength left, lets it fall out of his handstowards the heads of the monster, crushing it s skulls. ith that the monster lays still and the fumes itemits cease. It was dead.

= hausted and still ery much woo0y and feeling nauseous, Jim staggers out of the room and away fromthe dead monster.

#he stench of the chemical fumes still filled the air and it sickened Jim, he wanted to be rid of it. He turnsa corner into a room featuring rows of incense. #he incense was aried. (ome were powdered incensepackaged in bo es along with engra ed metal censers to slowly burn it. *thers were compressed intocones, in which you burn the top and it works it s way to the bottom, increasing the scent as it goes.

+nd finally, the most common form of incense, those on thin wooden sticks. #hese were separated intotheir indi idual scents and each were held in glossy black stone $ars. #he $ars and incense lined the room,sitting on numerous shelfs, with many arieties of scents from end to end.

Jim picks out a few sticks of la ender scented incense his mother s fa orite scentD and begins to searchfor a lighter or a match.

Jim searches the wooden bo es that hold the metal censers, he then turns to the flimsy cardboard bo esthat hold the cone shaped incense. He then goes and looks inside each indi idual stone $ar that holds thestick incense, looking for anything that might light them.

James and his father looked around the +dmiral s -odel (hips Collection. +s they enter the shop, theybegin to search for a clue while surrounded by model ships. James walks up the stairwell to search. Hehears a series of smashing noises, a figure is dimly isible throwing the ships against the walls, and

crushing them up against the tables with its hands. hate er it is, it is fast, its motions are almost blurred,as James s eyes struggle to keep up.

James couldn t not guess why, but this figure resembled someone, he couldn t guess or why until it...laughed.

+ fast percussi e laugh that struck James with mortal fear, and brought buried memories to the surface.James, hurriedly back away, and tripped o er his own two feet at the top of the stairs. #hen darkness.

James awakens in the Cigar (hop, locked in.


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him to stay put, then went to check out the +bstract 4ainting 6allery

+ordan said [it looks like someone snee,ed on the canvas]

[It is #-stract /pressionist] 0iiko said

[#nd %hat is %rong %ith that one"] +ordan demanded [Wh are -oth e es to the left of the nose"]

[It is called )u-ism]

[It is called 1I failed art class1] +ordan contradicted tossing the paintings around %ithout a care for thedamage he %as inflicting

[+ordan2san!] 0iiko gasped [You are destro ing those paintings!]

+ordan contradicted 1Sonno +oi!!!1

5iiko inspects the painting then stops when she sees a large on propped against the wall. (heapproaches, then the painting starts to mo e, something is behind it, then the can as begins to rip assharp talons tear through it, e posing the horrible teeth of the creature. In the awful parody of birth thecreature emerges from the composition, then begins to de our it.

5iiko screams, then tries to use her % ' to distract it. #he monster grabs the % ' with its teeth and chewson it, and takes it from 5iiko. pon hearing 5iiko scream, Jordan rushes to her side. hen he sees thebeast, he takes the rebar in his left hand and the >mm in his right. He sho es the rebar in its mouth,keeping it more than a yard away from him and 5iiko. #hen he shoots it in the chest from close range untilit dies.

Jack awoke from his short nap to the sound of a high9pitched screaming in one of those hollow corridors.He growled as he rubbed his forehead, (hut the hell up


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he replied taking her hand -ut she pulled it a%a outside of the gift shop [Wait here then for a short time]+ordan %ent in to look at +ack's %ounds. 5he passed the -ottle -ack and forth for a %hile and then+ordan returned to tell 0iiko [6e %ill -e fine]

[7et us search the lo-- ] she suggested

[5his is an e/cellent idea] he replied [%e %ill do it]

+fter many tense minutes of nothing further happening, or trying to burst through the "ibrary doors tocharge her, Bella decides to try and look around the place. (omething might come up, or e en better shemight find something to help her escape this rotten place. But where would she go7 ould it e en bepossible to escape7 was she already dead to begin with7

#oo many damn !uestions, and no answers. 8espite all the bullshit going on around her, the "ibraryseemed fairly calm. +nd though there was little to no light, she felt at least partially comfortable there. (hewas a fan of books and reading in general. In her youth she hadn t been too into reading, but e er sinceha ing started o er in +merica, she d became a rather a id reader in her spare time. *ften reading horrorno els and some fantasy books. *nce she d found a collection of Japanese science fiction stories at herlocal library. (he d read them o er so many times, and considered most of them ery good. #hetranslation was spotty at times, but o erall she d fallen in lo e with the book. (he somehow doubted sheGdfind something as interesting to her in this library, crammed inside a cigar shop. (till, the place was fairlyspacious, or rather it was arranged to appear so. (he wondered what sort of literature may lie within theshel es here...the thought ran into that of wondering who may ha e regularly come here to read.

(he pictured old men, old men smoking cigars and sitting down to read...read what7 8irty maga0ineshidden inside thick hardback books7 Bella chuckled at the thought. (ighing lightly she tried to sift throughsome of the shel es and carefully look around.

Bella searches through the library, looking amongst the bookshel es, tables, under chairs and all thewhile continuously looking back and straining an ear to listen for the creature somewhere outside. #houghperhaps it was busy chewing away at something or another. Hell perhaps it was a figment of herimagination, and she was merely going insane. #hat d make a lot more sense of things... /one the lessshe continued to search.

--

James woke inside the cigar shop. He immediately started to look around. Aincent was already there.. hehadn t found his mother yet. #his was way too soon. By the time Aincent was in the picture he only had alimited time. He H+8 to find his mother

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Tenth Caste Chapter 3