CHAPTER 138

Her face twisted, and her eyes were dark once again. "What is a few years compared to eternity? All things can be forgiven in time."

"I won't, I—"

"Emily?" It was Sofia. She came around the corner of the stacks. "Were you talking to someone?"

"Just...just myself." She turned around, and Mike saw the black fade from her eyes. "Did you find anything about the rat king?"

Sofia held out a book. "Yeah, so strange thing really, the rat king is..."

This memory faded as well, and now Emily stood in the hallway of the second floor. Around her, the rats were cowering in fear as she twitched and spasmed, and one of her hands opened up, allowing a shimmering emerald to fall out of it.

"Why...what was I..." When she looked up, Mike saw that only one of her eyes was black now, and when she spoke next, only the corners of her mouth moved.

"You just did big magic, didn't you?" This time, the bad voice was even stronger. "I sensed that you did something, hid something perhaps. What have you done to us?"

"Get...get out of my head!" She slammed her forehead into the wall, causing plaster to fall and the rats to flee, though a braver one scooped up the emerald on its way past. "Get out of my head!"

Her scream shattered the room, and now they were back in the master bedroom. Emily hovered before them, and she was looking now at Yuki.

I'm sorry. Emily spoke using sign language, and the fact that Mike understood it perfectly was an equal surprise. He felt Daisy shift by his ear, and he remembered the spark that had passed between them during the incident in the tub.

Interesting, he thought.

Yuki let out a choked cry and ran from the room, and Mike was about to follow when he heard a whisper in his ear.

"Wait." It was Emily, and he turned around to see that she was floating only a foot away from him. For a moment, her form was stable, as if her connection was finally strong enough to come through. I need to tell you something, she signed.

"Um..." He wasn't sure if he should try to call Yuki back, but he still didn't have that sick feeling in his stomach that came when he was in danger. "Make it quick, I guess. But if you can pick just one method of talking, that would freak me out less."

This is more efficient. Easier to concentrate and the madness will return. Don't trust the shadow.

"Oh, don't worry. That bastard is plenty pissed at me because I refuse to buy what he is selling."

Emily let out a silent sigh, then signed some more.

I needed her to see.

"Yeah, well, we saw plenty. Why are you still here, Emily? Why haven't you moved on?"

Can't move on without the rest of my soul. She pointed to the gap in her head, and he frowned, doing his best not to shudder. The shadow still has it, locked in his castle.

She hung her head now, but her hands kept moving. I thought I was trying to get her back. When I forgot her, all I could focus on was getting my soul back, but I was about to die. I tried to extend my lifespan, but only made things worse. It turned out he was in control all along.

He had so many questions for her, but he already knew the one he wanted to ask the most. "What is the great game? I heard him mention it."

A game created by the Architect. When he built the homes, he hid the same prize inside of each of them, and it was a game that has been played for centuries. Nobody knows the rules, and nobody has ever won. Confusion is supposed to be part of the puzzle.

"Why does the shadow want your soul?"

He needs it to survive. He's like you and I, a player in the game. When he died, he was able to hang on somehow using soul magic, and he needed my soul to subsist, to keep playing the game. It gave him access to the house via my body, and toward the end, he was controlling me all day.

Mike opened his mouth to ask something else, but Emily flickered. The temperature in the room was warming, and he noticed how tired she looked. Tendrils of darkness were crawling in through the slats, and she turned toward them in pained resignation.

The madness is coming, she said. One more thing to show you.

"I..."

The room swirled with black clouds, and when they fell apart, he was standing in his room once more. Emily stood in front of her mirror, and her eyes were completely black. In the mirror, Emily's eyes were blue, and her face was pleading.

"The naga is up to something. She should have been finished with the key months ago." Shadow Emily clenched a fist, causing the knuckles to pop.

Emily shook her head, then pleaded with her hands.

"I suspect that you have done something else. This body feels like you wore it recently. If it wasn't for your mortal need for sleep, I could just wear you around all day." Shadow Emily paced before the mirror. "This form will not live much longer, and I need results. The others have been long suspicious, and I suspect my memory spells are wearing thin on them."

Emily silently stomped her feet and shook her head again, her curls falling along her shoulders.

Shadow Emily grinned, then moved close to the mirror. "If not for the unique abilities of your little cat burglar, I wouldn't have been able to formulate the magic necessary to alter memories. Such a unique talent wasted, but nobody even noticed when I altered the house last month. I can move from room to room, undetected, and because I am not the true Caretaker, all I have to do is make sure you don't see it happen is to stuff you away in the Black Place, and let the geas do the rest of the work for me."

Emily was mad now, and she placed her hands against the glass, her fingertips turning white from the pressure.