Silvia walked through the hallways, keeping her head down as she sped toward the library. Chatter filled the air, and it filled her head with numbers that meant something, but not at that moment. 

Silvia wanted to teleport away from there, but she couldn’t. Unfortunately for her, magic didn’t exist. But she didn’t believe that, and she never would. She kept firm hope that somewhere in the world, magic existed, and she would be the one to find it. She pushed her wide-rimmed glasses up her nose as she opened the door to the library.

“Good morning, darling! Finished with your novel already?” Mrs. Martin called from the reception desk. 

“Yes ma’am. Agriscience wasn’t as busy as it normally is.” Silvia’s voice was barely above a whisper and likely wouldn’t have been audible if someone else was talking.

Silvia was a normal-looking girl, and most described her as a nerd, but that didn’t bother her, Silvia took the name with pride. Her long and thick brown hair was pulled into a ponytail, and her large glasses framed her large and dark brown eyes. Her face was spotted with freckles, adding to her nerdy appearance, and her light jacket fluttered behind her as she skipped down the stairs.

“Which one you gettin’ today, sweetheart?” Mrs. Martin asked, looking up from her computer screen. She too wore large glasses, light grey ones that made her amber eyes stand out against the pale frames. 

“No clue, I might get . . . this one,” Silvia said, pulling a large novel from one of the top shelves. 

“You got that one twice already! What about some other sci-fi ones? Something to help you with that novel you’re writing. What is it called again?”

Silvia paused, putting the book back and turning to look at the librarian. “Pieces of a Fractured Heart, but I might change it if someone gets a better idea.” She smiled, turning back, but Mrs. Martin stopped her.

“I got some new ones back here, in the storage room. You should go check those out, maybe you’ll want to read one of those.” She suggested, and Silvia’s eyes widened.

“Storage room A or B?” She asked, now fidgeting with a small rubber band. 38928885820 Silvia twitched, and grabbed a small notebook out of her pocket, writing down the numbers.

“A, but again with the numbers? I thought you filled that notebook to the brim!” Silvia chuckled, blushing a bit.

“I got a new one,” she said, turning to walk to the storage room. 

The storage room was huge, filled with new and old books alike. Dust fluttered through the air, revealed through the sunlight beaming through the overhead window. Silvia pushed the creaky door open, and went in, turning on the light. The door suddenly slammed shut behind her, and the lights flickered.

A book hit the ground with a loud thud, and Silvia went to pick it up. The cover was blank, and nothing was written on the spine. She flipped it around, and nothing was on the back. It was a plain lavender-colored book. Not even so much as a simple flower to decorate it.

Silvia held her breath as she opened the book. Nothing was written there. It was blank. Silvia flipped through the pages, every single one, but nothing was written on a single one.

A drop of something hit the page, spreading out. Ink? She thought, touching the drop with her finger. As she did, her vision was plunged into darkness.

She was floating. Silvia’s eyes snapped open, looking around the area. Books and paper floated in the air, surrounded by a seemingly endless black void. She flailed her way over to the nearest book, and its title was ‘The Witch’s Secret’. The book was covered with red splash marks. Thick red splash marks.

She went over to the next, flipping through the pages and reading each one.

You are not like them. You are not like the rest.

Silvia jumped, looking left and right frantically. She didn’t hear the voice per se, but she felt someone, something trying to communicate.

Why are you here? What did you wish to accomplish? Or are you not aware of what you have done?

“I was just at my school! And now I’m here! I’m lost, how do I get back?”

You do not simply go back. You are now the collector of lost souls.

“The collector . . . of what now?” Silvia waited for the thing to respond, but nothing came.

The lost ones, their souls are lost. You will need to free them from these pages and bring them to the spirit world.

“But . . . how do I do that?”

The books are scattered around. Find them.

Silvia gripped her notebook, trying to write everything down.

Numbers will not help. Begin your work.

The book disappeared from her hands, now nothing more than atoms. Silvia grasped the book closest to her, and she began her mission.